My furure electric car
I know it's not electric right now but it has great potential. I just orderer a Smart Car which is a gas version that get 40+ MPG. I think this will make a great electric vehicle in the future. For the time being I will drive it as is so I can pay it off, $14000.oo USD. As soon as I can afford it I will buy all the stuff needed to convert this little car to electric. I think I can even match or beat the performance of the gas version. here is a picture of the one I have on order.
Grandpa Chas S.
Might be cheaper if you do it, but
http://www.hybridtechnologies.com/products/cars/dash
make the conversion already.
Current price list
http://www.hybridtechnologies.com/20080211
As an ot comment, has the 30% CUT IN COST OF LITHIUM BATTERIES worked its way into the scooter market?
Chas, I wonder if you could make a plug in hybrid out of it. Grantid, there's already not much room for batteries, but if you used some sealed batteries and a lower voltage system, with about < 5 kwhr storage, it might work really well.
If it's FWD, Here's my idea. Get an 8 inch ADC motor and use a belt drive to directly drive one of the rear wheels. Fitting the motor might be a real challenge as it'd need to be where the gas tank is, but maybe the tank can be downsized. Use eight 12v batteries in series for a 96v system. You could use 50ah B&Bs stacked horizontal in the trunk with the terminals facing the rear to access them. This would take up a lot of cargo space, but if your using it just for personal transportation anyway, than this shouldn't matter too much. An off-board charger could be used. You could leave the car idling while driving in electric mode to negate the need for any DC-DC converter for the aux system, and also get air conditioning or heating when needed.
This might get you 55 mph tops, and 12-15 miles in electric mode.
I just think it's a waste to gut a new gas vehicle like this. Why not get the best of both gas and electric? This would be much more practical than all electric, as there would be never be any need to worry about electric range. Just drive it until the batteries are mostly discharged, than start the engine and switch to gas power. If gas prices soar, than you can always just stack more batteries in to get more range.
Chas - from muscle car to smart car? How the mighty have fallen! ;-) Seriously though - congrats on the new ride.
I have to disagree with Andrew - don't make it a plug-in hybrid! You'd end up with a very complex solution. If you need the range then I guess you have no choice (but I doubt people buy these cars to go on road trips!) Hopefully in 2 years you'll be able to make a 50+ mile range car...
Thanks John, I was planing to make it a plug in not a hybrid anyway. I only need a 50 mile range @ 50 MPH top speed with an average speed of 35 MPH which I am sure it can do with easy.
Andrew - the car is rear wheel drive with the engine in the rear. After you remove the engine, gas tank, transmission, and all there should be lots of room to connect to the trans axle and still room for batteries. In 2 years I am sure I can buy enough batteries to get 100 mile range. If you look at this web site you will see the car is available now for lots more money with a 100 mile range and a top speed of 70 MPH. I figure if they can do it I can do it better... LOL
P.S. John,
I still have both Trans Ams for those days when I'm feeling frisky and rich to afford the gas...LOL
Grandpa Chas S.
It has been a long time coming but I just received the following email;
Dear Chas,
Great News! We are excited to inform you that your smart fortwo is scheduled to arrive in the United States within the next 90 days. Based on your address of record, your order has been assigned to
smart center Creve Coure
11830 Olive St. Rd.
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
Phone Number: 314.301.1783
smart center Creve Coure will be contacting you soon to work out details of your purchase agreement and arrange for delivery. When you enter into a purchase agreement with the dealer, your $99 reservation fee will be applied to the purchase price. If you decide, for any reason to cancel your order your deposit will be refunded to you in full and your vehicle will be offered to another consumer.
We look forward to you joining the nearly one million smart fortwo owners throughout the world. All of us from the smart USA team thank you for choosing the smart fortwo and we stand ready to assist you in any way possible.
Kind regards,
Dave Schembri
President, smart USA
Grandpa Chas S.
Woo hoo! Congrats!
BTW - talk to me when you want to buy batteries for it... ;-)
Will do jdh2550_1, but it will be some time about 20 months I would guess.
Grandpa Chas S.
I bought a new Smart MHD (Start-Stop) -08 model last spring and I love this car.
Had a -02 model before this one.
These cars are perfect size if you don´t have kids to haul around. :-)
Had plans for years to convert as well, but the problem here in Europe is that it´s only approved for 120kg of load, including the passenger and in a conversion you can not exceed the cars approved total weight.
Since the motor/gearbox doesn´t weigh very much, the weight of the batteries is very limited.
This is what stopped me from planning further.
I really hope you can make it happen in the USA, maybe the laws are different.
Best regards
Johnny
Already Smart car electric version in China
Thanks for the links, I had not seen them before. I think if I do the conversion myself it will allow me to learn so I can maintain the car myself also the cost of, $43,500.00 USD, for the same car I can save at least 18,000.oo USD. The cost may even be less in 2 years when I decide to do the conversion due to lower battery cost. Another reason for waiting is the batteries will be more reliable and I can get larger AH cells for more range. I need to pay off the car before I can afford to start buying the conversion parts anyway.
Thanks again,
Grandpa Chas S.