Carbon Neutral in Minnesota

2010-08-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

Due to a large change in the distance I will be driving to work every week, I have reluctantly decided to put the Corvair up for sale. If you are interested, watch E-Bay for it soon. My brother, the builder of the vehicle will be the contact person. This is a tried and true EV, already built, humming and driving.

2010-04-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, where does the time go? No news on the EV. Still rolling along. There is some body work to be done as the years on the salt-covered winter roads are taking its toll but as far as the conversion goes, it is working well. Since it is a Corvair, the rear seals are starting to leak, no surprise, so the plan is to get the seal kit and change to a synthetic in hopes of gaining some distance on a charge.
I'll let you know how it goes!

2010-01-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

It's cold outside. For those of you who drive an EV, you know cold temps mean less range and greater voltage sag under acceleration. My car is no exception. I checked the rolling resistance recently. It was 50# vs the 35# resistance the car had this fall after the wheel alignment. I also started monitoring the temperature of the battery boxes and of the batteries themselves in various temps, inside the garage and after sitting outside at work all day. Without listing specifics, the front box temp was essentially the ambient temp. and the rear box a few degrees warmer. The battery temps were several degrees warmer but many times still under 40 degrees F. Knowing this, I spoke with my Bro who started brainstorming a way to warm up the batteries. Last week, he installed 130W blankets wrapped in poly in both boxes. The blankets can be plugged in with the battery charger or separately. So far, the battery performance seems better, less voltage sag and a bit more spunk with acceleration. The R&D continues, however. Today, while sitting outside at work, with a high temp of -6 F and a windchill of -26F, the blankets only plugged in for 8 hours, the front box temp was 46.3 and the rear box was 60.1 F. I'll keep an eye on the temps, check battery temps, also and post, again, in the near future. Bottom line, the Corvair EV is still my daily driver and that's COOL!
Happy New Year.

2009-12-21T04:20:00.000-08:00

December 2nd began the 4th year of driving the Corvair EV. Time does indeed fly when you are having fun. The T-145's are a huge improvement now that they are "awake". My Bro did an amazing job of aligning the front this fall. With those two items on the "done" list, I had really hoped for some pretty stupendous performance when the temps went down. Well, it wasn't as amazing as I had hoped so the R&D continues. (I still have a vast amount of things to learn about lead acid batteries.) I monitored the temperature of the interior of the battery boxes as well as the batteries themselves in various temps, inside the garage, outdoors, newly charged battery temps, etc. When the temp outside dropped to -14, the garage temp was at +22, the box temp was running about +25 and the battery temps were hovering around +37-40 degrees F. And, the rolling resistance, in cold temps, increased by about 15#. Needless to say, the newest project my Bro is working on is a heating system for the batteries. The tranny/running gears will be added to the list. The grease is heavy but the bank account is light, so that one has to wait. The best news is that the Corvair continues to be my daily driver. Merry Christmas!

2009-08-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where did the summer go?! Or should I say the months of June, July and August since we really didn't have a typical summer this year. The Corvair is humming well. The alignment issue will be taken care of in October by my Bro. He has been doing his homework and said he read that if done in a specific manner, my manual steering could be the closest thing to "power steering" I'll ever get. I'm certainly up for that.
Otherwise, no news is good news, I guess. The T-145's could have a better resting voltage, yet. I do not have the system down for bringing batteries up to their peak. I'm hoping to be at a better level by the time the cold temps begin.

2009-05-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Prius tires I inherited were mounted on the Corvair rims yesterday. The rolling resistance had dropped according to the amperage used while driving 40 mph on flat tar. Prior to the low rolling resistance tires, the E-meter read 100 amps used to go 40 mph whereas now the meter reads about 80-85 amps for the same speed in 2nd gear. I am still looking for a source that can do a proper 4 wheel alignment on the car.
The T-145s are slowly waking up. Resting voltage is now up to 12.9. That is up from 12.7-12.8 a couple of weeks ago. The car is definitely snappier and a whole lot of fun to drive. I am hoping to finally weigh the car next week. I'll post the result.

2009-05-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've put about 120 miles on the new battery pack. I don't quite have the magic touch when it comes to "waking" them up! I've been trying to follow the instructions from my Bro but, tonight, when he offered to come up to work on them, or should I say "wake them", I jumped at it. He did this for me on the last pack and it went very well. Otherwise, it is great to have some acceleration, again with far less sag than the old pack.

