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EVCCON

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Brian Noto

The document summarizes highlights from the EVCCON14 electric vehicle conference. It discusses a team converting a Smart ForTwo to electric over a few days. The conference included 139 attendees from 8 countries and 25 electric vehicles on display. Technical presentations covered topics like lithium-ion batteries, electric race cars, converting vehicles to electric, and electric boat conversions. One notable electric vehicle was a converted Smart Car that could do 0-60 mph in 1.5 seconds.

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16 Current EVents / November 2014 continued next page The Smart Build Team EVCCON14: Li-Ion Batteries, Electric Race Cars, and More! EVCCOn 14 By Lee Gasper-Galvin (South Wisconsin EVA) and Brian Noto, EVTV.me A pre-convention group of 20 EV enthusiasts began convening at Jack Rickards Electric Motor Werks in Cape Girardeau, MO on Sunday, August 10 to convert a gas 2008 Smart ForTwo Car to electric. Under the direction of Celso Menaia from Converte of Portugal, the Smart Build Team quickly disassembled the original vehicle and then assembled the Smart Car into a working EV in time for the annual Friday play day at Cape Girardeau Airport. There the converted Smart Car participated in the 1/8th-mile drag races, autocross, and dynamometer testing to measure horsepower and torque. EVCCON14 kicked off with a welcoming reception and wonderful smorgasboard of tasty treats at the EVtv Motor Werks on the evening of August 12th. There were 139 attendees from 8 countries, including Portugal, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and the US. To the delight of both attendees and members of the community, a total of 25 electric vehicles (most were conversions, and some were quite unique!) rolled through Cape Girardeau during the conference, and participated in the special EV parade on Saturday. Here are some highlights of the technical presentations on August 13, 14, and 16: Welcome Remarks by Jack Rickard, EVCCON14 Host and Owner of EVtv Motor Werks Jack pointed out during his State of the EV Industry address, that up to 1986 there had been, over the previous Smart ForTwo conversion in progress
November 2014 / Current EVents 17 continued page 18 EVCCOn 14 100 years, approximately 500,000,000 electric vehicles built worldwide. By July 2010, there were 1 billion EVs (an additional 24 years), and there were 1.5 billion EVs by earlier this year (an additional 4 years). Currently, there are 10,000 EVs produced per month in the US (0.66% of US vehicle production), with Tesla selling 2500 cars/month. Many people drive a mental image of themselves via their car. They want safety, environmental control, music, and privacythe same control bubble as in their homes. The concept of getting people to change to different types of vehicles after many decades of drivingdeveloping new brand and car style preferencese.g. asking someone to give up their V8 for batteries, is almost preposterous. Therefore, acculturation through other people is needed. Our mission is to have 100,000 people Smart Build Team leader Celso Menaia from Portugal, with converted Smart ForTwo go out and build an electric car and show it to their neighbors, coworkers, friendsanyone! You need to realize that 99% of the conversations held in the world about you, you are not privy totherefore, you are perhaps not aware that within your respective communities, you are viewed more as the EV experts than the dealerships who sell EVs. As it turns out, it now seems that there is a limitless supply of oil. But there is also no limit on the price or cost to produce that oil. Why to Build an EVHow to Approach It, by Jack Rickard There are many reasons for doing your own conversion, including: A basic, light car done well costs about $15K - $20K; if very well selected parts, $25K Allows you to eliminate profit and overhead in acquiring your EV CAVEAT: Realize that if youre looking to save money with an EV, it wont work out; consider that were at the hobby level of expense Its an interesting serial exercise in small problem-solving to build an EV Its an intensely personally satisfying hobby to build an EV Other information: EVs are not about cars, but about batteries For every 10 lb of car, you will need 1 Wh of energy to go 1 mile, e.g. if you want to go 100 mi in a 3300-lb car, you will need a 33 kWh pack DC motors are the cheapest ft-lb torque you can get The world is tending toward AC systems, in which you can increase efficiency 15% using regenerative braking 335 V needed with most AC systems Rule of thumb: 10C maximum battery discharge If 20% of us did 20% of our miles electrically, gasoline would be $0.75/gallon Bloggers are being paid to spread paranoia and fear against EVs Within the past 18 months, over 500 university EV programs have sprung up Back to Basics: Electricity and Magnetism, by Professor Ralph Tate, Department of Automotive Technology, Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale SIU offers a BS in Automotive Technology. They have a 185,000 sq ft facility with state-of-the-art equipment and training. Many of their
