Kurt
10 kW
For a while now I have been researching building my own electric car. Living off grid its the last piece of the puzzle to sticking it to the all the people that were charging me for energy . The task isn't really that daunting to me. That said insuring the outcome meets my expectations there is a cost and effort/time involved.
Basically to build a car that would satisfy my expectations I would be using a lithium battery's, AC motor and controller to offer regenerative braking/charging with real wold range of around 100 - 150km. Air conditioning, power steering . Similar or better performance to the car had before the electric conversion. Will cost around $20,000 minimum in parts/ materials that's doing all the fabrication and machining myself. You need a car to base the project around and $5000 in Australia would provide a reasonably nice base car.
So lets just say $25,000 minimum. Doing a quality job takes time and there are a few hoops to jump through getting it all approved, safe and reliable as I would expect it to be legal and insurable. Ironing all the small bugs like you would expect with any project can be a pain. Retrofitting new components to a existing car always has its compromise. Lets face it a company like Honda were not thinking about a safe space for 20kw of battery's when they built the 2004 civic for example :lol: . Some cars lend them self better to being converted than others. So its a balancing act between finding the car you like and finding the car that ticks all the boxes for a ev conversion. The funny thing is. To often I see a crappy $800 1990 Daihatsu Charade with $20,000 of ev gear in it ...why they don't even have Air conditioning or a airbag for the driver. Its a 20 year old car and its not even a classic car.My thinking is if your going to sink that much money into a ev start with a reasonably nice/safe car in the 1st place.
Doing it the DIY way was your only option a few years ago locally. Even when the all electric factory built cars hit the street the price point was crazy. If you wanted to go electric and didn't want to spend $60,000 then building your own for $25,000 was still a good option.
Things have changed though. Take The Mitsubishi I - miev for example . It started off at $60,000 locally in 2010. With a 100 - 160km range depending on conditions. Seating for 4 people air conditioning multiple air bags, traction control stability control . RWD with a liquid cooled AC motor with around 16kw 330v of lithium. All the mod cons of a modern small car like say a Honda jazz for example....But $60,0000!!!!!!!
Fast forward a few years from 2010 and things have changed. The Mitsubishi I -miev has dropped in price each year from $60,000 in 2010 (more to do with ev being a flop in Australia than the particular car) First drop was to $48,000 then I see them for $29,000 and now after some heavy negotiation I was able to get a drive away price of $23,990 They just want to clear the last remaining stock in a few dealerships so they are willing to take a loss to get them off the floor. So things have changed.
There is a guy in Western Australia advertising his converted EV 1990 Daihatsu Charade Ev conversion online for $15,000 after spending almost $30,000.Why would you bother. Another example was a artical on guy who converted his 2000 model Mitsubishi lancer nice clean build ac motor /lithium all legal....but cost over $20,000 + the cost of his car. The range is less than the i-miev and with less features and safty , no warranty and its a 13yo car and a diy retrofit build.
So for the price of the parts alone you could drive a way in a OEM all electric car. And lest face it the OEM have access to some nice parts and R&D budget so its near on imposable to match it DIY style. localy $20,000 is what a new Nissan pulsar cost in the late 1990's and that was considered very cheap price point break through.
I'm all for diy when it equates to a better product at a cheaper price but when you end up with a lesser product at more cost its not adding up in my mind.
The fact I can charge for free has me seriously considering it. I might add a bit more PV if needed to cover extra consumption. I did the haggling with the dealer on Friday and spent the weekend thinking about it. most of my research over the weekend has been about hacking the i-mieve and how I would go about replacing the battery myself in 10 years or so when its out of warranty.
Hey I could even charge my ebikes from it using the AC/dc converter and rc chargers :lol:
I did some sums on cost $24,000 I consume $2500 in fuel each year local cost of fuel is $1.65lt (or $6.25 a US gallon) The I miev is free to charge for me from solar. So in just under ten years to pay for its self if fuel doesn't go up at all over 10 years. Now I do have to consider taking $24,000 out of the bank I will looe me $1000 each year in interest that I could have earned from that money at 5% interest.My thinking is there would be $300pa in combustion engine servicing cost wiped out going to electric and its $100 less to register the car each year discount for electric cars .So now I am only $600 down. I think that will be covered in the increase of fuel cost over 10 years as I am sure it will go up.
So at the 10 year mark I have recouped the capital investment in the car at no loss. I might need new battery's by then.So lets be realistic and say $10,000 for a new set OEM quality cells. For the next the 10 years the car would cost me $1000 a year to run - (New battery cost spread out over 10 years). Again interest lost in the $10,000 spent on the battery would be $500pa. The numbers add up well. Its never really free as you have to break down the battery cost over time but how many internal combustion engine cars actually pay there capital cost in savings and then cut the running cost from then on by a drastic amount. Not to mention the benefits of clean/quite transportation and fun factor.
It hurts when you see big numbers for battery's like 10k but I feel most people go blind putting $50 - $60 a week in there car in gas and don't really add up the cost over a year or 10 years . If you payed your gas bill every 10 years in a lump sum it would hurt to
There is also the (zombies are coming :lol: factor) Well I'm sure they aren't but if the sh** hits the fan so to speak the total Independence in a great feeling.
