Emission free 914, Electric 914 Options

[green914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smoke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) Electricity is the future...?

[Chris Pincetich]

I bought my 914 for an electric conversion, but change in job and reduced income means I've sidelined the conversion, but am still in rustoration mode w goals of lighter weight and upgraded performance.

Marin County has taken advantage of "new" CA law and has it's own "power company." We pay a little more for the Clean Green option which buys the power from sources "cleaner" than coal fired power plants. It's not perfect, but its an improvement.

I am considering a Leaf lease or purchase because the commuting expenses are so low! Gas prices aren't going down, ever. An investment in on-site solar would mean "closed-loop" on commuting power.

Right now, the 914 EV is a cool project, but not the ultimate solution. Keep the discussion going! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
One area worth more discussion, and subject of my daydreams, is the 914 EV AX racer project. With direct drive on a stout differential a 914 EV could be VERY QUICK!

[stugray]

subject of my daydreams, is the 914 EV AX racer project

I met a guy that built an electric car that won it's class in the Pike's Peak hillclimb. It was VERY fast.
It was the 'Electric ER3' with Jeri Unser (Bobby Unser's daughter) at the wheel.
http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/pikes_peak_ER3.html

[PThompson509]

I bought my 914 for an electric conversion, but change in job and reduced income means I've sidelined the conversion, but am still in rustoration mode w goals of lighter weight and upgraded performance.

Marin County has taken advantage of "new" CA law and has it's own "power company." We pay a little more for the Clean Green option which buys the power from sources "cleaner" than coal fired power plants. It's not perfect, but its an improvement.

I am considering a Leaf lease or purchase because the commuting expenses are so low! Gas prices aren't going down, ever. An investment in on-site solar would mean "closed-loop" on commuting power.

Right now, the 914 EV is a cool project, but not the ultimate solution. Keep the discussion going! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
One area worth more discussion, and subject of my daydreams, is the 914 EV AX racer project. With direct drive on a stout differential a 914 EV could be VERY QUICK!

To do the direct drive, you'll need a good AC motor - DC motors won't give you the high RPM you want. If you can get a motor to do above 8K RPM, with sufficient torque, then you are golden. I suppose you could do a siamese motor project - put two AC75 together onto a transaxle - that might be interesting. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

For outstanding performance, you'll need to roll your own battery pack, using pouches from A123 (or whoever they are called now). Or wait until the supercap / lithium hybrid batteries really go online.

The frame for the 914 is just fanstastic for conversions - you have 3 tubes to put wires into (the two heater tubes and the central tube). I put my high voltage on the passenger side (I don't like passengers much, can you tell (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif) ), and the control lines on the driver side. Lots of space for battery packs, and (mostly) dry compartments for the electronics.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[worn]

Well, I've pestered this forum for a while with my electric 914. Tried a couple of different configurations, during this time, too. *IF* I were to start with the current configuration, I'd have added in roughly $20k worth of parts. Of course, I'm not paying for the electricity, since I have solar panels and can charge at work for free, so the payoff will happen in oh... (cough) mumble (cough) years.

To be honest, there is no way to compete with even the lame Leaf costwise. Of course, our cars are much more handsome than the Leaf and Pius, but that's not saying much. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I've got a box of batteries balanced over the motor (attached to the standard 914 transmission), and another box of batteries squeezed in where the gas tank used to be, and another box in the front trunk. All of the electronics are stuffed into the rear trunk.

Now that I know what to do, I'd reserve half the rear trunk for the electronics, and figure out a deeper box for the engine compartment.

Oh, and get 130Ah batteries.

Oh, and NOT buy a cheap chinese BLDC motor.

Figure in the resistance loss from your fossil fuel plant and you will always find that the electric car is the bigger polluter. But, and this is very important, they do not besmirtch beautiful Marin county. Just some California nowhere that is the home of the power plant, nuke or coal. Now resistance braking makes energetic sense, but it is so complex.

