JMU AFV Lab Blog

Here is an interesting electric vehicle conversion that may be considered for a future AFV Lab project or provide ideas for existing ones. Go to http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/07/07/honda-vfr-conversion-to-electric-power-now-complete/ to see the full article.  Comments?

Honda VFR conversion to electric power

evfr-honda-conversion

…The first question out of everyone’s mouth was “How far does it go”… to which I replied “15-20 miles on crappy used UPS batteries I got for free”. I initially wanted to go with larger lead [acid batteries], but since these were free, I wanted to develop/test the mechanical first, and then upgrade to lithium in the fall. Its all working and now I can shop for alternatives to lead. Most people scoffed a little, I didn’t care, Its quite a feat in a motorcycle, especially keeping it stock looking. I know what the end result will be…. LiFePo and AC will eventually find their way into that bike. It will perform well, and range will be 30-40 miles….

…ABG: Tell us about the process of developing the conversion.

Gintz: I saw the Tesla last year, and decided I wanted to look into building an EV myself. I have an electrical engineering background, and LOVE gadgets, so it came naturally. I looked into cars, but for 10 grand, and lots of work, it might be over my budget. I’m a single guy living alone, so I don’t have 10 grand sitting around, just to get 30-50 miles for commuting. I drive a Dodge Durango, and gas is starting to hurt. I needed a cheap commuter solution. I looked at a popular site called EVAlbum. They had some other vehicles, and the more I looked into motorcycles, the more I was sold on the idea. I started looking for bikes, and found someone on Craigslist that had a roller with bad engine and donated it to me. Then I ran into some guys at a new startup company called Synkromotive, in Portland, OR. They wanted to help the conversion, and in exchange for a controller, I would do testing/assmembly and R&D. Its been a great relationship with Synkromotive. A few weeks later, while looking for parts for the free bike, I found one in Florida that had a bad engine, but was in pristine shape. I bought it, shipped it here, and parted out the engine, electrical and exhaust. I almost broke even. Very shortly after this, I found a guy up near Seattle that had tons of batteries he wasn’t using for his motorcycle, and another rolling chassis, it was well worth $60 in gas to go get it. So I had a good roller and batteries and a controller. Found a motor on a surplus website. Assembly began in February. Another VFR guy wanted to help, and had fabrication background. We welded up a battery tray and made a motor mount. A month ago, we threw everything together and took it out for its first few runs. It was a great feeling. After 8 months of getting parts, designing and building… it all paid off….

…Quick statistics:
1986 Honda VFR700F
Series wound Advanced DC motor
156V 600A Synkromotive controller
12 12V 18Ah batteries running in 2-72V strings. Capable of 144V. Switching to Lifepo soon
4:1 gear ratio, will be moving to ~5:1
Range: 15-20 on used batteries
Top speed: 65mph, one gear, no clutch
Charging system is custom…

2008 is going to be a great year for the AFV Lab.  We thought we’d start things off with a “running” start by getting the Electric ATV refurbished and running.

Dan and Peter took this project on, and in only two nights it had new batteries, a fresh coat of paint, some chrome wheels, and a spiffy detail job!  The E-Meter is even trying to work now, so we need to calibrate it and get it going as well.

All that’s left is putting the racks on and it will be alive and running for the open house on Wednesday!

The CVT isn’t working great…  Anyone familiar with Polaris Constant Velocity Transmissions?  It slips on anything other than a flat surface.  We were thinking about upgrading the system from 48V to 60V, but even 48V outpowers the CVT at the moment.  Get that tuned right and then we’ll look at putting on some more power.

Come to the open house!  It’s Wednesday at 6pm at the AFV lab!

I came across this website and thought I would throw it out for discussion.  I have excerpted a few items, but go to http://www.poweredbypropane.net/, to read the full information.

Welcome to Powered by Propane

Are you looking for a good propane conversion kit?  At poweredbypropane.net we provide propane power kits for 3,4,5,6, and 8 cylinder vehicles. From small engine propane conversion kits to auto propane conversions of larger vehicles we have the equipment and the design techniques to make your automobile run on propane.

Whether you are doing fleet automobile propane conversions or simply want propane conversion kits for your own vehicles, we have the auto propane conversion kits to convert your gas vehicle into a propane/gas hybrid. Do you own propane powered vehicles? Are you tired of being held hostage to the gas industry? Turn to automotive propane conversion and enjoy the ability to switch from a gas vehicle to a gas to propane conversion vehicle. For expertise turn to poweredbypropane.net for all you’re propane conversion needs!

What I found interesting about this setup is that it is dual fuel, as the gasoline system is left intact, and the system can be manually converted back to gasoline.  One could use the propane from a home tank for the majority of travel, then convert to gasoline when going on a trip.  Here is an excerpt

A miniature console is the only element of the system installed inside the drivers cabin. This small unit allows the driver to observe the level of propane in the tank(depends on what kind of tank setup you have), indicates the stages of employment of the ECU, and allows for a manual change from propane to gasoline.

The prices seem reasonable to me, too

Kit Contents: A Poweredbypropane conversion kit may not include all necessary mounting brackets for your particular vehicle as these kits are universal. The installer may need to fabricate brackets to mount LPG rails, Reducers or other components. All parts must be secured properly to ensure there are no leaks

3-4 Cylinder Conversion Kit

$1 195.00

5-6 Cylinder Conversion Kit

$1 375.00

8 Cylinder Conversion Kit

$1 650.00

I’m not familiar with the price of propane vs. the price of gasoline and therefore what the payout time would be for such a conversion.  I don’t know what the gas tax implications would be for this for using fuel that doesn’t have the gas tax included at purchase, either.

This item came to my attention this morning; I have excerpted the first few paragraphs.  To read the article, go to http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/spotlights/slash-gas.html

It’s feasible—but challenging on many fronts

How much gasoline would the nation save in the year 2035 if lightweight hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles dominated the marketplace? More than 68 billion gallons, or about half the fuel currently used by today’s vehicles.

Detailed analyses in a new MIT report demonstrate that such changes are feasible. Indeed, the report concludes that over the next 25 years the fuel consumption of new vehicles could be reduced by 30-50 percent and total U.S. fuel use for vehicles could be cut to 2000 levels, with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cut by almost as much….

Comments?