2009-04-30T16:35:00.001-07:00

Where did the last month go? It was still snowing here last Friday and is really cold and windy today. The good news is that the Corvair is home, again, with a new pack of T-145s. I am trying to break them in properly by not driving it too far, charging correctly, etc. This weekend, I plan on doing a specific gravity on all 60 cells of my 20 batteries for a reference point. So far, the improvement from the other battery pack, of which 2 batteries were pretty bad, is huge. Even with the cooler temps, low 30's, the voltage sag is nothing compared to the old pack. It is a fun ride, again. The T-145's are heavier so ordered new coil springs for the front as the car sits pretty low. Those will be here in 4-6 weeks. The next plan is to have the seals replaced and run a lighter weight fluid. That should help get me rolling more quickly with less amperage. I also came into a set of tires from a Prius that I'll run in the summer. All things considered, I'll be very curious to check the range with those additions/changes/upgrades.

2009-03-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

The Corvair is trailered up, again, on it's way to my Bro's tomorrow for a new 20-pack of T-145's.
I made it through most of the winter with the old set of T-105's, nursing them along, however it has become just too much sag and not enough oomph to get me moving. This pack took me over 5,0o0 miles in 2 1/2 years. Yep, I had hoped the pack would last longer than it did but so it goes.
Live and learn...driving and maintaining an EV is definitely an opportunity to learn! Would I make the decision to drive an EV, again? That's affirmative. I've learned so much and plan on continuing to do so. My problem-solving skills are far from great but I'm catching on.
Tom in Portland, I received your letter. I'll pass it on to my Bro as he is the brains behind this project. Thanks for sending it! The calendar says it is spring but the recent snow and cold temps say otherwise. Ahhhhh, Minnesota!

2009-03-11T18:36:00.001-07:00

Hey Keith, My apologies for not keeping up with the blog. When there isn't much new, I tend not to post anything. I'll go through some photos and see what I can come up with for battery box layouts and electrical layouts. Keep in mind, my car was the prototype so my Bro has refined the arrangements since then in other projects.

2009-03-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

It's March 11...judging by the size of the snow drifts this morning, the Corvair stayed home. The car does well in snow as it is heavy but I do ride pretty low so push a lot of snow. Couple that extra work with an aging battery pack makes my top speed in -15 degree temps of about 25mph, tops. I've nursed the batteries along all winter and just made the decision to order a 20-pack of T-145's. Sometime in May, I hope to get them put in the car. For now, I'll just keep "pluggin'" away.

2009-01-29T19:43:00.000-08:00

-10 degrees this morning. Not too bad considering the -35 we had just a few short days ago. I did take the Corvair into work this morning. I've been experimenting with charging the batteries and then plugging the battery box heaters in. With a tired battery pack, I've been working at trying to find the best combination of charging/heating to get me the few miles to work without sagging into battery oblivion. I got in the car this a.m. and the voltage read 12.2. Not great but the heaters and been plugged in overnight. Well, I drove to work at a top speed of 25 mph. I made it but it was tough keeping the sag above 10.5. After charging all day at work, with no heaters plugged in, I was able to drive 32-35 mph before the sag bottomed out. Cold days, cold tranny. The compacted snow on the road into town created even more rolling resistance vs driving on the cleared streets in town. The bottom line is I'm still driving the car however -10 is about as cold as I can move in until we work on the battery pack and rolling resistance. Stay warm!

2009-01-10T19:27:00.002-08:00

The Corvair continues to roll, albeit quite a bit slower with the cold weather than when it's warm.
I am just about 50 miles shy of the 5,000 mile goal. The next goal will be to see if I can get it through the winter with this battery pack. I have my doubts. We did just have a 4-wheel alignment done earlier this week. That will help a little with rolling and the energy it takes to get the car moving in the cold but I'm not sure it will help enough. The old Corvair wiring is giving me fits, too, so I have no heat or defrost, right now. I can take a little cold but scraping the windshield as I drive is less than desirable!
I'll keep you posted!

2009-01-10T19:27:00.001-08:00

The electronics in the dashboard consist of an E-meter. The remaining switches, etc. are all stock Corvair. Could you be more specific as to your statement about photos of the electronics/controls, please?

