Simons FSM Niki video

Post by **cracovian** » Tue, 15 Jun 2010, 17:48

I'm not sure how I even found you guys but... I got my drivers license in Fiat 126P (Niki), my first car in the US was Suzuki Samurai, and I'm currently waiting for my first EV car (Nissan Leaf, hopefully by December) - Not exactly DIY but I'm really excited nonetheless... You've done some amazing conversions here - my hat off to you all...

I do miss my 2004 GTO (Holden Monaro) though

EDIT: BTW, probably old news anyway but the Leaf is coming to Australia in 2012:

http://www.cnet.com.au/nissan-leaf-elec ... 297691.htm

Website · Post by **Simon** » Wed, 23 Jun 2010, 22:44

Thanks cracovian.
Been a while since I posted anything here..
I got the Niki over to the pits to get inspected on the 1st of February and it passed!

Here is the rego papers showing the new fuel type.

Its done over 6600 electric km now..
Energy effeciency is OK too. I have the second best fuel economy on ecomodder

Website · Post by **Simon** » Tue, 23 Nov 2010, 04:14

Well 5 months later..
And the Niki's done a total of 8762 electric km's.
I have now retired the lead acid Optima batteries because they were getting tired and sagging lots and range was down to 15kms. Still useful for trips to work and back but I couldnt resist the lure of lithium any longer!

I estimate that the Optima's did approximately 800cycles mostly to only 30%DOD though. Will have to do some capacity testing on them soon to see how much AH they have left.
Anyhow the cost/km (battery cost only) was high at $0.3389/km. Quite a bit more than I was hoping for.
The average wh/km at the wall for the lead acid Niki was 161wh/km
The best was 115wh/km.

Now I have installed a pack of 36 x 60AH Skyenergy/CALB. So the car has gone on a diet and lost around 90kg!! So should be down to around 630-640kg now. The weight loss is really noticable the suspension feels softer and there is less body roll in corners now.
I have not done many km's yet but averaging 145wh/km at the wall after 300km. With the best single trip of 125wh/km.
For instrumentation I have just installed a Cycleanalyst HV so should be able to work out how effecient the chargers are soon.
For charging I am using the same Purecharge 10amp lead acid chargers and for the bms I have EV Power modules and the MCU(yet to be installed)

Post by **Johny** » Tue, 23 Nov 2010, 14:57

Sounding good Simon. Sometime can you give an estimate of battery to road Wh/Km. I guess that will come out when you estimate your charger efficiency.

Website · Post by **Simon** » Tue, 23 Nov 2010, 19:15

Johny it looks like 100-140Wh/Km at the battery is what Iam getting but dont have many charge cycles done with the Cycleanalyst installed yet.

Post by **EV2Go** » Tue, 23 Nov 2010, 20:10

That's a beast Simon. I'm sure that 650cc donk of beefy goodness was a real stump puller, but it looks from the video that the electric motor would leave it for dead.

I love it... it's simple, it's clean and most importantly done without all the mega dollar parts. Now if you could just oil that Curtis so it didn't squeal on take off

Website · Post by **Simon** » Wed, 25 May 2011, 00:17

Here is a video I made with the new batteries.

Here is the same test with the old lead acid batteries..

Post by **Johny** » Wed, 25 May 2011, 15:54

Nice Simon. It must feel like a new car

Website · Post by **Simon** » Wed, 25 May 2011, 19:59

Yes it does make a big difference with the reduced weight of the new battery pack. The suspension has more travel and not as much body roll in corners now.