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.....

[Joe Bob]

And those batteries are available where?????

AND.....Anyone have an answer on the shifting thing? One gear and boom or can you shift to get better performance from a lower HP electric motor?

[914Mike]

And those batteries are available where?????

AND.....Anyone have an answer on the shifting thing? One gear and boom or can you shift to get better performance from a lower HP electric motor?

Hey Mikey! Good to see some discussion about EV 914's here...

Yes, shifting will give you all the advantages of torque multiplication, it's just not a requirement for an EV. It's a trade-off: keeping the tranny/clutch you already have vs. direct drive gearbox (custom fitting the axles and mounts, etc). The trans will result in lower costs since you can use a smaller motor/controller. To get the same performance in a direct-drive system the motor/controller must provide huge amounts of torque to get off the line, AND be able to reach a high enough RPM for cruising speed, so you need to calculate the gear ratio carefully. It's all easier with the tranny, you can try different gears to see what works for you. You can even leave it in gear and start without the clutch for those that don't do manual yet, reverse is the only time you NEED to shift, although the AC controller I bought has provisions for electric reverse (had to add the wires to the harness in my case, but it could have been done at the vendor).

The real reason I went with AC is the regen braking. DC kits have been available for years now, but just did not do what I wanted.

Anyone who has ever driven a 914 knows you drive with the throttle, right? I was unwilling to lose the "Compression Braking" effect that regen provides. Think about it, with a DC system you would have to brake all the way down every hill, and for every corner. For me that just would not work.

I went with ElectroAuto since they are local, and yes I'm still waiting on parts for the regen and meters, it's only been since October '07...

Check out the thread on RoadGlue. I went with the generic AC kit, so had to build my own battery racks which allowed me to reduce the weight of the batteries and locate them lower. I'm not going to get much range (don't need it) but should still have the cornering ability of a 914 intact, something that will be compromised with the EA battery arrangement.

Good luck, it's only time and money! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)