Projects What I have been working on for the last 5+ weeks...

First, I know this might not be HAMB friendly but thought some might find it interesting. Hope I don't need to put on my flame suit...

This all started with an idea over dinner last year. I had meet a guy who converts vehicles to run 100% electric powered. I gave him a hand finishing up his car last year and we became friends. I happened to have a '27 Model T fiberglass body and a basic frame, that I was going to build a hot rod out of. As I started thinking, "hey, wouldn't it be cool to build it as an electric". We talked it over and felt it would be a great project but we both had other things going on so it was on the back burner. Well, the week before Labor Day weekend I met up with him at dinner. He asked if I was still interested in doing the roadster project? Sure I said. Then he hit me with, there is the National Electric Drag race in 6 weeks, think we can build it and have it ready to race? Umm.... sure?!
So 5+ weeks later we are coming up on the race. It's this Sunday and we are hoping to set a world record with it. My friend already holds a couple with his other car. Monday night we test drove it for the first time. Still lots of details to finish up but thought I might share this with everyone here.
I bring you... Green Tee, most likely the first '27 Model T electric roadster.
What we started with

A little over a week into it

About 4 weeks into it

Wiring up the motor. It puts out a max 450 HP and 1000 ft lbs of torque. We are running direct drive to the rear axle.

Batteries... a lot of them. They are Lithium Ion cells, combined for 290 volts DC at about 1000 amps!

First Drive this past Monday (I know it's not street legal but we needed to test)

Here is a quick movie (sorry but you will need Quicktime or another viewer that can support .MP4 movies)
http://gallery.lisaandmike.org/albums/27roadster/GreenTee3.mp4

There are a bunch more pictures and movies in my gallery. Feel free to take a look. Fingers are crossed we will have it ready for Sunday's race and hope to do very well. Enjoy. http://gallery.lisaandmike.org/27roadster

 

Wow...I dig it! How do you recharge the batteries? And what would it cost a common man to do the electric part?

 

I like it alot ! good luck,keep me updated.
I'm also racing on just two car batterys only,no recharge alowd when racing,just not drags,we run a road race track 1/3 mile for one hr. time,most races have 12 to 14 of these cars,some don't make it to the end of a hour.
My son drives and Rex and I crew. I designed it with a aero body,yet have never put it on yet,we won the last 6 races over all with out the body cover.
http://electrathonfl.homestead.com/

 

That's the "traditional" kind of rods we'll ALL be building in 20 years...

 

Pretty cool idea. Standard build procedure or are there any light weight innovations tucked into the build?

 

That's awesome! Be sure to post your et's

 

Yeah, but where do you put the Smittys?

 

The charger is some big honkin' setup for this type of application. Sorry don't know more on that since the electric stuff is really new to me.

As for cost, the motor we are running is about $5000, the controller is another $5000 and the pack he just had built (similar cells but all housed in one big unit weighing 300#) ran him $6000. Not cheap by any means but hey, I'm not paying for it...

 

Are you going to put a full nose on it or are you going to use a mock-up motor ?

The donuts was awesome

 

That's been the the battle back and forth. I am of the mindset of building strong, which means I tend to over build. He is of the mindset of weight is bad. Overall we are figuring less then 1500# total. The glass body helps over a steel one.

 

Plans are for a full track nose setup. We thought about leaving it open and putting a plastic dummy block in, just to screw with people. A track nose is more aerodynamic.

 

Actually that money to set drag racing records is DIRT CHEAP

good luck!

 

I'm jealous as shit of his work shop.

 

I think it is a cool project and it should run pretty good. I did some trolley bus work back in the late 70's and I remember they were pretty fast out of the hole. They would out run any diesel bus around. Keep us posted on what you run.

 

Very interesting!

btw I like the TH400 tailhousing on the motor...

 

Park a realistic stuffed hamster in a wheel where the engine goes. When you get an admirer, spew some facts about alternate energy then proudly open the hood.

 

Thanks, fixed the link. The board code put in an extra http: but it wasn't visable.

 

Mike, thats pretty cool man - and intersting shop too! Where in town are you? Also, where you racin on Sunday? Barona or the Q? Would dig checkin it out

 

Screw the track nose, I would just mount the empty grille shell and leave nothing in the engine bay, with some primer and masking tape on the body so it looks like you just mocked it up. But then drive it around that way. Totally silent with no visible engine or drivetrain.

 

Running at Barona as part of this http://www.kickgasfestival.com/

 

That is interesting! Does the car run well? I would bet in the 40's and 50's if those hotrodders could get their hands on a 450 horse electric motor the rest of our story would be different. Man thats an expensive alternative.

 

Man is that cool!! Does it have reverse? I hope you put an emergency kill switch in that thing. I think you may have started a new "green rod" trend. Good luck with the record and be safe.

 

Where do you look for electic engines like that? I've thought about doing something electric one day, but have no idea where to begin with the engine.

Very cool project!


Thanks

 

It will have reverse, an outside kill switch, driver activated kill switch and the controller will shut everything down if it senses an error. There is a really large fuse as well. Lots of safety stuff but the biggest risk is a battery fire (which has happened). On reason we have a steel firewall between us and the batteries.

After the race we will work on get it into street legal form.

 

That sort of looks like a starter/generator off of an airplane. What does it go to originally?

 

This motor (and electrics are referred to as motor, not engine) can be found here http://www.go-ev.com/ Nice thing it looks like the prices have come down a fair amount.

 

Killer little car! I've been wanting to do the same thing, but don't have that kind of money. I was thinking of using a controller, motor, etc. out of a golfcart, but would probably have to build it superlight to get it up to any kind of highway speed. Anyone else build an electric rod?

 

Very cool, I have been wondering when someone would do this. Big thumbs up!

 

To my knowledge this are specifically designed for this type of application. I posted a link to the motor company above.

 

Man that is cool!! Do you have any idea what kind of milage you can get on a charge and how long does it take to get a full charge??

-COS