2008-11-14T19:34:00.001-08:00

My goal is to see this set of batteries reach the 5000 mile mark...I'm now less than 400 miles from reaching that goal. The weather is cold, blustery and snowy. My batteries are the victim of many things including the weather. Currently, the voltage sag is huge so am really hoping to improve that with the next step in batteries that I've written about earlier.
Otherwise, the Corvair continues to work quite well. Gas prices have come down to less than $2 a gallon but that doesn't make me want to switch back. I'm likin' 'lectric!! It is coming up on 2 years on Dec. 2nd that I've been driving the car almost every day and I look forward to many more years to come. If anything fails, it will be the strength in my arms to turn the wheel with manual steering!

2008-09-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Photos of the motor were requested.

2008-09-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

The odometer just ticked off 4,150 miles on the EV conversion for the Corvair. My Bro was up a week ago to replace the main contactor. Originally, we were trying to keep costs down so put in an 80V contactor; I run 120V. The Zilla told me the main contactor was stuck open. Nice to be able to pinpoint the problem and know exactly what to do to fix it. After getting into the repair a bit further, it came to light that a wire in the relay, due to the washboard road I drive on everyday, had broken and only making intermittent contact. With the installation of the appropriate main contactor, that relay became unnecessary so shouldn't be the cause of that issue in the future. Another negative effect from the bumpy road is that the lead in my batteries is coming off the grids. Needless to say, my batteries, no matter how hard I try to keep them healthy, are now only in fair condition. Sooooooooooo, I am still saving my "gas" money for the T-145s. I had told my Bro the very first day I drove it on our road that the washboard bumps would be the death of my car. Seems I am somewhat prophetic. If you live on a road such as I do, I'd advise some type of system to reduce the amount of vibration on the cars components.

2008-07-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

The car is 80 miles short of 4000 miles on the conversion. I currently am having some cooling issues for the Zilla. The liquid cooling system I have at this time does not seem to be working properly, so will continue to monitor it. My Bro has found a new system that I am waiting to see how it works on the van conversion in his shop, right now.
The cheap Energizer batteries are holding their own but I fear some voltage sag problems this winter. Still saving my nickels and dimes for the T-145s. On the to do list is to clean the battery cable connections, again, as some of them are getting pretty corroded. Not a big deal just a bit time consuming.
Kind of funny.........some people still think EVs are a vehicle of the future.........

2008-06-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

The Corvair is doing pretty well considering the batteries appear to be aging faster than I had hoped they would. My Bro said, "They're cheap batteries and will age but just wait until you get the T-145s! Your range will increase and the huge voltage sag you experience won't be an issue." In the next breath, he said the pack will cost me over $ 3,ooo.oo so I guess I'll continue saving my nickels and dimes and nursing my "Cheap Batteries" along, especially until the boys are out of college.
Otherwise, the auxillary battery charger appears to be working well...no issues running my heater, windshield wipers and headlights at the same time. Future plans include beefing the DCDC convertor to an Iota 55 amp vs the 30 amp I have now. My understanding is this will negate the need for the auxillary battery. One step at a time. That has been one of the truly enjoyable parts of working on this car. I am continuing to learn something new all of the time.

2008-05-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

The Corvair was a hit with many attendees of the Living Green Expo in St. Paul, MN, last weekend. I enjoyed talking with a variety of people, some nearly ready to go with an EV and some still extremely skeptical that it really has run for the past 17 months, not to mention thru two winters.
The tweaking continues as I expect it will for some time to come. My Bro installed a small charger for the auxillary battery so it will charge to 14.6V or so. We are hoping this creates enough voltage when the temps get colder, again, so the Zilla doesn't think there isn't enough and shuts the car down. He also created and installed an isolation transformer to cope with the wet garage floor issue which included the GFCI on the garage outlet tripping when I plugged the car in. I'll keep you posted on the success of that unit. I am also planning on purchasing a Palm Pilot from Cafe Electric to have inside the Corvair to monitor the little hiccups it has from time to time.
The local population that told me last year, when gas ONLY cost $ 2.50 a gallon, that it was crazy to drive a car that only went 30-40 miles on a charge. With gas in town at $ 3.59 a gallon and rising, those same folks now tell me "that is really all you need for everyday". Funny how one's thinking changes!

2008-04-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Derrick, Thanks for the comment and good luck with your '65. The technical questions go to my Bro but if you get me your email, I'll forward it on to him.