18 Current EVents / November 2014 EVCCOn 14 continued on next page John Metric in his Assault&Battery conversionthe worlds fastest car! students obtain jobs with OEMs. For more information, see their web site at automotive.sui.edu. Battery Testing, by John Hardy, UK Firstly, the final results of a long-term test of a pack of eight CALB CA40fi cells was reported. This test was intended to check whether rated cycle life for a single cell could be achieved for an entire battery, and also to verify a previous finding that the cells remain in balance without active balancing. This showed about 1700 2000 cycles to 80% of original capacity. At 2000 cycles, remaining capacity was still better than 80% of specified capacity (when new, the cells deliver more than their advertised capacity). The cells were balanced on assembly and stayed in balance throughout the test without any form of BMS or active balancing. This was possible because care was taken with voltage monitoring to eliminate the tiny unbalanced parasitic loads which voltage monitoring usually causes. Secondly, a test rig was introduced for assessing the impact of fast charge on cycle life. Two three-cell packs of CALB CA40fi cells were being cycled in parallel, one charged at 3C (120 Amps) and one at 0.5C (20 Amps) with all other factors (discharge rate, ambient temperature) the same for both packs. Initial results over fewer than 200 cycles suggested that the fast charged pack was losing capacity more rapidly. Temperature rise at the terminals during fast charge was of the order of 15 20 degrees Celsius above ambient. The use of dielectric grease on the junction between cell terminal and inter-cell bus-bar was found to be counter-productive: it increased EVCCON 14 Continued from page 17 the terminal temperatures during fast charge markedly. Thirdly, evidence of soft shorts in CALB CA100fi cells was presented. Thirty-eight of these cells had been discharged to about 2.7 volts and the voltage of each cell monitored over the subsequent week. Thirty-six of the 38 cells showed a voltage recovery in the millivolt range over several days and then a stable voltage. The two remaining cells exhibited a decay in voltage (again in the millivolt range) over the same time period indicating self-discharge, probably caused by an internal soft short. (A soft short is a high-resistance internal short circuit which has the effect of causing some degree of self-discharge of the affected cell.) 8Ah Battery Life Cycle Perfor- mance Test, by Dave Bogard, CO Headway 8 Ah LiFePO4 batteries in series of two cells each, were tested for multiple cycles at three different temperatures: 0, 20, and 55 degrees C. Conclusions from the tests, concerning the effect of temperature on aging, were that the batteries performed best at ambient temperature, the highest temperature was detrimental to the batteries, and the lowest temperature was the most detrimentalto the batteries. Hacking Electric Vehicles for Fun and Profit, by Collin Kid- der, FL So why would anyone want to hack EVs? You might want to take hardware from OEM vehicles that have been damaged and use it in EV conversions. Or you might like to modify the performance on OEM vehicles. And lastly, its always fun to do! For more information, contact collinkiddermfg. com. Lonestar EV Technologies and Racing Applications, by Adam Clark John Metrics Assault and Battery, which was present at EVCCON14, is now the fastest door car in the world, at 8.9 s for 村 mile. It has two 9 NetGain motors with Helwig brushes and two Zilla 2K motor controllers, 375-V, 800
November 2014 / Current EVents 19 EVCCOn 14 almost no effect during the traction limited period (but may help later in the race), shifting weight to the back has a moderate effect, raising the cars vertical center of gravity has a big effect, and improving tire/track grip has the biggest effect. See more information on Johns Assault and Battery at http://www. ampahaulic.com. EVtv.EU and Electric Boats, by Anne Kloppenberg, Am- sterdam, The Netherlands In addition toAnnes boat conversions to electric business, he has now also become EVtvs supplier in Europe. All the canal boats (approximately 200 boats) taken by tourists through Amsterdam need to be emission-free by the year 2020. This requirement will create a perfect business opportunity to introduce