EV drag racing in vegas.

the show is called sucking amps, kinda monster garage format. some guys build an electric postal van, "going postal", and take it to an ev drag race in vegas.

caught glimpses of 2 914s in the pits. are the owners here?

DOH!!!

otmar, and the zilla!!

I think it was the same 914. You saw the front passanger corner then the rear lid in the air. Later there was a nice driving shot.

Question: What was a 914 doing at a drag race?

BTW, I believe the show is on again in two hours (Discovery Channel)

13 seconds or something like that...not bad for spinning the tires 1/2 the distance

powered by????

are you reading the same thread I am ???

batteries !!!!!!!

Why did they show it on "sucking amps" if it wasnt Otmars!!!

heck I was thinking v8 but ya..

I have the TVO to record it, its coming back on at 8 for all yall that missed it.. (including me...)

Andrew

He'll correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the real scary number is the almost 1000 ft-lbs of torque!

He is really really close to breaking 100mph in the 1/4 too... something like 99.8 or 98.9!

Shannon
(one of the other electric 914's in this group)

Shannon,

you the person that Jon Watts knows? (he borrowed my trailer to pick up a 914 for electric conversion for someone he knows)

i believe your numbers are pretty damn close....amazing.....I'd like to convert my 914 to a hybrid if they pass the car pooling law that allows one person in a hybrid during commute hours....wonder what the true definition is?

Nope I'm not the guy. My 914 is firmly attached to four jackstands I'd like to meet the other person though. Maybe I'll shoot Jon an email.

As I understand it Ottmar turned DOWN the torque for the WCC AX to something like 500 ft-lbs and he was still spinning the tires all over the place.

Unfortunately I think the deal with the hybrids is that if it uses any gas at all for propulsion then it's a hybrid. Good news is that I bet they'll open up the commuter lanes to hybrids sooner than later. Full electrics just aren't going to happen anytime soon so it'll buy them some time to let hybrids into the commuter lanes.

Shannon

Sure enough, that was me and California Poppy.
Sorry I forgot to warn you all that it was showing again. I hear it's scheduled for 1pm Saturday as well, for those who missed it today.
Just a few glimpses of my 914, but they made me look like an angel and mentioned the word Zilla (my product) nine times.


Yup, Shannon is right, about 1000 ft/lb from the motors. I leave the 930 LSD box in third gear. No clutch, no shifter, no need.

Have fun!

Otmar, they said they got record breaking runs.. But your car IS faster than what they where showing....

Huh?

Oh what are you getting now?

Andrew

I thought that the Postal Van was the only electric there. I thought that was why they made a big deal about it going against the Viper.

If electric cars are so fast, why aren't there more of them around? Are these hybreds running around now fast?

It's all about range, GM had a full electric car, the range is what killed it...but people that have one love it. Something like 100miles is the highest range I've seen on an electric...most are way below that though. When someone invents a better battery, we'll have our next billionaire.

It also added like 1000 lbs to Otmars car....

Oh not to mention 30k plus (from the recent look at his web sight..)

Andrew

Otmar, are you the guy using a pallet's worth of Lithium Ion laptop batteries, or still with the Optima's? Any difference in weight / range between the two technologies?

We have the battery now, it's in most laptop computers. The lithium 18650 cell gives 5 times the range at the same weight and size of a lead acid pack.
The T-Zero from AC Propulsion demonstrated that late last year with a 300 mile range sports car that does 0-60 in 3.6 seconds.
They used 6800 cells which cost some large amount like $24,000.

My plan for my Honda Insight (a very efficient platform) is to make it pure electric. Math shows 250 miles of range on 400 lbs of batteries, $8000 wholesale cost of the batteries. Conversion adds 200 lbs total to the car, Battery life is unknown, but figured on cycles alone it should do 200K miles before replacement. And all that time driving while buying electricity for the equivilant of $0.50 a gal. It gets close to cost effective.

200 miles range with quick recharge seems to satisfy most users, and we're getting there.
There are hurdles. The biggest is the chicken and the egg. Volume brings down price, but low price is required for volume. California tried to regulate them into existance, and that was working well until GM found that they could out-lawyer California. They even got the Bush administration to step into the California courts and push the outcome. So we have an ongoing fight against the oil companies. You can't blame them, they are only trying to survive and make money. That's why inefficient Fool Cells are being hyped in the media so much. The hydrogen comes from steam reformulated natural gas from the oil companies.

Early GM was interested in making the EV-1, and they did an amazing job with it, but the new management was strongly against it. I watched them lie and cheat to make the EV-1 look bad. Everyone I met who leased one loved it despite its shortcomings, and there were large waiting lists to get them even at $400 a month closed end lease. These things are quite fun. GM denied the waiting lists (told the reps not to keep them) and refused to sell the car at any price. (leased only) They recently took them back and crushed most of them.

If you took a EV-1 and filled it with lithium batteries, you would have a 400+ mile range car. It was a bit slow though, took 8 seconds to do 0 to 60.

Anyway, there's a few of the reasons you don't see more EV's on the road. For now they can be a fun option for those who can afford them and want to push green technology.

Yes mine is faster, but that doesn't make a good show.
No record breaking run that I know of on the show, I think they edited that bit in.

Getting? You mean range? Just about nothing! 30 miles if I push it. It should do 50 miles with the Orbitals I have in it, but I've made compromises for speed and the ability to test the stuff I build.

Makes good TV to be the only one there. We actually had a few other EV's there that day.

Hybrids can be very fast. Adding all that electric torque helps. There are some high performance hybrids in the works. Unfortunately at this time you can't plug them in so you still have to pump gas.

Otmar,
Years ago there was an EV company in Santa Cruz marketing conversions in Rabbits and other cars. They used to show up at electronics conventions. Do they still exist and do you know the current costs to convert. Are there still tax advantages?
Felix

Hi Felix,
They do still exist, and they even make a kit for 914s.
Electro Automotive
The 914 Kit is $9K plus batteries ($1200)
Tax credits vary by state, I don't know of any running right now. Except that you don't have to pay gas tax.

If I ever see my tranny

Shannon