EV - Conversion of a 1974 Super Beetle to Electric
Things to Do
Add four batteries w/chargers
Investigate battery warmers, wait til winter
Investigate using the 800 W 72V heater
Investigate possibly using a desulfator circuit for batteries.
Test Fuel Sensor volt meter
DC-DC convert for accessories
April 15, 2010
The car drives much better with the 24 extra volts (four batteries, two in parallel). Current configuration is with 10 batteries, 96V system. Accelerates better, maintains speed better up hills. This does prove that the car could be outfitted with a 10 battery system eventually. I think converting to a 10 battery system will even be better but this requires more chargers, higher charge current or some kind of relay switching system that will reduce max charge current but increase charge time.. Current 6 battery system pulls about 14.5 A maximum charge. The Lily Pad charging stations are only going to provide 12A on the 120 v side so will have to manage the chargers to only charge 5 batteries at a time.
October 15, 2009
Picked up four half-capacity batteries from Steve W. to double up to add 24 more volts to system. The improvement was an increase in speed to 50 mph and a little more power. I think the plan should be to convert to 120 V on next purchase of the batteries.
September 26, 2009
Snapped the chrome strips back on with the rear vents and drove in Overland Park parade.
May 20, 2009
I returned the two batteries and am planning to buy two more batteries if I get a job that I can start commuting to. In the meantime I've been driving it around the neighborhood.
March 21, 2009
Installed two borrowed 12V batteries to bring the total batteries up to 8, 96v. Did a short test drive and found that the speed went up to around 50 mph.
December 15, 2008
I have been driving the car and in the cold, the range drops to about 15 miles. Also with the top speed at 35 that isn't quite fast enough. I need to get at least two batteries and some battery warmers to get better range and speed. The batteries have gone up 50% since May when I purchased them and money is kind or tight right now so I have taken the car off the road until the spring (also saves on car insurance).
November 13, 2008
Bill delivered the fuel sensor gas gauge controller, takes the battery voltage and displays maximum voltage as full and 20% SOC as empty. Needs testing!
November 9, 2008
Drove the car to the MAEAA meeting, 16 miles round trip. I almost didn't make it home, running out of juice. I had 71 V on the batteries when I got home, about 70% DOD. The cold, about 45 degrees, cut about 5 miles or so off the range. Also evaluating a charge I bought on ebay for $48, 2/10/25 Amp. The problem is you have to set the mode to AGM and set the charge to 10 A each time the charger is plugged in. This will be ok for just the two additional batteries that I plan to add.
October 25, 2008
I heard a metal on metal sound in the transaxle area. I checked the trany oil and that was ok. I took a small camera and looked into the bell housing area via the starter hole. I could see that the set screw was almost falling out. I took the motor off from the transaxle and found the coupler was loose and it had worked forward and was rubbing against the transaxle. Put locktite on the set screw to hopefully prevent that from happening again.
September 7, 2008
Painted the wheels and doing a little cosmetic touchups on it. Enjoying driving the car around town. I drove one day almost too far and didn't make it home. The drive to work, 24 miles round trip, is going to be too far without a charge at work or more batteries. It will drain the batteries completely, it's better to not discharge them down that far if you can.
August 16, 2008
The brakes are fixed! The problem was the push rod on the brake pedal was not adjusted properly. I can now lock up the wheels and stop the car just fine. Credit for this goes to my brother Ron, thanks. The car is now 100% operational. Now I will repair some cosmetic things like getting seat covers, etc. and think about adding additional batteries.
August 4, 2008
Drove the car around the area for a total of 26 miles before I noticed the performance degrading. The area has many rolling hills and stop and go traffic. See Range Test 1 graph below.
July 31, 2008
The car is back on the road after some vacation time in the CO mountains and losing my momentum on the project just a little. One battery is moved up front. This evened out the ride a lot. The front shocks now aren't riding at the top of their travel. I went for a 12 mile drive today, took some glass to the recycling station. I actually got the car up to 40 mph on the level. The air shocks are more than enough to make the rear end ride very nice. The brakes still aren't perfect, didn't bring in the pro, I replace the master cylinder with a new one.
July 9, 2008
The reason the cars top speed is 35 mph is because the ES-31B motor is a lower RPM motor than the ES-15B. The ES-31B has better themal properties than the ES-15B and can go higher on the voltage. So to increase top speed I will need to add batteries. Also on the air shocks, I used my bicycle pump, which is capable of going to 160 lbs, to inflate the air shocks. This made the back end raise about one and a half inches more and leveled off the car. The front end however still tops out so I still am going to move the one battery forward. If I add more batteries I could always use the aft battery position. I have also not seen the need for the DC-DC converter, but really haven't driven it to max range or at night to make a final determination on this.
