Electric Aveo - EV (144v / 1000 Amps = 193 horsepower and massive torque!)

[mrcshbs]

Yes, as soon as you remove the engine... a whole set of big problems come with it... but the main safety functions operate without the engine, such as the air bags, crash sensors, ABS breaks, etc... so as long as you keep the "some" of the 12V system intact you're good to go.

Most of the sensors in the car is related to pullution control... and since the poluting engine is out now, most of the sensors can be removed.

yes, you can have the options of completly stopping the motor at a stop... I still can do that. but once you come to a stop, you will loose the power steering and AC... so I kept a slow idle to keep these systems going... I also did it because I love driving a stick shift.

it shifts exacly like a normal car.. no difference at all.

charging time depends how much you drain the batteries.. if you drive a lot, it will take a while.. but if you just go down a few miles, it will top it off in several minutes.

cost was about 14000 dollars... but i don't know the HP until my lab test come back... but it's like driving a 6 cylinder Aveo.

[mrcshbs]

that's exacly right... I kept the idle to keep the accessories going... it's a pain the ass sometimes to keep taping the accelerator to have AC and P/S.

I wanted to add an electric power steering and AC, so I wouldn't need to idle... but convincing the wife I need 1500 dollars to do this did not work out... LOL... so I had to work with what I had.

[mrcshbs]

ops.. guys, I am sorry, I am new to this forum... so I thought I was adding a "quick reply" to the questions and all ended up at the bottom... LOL..

I didn't have the heat from the engine, so I added an electric heater on top of the heater core... it was very painfull to remove it.. OMG!!! so I test it over and over again to make sure it would work fine, so I don't have to remove it EVER AGAIN.. LOL

[mrcshbs]

This is the dash out and what the electric heater core on top of the OEM heater core.

[xintersecty]

I am very impressed. 14K to make a conversion is a lot of dough. As more people make this leap, the price will drop and hopefully technology on batteries will improve. I have a 72 beetle, and I have thought about making the conversion to electric on that. It's the huge cost in batteries that keeps me gun shy on it. I commend mrshibs for making the conversion. BTW over the weekend, I just found the Johnston Controls in my area (Oconee, Co. SC) makes batteries. The batteries for your car could have been made right where I live.

[xintersecty]

It also features a custom GPS/DVD/Phone system with touch screen.

Is this a self programming custom device? Or is this an off the self product? If custom, what OS and how did you integrate the phone functions?

[petrified.rabbit]

thank you for all those answers, makes much more sense now, what idle speed do you chose?

[MetroMPG]

mrcshbs: congrats on a really slick conversion! Thanks for posting.

A buddy and I converted a Metro, but it's pretty crude compared to what you've accomplished.

[MetroMPG]

Ive done abit of research into it conversions and heared you just need to place it in second gear and thats all.

You can do it either way. You can shift, which is easier on the batteries (going up through the gears while you accelerate draws less current from them). But most EV's have enough torque that you can just leave the car in 2nd or 3rd gear and drive it like an automatic. OEM electrics usually have one forward gear (Tesla Roadster - later versions, Nissan Leaf).

[mrcshbs]

The GPS system is was based on a double din unit a found online... I asked the manufacturer (sorry china) to modify the frame to be plug and play nav unit and they did... but they sent the wiring totally different from what I requested, so I had to look at the schematics and make a plug for it to fit the OEM stock radio.

the unit already has a built in mic... and had blue tooth.. so you can make and receive calls from the car. as I come near the vehicle my phone syncs with the unit in the EV. and disconnects as I walk away from the car.

it runs on windows CE, which makes really flexible for custom EV screen. I've written an app that will give me graphic display of each battery... and somewhat of a "check system light" if one of the batteries fail or drop below a certain voltage... etc... but it's still a work in progress.