914 EV discussion, Who's doing or done an electric 914? Options

[Joe Bob]

http://www.electroauto.com/gallery/vp914.shtml
http://electric914.wordpress.com/
http://www.evcl.com/914/

Electro Automotive has a kit for 14K...yikes.....
Otmar seems to be REAL busy building components.....

I'm thinkng of doing one for my twins..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
I have two years to get it done.....

[pjf]

I'm restoring a '76 914 intending to convert it to electric. I've been kicking around the AC/DC question while I'm welding and have come to the decision that DC is the only way to go. AC is more efficient than DC but only slightly so. You do get regenerative braking with AC but again the gains are not that great (like 10%). There is really only one anywhere near affordable AC system for the 914 and that's the one used by ElectroAutomotive AC kit. Unfortunately it delivers about half the horsepower of the 914 gas engine and the car weighs about twice as much after the conversion. You are supposed to get more range with an AC system but with amount of electricity used quotes I've seen I'm doubtful. With DC you have more options, horsepower, and torque. You can match or exceed the horsepower and torque of the original engine. I'm looking at a Zilla controller (from Otmar) and a WarP motor right now as the best options. As far as lead acid batteries go, yes they are heavy and they don't last forever (2-3 years) but they are the best we have right now and they can be used to make an electric car with decent performance and range. All the other options are just too expensive right now. As far as costs go, the parts are expensive but will last (except for the batteries) pretty much forever. The motors for instance (with brushes replaced) will go a million miles. Once you get past the price of the conversion parts the actual cost of batteries and electricity I work out to be less than $3/gallon gas.
If you have any question or want to discuss this further, I'd be glad to.

P.S. That avatar is going to be hard to look at alot dude.

[smontanaro]

Unfortunately it delivers about half the horsepower of the 914 gas engine and the car weighs about twice as much after the conversion.

The horsepower ratings on electric motors are continuous. The ratings on gas engines are peak HP.

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