| Channel 5 did a story on my EV and I managed to capture it off the air. So here it is. Channel 8 also did a story, and I thought that one was edited better, but I never managed to get a copy of it. However, you can watch that one on their website here. |
| This was the first time for me to test the motor after constructing the mounts and re-attaching the tires. The front of the car is on jack-stands. The car is in 1st gear, and I'm just attaching the motor to a 12V battery with a set of jumper cables. There is still a pretty good spark, as you can see, which startled me. |
| This was the first time for me to actually attempt to drive the car. Originally, I hadn't planned to take video of it because it was so dark outside, I knew the video camera wouldn't pick it up. However, later on I remembered that my security cameras would have caught it, and they can actually see a little bit at night. Since it was kind of historic, I went ahead and saved it. Also, the car only has 3 batteries mounted in the front, giving it a total of 24 Volts. I never got it over about 5 or 6 mph that night in first gear. |
| This was the second time for me to take the car for a spin. It was just a few minutes from being dark, but Leslie took video with the Sanyo CG6 and it came out okay. I still only had 24 Volts available, but I tried 2nd gear this time and got up to 10 mph. The "snapping" sound you hear is comming from one of my engine mounts. I didn't have the right sized bolt in place, so it has a little slop in it. That will be fixed eventually. The grinding noise you hear as the car drives away is the brake rotors which are covered in rust from sitting for years without driving. |
| Testing with 56 Volts. I drove the car around the block and I got up to around 30 mph at one point. Accelleration is much better than before, but is still very sluggish compared to a gasoline car. The batteries in the back are "barely" held in place by an incomplete battery rack. You can hear the high-pitched whine of the electric motor, but the main noise you can hear is the still-rusted brake rotors. (it took driving nearly 60 miles before that rust wore off!) |
| This is the real deal. The car isn't finished yet, but it is operating on 72 volts, the hood is back on, and I can blend in with regular traffic on city streets. In this particular clip, I'm driving in Kennedale and I'm going about 30 mph, which is the speed limit on most of the streets in my town. |
| Take a ride inside the vehicle with me and my family. See how the clutchless transmission works, and get an idea of how it sounds and how fast it goes (or doesn't go) |