AEVA Forums

Hi all, I have 20x 18650 LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) cells here from manufacturer Huanyu which I tested a while back, but now have no need for them - so are free to good home. Results from the tests are here, for interest: http://zeva.com.au/tech/LiFePO4.php They're not as good as PHET cells, b...

About a year ago I looked at using NiMH and had a good chat with the experts on EVDL about the idea. In short, it doesn't work very well.. The main problem is that nickel battery chemistries, when being charged, reach a peak voltage then actually start to drop in voltage. This is fine when charging ...

Sounds like a great event.. I'm keen, assuming my car is finished and licensed in time! What sort of dates did you have in mind?

I am in Perth though so I expect I'd have to ship the car over.. the Nullarbor was not designed for EVs

Hi all, I just finished writing up the results from another round of LiFePO4 battery testing - this time two 38120 sized cells from Chinese manufacturer Headway: http://www.zeva.com.au/tech/headway The Headway seem like nice cells at a relatively low price, I can definitely imagine them being used i...

I don't think there is a club in Adelaide - about time someone started one! http://forums.aeva.asn.au/smileys/smiley2.gif I'd be interested to hear how you go with Chinese suppliers of LiFePO4 batteries, I've been investigating it myself quite a bit lately. The best candidates I've come across so fa...

The unfortunate truth is that yes, you will probably still have to source some parts from overseas, but we're working on that.. So to start, a shameless plug for my business, Zero Emission Vehicles Australia ( http://www.zeva.com.au ). One of the primary motivations behind starting this business was...

Hey Clean32, welcome to the forums. You wouldn't happen to be referring to an R32 with your alias would you? Some answers to your questions: Controllers If you're after high performance, the best way to go right now are the Zilla controllers from CafeElectric.com - can route about 700kW of power to ...

*bump* Anybody? (In WA, by the way!) OK a couple of other things on the subject, as I've really gotta get onto this fabrication asap.. Anyone know a good place to buy sheet aluminium in WA? I'm after a couple of square metres of 3mm thick, and about one square metre of 12mm. And lastly, suggestions ...

Mike Willmon's Ford Pinto with two Warp 9 motors, aka "Crazy Horse": http://www.evalbum.com/1093 The electric dragster running Altair Nano batteries, aka Current Eliminator: http://www.currenteliminator.net/ Stanford Uni's silicon nanowire battery breakthrough - could end our range problems forever!...

Thalass makes a good point - so all you lead-sled owners out there will just have to hurry up and get decent batteries

Seriously though, yeah I'd definitely be up for that once my EV is on the road, sounds like fun.

Yeah, bikes count too. Arguably it's much cheaper/easier to build a high performance motorbike because everything is about 1/4 the size (and hence cost), so I guess I've got my work cut out for me if I want this 1 tonne MX5 to beat any of the electric bikes out there! (Nobody's planning to make some...

In my opinion it's the high performance EVs which give the most exposure and show people what's possible. There are quite a few fantastic EVs racing in the US now which are getting a lot of media coverage (e.g Killacycle, White Zombie, Current Eliminator, Electric Imp) - I look forward to the day wh...

The trick with bypassing cells as they discharge to their minimum voltage is that the bypass mechanism would need to be rated for very high current, certainly several hundred amps. This would basically require a contactor per cell - pretty expensive! And if the cells are reasonably well matched, the...

In my case I'm using a Zivan NG3 with the TS90 battery management system (BMS) from evpower.com.au. For interest, the charging algorithm for lithiums is Constant Current, Constant Voltage (CCCV), which basically just means the charger needs to limit both voltage and current. It might be easiest to u...

As another option, I picked up a bunch of steel offcuts from Dicandilo's
Steel City the other day for $1/kg - cheap!

(They also have non-offcut steel there of course, pretty much anything you
might want)

Shortly I'm gonna need to find a talented TIG welder to weld together the
aluminium subframe in my MX5. Anyone know of such a tradesman?

(I'm happy to pay the going rate of course, I just don't know anyone with the
skills..)

Firstly, the Warp11 is going to fit, jolly good.. Thalass: Yeah that Electric Imp is awesome.. must have cost them a small fortune! I priced up those Kokam lithium polymer batteries a while back, at about $40K! And those Siemens AC drives sure aren't cheap. That is one high-end EV alright.. Andrew: ...

Thanks, yeah still going with the MX5 conversion! I keep changing my mind about how I'm going to fit everything in. It's a pretty beefy system for a small car so it's kind of a tight squeeze! (I'm currently trying to work out if I can fit a Warp 11 motor in there, and shoot for the Fastest EV In Aus...

Hi Riverend, Your plans sound pretty similar what Tuarn Brown (our current AEVA president) did with his Suzuki Sierra, i.e using an industrial 3-phase AC motor with a Danfoss VFD. Check out the EV album listing here: http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1149 Definitely worth dropping him an email to chat...

Yeah I'm with Rod Dilkes on this one.. The cost equation for Lithium Cobalt and Lithium Manganese chemistries just doesn't work due to their lower cycle life (500-800 cycles), but Lithium Iron Phosphates (LiFePO4) have a 2000-3000 cycle life so they do actually work out cheaper than lead acids in th...

Hi all, Just thought I'd formally introduce to the forum :) My name is Ian Hooper and I run a business called Zero Emission Vehicles Australia. Among other things, I have been working towards making it easier for those of us converting vehicles in Australia to find the parts they need by importing a...

Hi ckas, There are a few ways you can go with this.. The best/safest way is to use a circuit breaker (e.g shameless advertisement http://zeva.com.au/store.php?product=39), and rig up a pushrod/cable allowing you to trip the lever manually by remote. The advantage here is that you also get the safety...

I was just wondering... What type of plug is most commonly used for conversions? a standard 15amp 240v plug would be the most useful, if you needed to charge away from home (assuming you have an on-board charger), but it'd be slow. Almost everyone I know just uses a standard male 3-pin single phase...

Are you guys using these DC-DCs to power your vehicle's 12V auxilliary systems? I wouldn't have thought 6-10 amps was nearly enough to run the headlights (etc). Most of the EVDL guys recommend 300W minimum rating for your 12V DC-DC converter (i.e ~25 amps).. (I'm using an IOTA DLS-45 in the MX5, tho...