Chevy Volt and Electric 3 series BMW (Ev-36/46)

Turns out my daughter claimed the red bmw as her ride. But later when it needed a new engine I bought another E46 that had a bad clutch.  Got it for only a little more than what a used engine cost.  So project car for me :-) After doing some other projects, I finally took some time to work on the ev. The look is so familiar. Same parts, different car. Still need to mount the controller and do some wiring before it can drive. Used steel for the battery racks this time.  Took too much work to weld Aluminum with my equipment.  Much quicker and easier for me with steel. 

Been very bad about updating this blog.  The car has been driving around some as you can see in a few of the videos.  It is kind of a beat up chassis that have seen some hard times.  The dingy worn interior is getting to me.  I saw this forsale: So I bought it.  A 2000 323i.  Might make a good EV.  I haven't seen it in person yet as I'm out of town at the moment.  Will be interesting to see if it is a good EV candidate.

I like this clip as in the grass the car is really quiet. Not sure why everyone worries about EV's being too quiet. A lot of car noise comes from the tires on the road or gravel.

Finished the High voltage wiring and wired up the "hair ball" for the controller. All looks to be working perfect.

I'm hoping by end of christmas break at the latest to have the EV moving on it's own power even if on ony 7 batts. Progress so far. Most of the high voltage lines are done. I need to make 3 more. Still haven't finished the return lines on the PS so that's left and then wire up the Hair ball. See how much longer that takes. Here are a few more part#'s and stores I bought from. Contactor: Kilovac EV200 Contactor. Purchased from E-bay Crimping tool: Lengo Swedg-on Tool Model 840 From E-bay Fuses and Heat shrink: purchased from EV Source LLC www.evsource.com 1ft Length, 1in Normal Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing, Red Item# 600-HSA-001-RE-N 3ft 1ft Length, 1in Normal Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink Tubing, Black Item# 600-HSA-001-BL-N 3ft 500A 300VDC fuse, Up to 1000A Controller up to 276V Nominal System Voltage Item# 201-A30QS500-4 qty 2

I added the supports for the batteries on the tray that goes above the motor. That finished of my Argon gas for welding and had to get a refil. I think I'll use less now that I know what i'm doing. Started making battery cables. I played with soldering them on. I had thought of soldering AND crimping. However the fit of the lug to the wire was snug so inserting the wire with a heated lug didn't work well. So I'm just crimping. Using the hammer crimper in the press works very easy. Seems to be working well but I have no other experience with this type of work to compare it with. I also cleaned up or rather filed off some of the ugly welds. I need to re weld some of the bad ones. I'll also add some gussetts and some minor touchups. A real nice part is I won't have to paint it

More progress on the front battery tray. Added most of the upper tray above the motor. Spent most of saturday on it. Seems like I should have made more progress but it takes time. Also learning a new skill of welding aluminum does slow me down some. Some welds are great and some are horrid. I'm having a hard time telling what makes the difference. More practice is needed. Took a picture of my helper standing on the battery rack. Thought it would make a funny picture. Of course he reminded me that he only weighs what one battery weighs. So I stood on them. Seemed plenty strudy and so far the rack weighs less than 15 LBS. The mail man dropped off the fuses and heat shrink tubing. The wire lugs arrived earlier this week so I now have enough parts I should be able to make the car drive around the yard. Just some assembly required. Thaniel