electric boat conversions. SeeAnnes two web sites, one for EVtv Europe, http://evtv-amsterdam.eu/, and the other for his boat conversions business, called New Electric, http:// www.newelectric.nl. Electric Boats Panel Dis- cussion, by Anne Kloppen- berg, Brian Seymour, and Jeff Southerland A variety of interesting points were made during the discussion: There are thousands of lakes where you can no longer have motor boats on the water (concerns about oil pollution, noise, etc.), so electric boats may be more acceptable alternatives on these lakes. Further interest in converting boats may be fueled by the inflated cost of diesel on the water: $11/gal for diesel in Amsterdam, and $5.50/gal in the US. It doesnt take much power to put a boat through the water at low speed; Kevin Smith with his Illuminati, featuring a unique car body that he custom built with an AC hp, 2200 lb, and does 0-60 mph in 1.5 s. Opportunities for race cars include: use materials science to lighten the cars, connect electric motors to turbo- chargers, develop advanced energy management software (i.e. software and code writinga lot of power is being unlocked by code writing), make aerodynamic improvements, try great new battery ideas, remove the superfluous stuff in the packaging of batteries, and add supercapacitors. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.ampahaulic.com. Innovation in MotionHPEVS Hi Performance Electric Ve- hicle SystemsPowered by Electricity, by Brian Seymour Brian discussed a number of projects, including conversion of a Reinell runabout boat to electric, the design of Acuity Functions BMS primarily for lead acid battery packs, and the HPEVS oil-cooled motor production release planned for early September. The reasons for oil-cooling a motor include: the type of oil being used (i.e., purified mineral oil) pours like water, and is a dielectric oil that has successfully been used in transformers; it gives better transfer of heat; the oil is in direct contact with windings, rotor, and stator core; it lubricates the bearings; and the oil allows for higher operating temperatures (up to 130 degrees C). See Brians web site at http://www. hpevs.com. High Performance from Stock PartsPart 3, by John Metric John has been tweaking his Assault and Battery EV race car to maximize its racing performance. He concluded that changing the weight of the car has continued on page 20
20 Current EVents / November 2014 EVCCOn 14 Glenn Brown driving his converted 1967 Ford Shelby Cobra continued on next page however, if you are traveling fast, the power needs increase exponentially. Electrical noise in a fiberglass boat is a nightmaree.g., lacking the huge metal ground shield, one may need to trail ground straps through the water and embed a stainless steel screen in the fiberglass. Converte, by Paulo Almeida and Celso Menaia, Lisbon, Portugal This presentation was about the development of a new battery meter. Most EV conversions at EVCCON have small displays that show instantaneous readings of volts, amps, and amp-hour, but they cannot show historical data. So Paulo and Celso invented a device, which they call JLD505, which can measure V, A, Ah, W, and Wh, and transmit all of this data via 3 different ports: through a USB serial port, a Bluetooth serial port, and a CAN interface. Paulo and Celso work at ISEL (Lisbon Superior Institute of Engineering) and have created a brand name Converte, which is dedicated to conversions and products related to conversions. Next Generation Battery Monitoring System (Youve Got to be Kidding!) aka the EVtv BMS, by Ed Clausen, Paulo de Almeida, and Jack Rickard This is a device being developed that can predict the early demise of cells under very heavy load. Jacks theory is that if you measure the voltage of each cell, you can observe that if any cell is about to fail, it would sag further than the other cells in approximately the 8C to 10C range. The device has EVCCON 14 Continued from page 19 no power electronics of any kind, and it wont balance anything; the M in this BMS stands for Monitoring, not Managing. For more information, visit the http://EVtv.me web site. The Myth of the No-Mainte- nance EV, by Brian Noto At some point in time, you are going to have to work on your converted vehicledont make the wiring so tight and so neat that you cant get in to repair it. When you build your car, think about how things will vibrate during travel. Think about how you can get individual components back out, not just how to get them in. Tom Brunka (Helwig Carbon Products): EV Motor Improve- ment Helwig produces brushes for all brush type motors using materials such as electro-graphite, metal graphite, and graphite. Their best grades of brushes for EVs that are street driven are designated H38 for those with