12.23.08
Posted in EVs, Impressions, Miscellanea at 9:44 pm by smalghan
Last week I spent a couple of days in San Diego talking to Joe and Bryan at DriveCurrent about projects we can do together. Some exciting developments came out of the meeting and will be the subject of an upcoming post, but this post is devoted to the brief respite we had from meetings to check out the fastest street legal EV available.
On the one sunny day between days of constant rain that some San Diegans had never seen before, the three of us made a trip to La Jolla to accomplish two things:
1. Have our ideas for commercializing EV conversions bashed to pieces, and
2. Get a ride in a Tesla.
The dismemberment of our business plan wasn’t what we were expecting, but at least it was mostly constructive criticism we’ll be using to make our case stronger. We see a lucrative market for conversions in quantities below the volumes that the major automakers require for them to become profitable, given their large overhead. Now we know we have to show that in our plan.
Anyway, back to the interesting part, the ride in the Tesla. Our business consigliere set us up with a friend of his that had taken delivery of Roadster #37 just a month before. As we rolled up to his garage in the hills of La Jolla he and the car were waiting for us, resplendent in dark red with contrasting black leather (the car, I mean).
Aside from all the drama surrounding the company, the Roadster is a beautiful car. The lines flow smoothly and belie the car’s size; it looks bigger in pictures than in real life. To my eye, the design is far more attractive than the Lotus Elise it’s based on. The Lotus has all sorts of bumps, strakes, wings and spoilers that scream to everyone near and far how hardcore racer it is but it comes off a little too much like little man syndrome to me. The Tesla design is much cleaner and mature, letting the basic physicality of its low stance, trim proportions, and the sparing use of functional cooling and aerodynamic features to let everyone know that it’s something special without getting all red in the face about it.
Though there are plenty of pictures of the Roadster on the net, I had to snap my own. While I worked my way around the car, Joe and Bryan were getting the guided tour by the owner. As I was shooting the front end, the three of them were gathered around the charge port. Right then I heard a “PING, whack, thunk, thunk” coming from around where Bryan was standing. The owner turned around and started asking “What happened? What was that noise? What happened?” Bryan didn’t know as all he did was open the charge door and then heard the noise. He was extremely contrite and apologetic but no one could figure out what exactly happened. Seeing the melee of the owner loudly and repeatedly asking what happened, Bryan extremely contrite and worried sick about the whole thing and Joe trying to stabilize the situation by acting as a go-between, I figured there really wasn’t anything I could contribute and decided to ignore the whole situation and keep shooting. If we were going to get thrown out now I at least wanted some proof I had been there.
It turns out the owner was not so much upset about Bryan mauling his new $100K limited edition Roadster but was more interested in what happened in a more detached, scientific sense. Bryan guessed that the part fell down the air intake right behind the charge port butsince no one could see, much less reach down there, we kind of moved on with apparently no hard feelings from the owner. Bryan, of his own accord, now maintained a safe distance from the vehicle.
Amazingly, the owner still wanted to give us a ride so I clumcily clambered over the wide sill and dropped myself into the very comfortable and low bucket seat. The wide structural sills mean the occupants literally sit shoulder to shoulder, as opposed to the MR2 where a tall and wide center tunnel gives each occupant their own personal space. I wasn’t sure what kind of demonstration I would get but the owner, who’s about 80 years old, wasted no time in flooring it through the residential streets of his neighborhood.
Several times I got to experience the full, unyielding acceleration from a standing start up to probably 65 mph. Preparing for launch in a Tesla is simple with no fancy throttle, gearshifting or clutch technique to perfect, the only requirement being a driver willing to punch it and hold on. The traction control nixes any unnecessary wheelspin, channeling all the energy from those 6831 liquid-cooled lithium cells into pure forward motion. The closest sensation is that of a jet on take-off: the whir and whine of the motor increasing in pitch as the speed piles on and the unrelentingly powerful yet smooth thrust that hurtles the car into the distance. As powerful as it is from a standing start, the owner insisted the really impressive feat was mid-range acceleration. From about 40mph on, nothing can catch it.
Joe said I had the ultimate in stupid grins as I got out of the car and I believe him. He got a little shorter ride and came away just as impressed.