2008-04-06T13:47:00.001-07:00

We had 6" of fresh, heavy snow this morning. I went into town with no problem. The Corvair does well in the snow...ice is a different story. My spouse and I, at the suggestion of my Bro, wired the voltmeter to the auxillary battery to monitor the draw levels under different conditions in an attempt to define the source of my problems in the really cold temps this winter. It is interesting to watch the amount of voltage draw in low 20's temps, acceleration with my headlights and heater on. My beginning voltage was 13.65 on the 12V deep cycle auxillary battery. With the demands mentioned above on the system, the voltage dropped to 12V. It is pretty easy to make the assumption that at -20 degrees, that voltage could drop below 11V and shut my car down. It is a work in progress..............

2008-03-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention I've surpassed the 3000 mile mark on the conversion. My cheap batteries are hanging in there although I do look forward to the day when I can afford to buy the T-145s. My current pack spits and sputters alot. I also am trying to save up to have the tranny overhauled. The MN Corvair club doesn't call their newsletter "Leaky Seals" for nothing. If I can run with lighter weight fluid, I won't work up a sweat trying to get a cold tranny into reverse, any longer!

2008-03-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

The average temp this week is supposed to be in the 30's, above 0. I think we've made it through the second winter with the Corvair. It was not without some difficulty, however. I will make it a point to say the problems I had with the car are due to the 42 year-old wiring, not the electric conversion! Somewhere in the switch in the steering column is an intermittent short of some kind that causes the Zilla to shut my car down. It isn't as bad if I don't run the headlights or use the left turn signal! The 12v, deep cycle, auxillary battery also had some trouble giving up it's amps when the temps were 25 to 30 below this winter. I bought a battery blanket that helped somewhat.
My Bro came up and put my DC/DC convertor back in also which really helped keep the Zilla functioning. He'll get the car for a week in the end of April to re-wire and replace the switch. From there, it will go to the "Living Green"Expo at the State Fair grounds in St. Paul, MN before it comes home, again.
California has $4.00/gallon gas. Doesn't bother me!

2007-12-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

It has been several months since I've added to the blog...longer than I thought. When things are going well and the car is running smoothly, there just isn't a whole lot to say! December 2nd was the beginning of the second year of running the car fulltime. With the cold temps, the voltage sag is, once again, an issue but not one so large it cannot be overcome. About a month ago, the DC/DC convertor went out so the sealed 12V auxillary battery was not charging. Needless to say, the car quit about 1/2 mile from home and the battery is toast. My Bro came up and installed a 12V deep cycle battery for back-up, so I have to keep that one charged, as well as the others. Not really a big deal. The convertor is still at the factory. I must say I was ready to start looking at Priuses at the time but now the Corvair is running well, again.
I've surpassed the 2000 mile mark on the electric conversion. Truly, the car has done very well and I'm looking forward to May 2008 in Mpls. for the Sustainable Energy/Green Show in the cities. The Corvair and I will be there. I hear the term "futuristic" when people find out my car is electric. In the late 1800's, many of the motorized vehicles were electric. Check it out as it is fascinating technology to read about especially since it was in place over 100 years ago.
Merry Christmas!

2007-08-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

Another new event occurred last week with the Corvair. When I backed out of the garage one morning, the car literally took off. Normally, it accelerates very evenly so it really took me by surprise. When I put it in second gear and accelerated, again, the car chattered terribly and the voltage reading on the E-Meter was just crazy, up and down, in fact, dangerously down. I called my Bro that evening and he suggested checking the specific gravity of the batteries, just to make sure there wasn't one going south. He also mentioned that the potentiometer connected to the accelerator might be getting sticky and to shut the power to the car down completely, and pump the accelerator like I used to when I was cold-starting my '57 Chevy's 283! Funny how quickly that memory came back.
I did that and the car has been driving well since. The erratic voltage stopped (the specific gravities checked out fine) and it has been rolling just like it used to. Life is good.

2007-07-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

I've just checked some of the comments. I'd be very honored to have the story posted in the newsletter. Do you allow electric Corvair's into the club? You can speak with R.S. of your club. He took lots of photos last Saturday and can share what we talked about. Otherwise, he can contact me and we can arrange to have you come up.To Debra, I'm so pleased to hear another woman is interested in this project! The adapter plate was fabricated by my Bro. The brakes and suspension were upgraded. I guess the donor vehicle is up to you as to how much restoration you want to do along with the conversion. I'll give your email to my Bro and tell him you have some questions. I hope you find the pages a little helpful. I'd definitely order the Zilla controller. There is a 4-6 month wait but it's worth it. Good luck!