battery packs of 230 V or less, and grade H60 for those with battery pack voltages greater than 230 V. For EV racing, they offer their H49 race only grade, which will wear abnormally fast when used at low average current levels, such as during idle or coasting, and therefore is not good for street applications. Helwig makes recommendations (e.g., to minimize wear, wind your brush springs an extra 遜 turn, because EV applications need a lot of extra spring pressure) and designs their brushes to minimize grooving, mechanical wear, electrical wear, voltage drop, and arcing. Ideally, brush seating on a new motor (with the H60 grade) should be carried out for 7 days, 24 hours/ day, at 3000 to 4000 rpm. See more information on Helwigs brushes at http://helwigcarbon.com or call Terry Ewert (customer service technical) at (414) 362-6252 or Tom Brunka
November 2014 / Current EVents 21 EVCCOn 14 Glenn Brown from Iowa City, IA won Best of Show with his converted Cobra continued on page 22 was really special to witness the EV Grin on peoples faces--especially on first-timers who may never have driven a custom electric vehicle! The first event was not the racing, but a weigh-in of all the EVs. The Lightest Build this year went to the Twike, a 704-lb purpose built vehicle. The heaviest vehicle had to be Al Gajdas 1939 Dodge Bros pickup. Al was also instrumental in making sure the drag race went off without a hitch. The EVCCON laid out a professionally timed 1/8-mile drag strip right down the airport ramp. The best Elapsed Time (E.T.) of the day of 8.02 sec @ 82.52 MPH went to John Metric with his 2002 Mazda Miata. Over at the SOLO course, run by the St. Louis Chapter of the Sports Car Club of America, they were having a blast! Michel Mikey Bertrand in his in his triple-motor 1988 Porsche 911 captured the best SOLO time of the day with an impressive 57.593-second lap. As the evening progressed, a tractor- trailer made its way to the hangar and Track Lab set up a mobile dynamometer. They were able to test motive power, horsepower, and torque of the vehicles. Some of the numbers were quite impressive but the winner, John Metric, showed off with 584.34 ft-lb of torque. And a final race On Sunday the attendees that were still around headed south to Sikeston, to Dyno Doms Drag Strip. The 1/8th- mile strip is actually one of the oldest in the U.S. and a real treat for the attendees to make runs down. Last year 5 new National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) world records were set in a number of classes. 2014 saw three more broken. (engineering) at (414) 354-2411 x285. Playday All hands were on deck when the EVCCON took to the Cape Girardeau regional Airport on Friday. No one lagged behind or showed up late for the all-day motor sports extravaganza. Playday, as its come to be known, began around 9:00 a.m. with coffee and a light breakfast. Then the attendees were given their marching orders for the day and a little speech about the spirit and purpose of the event, as well as safety (theres always time for safety!) for the drivers. The purpose of Playday was for everyone who had brought a vehicle to get a chance to see how their vehicles perform down the 1/8th-mile drag strip and the Sports Car Club of America SOLO road race event. The spirit of the day was more about sharing. Everyone was encouraged to share their riders with other attendees whether or not they were able to bring a vehicle. It
22 Current EVents / November 2014 EVCCOn 14 Brian Noto and Jack Rickard presenting at the technical session EVCCON14 technical session EVCCON 14 Continued from page 21 George Grant III, who wasnt an attendee, but heard about the race and travelled some 700 miles, set the record in the DMC/H Class with his Electron Rush motorcycle. His time was 7.402 sec @ 80.64 MPH. The PS/F Class went to Michel Bertrand in his 1988 Porsche 911 with a time of 8.836 sec @ 77.09 MPH. Brian Noto smashed last years record setting run, establishing a new record in the XS/C Class of 9.364 sec @ 74.17 MPH. Another non-attendee Terry Hatfield driving up from Springdale, AR brought Shock Therapy, a NEDRA record holder, attempting to hit the 100 MPH mark and gain the title of Worlds Fastest Golf Cart. He missed it by 1 MPH! Playday set the standard again for fun and friendship, competition, and hard work for everyone in attendance. It was a great finish to a great event, the 4th Annual Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention. Plan to join us in Cape Girardeau, MO for EVCCON15! Brian Noto announced that there will be an EVCCON15 in September next year. The conference dates will be September 29 October 3. Write to info@EVtv.me to get signed up for the early bird rate of $349 by April 1, or at the regular rate of $595 after April 1.

