I Want A EV or Plug-In Hybred Now Dammit!

edit-vehicle sold

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(toyotablackbox @ Jan 19 2007, 06:35 PM) [snapback]378022[/snapback]</div>

This is exactly what I found.

My '07 Prius is replacing my '95 VW Golf (270k miles) as my primary commuting car. I wondered what it would take to convert the Golf to EV. I did a little hunting online and found the New England Electric Auto Association.

http://www.neeaa.org/

This is a group of folks who have been doing these conversions for decades. It turns out one of the key guys lives about 8 miles up the road. I sent him an e-mail, and he invited me to check out the vehicles he was working on. It turns out that his current project is an '88 Jetta. He told me he'd be glad to help me convert my Golf if I was interested. I haven't pulled the trigger on it yet, as I'm still in the process of trying to better understand the details of the conversion and figure out exactly what I want to do here. But it was uncanny how it all seemed fall in my lap.

They had a group meeting the weekend before last. I took my first ride in a true EV (excluding golf carts, subways, etc.) which was a converted '69 VW bug. It was a lot of fun.

Incidentally, one of the guys at the meeting had an '03 Prius on which he has racked up 274k miles.
- Battery doing fine!

 

Some good news for EV fans....

Another new battery chemistry has been announced by Electrovaya.

The beauty of the new LiIon chemistries (phosphate and titanate) from A123, Valence and Altair is that they are inherently safe and can't catch fire or explode.

However, the price you pay for that is low energy density, around 80 - 90 Wh/kg. Thus, a 50 kg PHEV pack with these would only give you about 17 miles of EV range.

BUT Electrovaya have announced a modified version that boasts comparable safety characteristics to their phosphate-series chemistry, but with higher energy density.

Amazingly, they are suggesting an energy density of beyond 330 Wh/kg !!

That means a 50 kg PHEV pack could take you as far as 65 miles in EV mode! Or a RAV4 EV retrofitted with these would have a range of 508 miles between charges!

I'm really looking forward to seeing if they have a real product or not....

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/01/electrovaya_int.html

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Doug @ Jan 14 2007, 02:03 PM) [snapback]375526[/snapback]</div>

If you really want an electric car than buy one.

Zap Xebra NmG -------- ---------------40 mph, 20 mile range, $10,000 www.zapworld.com
NEV Co. Gizmo ------------------------ 40 mph, 45 mile range, $12,000 www.nevco-ev.com
Myers Motors----------- ----------------70 mph, 30 mile range, $24,000 www.myersmotors.com
World Class Exotics 911 Conversion 120 mph, 100 mile range, $65,000 worldclassexotics.com
AC Propulsion Ebox-------------------- 95 mph, 140 mile range, $75,000 www.acpropulsion.com
Tango ----------------------------------100 mph, 80 mile range, $108,000 www.commutercars.com
Telsa -----------------------------------130 mph, 250 mile range, $94,000 www.teslamotors.com

Or buy a kit and convert a car yourself check out:

Canadian Electric Vehicle, Geo and S-10 conversions www.canev.com
Electo Automotive, 914, VW Rabbit, generic kits from $9,000 www.electroauto.com
EV Parts: Geo and S10 kits from $7000 www.evparts.com

If you really want an electric vehicle you can have one. It's not as easy as running down to the local Toyota dealership but it is possible. Check out www.austinev.org/evalbum for some inspiration

 

I, too, want an EV.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Jan 17 2007, 10:43 AM) [snapback]376911[/snapback]</div>

The 2009 Prius, which would be available towards the end of 2008, is supposedly going to be a major model revision with significantly-better mileage. A lot of folks are hoping it will be plug-in, but the rumored 9-mile EV-range equivalent does not seem to justify the cost of a charger, and I'll be surprised if it's plug-in.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Jan 17 2007, 10:55 AM) [snapback]376928[/snapback]</div>

I doubt it was Coastal. They sell small gadgets for the Prius as a sideline. EDrive Systems supposedly has a conversion, but it's not available yet, and their web site is still promising "expansion" of its installer network nation-wide by 2006!!! I think there's another company as well, also promising but not delivering.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Feb 14 2007, 08:24 PM) [snapback]390678[/snapback]</div>

These cars are either not freeway-capable, or have too short a range, or are not actually available. Except for the eBox, which is only sold to CA residents.

