Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Shelling out Real Money

I've started to order parts over the past few days since lead times are getting larger these days with the demand. I ordered a Warp9 motor from Carlo at EV-supply in Seattle. I also bit the bullet and decided to try out the Belktronix system for the controller, charger, battery-managment and DC-DC. I still haven't found a donor vehicle, but I've been swamped with preparing for EV-awareness day since I'm the chairperson of the Oregon Electric Vehicle Club.

I had the privilege of showing off the Porsche 914 at the kick-off meeting for the EV club in Longview, Washington. The local paper was there and about 30 people showed up. The meeting was 46 miles from my work and I think I ran the battery completely down when I got to the charging lot. One person in Longview was gracious enough to take my vehicle back home to Portland on a trailer so I didn't have to sleep in the charging station parking lot to get a charge.

I'm partnering with Ian, a mechanical engineer at my work, to take apart a donor car in my garage and take measurements. I feel a lot of energy behind this project and most people I've talked with seem very interested in getting the instruction manual.

Off to look at Craiglist for more donor possibilities... Cheers

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