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  • 1. 16 Current EVents / November 2014 continued next page The Smart Build Team EVCCON14: Li-Ion Batteries, Electric Race Cars, and More! EVCCOn 14 By Lee Gasper-Galvin (South Wisconsin EVA) and Brian Noto, EVTV.me A pre-convention group of 20 EV enthusiasts began convening at Jack Rickards Electric Motor Werks in Cape Girardeau, MO on Sunday, August 10 to convert a gas 2008 Smart ForTwo Car to electric. Under the direction of Celso Menaia from Converte of Portugal, the Smart Build Team quickly disassembled the original vehicle and then assembled the Smart Car into a working EV in time for the annual Friday play day at Cape Girardeau Airport. There the converted Smart Car participated in the 1/8th-mile drag races, autocross, and dynamometer testing to measure horsepower and torque. EVCCON14 kicked off with a welcoming reception and wonderful smorgasboard of tasty treats at the EVtv Motor Werks on the evening of August 12th. There were 139 attendees from 8 countries, including Portugal, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, and the US. To the delight of both attendees and members of the community, a total of 25 electric vehicles (most were conversions, and some were quite unique!) rolled through Cape Girardeau during the conference, and participated in the special EV parade on Saturday. Here are some highlights of the technical presentations on August 13, 14, and 16: Welcome Remarks by Jack Rickard, EVCCON14 Host and Owner of EVtv Motor Werks Jack pointed out during his State of the EV Industry address, that up to 1986 there had been, over the previous Smart ForTwo conversion in progress
  • 2. November 2014 / Current EVents 17 continued page 18 EVCCOn 14 100 years, approximately 500,000,000 electric vehicles built worldwide. By July 2010, there were 1 billion EVs (an additional 24 years), and there were 1.5 billion EVs by earlier this year (an additional 4 years). Currently, there are 10,000 EVs produced per month in the US (0.66% of US vehicle production), with Tesla selling 2500 cars/month. Many people drive a mental image of themselves via their car. They want safety, environmental control, music, and privacythe same control bubble as in their homes. The concept of getting people to change to different types of vehicles after many decades of drivingdeveloping new brand and car style preferencese.g. asking someone to give up their V8 for batteries, is almost preposterous. Therefore, acculturation through other people is needed. Our mission is to have 100,000 people Smart Build Team leader Celso Menaia from Portugal, with converted Smart ForTwo go out and build an electric car and show it to their neighbors, coworkers, friendsanyone! You need to realize that 99% of the conversations held in the world about you, you are not privy totherefore, you are perhaps not aware that within your respective communities, you are viewed more as the EV experts than the dealerships who sell EVs. As it turns out, it now seems that there is a limitless supply of oil. But there is also no limit on the price or cost to produce that oil. Why to Build an EVHow to Approach It, by Jack Rickard There are many reasons for doing your own conversion, including: A basic, light car done well costs about $15K - $20K; if very well selected parts, $25K Allows you to eliminate profit and overhead in acquiring your EV CAVEAT: Realize that if youre looking to save money with an EV, it wont work out; consider that were at the hobby level of expense Its an interesting serial exercise in small problem-solving to build an EV Its an intensely personally satisfying hobby to build an EV Other information: EVs are not about cars, but about batteries For every 10 lb of car, you will need 1 Wh of energy to go 1 mile, e.g. if you want to go 100 mi in a 3300-lb car, you will need a 33 kWh pack DC motors are the cheapest ft-lb torque you can get The world is tending toward AC systems, in which you can increase efficiency 15% using regenerative braking 335 V needed with most AC systems Rule of thumb: 10C maximum battery discharge If 20% of us did 20% of our miles electrically, gasoline would be $0.75/gallon Bloggers are being paid to spread paranoia and fear against EVs Within the past 18 months, over 500 university EV programs have sprung up Back to Basics: Electricity and Magnetism, by Professor Ralph Tate, Department of Automotive Technology, Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale SIU offers a BS in Automotive Technology. They have a 185,000 sq ft facility with state-of-the-art equipment and training. Many of their
