Tuesday, November 24, 2009

after more sanding and a increasing chance of emphasima



yup, thats right, pink is back! I whiped up a hot wire knife from some copper wire lying around and some big 'ol six volt batteries I used for my tv head costume wired in series to eachother. Split it right down the middle and used some bamboo skewers to hold the pieces on there. The next step is to cover the mold in something to protect the styrofoam from being dissolved by the fiberglass resin and allow for some finish sanding. Someone recomended bondo so I will see how affordable that option is and might start working tommorow night on that.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

now with the clothes off






Finally got the housing off of my motor, no thanks to the guys at golden motor. I couldn't wait any longer to get a reply from them so some guys at the shop helped me get it disassembled.

a123 in the place to be


Those crazy kids at the EV shop not only have tons of nanophosphate cells just plain kickin it, but they have a single cell that has been doing four minute fast charges and discharges back to back for weeks now and will continue to until it has completed 1000 cycles as it is rated to. The purpouse of this is to see how the fast charge system affects cell life. Aparently the cells progress is viewable online and even will send one of the crew a text message if something goes wrong.

Dont tell anyone that I spent a good amount of time under that table cuddling with those boxes of a123 cells...kidding


...or am I?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Meet Grace


Grace is an E-bike from germany, it sports batteries and controller contained inside its cnc frame. It is capable of 45 kph and is water tight. It has a 30-50km range and comes in at a whopping $8000. I say if you got the cash, go for it.

Friday, November 13, 2009

a shout out

to the MIT electric vehicle team for being so receptive. I cant wait to get to meet all of you and see what you have cookin . These guys are working hard to put the electric vehicle ahead of ICE's, and look cool in their porsche while doing it.

a idea for an easy project?


cool rider makes this nifty spokeless puller. I wouldn't mind taking a hub motor and building a less sleek looking one myself and balance it out by not dressing like such a douche.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

"gas tank" style controller housing




Inspired by aussiejesters fiberglass battery box I decided to make a controller housing using the same technique. By the way, that guys work is crescent fresh. Take some time to check out his trike video on youtube with the same screen name.

Originally I was just shaping this piece as a mock up to use as a guide to make the housing out of wood. But I'm starting to think that wood might be too vulnerable to the elements and cause heat build ups. Not that the solid wood idea is totally out the window but the fiberglass option just keeps looking better. I'm shopping around for a large styrofoam block to shape the final piece out of at the moment.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

hello hello, is there anybody out there

So I've been tossing the idea about to take this blog from just being about my build to something with more stuff from the ev world outside my little project. So to start things off I would like to shout out to any other ev nuts out here in the Boston or bay area to come together and possibly form some sort of club, or association of some sort. So far all I've seen is the MIT ev team and I think it would be great to have something for not only students, but all tinkerers and DIY type people in the area. I love all the help from the people at endless-spere but there's just something to be said for getting together with people face to face and letting the ideas flow. I really do think that the electric revolution is very likely upon us but also that the onus is on us to kick it in the pants with some good ol fashioned american ingenuity. Along with a good heaping dish of trial and error.

So if you're into volts, amps, watts and speed let's get together and see what we can come up with. The bay area is a great place to be if you're into technology so it would seem a crying shame not to take advantage of that.

Friday, November 6, 2009

digin those guts like a gardener


so due to special request I'm attempting to take a look inside the motor today, and after fetching some snap ring pliers I've hit another stumbling block. I cant seem to get the rear housing to pop off. Currently I'm looking to the forum crew to help me out but unless yao yan at golden motors gives me some direction I might be up shit creek sans paddle.