2007-07-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

My voice is finally back to normal after last Saturday's local car show. Thanks to R.S., I entered the show, my Bro came up and we proceeded to talk non-stop to car owners and spectators alike. "Nice Corvair." I thanked them and then said, "It's electric." Well, that got their interest. There weren't many minutes of the 6 1/2 hours we were there that we weren't talking to a group of people about the electric conversion. It was a fantastic opportunity to educate them about converting to electric, how well it works in Minnesota, even in winter, and that a woman can drive and maintain the car. Many people took photos of the components and talked about what a great idea it was. Of course, most of the inquiries included, how far can you go on a charge and how fast can you drive. I'd like to think the answers impressed them. Next spring, I've committed to taking the car to the Twin Cities to the Green Show. I look forward to it.
I also hope the woman who wants to build an electric street rod goes for it!
A comment about the Zilla and the issues I was having driving over our rutted dirt road and over railroad tracks. Under those conditions, the DC/DC convertor was not enough to keep the Zilla powered up. After the installation of a small, sealed battery, I've not had a problem with it.
I will re-iterate, the Zilla is amazing! I can accelerate well and have plenty of power to get up to cruising speed of 55 mph within a relatively short distance.

2007-07-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

One week home, again, with the Corvair. The Zilla is really a sensitive piece of equipment. So much so, that the gravel road I live on can cause the unit to warn me that something is not right and, worse case scenario, it will shut the controller down. Railroad tracks will do the same thing. It's easy to get rolling, again, however, it adds to the re-learning curve I was already in.
The good side is that the unit also shuts down when it is programmed to, namely, when the voltage sag gets too low. I plan on driving it at the parameters it is set at for a while, yet, just to get the feel of it. The Zilla can be re-programmed with the laptop...how convenient is that? Another manual...........Electric cars seem to have several of them. RTFM!!!!
The rolling resistance is down from about 70# to 30# after the four-wheel alignment. The car gets out of the hole really well, now, as well as coasts for a loooooonnnnnnnnnnngggg way. I'm going to test the difference that makes or doesn't make on a little bit longer trip by using the accelerator for the entire trip one time and then using a combination of accelerator and coasting on a duplicate trip and recording the beginning and ending voltage each time. A flat route will help, obviously. I'll post what I find out.

2007-06-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

Two phone calls from my Bro, today. The first one to tell me the Zilla is working very well...so many amps that he melted a battery terminal! I'm rather pleased that the first battery problem occurred under his watch, not mine! There was a loose terminal connection that caused the meltdown when he got on the accelerator a bit. Yes, the tires are chirpin'!!!!!!!!!
At 45 mph, the amps are running about 90 with the Zilla, whereas, with the Zapi, the amps were running around 200 at about the same speed. I'm expecting the battery performance to be enhanced with the Zilla. I'll have to wait and see. The car won't come home for about a week, yet. Monday is the alignment of all four wheels and mid-week, I'll be doing some underbody Por-15 touch-ups. The hood and cowling are fixed and installed as is the new windshield. The Corvair is coming back together and will be better than before. So, next week, starts the learning curve all over, again. Should be fun!

2007-06-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

www.evalbum.com. The Listserve is here, also.

2007-06-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

In a couple of days, I'll be bringing the Corvair back home with the new Zilla installed and ready to burn a little rubber! There have been a couple of unanticipated setbacks with the vehicle itself. I was driving home at about 45 mph and the hood latch let go and slammed my hood into my windshield, broke one hinge and the windshield along with dents, scrapes, etc. So, that is being repaired at the same time as the Zilla is being installed. Our computer crashed also, so was unable to view the comments or add to this blog until now.
I appreciate the comments and questions that have been sent. As general responses, my car is posted on the EV photo album where many of the parts and descriptions are listed. As for the Zilla, I won't be able to obtain the information requested, however, the gentleman I borrowed the ZAPI from also is making a charger. If there is interest in contacting him, let me know and I'll forward your info to him. There is also a listserve for electric vehicle enthusiasts that I will get the address for and post here in the near future. My Bro was able to network with many other EV guys and have his questions answered.
A follow up to the charger problem I had...the GFI became weak and tripped every time I plugged the car in and didn't stay on until hours later. It was extremely frustrating. The manufacturer stated it was doing its job but I disagree. At any rate, my Bro worked around the GFI and now the charger works like a charm, every time.
The Corvair has 42, 330 miles on it, 1350 miles as an EV. It continues to generate local interest as the gas prices rise. It is a great alternative if you are looking for a short-range commuter vehicle, and especially, if you are also looking for a great learning experience.
I'll post next week with the performance of the Zilla.