  • 3. 18 Current EVents / November 2014 EVCCOn 14 continued on next page John Metric in his Assault&Battery conversionthe worlds fastest car! students obtain jobs with OEMs. For more information, see their web site at automotive.sui.edu. Battery Testing, by John Hardy, UK Firstly, the final results of a long-term test of a pack of eight CALB CA40fi cells was reported. This test was intended to check whether rated cycle life for a single cell could be achieved for an entire battery, and also to verify a previous finding that the cells remain in balance without active balancing. This showed about 1700 2000 cycles to 80% of original capacity. At 2000 cycles, remaining capacity was still better than 80% of specified capacity (when new, the cells deliver more than their advertised capacity). The cells were balanced on assembly and stayed in balance throughout the test without any form of BMS or active balancing. This was possible because care was taken with voltage monitoring to eliminate the tiny unbalanced parasitic loads which voltage monitoring usually causes. Secondly, a test rig was introduced for assessing the impact of fast charge on cycle life. Two three-cell packs of CALB CA40fi cells were being cycled in parallel, one charged at 3C (120 Amps) and one at 0.5C (20 Amps) with all other factors (discharge rate, ambient temperature) the same for both packs. Initial results over fewer than 200 cycles suggested that the fast charged pack was losing capacity more rapidly. Temperature rise at the terminals during fast charge was of the order of 15 20 degrees Celsius above ambient. The use of dielectric grease on the junction between cell terminal and inter-cell bus-bar was found to be counter-productive: it increased EVCCON 14 Continued from page 17 the terminal temperatures during fast charge markedly. Thirdly, evidence of soft shorts in CALB CA100fi cells was presented. Thirty-eight of these cells had been discharged to about 2.7 volts and the voltage of each cell monitored over the subsequent week. Thirty-six of the 38 cells showed a voltage recovery in the millivolt range over several days and then a stable voltage. The two remaining cells exhibited a decay in voltage (again in the millivolt range) over the same time period indicating self-discharge, probably caused by an internal soft short. (A soft short is a high-resistance internal short circuit which has the effect of causing some degree of self-discharge of the affected cell.) 8Ah Battery Life Cycle Perfor- mance Test, by Dave Bogard, CO Headway 8 Ah LiFePO4 batteries in series of two cells each, were tested for multiple cycles at three different temperatures: 0, 20, and 55 degrees C. Conclusions from the tests, concerning the effect of temperature on aging, were that the batteries performed best at ambient temperature, the highest temperature was detrimental to the batteries, and the lowest temperature was the most detrimentalto the batteries. Hacking Electric Vehicles for Fun and Profit, by Collin Kid- der, FL So why would anyone want to hack EVs? You might want to take hardware from OEM vehicles that have been damaged and use it in EV conversions. Or you might like to modify the performance on OEM vehicles. And lastly, its always fun to do! For more information, contact collinkiddermfg. com. Lonestar EV Technologies and Racing Applications, by Adam Clark John Metrics Assault and Battery, which was present at EVCCON14, is now the fastest door car in the world, at 8.9 s for 村 mile. It has two 9 NetGain motors with Helwig brushes and two Zilla 2K motor controllers, 375-V, 800
  • 4. November 2014 / Current EVents 19 EVCCOn 14 almost no effect during the traction limited period (but may help later in the race), shifting weight to the back has a moderate effect, raising the cars vertical center of gravity has a big effect, and improving tire/track grip has the biggest effect. See more information on Johns Assault and Battery at http://www. ampahaulic.com. EVtv.EU and Electric Boats, by Anne Kloppenberg, Am- sterdam, The Netherlands In addition toAnnes boat conversions to electric business, he has now also become EVtvs supplier in Europe. All the canal boats (approximately 200 boats) taken by tourists through Amsterdam need to be emission-free by the year 2020. This requirement will create a perfect business opportunity to introduce electric boat conversions. SeeAnnes two web sites, one for EVtv Europe, http://evtv-amsterdam.eu/, and the other for his boat conversions business, called New Electric, http:// www.newelectric.nl. Electric Boats Panel Dis- cussion, by Anne Kloppen- berg, Brian Seymour, and Jeff Southerland A variety of