Electric Porsche!

[Fibb222]

Originally Posted by daniel

Update. The electrician cannot do anything for me before next week, because he's booked up. Paul is going to build me a cable and send it. He said he'd try to ship it today. Maybe he will, though nothing has happened quickly up to now. I begged him to ship it overnight with Saturday delivery. He understood, but did not make any promises.

I should have a charging cable some time next week, if not tomorrow, and I think tomorrow is unlikely. Meanwhile, my EV that I've waited eleven months for sits in my driveway. I've got a few miles worth of charge still on it, but probably won't drive it again until I can charge it.

Can't recharge yet. Wow that is one crappy tease... well it certainly looks good on the driveway.

[efusco]

Daniel,
Could you post a link to your supplier, maybe provide some cost information...I don't want to out you for what you paid, exactly, but it would be nice to know how much it would cost someone to buy a similar vehicle converted similarly to yours. Include a price for one like yours and one like yours WITH a cable to recharge!

[JSH]

Originally Posted by efusco

Daniel,
Could you post a link to your supplier, maybe provide some cost information...I don't want to out you for what you paid, exactly, but it would be nice to know how much it would cost someone to buy a similar vehicle converted similarly to yours. Include a price for one like yours and one like yours WITH a cable to recharge!

He already did: http://www.coolgreencar.net/

The Porsches are $$$$ but not as much as a Tesla.

[lys]

Fantastico, Daniel!

Sometimes I dream for when my Prius ICE becomes aged, perhaps convert it to full EV. But I'm afraid the Prius ICE has a very relaxed life, probably when finished, the whole car will be for rust.

But you can still find Porsches with more than 40 years, specially the 911, in mint condition.
The 911 started production in 1964, and the basic design has changed very little.

Salud!

[daniel]

Update.

They sent me the cable. They said it would arrive Monday. Apparently they were not willing to pay for Saturday delivery. I had hoped to get it Saturday, but had feared it could be next Friday, so Monday is better than expected.

What Paul told me:

Since there was not room for the second charger (I didn't want two, but Paul decided to give me fast charging which I didn't need) and the spare tire, without giving up my back seat, and I didn't want to give up my back seat, I would have the option of leaving the second charger on a table in the garage. It would mean more cables to plug in, but I'd have my spare and still have my back seats. Paul recommends leaving the spare at home and carrying a can of fix-a-flat. But I don't like that idea because it ruins the tire, and is useless if you have a sidewall blowout or a really big hole. He shipped the car with the spare in the back seat and the charger in the tiny space that remains of the trunk (front) after it was mostly filled with batteries. I knew I wouldn't have much of a trunk if any. I accepted that from the start.

What I discovered:

Today I moved the Porsche into the garage and the Prius out into the driveway. (The Xebra uses the other side of the garage, since it, like the Porsche, must plug in.) Then I opened up the trunk and took the charger out. The first thing I found was that one of the cables was too short to reach with the charger outside the trunk. I'd have to set the charger on top of the spare tire before I could plug in its cables. I wrestled the spare out of the back of the car, and the second thing I found was that the spare does not fit in the trunk. It is several inches too long and/or too high.

Then I discovered that the right rear seatback will not latch into place, and the right rear seatbelt tensioner is stuck and the belt cannot be pulled out. This is probably not Paul's fault, since he would not have been doing anything around there. Finally, I climbed into the rear seat and learned that a circus contortionist would probably find it acceptable, but no civilian would, so it didn't really matter if I lost the use of that seat after all. I very nearly was unable to get out. Perhaps there are more contortionists and midgets hitchhiking in Germany than here, and the back seat of a Porsche would serve some purpose.

So I got the tire back into the back seat, in a manner that still allows the left rear passenger seat to be used, if I ever have occasion to offer a ride to a contortionist, and put the charger back into the (front) trunk.

The one positive thing in all this is that to charge the car I'll only have to plug in the one cable, as with any normal EV, and not the three cables of the outboard charger as well as the pain power cable. I lose half my back seat after all, but that turns out to be less of a loss than I had thought.

Here are pictures of the innards. Three of the charger sitting in front, and three of the stuff in the back. I have no idea what any of it is, except for the charger in back, since it's the twin of the one in front.

[DaveinOlyWA]

ok so no 110 volt? i am at a loss to understand the complexity of what you have here. granted my Zenn is a pretty simple "one step up from golf cart" status, but it has just one charger (of course it only does 110) and takes up little or no room. in fact, most EV's i've seen dont have much for charger "volume"

just wondering since the website seems to imply that there are several battery pack sizes available, do you have two separate packs with a charger for each?

[JSH]

Leave the tire at home, Porsche 911's are not designed to carry a full size spare tire. From the factory some models come with a space saver spare, but as you found the normal size tire will not fit in the trunk. AAA is your friend.

If you must carry the spare tire, do not just set it in the back seat. If you are ever in an accident that tire will become a projectile. If you do carry the spare, you will need to strap it down do it can't move.

Interesting note. My Porsche 914 had a spare mounted in the front. However, the air pressure in the spare was used to power the windshield washer nozzles. So if you used the washers too much and had a flat tire, you would find that the spare tire was also flat. I still miss my 914. It was by far the most enjoyable car I have ever owned even if it only had 80 HP. I have thought about getting a Toyota MR2. It is almost identical in every dimension to my old 914.