July 7, 2008
The brakes are working better, good enough to drive. I have logged 18 miles in three trips testing and checking things. The trips I have taken are consuming about 0.4 kw per mile which is roughly 3.5 cents per mile, about one cent more than predicted below. The area I live in has small hills everywhere, those really consume a lot of juice. The top speed is only 35 mph however, not sure why, investigating it now. The throttle box full acceleration resistance is 4.6K (5K max), connections seem solid (no excess heat). Gradually I will take longer trips until I seem to reach my max distance. I am going to move the engine compartment battery to the front of the car because the front end has it's shocks topped out. Also the chargers produce a lot of heat when charging, I will need to put the back seat down when they charge. I may move some of the chargers out of the passenger compartment, however the heat will be desirable in the winter time.
June 11, 2008
The electronics works fine now. I drove the car about 10 times around the neighborhood. The problem is the brakes are not good enough, bringing in a professional to get them to work.
June 2, 2008
All parts for brakes and air-shocks ready for install but my compressor only goes to 90 lbs so not as much lift as I would like.
May 24, 2008
Splash guards in place, rewired batteries.
May 21, 2008
First trip around the block. Front end alignment is a problem and too much weight in the back, brakes need pumping, planning to overhaul brake system..
May 19, 2008
Gauges installed, engine lid preped, rear bumper mounts attached
May 13, 2008
Batteries wired, installed and chargers connected. Ran into a problem with the chargers. The ground pins have to be cut off the AC cords otherwise you are connecting the ground leads on all the chargers together, not a good idea, you get a few sparks.
May 3, 2008
Head, tail and front turn lights installed.
April 26, 2008
Ron hauled car home.
April 12, 2008
Installed battery bar for better safety and build paint booth and masked for rear fenders.
April 5, 2008
Primed and installed fenders. Mounted 6th battery rack.
March 22, 2008
Built 6th battery rack, passenger floor repair, fitted fenders
March 15, 2008
Dave sanded out the coupler interior a little, were some scars, and was finally able to get the coupler on. Remove passenger interior, installed 5 battery tie downs, completed installation of motor
March 1, 2008
Removed all parts in engine compartment, started installation of motor-coupler wouldn't fit.
Februrary 18, 2008
The car was purchased and delivered to Dave's garage to begin work. The top four pictures are what it looked like. Engine was already out, the back two fenders were removed along with all the lights.
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| Five batteries behind back seat. Notice the two wires running off to the left, these go to the front battery. | Battery 6 moved back to engine compartment | Four batteries doubled up for 24V, these batteries are weaker than the others | Level now with front battery and air shocks. |
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Old Pictures
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| Car before starting | Before | Before | Before |
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| New primed fenders installed, one battery placed in the engine compartment. | Repair work on hole under passenger seat, the old battery compartment | D&D ES31B Motor installed | Motor is only about half an inch from the body. Two slits were cut in the body and the latch bent up temporarily to install engine. |
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| Five C&D DCS-100L batteries behind the seat, there is a bar now installed across the batteries for better security in case of accident. | Paint booth for rear fenders, looks a little funny doesn't it. | Dave prepping | Inside the paint booth |
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| At home in KC | Dave's Dusty '57 | Slowly coming together | Largest mud dobber nest I have seen, Ron's farm |
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| Batteries w/chargers | Motor/Controller Wiring | Front end assembled | Volt & Amp Meters |
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| Wheelie Time, too much weight in the back, ordering air-shocks. I have seen four batteries in the back seat and two in the front, things balance fine in that scenario but I'm planning to add more batteries later. | Flipped two batteries and rewired, saved one cable and removed crossing over bar, see old method. | Splash guards in place. | Splash guards from under car. The bottom is a 2' x 3' sheet of .025 aluminum. The front was a 1' x 2' sheet of sheet metal cut in two. |
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| Gas cable and emergency disconnect connected to clutch arm. | Bicycle break cable connected to Anderson PB350 connector for emergency disconnect by clutch. | Clutch Release Video | Speedometer |
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| Engine compartment with 6th battery still in rear. | Air shocks make it look a lot better, only 90 lbs in shocks, my compressor max., I think more air will make it even out. | Passenger Floor | Front battery with charger. |
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| Battery removed from engine compartment. |
Electric Car Websites
Throttle boxes are less expensive at Electric Vehicles USA
There is a shunt/fuse holder in one product, that would be better and cheaper than Wilderness. Basically Wilderness EV was too high on everything but I didn't figure it out til it was too late. I wasn't able to find anyone else that supplied the adapter plate and coupler however.
Parts Websites
Cloud EV - motors, chargers, etc
Wilderness EV - VW adapter plates
Deltec - Shunts, Fuses
HelmarParts - Anderson connectors
Charging Chargers - Chargers
JCWhitney - Auto parts, air shocks
MID America Motorworks - VW parts
Range Test 1, Voltage vs Mileage 8/4/08
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Last Updated: 05/09/2010