Sparky, The Electric Vehicle (EV)

Electric Vehicle Project: Battery Installation

9/17/2006 Pickup Bed Hinges/Lift--
One of the neat features of this design is that the rear batteries are under the pickup bed. Today we installed the hinges and the hydraulic lifts.
The hinges bolted to the rear crossmember and then they bolted to the bed using support brackets. The lifts are rated for 200 pounds each.
However, they are installed at an angle so the lifting power is somewhat reduced. I chose to use an existing set of holes on the frame for attaching the lifts and then attached the other end to the underside of the bed.
Here I chose to use the existing reinforced bar that goes under the bed. I did spend time figuring out the angle given the location of the attachment points along the frame and the bed. But in the end I just chose what was convenient.
I ended up with very good clearance in the rear. (Though I could use a hard hat to keep from banging my head!)

9/24/2006 StyroFoam, Hood Pins--
Chris and I added the insulating styrofoam today. We used 1 inch and 3/4 inch thick styrofoam to insulate the plastic battery boxes. This is the same styrofoam you can buy at Home Depot.
We used 2'x4' sheets and cut it to size to fit the boxes. We also installed 2 hood pins in the back of the bed. These are the same hood pins one uses on their cherried out hot rod.
In this case we used them to hold the back of the bed down. I do not want the bed flying up after going over a bump!
We also started work on the control board.

10/1/2006 Misc--
I removed the clutch pedal today. Since this is a "clutchless" design there is no need for it anymore. An added plus is the hole it left behind in the firewall. I will be using that for the gauge wiring.
Installed the plastic for the front battery box.

10/13/2006 Gear Ratio--
We measured the gear ratio of our transmission today. For each revolution of the rear tire, how many revolutions of the motor is there? This is what we found out:

Gear	Motor Revolutions	Max Speed
1	7.5	52.5 mph
2	4.33	90.93 mph
3	2.66	148.0 mph
4	1.875	210.0 mph
5	1.5	262.5 mph

The reason for doing this is so that we would have a feel for the RPM of the motor based on the speed of the vehicle.
We do not want to over speed the motor which has a max RPM limit of 5000. (One could install a tachometer and achieve the same thing.) My tires measure 26.5 inches in diameter. The circumference is pi*d or 83.25 inches (6.93 feet). Based on my calculations we should not have a problem.

10/14/2006 Batteries!!!--
Today was the day we pick up the batteries. A local battery supplier, Hensely Battery, was able to provide me with the Trojan batteries.
Tina, Chris, and I went down in 2 vehicles to pick them up, what a load! Chris and I spent the afternoon placing the batteries in their respective boxes.

10/15-16/2006 Cable UP--
I started cabling up the batteries today. We used 2/0, black and red welding cable. The cable was cut to length and the lugs were crimped on. A special crimper made the job much easier.
It would be impossible without it.

The cover on the rear batteries is made of black neoprene rubber. It is 1/8 inch thick and attached to the battery box frames. Its purpose is to keep the road grime to a minimum.
The blue covered items between the side and rear battery box are fuses. I used 2 inch flat hose material to protect the fuses from the elements.