5 - EV components

My shiny new motor came today!  It's an 8" Advanced DC 203-06-4001A, weighing 110lbs.  Now that the motor is here and the transmission is all cleaned and ready, it's off to the machinist to have a coupler and adapter plate made.

This is my digital ammeter, shunt and voltmeter.  They will tell me the overall battery pack voltage and how many amps the car is pulling at any given time.

Here is an electric hydraulic power steering pump out of a 2000 Toyota MR2.  Power steering pumps are typically pulley driven on a traditional ICE, so I need one that is electric in order to retain the power steering in my EV.  Various companies have used electric pumps in the past, the MR2 pump is just one of the most common, and it has the fluid resevoir built in.  Should be a great addition.

On the left is my onboard battery charger.  I can plug this into any household current outlet and recharge my battery pack when I need to.  The DC/DC converter is on the right.  Since I don't have an ICE turning an alternator, this will take 120V current from the battery pack and turn it into 13.7V current to run all the 12V power on the car and recharge the accessory batter.  Technically, I don't need an accessory battery, but it's a good backup in case something were to happen to my converter while I was out driving.  I wouldn't want to lose headlights or windshield wipers all of a sudden!

Don Lemasters of United Precision Gears Co. Inc. made this coupler for me.  It is a solid one-piece coupler that is splined on one end to fit the transmission shaft and keyed on the other end to fit the electric motor shaft with a set screw to hold it in place.  There's also a pic of the motor and transmission being held together with the coupler.  Don has done some gear work for me in the past on a different vehicle and always does a very professional job.  It looks and fits great!

On the left you can see the main electrical components.  The big black box in the center is my Curtis controller with a main contactor and circuit breaker on the right and a wiring strip, relay, battery "fuel gauge" and pot box on left.  The controller controls the amount of power coming from the battery pack and to the motor via the pot box (potentiometer).  You accelerator adjusts the pot box which adjusts the controller which controls the motor speed.  The battery "fuel gauge" basically tells you how much charge you have left in your pack, working much like a gas powered car's fuel gauge.  The relay and wiring strip are needed for various connections, etc.  The main contactor is turned off and on by the car's ignition switch.  You turn the key to start and it allows current to flow through the system.  The circuit breaker is just that; it's an emergency shut off of the system for safety.

On the right is the vacuum system that will provide vacuum for the power brakes.  Since the car has no vacuum being produced by the ICE, it needs this electrical vacuum pump to maintain the power brake option.

Here is the 2/0 gauge welding cable I'll use to make all my 120v electrical connections along with all the battery lug covers, heat shrink cable end fittings and the wire cutter, crimper and cutter to make all the special length cables.  Below is the first cable I made; it connects two terminals on the motor.  I'll get a good workout just cutting and crimping these suckers!

Batteries

I've chosen to use Interstate brand batteries.  They're the same as US Battery, which are very popular with EV conversions, but I have an Interstate warehouse locally.  Jeremy Owens, at Interstate Battery, gave me a good deal on 15 8volt batteries with free delivery and no core charge.  They're U8VGC's and cost me $1,604.20 with tax.  

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6 - The Build (part 1)

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