I will make a discussion this week....but i think a all ready have
Basically to build a car that would satisfy my expectations I would be using a lithium battery's, AC motor and controller to offer regenerative braking/charging with real wold range of around 100 - 150km. Air conditioning, power steering . Similar or better performance to the car had before the electric conversion. Will cost around $20,000 minimum in parts/ materials that's doing all the fabrication and machining myself. You need a car to base the project around and $5000 in Australia would provide a reasonably nice base car.
So lets just say $25,000 minimum. Doing a quality job takes time and there are a few hoops to jump through getting it all approved, safe and reliable as I would expect it to be legal and insurable. Ironing all the small bugs like you would expect with any project can be a pain. Retrofitting new components to a existing car always has its compromise. Lets face it a company like Honda were not thinking about a safe space for 20kw of battery's when they built the 2004 civic for example :lol: . Some cars lend them self better to being converted than others. So its a balancing act between finding the car you like and finding the car that ticks all the boxes for a ev conversion. The funny thing is. To often I see a crappy $800 1990 Daihatsu Charade with $20,000 of ev gear in it ...why they don't even have Air conditioning or a airbag for the driver. Its a 20 year old car and its not even a classic car.My thinking is if your going to sink that much money into a ev start with a reasonably nice/safe car in the 1st place.
Doing it the DIY way was your only option a few years ago locally. Even when the all electric factory built cars hit the street the price point was crazy. If you wanted to go electric and didn't want to spend $60,000 then building your own for $25,000 was still a good option.
Things have changed though. Take The Mitsubishi I - miev for example . It started off at $60,000 locally in 2010. With a 100 - 160km range depending on conditions. Seating for 4 people air conditioning multiple air bags, traction control stability control . RWD with a liquid cooled AC motor with around 16kw 330v of lithium. All the mod cons of a modern small car like say a Honda jazz for example....But $60,0000!!!!!!!
Fast forward a few years from 2010 and things have changed. The Mitsubishi I -miev has dropped in price each year from $60,000 in 2010 (more to do with ev being a flop in Australia than the particular car) First drop was to $48,000 then I see them for $29,000 and now after some heavy negotiation I was able to get a drive away price of $23,990 They just want to clear the last remaining stock in a few dealerships so they are willing to take a loss to get them off the floor. So things have changed.
There is a guy in Western Australia advertising his converted EV 1990 Daihatsu Charade Ev conversion online for $15,000 after spending almost $30,000.Why would you bother. Another example was a artical on guy who converted his 2000 model Mitsubishi lancer nice clean build ac motor /lithium all legal....but cost over $20,000 + the cost of his car. The range is less than the i-miev and with less features and safty , no warranty and its a 13yo car and a diy retrofit build.
So for the price of the parts alone you could drive a way in a OEM all electric car. And lest face it the OEM have access to some nice parts and R&D budget so its near on imposable to match it DIY style. localy $20,000 is what a new Nissan pulsar cost in the late 1990's and that was considered very cheap price point break through.
I'm all for diy when it equates to a better product at a cheaper price but when you end up with a lesser product at more cost its not adding up in my mind.
The fact I can charge for free has me seriously considering it. I might add a bit more PV if needed to cover extra consumption. I did the haggling with the dealer on Friday and spent the weekend thinking about it. most of my research over the weekend has been about hacking the i-mieve and how I would go about replacing the battery myself in 10 years or so when its out of warranty.
Hey I could even charge my ebikes from it using the AC/dc converter and rc chargers :lol:
I did some sums on cost $24,000 I consume $2500 in fuel each year local cost of fuel is $1.65lt (or $6.25 a US gallon) The I miev is free to charge for me from solar. So in just under ten years to pay for its self if fuel doesn't go up at all over 10 years. Now I do have to consider taking $24,000 out of the bank I will looe me $1000 each year in interest that I could have earned from that money at 5% interest.My thinking is there would be $300pa in combustion engine servicing cost wiped out going to electric and its $100 less to register the car each year discount for electric cars .So now I am only $600 down. I think that will be covered in the increase of fuel cost over 10 years as I am sure it will go up.
So at the 10 year mark I have recouped the capital investment in the car at no loss. I might need new battery's by then.So lets be realistic and say $10,000 for a new set OEM quality cells. For the next the 10 years the car would cost me $1000 a year to run - (New battery cost spread out over 10 years). Again interest lost in the $10,000 spent on the battery would be $500pa. The numbers add up well. Its never really free as you have to break down the battery cost over time but how many internal combustion engine cars actually pay there capital cost in savings and then cut the running cost from then on by a drastic amount. Not to mention the benefits of clean/quite transportation and fun factor.
It hurts when you see big numbers for battery's like 10k but I feel most people go blind putting $50 - $60 a week in there car in gas and don't really add up the cost over a year or 10 years . If you payed your gas bill every 10 years in a lump sum it would hurt to
There is also the (zombies are coming :lol: factor) Well I'm sure they aren't but if the sh** hits the fan so to speak the total Independence in a great feeling.
I will make a discussion this week....but i think a all ready have