Unfortunately, it turns out they are garbage. ☹️
500A drone inverter
Here is a (scarily) light & compact Chinese drone inverter. Specs are impressive, but it looks like it’d destroy itself if you looked at it funny.
BMW i3 94Ah cells
More ideas from today’s workshop session. It appears BMW i3 94Ah cells would be ideal! 😀 https://pushevs.com/2018/04/05/samsung-sdi-94-ah-battery-cell-full-specifications/ 30 cells would give me 10.5kWh at 111V – in only 60kg. Here’s an approximation of 6 of them stacked together: Even so, it’ll be a bloody tight fit! The battery box and cabling will be {ahem} interesting…
New Electric Ireland course report
So, the New Electric Ireland course was absolutely amazing! Damien Maguire is an excellent teacher and I came away with far more information and practical experience than I could possibly have hoped for. We learned all the basic theory you need for an EV conversion, designed and built an HV junction box and even got… Continue reading New Electric Ireland course report
Software first
While I’m still developing ideas for the hardware, there’s nothing stopping me from pressing ahead with the software development. Behold: my GitHub repository! Not much there yet, but I will begin by working out the features and logic needed for the main control loop. The plan is to test the complete system on the bench… Continue reading Software first
Back to school
I’m thrilled to be joining the Electric Car Conversion Course that’s being run by New Electric in March 2020. The course was sold out in 4 days! Do check out what these guys are doing over athttps://openinverter.org
Drive options
I’ve got three options for the final drive: 1. Concentric belt drive through the swingarm pivot. 2. Chain drive from motor shaft (in same place as existing pinion). 3. Motor onto gearbox input shaft (in same place as existing clutch). The first one is the most desirable, but would mean fabricating a new swingarm and… Continue reading Drive options
Outline spec
Having ridden the bike a bit, an outline specification is forming in my mind. The bike is quite light, but somewhat underpowered (it has ~30 bhp). I’m thinking a 40kW motor should be about right, with up to 100kg for the battery pack.
It’s home!
Here it is arriving after a 200 mile ride from Durham through awful weather. On petrol power, natch. It never missed a beat and got nearly 70 mpg – not bad for a 30 year old bike.
Setting off…
This is me setting off on my first ever ride on the Dart: 200 miles from my parents place to my home. It was bit of a gamble. Damn, that clutch is sharp.