2007-04-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to post a photo of the Corvair in it's "before" state.

2007-04-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Corvair turned over 42, 003 original miles tonight and has officially surpassed the first 1,000 mile mark as an EV. Locally, the car continues to generate interest, questions and looks of disbelief.
I saw the Zilla and the Hairball for the first time on Sunday. As excited as I am to get it installed, it also makes me somewhat nervous. I have just hit a kind of "comfort zone" with the car, ZAPI and all. Now with the Zilla, I can only anticipate the learning experiences I'll be subject to. However, it is really great fun to drive past the gas stations and see the prices closer to
$ 3.00/gallon than $2.00. As a side note, the ZAPI will be returned to the generous friend of my bro's who has borrowed it to me since last summer.

2007-04-01T16:44:00.000-07:00

It has been raining for a week, just turned to snow this afternoon. The Corvair is running well, however, since the rain, the charger's GFCI trips immediately after plugging it in. My brother will contact Russco to ask about possible fixes for this. If I wait about one half hour to an hour, it will charge without a problem.
The long-awaited Zilla has arrived. About 6 weeks from now, it should be on it's way to installation. After talking with my bro last night, we will be adding a speed sensor to the controller, just in case the motor starts to turn too many RPMs.
I did the bi-weekly battery check and fill today. My son asked me why my pants had all the holes in them...battery acid. He laughed.
Another week and a half or so and I should reach the first 1000 miles. Pretty cool 'cuz I haven't killed the battery pack, yet.

2007-03-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

The weight of the Corvair can be a disadvantage as it takes more energy to push it, however, when you live at the bottom of a hill, as I do, and it snows and drifts across the top of the hill, the vehicle's weight can work to one's advantage. After getting stuck and backing down the hill for another run, I buried the passenger side of the car in a drift. As I tried to back down, again, I started to bog down. Without shifting from reverse to first and back and forth, etc. to rock the car out, I merely stepped lightly on the accelerator and let off several times, in first gear, to start rocking. The downward slope of the hill and gravity helped and I was able to back down, once again. The third time was a charm, as they say.
I experienced the same charging difficulty when I came home later in the day. I plugged the car in, after going through quite a bit of deep snow, and the battery charger tripped. After turning the current down to "0", this time without success, I let it sit for 20 minutes, tried, again, and it worked well. The moisture/grounding issue that is tripping the GFI may be occurring in the negative connection to the motor, according to my Bro and some other EV enthusiasts he knows.
Good news today, my back-ordered Zilla controller is ready to ship. I'll keep you posted!

2007-02-26T04:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first test for the Corvair's ability to go through snow. We had a foot of new snow as of Sunday morning and, by mid-morning, the plows had not gone through, yet. The Corvair pushed through very well. The only issue was turning the corners, having to slow down first for oncoming traffic and then keep up enough speed to not get hung up in the drifts. Being an old 4-wheeler, I knew that as long as I had forward momentum, I should stay on the accelerator. If I would have let off, I don't think I would have been able to get rolling, again, without a push from behind.
When I pulled into the garage and plugged the vehicle in, the GFI tripped immediately on the battery charger. I tested the charger to make sure it wasn't an issue with the unit, itself, which it wasn't. There was snow packed under the car so my Bro and I thought there might be a moisture problem causing the GFI to trip. After many hours of trying to dry things out and putting the car up on wood blocks to get it off the wet floor, it still was not working. Then, my Bro called back and suggested I turn the current setting down to "0" on the charger, plugging it in and resetting it. Once it stayed on, I gradually turned the current back up to "70", it's usual setting. That did the trick. The charger stayed on and I had my equalization charge completed early this morning. What we thought was a moisture issue seemed to be just a coincidence with in-rush current.