Conversion kits are great for auto mechanics. There's no way I could convert a car. Nor would I trust a car I had converted.

I want a car I can buy today, with proper professional service behind it. I'd buy a Tesla today if it was available. I think the first people on the waiting list are still waiting.

 

You can buy a plug-in hybrid right now from hybrids-plus.com in Colorado. They gave me a June conversion date if I had the money. It's very expensive buy you can get it now. I have to wait about 6 months to a year for the price to get to around 10,000. Right now it's 32K

You can also get the ACPropulsion xB eBox scion pure electric now. It uses lithium batteries and their world famous AC-150 controler. The best in the world. It will cost you about 50K and you supply the vehicle.

The only thing stopping us now is the price. That will drop quite fast just like cell phones and PC's.

 

Well, if you do the Electro Automotive Voltsrabbit EV conversion, it should only run you about $11,075~$13,075 total, depending on the cost of the donor VW Rabbit.

 

Hybrids-plus wants $32 K for the Prius PHEV conversion. A year ago I might have sprung for $15 K (the price EDrive Systems said it would charge, but nothing ever came of it). But since the Prius PHEV is limited to slow speeds in EV mode, and there are possible lubrication issues, I'm not interested.

I had not heard of Electro Automotive before. That's very intriguing. They claim some of their conversions, depending on chassis, can go freeway speeds with ranges of 100 miles. I would want independent confirmation of those numbers, including a chart of range at specific speeds. The down-side is they are only selling kits, and I'm no mechanic. I don't even change the oil on my Prius.

AC Propulsion only sells the eBox to residents of CA.

And anyway, my Xebra is due to be delivered in two and a half hours! B)

 

You can buy a really great oure EV, the Tesla $92,000 or the eBox $70K by ACPropulsion. Next year you will be able to buy the Javalon from Miles motors at $28K. The Phoenix Motorcars SUT truck is also out at about $35K. They cost more but are top nothch EVs instead of the lead acid make overs Detroit tried to sell to meet the mandate.

In plug-in hybrids there are new companioes just getting ready to release $8-12K PHEV options on your 04 or newer Prius, EnergyCS, hybrids-plus or hymotion. A few of them are already in Phoenix being tested by eTec. Prices will start to drop as volume increases just like PC's and cell phones.

The 2008 Prius will have lithium battries, same price , same 8 yr 100K mile warrenty or 10 yr 150K if you live in a clean car program state. It will get about 90 mpg. Lithium is lighter , more powerful lasts longer and most important you can use 70% of the charge safely instead of 30% with NiMH.

I feel after Toyota has these new batteries up to speed and in large enough quantity to meet needs they will offer the 2 pack, 3 pack and 4 packs with a plug. It all takes time. I don't want to rush them and have failures.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jstack @ May 30 2007, 02:23 AM) [snapback]451948[/snapback]</div>

The price of the Tesla has gone up tp $98,000 (plus 8 grand if you live outside their service area). And while you can pay for it now, you won't get it for well over a year, at best. The OP says he wants an EV now. The AC Propulsion eBox is only sold to CA residents, and the OP does not list his location. All those others, that promise to be available "real soon" also fail the "I want it now" test.

The Xebra is available NOW. I've been driving mine for 19 days, and while it has some serious drawbacks, it's a working, functional, EV that you can buy NOW! It's the only EV that you can buy NEW, NOW, outside of CA, that will go over 25 mph. It won't go over about 40 mph, and has a range limit of 17 miles with the stock batteries, or about 45 miles if you substitute the 6 small batteries with 7 big ones. But for around-town driving, and the pure FUN of electric driving at about two cents per mile, it's a great little car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ May 30 2007, 10:02 AM) [snapback]452043[/snapback]</div>

Please, post pictures of the new one, at least ONE!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mrbigh @ May 30 2007, 05:45 PM) [snapback]452432[/snapback]</div>

Which new one? The Xebra? Pictures are posted here but note that they won't show up until Danny completes the migration of all the files over to the new server, and there are mountains of them, so it may be a while.

The tesla can be seen at their web page. Google Tesla Motors.