[stugray]

you will always find that the electric car is the bigger polluter

Not always true.

I know two families that have electric cars and more than enough solar to charge the car.
So that is a truly zero emissions vehicle (as long as you charge it for 8 hours for every hour you drive....;-)

I know that is the exception rather than the norm, but it is getting better.

[GeorgeRud]

I'd love to have a solar panel to charge up an electric car, and believe that something like that may be a realistic project in the Southwest. In Chicago, I don't think we'd have enough solar available with cloudy days.

I keep hoping that advances in battery technology will make these cars viable in the future. In the meantime, I guess we just have to keep burning dinosaurs!

[PThompson509]

I've got solar panels on my house, so it basically costs me nothing to drive my car - other than replacing the tires and brake pads. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

For those concerned about whether the electric cars are more polluting than gas cars, here is a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (hard to find a more unbiased study): http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/cle...ions-report.pdf

In a nutshell, if your region relies heavily upon coal, there is a rise in particulates. If you live in a region (such as the state of Washington), you get a reduction in pollution. Even so, a lot of coal plants are being changed over to natural gas, courtesy of the boom in fracking.

Oh, and just remember - you can get electricity from a lot of different sources, but only one source for gasoline. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

[stugray]

I think you might be want to double check your ideas.

There are certainly hydrocarbons and organic carbon compounds spread throughout the universe. The Horse Head nebula, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, etc. But that doesn't mean that they were all created by living creatures like dinosaurs. It just happens that hydrocarbons are somewhat messy and relatively easy to produce if conditions are correct. If you think if nebulae as huge chemical factories (they are), then it follows suit. Hydrocarbons are just random chains of hydrogen and carbon and don't even have to have a uniform structure. All that says is that they can be naturally occurring if the right conditions are met. On Earth, the petroleum is made from hydrocarbons made of compressed plant and animal life. Not just dinosaurs, but hundreds of millions of years of decayed plants, algae, insects, forests, microscopic life, ocean life, fish, plankton, cephalopods, trilobites, etc. It also just so happens that the period of time of most petroleum generation goes hand in hand with the decay timing of the Cambrian explosion. Since life on Earth began shortly after its forming, there's obviously great propensity for hydrocarbons to produce naturally here. The Earth never had oceans of methane like on Titan. So all it goes to show is that hydrocarbons are produced all over the damn place with a variety of different beginnings. Other heavy elements like gold or uranium are certainly not geologically produced, but rather in the fusion crucibles of the stars. But simple molecule chains like hydrocarbons don't need interstellar fusion to create them.

Just out of curiosity, where is it that you think Earth's petroleum came from?

"Crude oil originates from ancient fossilized organic materials,

Wikipedia is wrong.

Tell me then where did all the hydrocarbons (oceans of methane & ethane) come from on Titan (moon of Saturn)?

I suppose from all of the dinosaurs that used to roam Titan?
Organic compounds can be found interstellar nebulae - Dinosaurs?

Look at it another way. Which scenario is more likely:

1 - Life spontaneously generates out of constituent elements forming organic chemistry, THEN decomposes to form "Fossil Fuels"
OR
2 - "Fossil fuels" exist for a LONG time before life spontaneously generates out of a rich broth of complex organic chemicals

I am betting on #2 (and the evidence supports it)

r3dplanet - I'll just leave this here:

http://www.reach-unlimited.com/p/135244424...gical-in-nature

[Steve]

Four year old thread?

[Steve]

Four year old thread? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[bandjoey]

R3D. Are you going to Mars??

[DM_2000]

Four year old thread?

There is absolutely noting with bring up an old thread. The info is still interesting and why start another thread that leaves info fragmented?

[PThompson509]

BTW, used Leaf batteries are cheap these days - can get a nice pack with only 15k miles on it for about $4k. Power electronics and motors are cheaper too. So my initial guess of $18k for the car has dropped to about $12k or $13k.