2007-02-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

I won't go into the details or number of hours spent on the restoration of the Corvair. This BLOG is being published to let those of you who are interested in electric vehicles that you can have an electric vehicle and DRIVE IT year 'round in Minnesota.
There are a number of things I have learned and am still learning but I made it through the -25 temperatures that lasted several weeks plus the -40 windchills. The Corvair performed very well. It always started, didn't groan or grind, didn't suck up extra gasoline, etc. I will say the 40 year old tranny got a little stiff but that has nothing to do with the electrical conversion.
The motor my bro installed is an Ohio Electric Warp 9, 63 hp motor. There are 20 6Volt lead/acid batteries in the car, 9 in the front battery box, which was the trunk in the Corvair, and 11 in the rear battery box which takes up the area where the back seat was. The vehicle is, therefore, very balanced and handles extremely well. Each battery box has a 200W strip heater in it, from McMaster Car, that I control with a thermostat, turning it up when it's cold to keep the batteries warmer. The batteries also heat as they charge.
The charger plugs into a 20 amp circuit in our insulated garage with a typical grounded extension cord. It will charge to the voltage I have it set to and automatically shut-off when the setting is reached. It is more difficult to keep the batteries charged well when it is cold outside. I learned to "read the manual", over and over, again, to learn how to use the battery charger. Sometimes, when it is really cold, the current setting needs to increased to push more amperage through the charger.
Inside the car, in the area where the old clock was, is the "E-Meter". This is the gauge to watch as it tells you how your batteries are doing, ie. current voltage, how much voltage remains, how many amps are used, amp hours left to use, etc. If the voltage goes down to 10.5 on a 12 V system, the batteries can reverse polarity and be ruined. My bro tells me they'll smell like rotten eggs instead of the sweet smell of a charged battery pack. I've put 500+ miles on the car since Dec. 2, 2006 and don't smell rotten eggs, yet. Never say never.
The E-Meter also shows you the voltage as you step on the accelerator. "Voltage sag" occurs when a load, acceleration, is placed on the battery pack and, especially in cold weather, the sag can happen really quickly and not recover to a comfortable level for several blocks. Acceleration is noticeably slower when it's cold so one needs to keep that in mind when pulling out in front of oncoming traffic.
I've made several errors in judgment since I brought the car home. One major one was to fill the batteries up without first charging them fully. This caused the electrolytes to dilute, so it was an entire weekend of futzing with the charger's current and voltage to get a full charge on the pack, again. Battery maintenance is key; checking the fluid levels, keeping them charged, checking each battery's voltage and comparing it to the rest of the pack, and if they start to get too far apart in their voltage levels, completing an equalization charge. I have a log book listing the date, temperature outside and inside the garage, charger settings, battery voltage readings, etc. It's good to have a reference point.
Since there is no heater core coming from the motor, people are curious about how the car is heated. There are two 1500 Watt ceramic heaters mounted back to front, with a 3 speed fan, to push heated air from the first unit through the second unit, where it is heated, again, and then to the defrost vents and the floor. Through a DC/DC convertor, so I don't need a separate battery to run the heaters, windshield wipers, lights, etc., I can turn the heaters and fan on 5 minutes prior to departure and get into a very toasty car. No worries.
I'll keep posting as I learn more about life with an electric car.

Carbon Neutral in Minnesota

2007-02-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

June 2006: Following yet another expensive set of repairs on my 2002 Buick, I was airing my disgust while on the deck of our cabin with one of my brothers and my husband, who was, incidently, more disgusted than I was. Since my brother had electrified several smaller vehicles, one being our pontoon outboard motor, with great success, the topic of electric vehicles came up. He was in the process of rebuilding a vehicle for himself for conversion to electric so had studied the process for several years. The usual questions arose; how far could it go on a charge, what type of batteries would it need, which vehicles work the best as a donor vehicle, could we keep it warm in the winter, could you plug it in at home without a special circuit, how fast could we drive it, what kind of repairs would it need (that was a very huge question at that point!) and....how much would it cost?
My workplace is 3 miles from my home which means many short trips to and from work, the grocery store, school, meetings, church, etc. We would still have the truck for longer trips. I love classic cars, having owned two '57 Chevys in my teens. One vehicle my bro said converted well was the Chevy Corvair manufactured from 1961-1969. That made this venture sound a lot more appealing! I could drive 30-40 miles on a charge with the basic lead/acid battery pack depending on the battery to total weight ratio and the temps outside. That was far enough for my needs.
My brother said he would research it and put a conversion estimate together for us. In the meantime, we should be looking for a donor vehicle, if we really wanted to make the change to electric. He emphasized this would be a process, not tried and true but one that should work.
That was the beginning....