While we were away, Joe and Bryan found a little metal bracket that was the cause of all the earlier commotion. The spring that held open the charge port had fractured and from the looks of it was close to breaking before Bryan ever saw it. That’s our story and we’re stickin’ to it.
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11.06.08
Posted in EVs, Miscellanea at 9:44 pm by smalghan
The ghost of futures past
On the eve of what will be a public admission of the catastrophic financial situation Detroit’s Big 3, and especially GM, have gotten themselves into (along with how our tax dollars are *DESPERATELY NEEDED NOW* to help them), I thought a little history lesson is in order.
Over the past 40 years, the new era of the electric vehicle has been heralded with the demonstration of sleek space age cars accompanied by exuberant press releases detailing the wonders yet to come.
The closest we came last time was in the early 90’s when defense contractors like Northrop and Lockheed Martin turned their considerable talents away from building Cold War death machines to leveraging their technical expertise into more commercially viable areas. The electric vehicle was a part of that plan and, funded with government money in the form of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), some of the EVs of that time from the Big 3 had powertrains designed by people whose talents were previously poured into spy satellites, missile systems and submarine propulsion systems.
The US industrial complexes were remaking themselves to adapt to new technologies that would make possible truly low emission transportation.
In hindsight, the apex of this era can be traced to the debut of the NiMH powered EV-1 in 1998. This press release from GM shows how little has changed in ten years.
Notice the timeline of hybrids by 2001 and fuel cell vehicles by 2004 along with the announcement of Ovonics’ NiMH batteries, a technology nearly completely buried and forgotten even though it showed the best performance and has the longest track record powering electric vehicles compared to any other advanced battery technologies. Also note the series hybrid with 40 miles all-electric range and a small gas motor (a turbine in this instance) to extend range to 350 miles (Volt anyone?).
GM also had the graciousness to acknowledge the part played by government, “which contributed to the technologies unveiled today.”
Something to keep in mind as the Big 3 come, hat in hand, looking for your money again. This time simply to keep them alive. Where’s our return from last time?
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10.19.08
Posted in EVs, Velomobiles & HPVs at 10:11 pm by smalghan
So as Martin and I were running around town shaking down the eMR2 the transmission went out.
There was a little jumpiness from the drivetrain creeping in earlier in the day but I figured it was due to the worn engine mounts. Just before drive was lost the jumpiness was particularly bad but sometimes you just have to let something break to figure out what’s wrong.
Drive was lost taking off from a stop with a little pop and a zizzing, as if a spline was stripped, yet the transmission shifted OK. None of the gears would work, simply producing the zizzing noise. It’s hard to believe the coupler failed but it’s certainly possible. The other possibilities include a stripped spline on the shafts or a catastrophic failure of the final drive.
So instead of videos of the car in action, I’ll have to entertain you with pictures of the transmission teardown when it happens in a week or two.
In other news, the bamboo/balsa frames for the velomobile came in and look beautiful but were built with the wrong thickness balsa core. Recovery options are being conjured up.
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10.13.08
Posted in EVs at 9:47 pm by smalghan
Though it came in a rather ratty looking box and none of the fasteners for the cover could be found, I scavenged enough screws to get it back together and back into the engine compartment where it belongs. It ran a bit inconsistently at first, something I racked up to some bubbles in the coolant that triggered amp limiting due to temperature but once that was worked out it ran like I remember it-almost. I think I have to get a few cycles on the batteries to wake them up again. They were left inactive for about 6 months fully charged, but nevertheless it’s still a shock to the system that will take a few cycles to absorb.
For some reason, power wasn’t getting to the front of the car so no headlights, wipers or vacuum brake assist. In the process of disconnecting everything to diagnose the inverter problem there must be something yet to be hooked up.
Once everything’s buttoned up I’ll post some video.
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09.28.08
Posted in Miscellanea, Velomobiles & HPVs at 10:48 am by smalghan
Last Sunday the Jones Falls Watershed Association held its annual Rally for the River to draw attention to the health of the river that runs right through the middle of Baltimore City.
The Jones Falls powered Baltimore’s early industrial beginnings and as a consequence became a dumping grounds for all kinds of waste, both industrial and human, resulting in Baltimore leading the country in typhoid cases around the turn of the century.