interesting points were made during the discussion: There are thousands of lakes where you can no longer have motor boats on the water (concerns about oil pollution, noise, etc.), so electric boats may be more acceptable alternatives on these lakes. Further interest in converting boats may be fueled by the inflated cost of diesel on the water: $11/gal for diesel in Amsterdam, and $5.50/gal in the US. It doesnt take much power to put a boat through the water at low speed; Kevin Smith with his Illuminati, featuring a unique car body that he custom built with an AC hp, 2200 lb, and does 0-60 mph in 1.5 s. Opportunities for race cars include: use materials science to lighten the cars, connect electric motors to turbo- chargers, develop advanced energy management software (i.e. software and code writinga lot of power is being unlocked by code writing), make aerodynamic improvements, try great new battery ideas, remove the superfluous stuff in the packaging of batteries, and add supercapacitors. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.ampahaulic.com. Innovation in MotionHPEVS Hi Performance Electric Ve- hicle SystemsPowered by Electricity, by Brian Seymour Brian discussed a number of projects, including conversion of a Reinell runabout boat to electric, the design of Acuity Functions BMS primarily for lead acid battery packs, and the HPEVS oil-cooled motor production release planned for early September. The reasons for oil-cooling a motor include: the type of oil being used (i.e., purified mineral oil) pours like water, and is a dielectric oil that has successfully been used in transformers; it gives better transfer of heat; the oil is in direct contact with windings, rotor, and stator core; it lubricates the bearings; and the oil allows for higher operating temperatures (up to 130 degrees C). See Brians web site at http://www. hpevs.com. High Performance from Stock PartsPart 3, by John Metric John has been tweaking his Assault and Battery EV race car to maximize its racing performance. He concluded that changing the weight of the car has continued on page 20
  • 5. 20 Current EVents / November 2014 EVCCOn 14 Glenn Brown driving his converted 1967 Ford Shelby Cobra continued on next page however, if you are traveling fast, the power needs increase exponentially. Electrical noise in a fiberglass boat is a nightmaree.g., lacking the huge metal ground shield, one may need to trail ground straps through the water and embed a stainless steel screen in the fiberglass. Converte, by Paulo Almeida and Celso Menaia, Lisbon, Portugal This presentation was about the development of a new battery meter. Most EV conversions at EVCCON have small displays that show instantaneous readings of volts, amps, and amp-hour, but they cannot show historical data. So Paulo and Celso invented a device, which they call JLD505, which can measure V, A, Ah, W, and Wh, and transmit all of this data via 3 different ports: through a USB serial port, a Bluetooth serial port, and a CAN interface. Paulo and Celso work at ISEL (Lisbon Superior Institute of Engineering) and have created a brand name Converte, which is dedicated to conversions and products related to conversions. Next Generation Battery Monitoring System (Youve Got to be Kidding!) aka the EVtv BMS, by Ed Clausen, Paulo de Almeida, and Jack Rickard This is a device being developed that can predict the early demise of cells under very heavy load. Jacks theory is that if you measure the voltage of each cell, you can observe that if any cell is about to fail, it would sag further than the other cells in approximately the 8C to 10C range. The device has EVCCON 14 Continued from page 19 no power electronics of any kind, and it wont balance anything; the M in this BMS stands for Monitoring, not Managing. For more information, visit the http://EVtv.me web site. The Myth of the No-Mainte- nance EV, by Brian Noto At some point in time, you are going to have to work on your converted vehicledont make the wiring so tight and so neat that you cant get in to repair it. When you build your car, think about how things will vibrate during travel. Think about how you can get individual components back out, not just how to get them in. Tom Brunka (Helwig Carbon Products): EV Motor Improve- ment Helwig produces brushes for all brush type motors using materials such as electro-graphite, metal graphite, and graphite. Their best grades of brushes for EVs that are street driven are designated H38 for those with battery packs of 230 V or less, and grade H60 for those with battery pack voltages greater than 230 V. For EV racing, they offer their H49 race only