[daniel]

Originally Posted by DaveinOlyWA

ok so no 110 volt? i am at a loss to understand the complexity of what you have here. granted my Zenn is a pretty simple "one step up from golf cart" status, but it has just one charger (of course it only does 110) and takes up little or no room. in fact, most EV's i've seen dont have much for charger "volume"

just wondering since the website seems to imply that there are several battery pack sizes available, do you have two separate packs with a charger for each?

Nope. No 110 volt charger. There are 48 LiFePO4 cells, charged in two banks by separate chargers. Each charger measures about 15 x 10 x 8 inches and includes an integrated BMS. (One is seen in the pictures of the front trunk of the car, above.) They run on 220 volts and draw 18 amps each, so the car plugs into a 50-amp circuit. My Xebra has 24 LiFePO4 cells and a single 220-volt, 25-amp charger, also with integrated BMS.

But if you think that's big, check out the humongous wall-mounted charger for the Tesla Roadster.

Paul can install lead or lithium batteries, as many as will fit, depending on your budget and how much range you want.

Originally Posted by JSH

Leave the tire at home, Porsche 911's are not designed to carry a full size spare tire. From the factory some models come with a space saver spare, but as you found the normal size tire will not fit in the trunk. AAA is your friend.

If you must carry the spare tire, do not just set it in the back seat. If you are ever in an accident that tire will become a projectile. If you do carry the spare, you will need to strap it down do it can't move.

Good advice about strapping down the tire. Bad advice about leaving it at home. A simple flat would require a tow truck. This is the original "doughnut" spare that fit in the trunk until Paul filled the trunk with batteries. They don't power the windshield washers from the spare tire any more.

AAA is not my friend. AAA is the friend of Big Oil. They lobby consistently against the environment. I have road hazard coverage on my car insurance. I can call any wrecker I like, pay them cash, and file a claim with my insurance. But when I do, I want them to put on my spare, not have to tow me to a service station.

Since I still have 3/4 of my charge, I am going to take a short freeway jaunt tomorrow to log amperage vs speed. That should give me a good idea of my range. I'll post my results. What I know about the range of my Xebra and the relative size of the packs does not make me optimistic. My only hope is that the motor in the Porsche is a LOT more efficient. It might be. Everything in the Xebra is pretty cheap.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by daniel

Good advice about strapping down the tire. Bad advice about leaving it at home. A simple flat would require a tow truck. This is the original "doughnut" spare that fit in the trunk until Paul filled the trunk with batteries. They don't power the windshield washers from the spare tire any more.

AAA is not my friend. AAA is the friend of Big Oil. They lobby consistently against the environment. I have road hazard coverage on my car insurance. I can call any wrecker I like, pay them cash, and file a claim with my insurance. But when I do, I want them to put on my spare, not have to tow me to a service station.

I'm aware that Porsche no longer uses the spare tire to power the washer's. However, I still find it hilarious that they once did.

You may want to see if the full size tire will actually fit in the car. I know it won't fit in the front trunk. Does the rear seat move forward enough to put it in the backseat? You may end up on the side of the road with your donut tire on the car and no place to put the full size tire. (I recall reading a magazine article where this happened to an editor.)

I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles and have never had a flat tire that needed to be changed on the road. Maybe I'm just lucky but I question the logic of carrying around an extra tire, jack, and tools just in case I ever get a flat. I have seriously considered taking the spare tires out of my VW and Prius.

[daniel]

Originally Posted by JSH

I'm aware that Porsche no longer uses the spare tire to power the washer's. However, I still find it hilarious that they once did.

Originally Posted by JSH

You may want to see if the full size tire will actually fit in the car. I know it won't fit in the front trunk. Does the rear seat move forward enough to put it in the backseat? You may end up on the side of the road with your donut tire on the car and no place to put the full size tire. (I recall reading a magazine article where this happened to an editor.)

I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles and have never had a flat tire that needed to be changed on the road. Maybe I'm just lucky but I question the logic of carrying around an extra tire, jack, and tools just in case I ever get a flat. I have seriously considered taking the spare tires out of my VW and Prius.

The rear seats do not move, but the seat backs fold down and form a shelf which extends toward the back. I believe the real wheel would fit.

But if it does not, the road assistance driver could take the real wheel after he puts on the spare. I cannot change a tire. I could when I was younger. Not any more. Maybe if my life depended on it, but in that case I would not worry if I had to abandon the flat.

I have had a number of flats in my 40 years of driving. The most recent is telling: Not quite two years ago, I was returning from Canada on a Sunday and got a puncture in a nearly-new tire out in the middle of nowhere. I cannot remember if there was no cell service, or if I just could not reach a service station that was open. But I was on my own. I tried to change the tire but could not get the flat off. Eventually some good Samaritans stopped and changed it for me.

If I had not had a spare, I'd have had to abandon my car and hitchhike home. The three-hour drive home (slowly) on the doughnut spare was terribly frustrating, pulling over constantly to let traffic pass. But that was preferable to abandoning my car.