The solution? Bury the river! In a prime example of employing the most elaborate and expensive solution to avoid solving a root problem, three tunnels were dug starting at what was then the northern end of town and chanelled the river underground until it empties into the harbor. They typhoid problem did subside, but then the river remained just as polluted as it emerged into the Chesapeake Bay.
The river is actually hard to spot as it winds its way through the deep valley that’s shadowed by the shuttered mills and factories built more than a century ago, a strange development for a waterway that was so pivotal to the city’s beginnings. The flip side is that following the river reveals some very quiet and secluded areas that make it hard to believe you’re still in the city.
This year the festivities included the closing of the northbound section of I-83, the freeway built on top of the tunnels that channels the river. This affords a great opportunity to notice things that usually pass by too quickly when travelling by car.
In addition, that same day cyclocross races were being held in Druid Hill Park. It was the first time I got to see a cyclocross event in person and it looked a lot more interesting and fun than roadracing. Now I’m looking at adding yet another bike to the fleet.
Below are pictures from the day in chronological order. Enjoy!
The northbound lanes of I-83 were blocked off at Fayette St., you can see the cars waiting at the light just behind the registration table.
One of the city's farmers market is held underneath the roadway, strangely enough. The van in the center of the picture is driving into the entrance.
The Jersey barriers skirting the curvy parts of 83 are scarred with years of car inflicted damage but I thought this was particularly noteworthy; a license embedded in the concrete.
Due to a large Eastern European immigrant poplulation, some of the signs in the city are written using the Cyrillic alphabet
Amtrak and regional rail lines run parallel to the road.
A lot of those trains used to stop underneath this mail processing facility, where the car's contents would be lifted into the building for processing.
Penn Station, where you can pick up regional, Amtrak and light rail trains. To the right is "Male/Female", the bane of many an architecture enthusiast. I actually like the dissonance.
Maryland Institute College of Art's Shoe Factory building. The more recent, iMac-inspired Brown center peaks out from behind on the left.
The Gateway, MICA's newest student dorm that opened just a few weeks ago.
Another view of the new Gateway Building. I took a tour of the building and it's circular arrangement with a courtyard is the far more conducing to building an interactive social environment.
Railroad tracks laid down on routes that date from not long after the Civil War. The tunnels, still in use today, date from the 1870's.
A light rail station. The light rail system runs on some of the same lines that Baltimore's now defunct street car system used to use. Like most public transportation systems of its era, it's designed primarily to get people in and out of the city rather than facilitate moving around within the city.
The MTA light rail depot.
Obscured the trees and road barriers, there are some excellent examples of Baltimore residential architecture along the highway.
Something for all the auto commuters stopped on 83 during rush hour to read.
The turret that marks the southeast corner of Druid Hill Reservoir.
Now at the other end of the reservoir, the turret can be seen in the distance.
Making sure the lake isn't pilfered by the English (as they are wont to do) William Wallace tirelessly stands guard.
This was the first cyclocross race I'd ever seen and now I'm interested in doing one myself. The course, laid out amongst the hills and trees of the park, looked like like a blast to ride.
The finish line.
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09.23.08
Posted in Miscellanea at 6:49 am by smalghan
One of the most informative and aesthetically pleasing websites covering human powered transportation matters is Alan Barnard’s ecovelo blog. For the past few weeks he’s been profiling personal rides and the result is a fascinating compilation of interesting machines.
Amazingly, The Beater made the cut. Previously only shown in part, the Frankenstein like creation is now revealed to the world in all it’s stone-chipped, Vanilla Ice-era paintjob glory. The page-specific link is here.
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09.16.08
Posted in EVs at 7:44 pm by smalghan
Now that’s it’s all fixed, I don’t mind looking at pictures of the scorched components inside the inverter. It would be more informative if I could explain exactly what went wrong but since I haven’t been told what that is, the pictures only serve to satisfy those with a morbid fascination with charred electronic components.
Four components needed to be replaced:
- DC-DC converter board
- High voltage DC input filter
- High voltage input fuse for dc/dc converter
- Internal power supply board
The show starts with burn marks on the inverter casing, the first sign that this wasn’t going to be a simple repair. The other sign was the perfectly fine fuse right next to the blown components, meaning that this wasn’t an amp overload event but something not even foreseen.