grade, which will wear abnormally fast when used at low average current levels, such as during idle or coasting, and therefore is not good for street applications. Helwig makes recommendations (e.g., to minimize wear, wind your brush springs an extra 遜 turn, because EV applications need a lot of extra spring pressure) and designs their brushes to minimize grooving, mechanical wear, electrical wear, voltage drop, and arcing. Ideally, brush seating on a new motor (with the H60 grade) should be carried out for 7 days, 24 hours/ day, at 3000 to 4000 rpm. See more information on Helwigs brushes at http://helwigcarbon.com or call Terry Ewert (customer service technical) at (414) 362-6252 or Tom Brunka
  • 6. November 2014 / Current EVents 21 EVCCOn 14 Glenn Brown from Iowa City, IA won Best of Show with his converted Cobra continued on page 22 was really special to witness the EV Grin on peoples faces--especially on first-timers who may never have driven a custom electric vehicle! The first event was not the racing, but a weigh-in of all the EVs. The Lightest Build this year went to the Twike, a 704-lb purpose built vehicle. The heaviest vehicle had to be Al Gajdas 1939 Dodge Bros pickup. Al was also instrumental in making sure the drag race went off without a hitch. The EVCCON laid out a professionally timed 1/8-mile drag strip right down the airport ramp. The best Elapsed Time (E.T.) of the day of 8.02 sec @ 82.52 MPH went to John Metric with his 2002 Mazda Miata. Over at the SOLO course, run by the St. Louis Chapter of the Sports Car Club of America, they were having a blast! Michel Mikey Bertrand in his in his triple-motor 1988 Porsche 911 captured the best SOLO time of the day with an impressive 57.593-second lap. As the evening progressed, a tractor- trailer made its way to the hangar and Track Lab set up a mobile dynamometer. They were able to test motive power, horsepower, and torque of the vehicles. Some of the numbers were quite impressive but the winner, John Metric, showed off with 584.34 ft-lb of torque. And a final race On Sunday the attendees that were still around headed south to Sikeston, to Dyno Doms Drag Strip. The 1/8th- mile strip is actually one of the oldest in the U.S. and a real treat for the attendees to make runs down. Last year 5 new National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) world records were set in a number of classes. 2014 saw three more broken. (engineering) at (414) 354-2411 x285. Playday All hands were on deck when the EVCCON took to the Cape Girardeau regional Airport on Friday. No one lagged behind or showed up late for the all-day motor sports extravaganza. Playday, as its come to be known, began around 9:00 a.m. with coffee and a light breakfast. Then the attendees were given their marching orders for the day and a little speech about the spirit and purpose of the event, as well as safety (theres always time for safety!) for the drivers. The purpose of Playday was for everyone who had brought a vehicle to get a chance to see how their vehicles perform down the 1/8th-mile drag strip and the Sports Car Club of America SOLO road race event. The spirit of the day was more about sharing. Everyone was encouraged to share their riders with other attendees whether or not they were able to bring a vehicle. It
  • 7. 22 Current EVents / November 2014 EVCCOn 14 Brian Noto and Jack Rickard presenting at the technical session EVCCON14 technical session EVCCON 14 Continued from page 21 George Grant III, who wasnt an attendee, but heard about the race and travelled some 700 miles, set the record in the DMC/H Class with his Electron Rush motorcycle. His time was 7.402 sec @ 80.64 MPH. The PS/F Class went to Michel Bertrand in his 1988 Porsche 911 with a time of 8.836 sec @ 77.09 MPH. Brian Noto smashed last years record setting run, establishing a new record in the XS/C Class of 9.364 sec @ 74.17 MPH. Another non-attendee Terry Hatfield driving up from Springdale, AR brought Shock Therapy, a NEDRA record holder, attempting to hit the 100 MPH mark and gain the title of Worlds Fastest Golf Cart. He missed it by 1 MPH! Playday set the standard again for fun and friendship, competition, and hard work for everyone in attendance. It was a great finish to a great event, the 4th Annual Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention. Plan to join us in Cape Girardeau, MO for EVCCON15! Brian Noto announced that there will be an EVCCON15 in September next year. The conference dates will be September 29 October 3. Write to info@EVtv.me to get signed up for the early bird rate of $349 by April 1, or at the regular rate of $595 after April 1.