I have a Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid and a Smart ED both of which
are AC with regen. Regen on the Smart is more aggressive meaning you
really can do one-foot driving. Once I got used to it I found I like it
and, of course, you can still find that spot on the pedal that allows
coasting. The Ford basically puts regen on the brake pedal (a minor
amount of "engine braking" on the throttle) which is also fine and makes
me feel a little safer because I know the brake lights are on when I'm
slowing down.
I also have a Ford Ranger with a series DC motor that was converted in
2007. I am just finishing up re-converting it to use lithium cells. In
fact it had its first lithium-powered drive on Sunday. It's MUCH more
spritely with 1300 pounds of batteries removed!
If the budget had allowed, I would have converted the truck to AC as
well. I just find regen makes driving more pleasurable. It's fairly
hilly around here including one short but very steep hill on the route
between my house and Home Depot (obviously a common trip!). I look
forward to driving down those hills in the C-Max and Smart because it's
free power back in the tank. It's somewhat terrifying in the truck
because it all depends on the brakes.
My motor (ADC) and controller (DCP Raptor) wouldn't have much resale
value so I decided to live with them. The Zilla and Warp 9 are still
being sold so I bet you could get quite a bit of your investment back.
New, the pair is about $3700. For a Cabrio I personally would look at
the HPEVS AC-50 or AC-51 for about $4500 (144volts. $3700 at 108volts).
But, if the money doesn't stretch you're certainly not doing anything
wrong by using what you have. It will probably be faster off the line
and maybe faster overall.
--Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
[email protected] via EV
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2014 3:59 PM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: [EVDL] Conversion advice
A few years ago I decided to convert my '98 VW Cabrio to electric. At
the time,
a Warp 9 motor and Zilla 1K controller seemed to make a lot of sense,
and are
probably one of the best combinations today for a DC conversion.
Since I've now put 90k miles on the car as an ICE (after buying it
cheaply
because the previous owner thought it needed an engine) and a few years
have
gone by, I'm wondering if a DC conversion still makes sense.
I know Curtis makes an AC kit that's designed for similar applications
as the 9
inch DC motors. Any opinions on it, or other AC options?
Any idea of the resale value of an unused Zilla 1K LV and Warp 9 motor?
At least lithium batteries are a lot cheaper than when I first thought
about
doing this!
Bill
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