It’s hard to tell what exactly went first. When I find out I’ll post.
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09.10.08
Posted in EVs, Velomobiles & HPVs at 8:53 pm by smalghan
A trio of 451mm wheels and several piles of folded sheet metal and machined parts have accumulated in piles around the place as I anxiously await the frame to arrive. I’ve been hesitant to release too many details as the design evolved since it seemed to only encourage more confusion than clarity (have you ever tried to explain what a velomobile is to the unfamiliar in the first place?) but since the prototype is being built up this is a good time for a summary.
But first, here’s a picture of the chassis CAD model.
The structure is made from a bamboo plywood/balsa core sandwich structure which, once hot-press laminated, is cut out by a CNC router. No tooling, no welding, no coping of strangely angled tubes.
All three wheels are independently suspended, which sounds like a great idea until it comes time to buy three mountain bike shocks at retail price that, pound for pound, must be more expensive than Formula 1 Konis. They don’t cost nearly that much to OEMs, which I’ll take advantage of next round.
One of the features I’m most proud of is the tilting mechanism. The front shocks are connected to a linkage that allows the rider to control the tilt of the vehicle independently of steering angle. Steering is reacted trhough the rear wheel, freeing up room at the front of the vehicle and allowing a much tighter turning circle than if the front wheels turned.
Since the electronic transmission idea got shelved (a story for another time) I looked for a system that would allow a wide speed range, could be shifted at rest and had enough speeds that the desired cadence could be dialed in perfectly. The closest mechanical analog turned out to be a NuVinci CVT combined with a Shlumpf MountainDrive, which give an overall gear range of more than 6.
In other news, Smokey the inverter has been nursed back to health and will be heading stateside in only a few days!
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08.30.08
Posted in EVs at 11:51 am by smalghan
To illustrate how much cheaper an electric vehicle is to run in comparison to a gas car, I ran some numbers:
How far your $1 goes:
$1 buys about 1/3 of a gallon of gas
If your car gets 30mpg, $1 will get you 10 miles.
$1 can also buy 6 kWh of electricity, assuming you pay about $.15/kWh
A typical electric car uses .25 kWh per mile
So, $1 of electricity allows you to travel 24 miles
That’s nearly 2.5 times as far! And that’s being generous with the gasoline cost and mpg numbers…
The simpler machine to get you around also allows you to forget about:
Oil & Filter changes
Head gaskets
Exhaust systems
Increased brake wear
Catalytic converters
emissions testing
Fuel pumps
Oil leaks
Gas smells
Rough shifting
Cold starting problems
Spark plugs
…and about 100 other things…
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08.23.08
Posted in EVs at 5:13 pm by smalghan
Long story short, the smoke escaped from the inverter. At the moment a technician in the Netherlands is poling it with a stick, seeing if it will wake up or at least grumble a little to let us all know it’s still alive.
I had the feeling something was wrong as trying to quantify the eMR2’s performance was like shooting at a moving target; putting more cycles on the batteries didn’t result in more power and warmer temperatures resulted in shorter range.
All I had were memories of the first drive, when the car felt fast, smooth and responsive. Now, as things were supposed to improve, instead acceleration faded quickly, range and top speed were strangely getting worse and sometimes regen felt jerky and occasionally resulted in the check engine light illuminating as the inverter shut down.
Somewhere along the way the DC/DC converter quit and then finally, when pulling away from a stop sign, the car hesitated for a moment and then shut down - this time for good. Not really sure what was going on, I convinced myself that the interface card must have gotten zapped again. $300 and a few weeks later I found that was not the issue as the new card changed nothing and the old card tested out fine.
Clues abounded at the scene of the crime though, as the insides of the converter were rank with the death odor of something electronic, so much so that Victor at MetricMind remarked that the insides of the bag the old interface card was returned in stank.
A long process of dealing with denial ensued as I really didn’t want to miss a local eco-festival after I had already paid $100 for a space to show that car. Yet miss it I did, along with just about every other event I wanted to show the car at this summer. I stopped counting at five.
As it stands the wizards at EVISOL will hopefully have the inverter back to me soon. 2009 can’t wait!
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