Completed 1976 X1/9 EV Conversion (Ask Me Anything!)

exthemius said:
When I got the car, there was a single brake reservoir and a clutch reservoir. Eventually I’ll re-do it back to the dual, but at the moment it’s a single (and I no longer have a clutch, so there’s just the one now).
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As you probably know :) , a single shared brake fluid reservoir is unwise and definitely not legal anywhere for road use. I think even most race classes require separation of front and rear brakes...
 
It could be a single reservoir that's split into 2 parts inside, hard to tell from the photo.

More importantly, exthemius - how is it to drive? How does it handle compared to a stock car? How about the power? it looks like you've used much of the storage for batteries - still useful for around town stuff?
 
exthemius said:
Not sure what the weight is, but the motor is 115 lbs and each battery weighs in at 48lbs.

The only thing different regarding weight distribution would the fact that there’s a 48lb battery in the frunk and a 48lb battery in the trunk.

Cost: WAY TOO MUCH. But for transparency’s sake:
  1. Car: $1,500
  2. Motor Kit: $4,450 (includes motor, controller, wire harness, contactor, dash gauge). The current version of this kit is ~$6,000 now (HPEVS AC-50 Kit)
  3. Batteries: $4,200 (two 48V sealed battery units with embedded BMS, and two 120v level 1 chargers). The company doesn’t sell the 160Ah ones anymore, but here the closest ones that they do sell (Batteries)
  4. Other stuff: who knows…the were a lot of ongoing costs over the past few years doing the project
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That really doesn't seem too bad, though there are obviously a lot of skills required to pull it off.

I am pondering an eventual EV conversion for mine, if and when it gives up the ghost beyond my abilities. Companies that do these conversions charge *a lot* more than $10-12k.
 
kareembadr said:
That really doesn't seem too bad, though there are obviously a lot of skills required to pull it off.

I am pondering an eventual EV conversion for mine, if and when it gives up the ghost beyond my abilities. Companies that do these conversions charge *a lot* more than $10-12k.
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Yes, that is true. I’m not an engineer nor mechanic, and the last time I did anything related to car restoration was re-doing a 1966 VW Bug in college (and I didn’t do the motor or anything outside of body work and what little electrical there was in that car). These forums and YouTube basically taught me everything and did 99.9999% of the work myself. The only thing I outsourced was the machining of the coupler from the motor shaft to the transmission.
 
fiatrn said:
It could be a single reservoir that's split into 2 parts inside, hard to tell from the photo.

More importantly, exthemius - how is it to drive? How does it handle compared to a stock car? How about the power? it looks like you've used much of the storage for batteries - still useful for around town stuff?
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It drives very well — I still need to replace the front suspension components (have them, just haven’t done it yet). I wanted this to be used as a city car, so it was never really meant to do anything other than drive around under 55 mph or so. It’s useful for quick runs for coffee, to the store for off-cycle groceries, going to breweries, etc. I find that leaving it in 4th is perfectly fine regarding power and is a blast to drive. Once I’m going anything above 15 or 20 mph or so, I can give it power and it’ll push my head back to the seat. I mean at the end of the day, it’s 15 more horsepower and twice the torque of the original ICE.

I also have a 1/2” thick piece of plexiglass over the rear battery, so I do actually still have trunk space back there.
 
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I guess pre-67 is very old? It's what I usually play with.

Anyways, back to the electric, thanks for posting this thread! it's really informative. Neat to see what you can do if you set your requirements at a reasonable level.
 
Do you have more electric data in real life? Input current and voltage of the controller at different load scenarios? Don't know if your BMS provides an interface or you got an other external display?
 
X19e said:
Do you have more electric data in real life? Input current and voltage of the controller at different load scenarios? Don't know if your BMS provides an interface or you got an other external display?
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Not really outside of the specific parameters that it was programmed for — meaning the controller is pre-programmed based on the motor (e.g. HPEVS AC-50) and what I wanted my operational voltage to be (e.g. 96V)…but the controller can be programmed to run at 144V, as can the motor. I do have a display that shows me RPM, Amps, Current Voltage, Min and Max Voltage, Max Amps, Motor Temperature and Controller Temperature — that I have stashed where the tachometer previously lived:

IMG_2802.jpeg


I added a mode selector button to the center console that allows me to cycle through the various displays (the small red MODE button on the left side):

IMG_2803.jpeg


The large switch at the bottom is to switch between Drive, Neutral and Reverse. There are a few toggles (regen and eco-mode) that I didn’t use switches for because I just “hard-coded” them to be what I wanted them to be — meaning I always have regen turned on and always have “eco-mode” turned off.

The basic schematic is below (although this has stuff in it that I don’t have, for example a Prius pedal, the specific charger here, etc):

IMG_0574.png


Most of the “operational electronics” like contactors, high-voltage fuses, fan motor controllers, etc are located where the spare tire previously lived:

IMG_2807.jpeg


IMG_2806.jpeg


Spare-tire has been replaced by a new 12V patch/inflation system used in a lot of new cars, which is simply stashed in the frunk.

And then the full schematic and documentation from HPEVS (the pdf) which contains schematics for various throttles, isolators, can-bus, etc.
 

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exthemius said:
Not really outside of the specific parameters that it was programmed for — meaning the controller is pre-programmed based on the motor (e.g. HPEVS AC-50) and what I wanted my operational voltage to be (e.g. 96V)…but the controller can be programmed to run at 144V, as can the motor. I do have a display that shows me RPM, Amps, Current Voltage, Min and Max Voltage, Max Amps, Motor Temperature and Controller Temperature — that I have stashed where the tachometer previously lived:

View attachment 84113

I added a mode selector button to the center console that allows me to cycle through the various displays (the small red MODE button on the left side):

View attachment 84114

The large switch at the bottom is to switch between Drive, Neutral and Reverse. There are a few toggles (regen and eco-mode) that I didn’t use switches for because I just “hard-coded” them to be what I wanted them to be — meaning I always have regen turned on and always have “eco-mode” turned off.
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Great! That display should give the information I'm interested in. Could you record Current Voltage and Amp at kick down and cruise as two example scenarios, please?
I got nearly the same RND switch and will have a Regen OFF because that's another requirement.
 
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The batteries seem to have a max constant draw current of 225amps with a peak of 800amps which is usually for very short bursts. That would give a max of about 20kw over long periods with the occasional blast to full beans. How have you found this scenario in real life?
 
pafiat said:
The batteries seem to have a max constant draw current of 225amps with a peak of 800amps which is usually for very short bursts. That would give a max of about 20kw over long periods with the occasional blast to full beans. How have you found this scenario in real life?
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I have to watch how much power I give it (I guess like anyone would but for different reasons) because the battery is capable of pushing more current than my controller can take. There is a safeguard in the controller that will throw the car into “limp mode” if you exceed 650amps — so when I’m accelerating I typically watch my amps just to ensure I don’t peak. Once I get up to speed and am cruising, the car rarely uses more than 40 to 90 amps. When I let off the gas, I’ll regen around -10 to -20 amps.
 
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