Electric pro touring cutlass

[72cutlass]

Thats right, an electric pro touring cutlass. My new project. At the moment its an 84 cutlass supreme brougham sitting in my back yard half disassembled.
I know what your all thinkning. "Electric?" Well before you decide that theres no way an electric car can compete with a gas car check this out. http://acpropulsion.com/tzero_pages/tzero_performance.htm click on the pictures for videos. That should give you an idea of the kind of power i'm hoping for.
I'm plsnning on using an Azure motor. http://www.azuredynamics.com/pdf/AC55%20-%20June%202005.pdf
coupled with one of their matching motor contollers.
http://www.azuredynamics.com/pdf/DMOC445%20-%20June%202005.pdf
Not sure what batteries i'll be using I need to do a little more research into this. Lithiom ion batteries are the best but there price is alittle to much at the moment.(over $10,000 for the bank i'd need) I'll probably be using a newer advanced lead acid type.
I've got some ideas on how to regen erate some power for a longer range but I'm still working on them. It would seem to me that their should be a way to use some of the mechanical energy your producing in the wheels or drivetrain to generate soie electricity. My idea is to use a couple of large alternators, extend their shafts and couple these to the outpute of the motor. I'm thinkning this should creat amost no drag as the internal shafts are on bearings and the only ting they contact is the brushes. Just an idea at this pint but I plan on trying it.
For the moment i'm planning on a direct drive to the rear axle (no trans). thid will eliminate alot of loss over power through the drive train.
It will have all the rest of the usual pro touring features. Big brakes, Better suspension, better steering. I'll most likely be using a hydroboost unit for the brakes as I won't have a gas motor creating vaccum for the brake booster. My other option would be to run a vaccum pump but the more things you have running off the motor the more power your using up. One pully to the power steering pump will power the brakes and the steering.
THe original motor and tranny will be pulled. Gas tank will be gone as well as the exhaust system. This will be replaced by an electric motor, a battery bank, a motor controller, and a charger for the batteries.
The motor will most likely be located in the trans tunnel and will be atached to the original drive shaft.
I havent decided on suspension or steering yet. any suggestions would be appreciated. My first priority will be the electric conversion. then i'll start upgrading the other things.
Should be a fun project. Allways wanted somting a little different and I think this is it.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll do my best to answer them.
Cheers
Dave
:3gears:
A couple other electric vehicle sites.
http://www.nedra.com/
http://www.commutercars.com/
http://www.wurts.net/ElectrifiedMotorSports/ http://www.suckamps.com/ (http://www.wurts.net/ElectrifiedMotorSports/%20http://www.suckamps.com/)

[Blue70]

Cool idea but I think you are going to have a problem with run time..

A guy here at work is working on a Cobra styled electric car.

It has 2 motors (one on each wheel) Some fancy batteries that are like 3-5lbs each and put out way more than a lead acid battery.

The complete car is well under 1000 lbs. Rides on 10 speed size tires. Motors control braking..

I think with a heavy Cutlass, big wheels and tires and brakes, and taking more power to run alternators, power steering, hydro boost, ect that you'll get 5 feet before the battery is dead :guilty:

I can try to get more info if you are interested..

[boodlefoof]

I've toyed with the idea myself... not for a pro-tour car, but just for a driver. There are a few examples out there which actually don't use much in the way of batteries for propulsion, but rather use a gas engine (or deisel) generator to get the power... the generator constantly runs to generate electricity, but doesn't actually propel the car.

Cool project. Would love to see how it goes.

[Jagarang]

Great idea, hope it works. I still think about converting my Chevelle to CNG(Propane) if gas prices keep reaching for the moon.

[USAZR1]

Jag,you need to get your Bird project done first before planning another one.:poke: j/k

[Jagarang]

LOL...The Chevelle is a little less of a project and more of a driver.
I've just swapped in a full set of Global West front and rear susp. parts and am re-installing the factory A/C which had be removed by the prior owner. I bought this thing in 2003. The damage pics happened 23 days after I brought her home. Guy ran a stop sign and wasted me!

It's since been repaired by MY insurance Co. GRrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I'm sure Frank and I will be talking about the 70 a bit as well though, at some time in the future.

[Blue70]

I just emailed my friend a copy of your post, and here was his reply..

Andy,
Thanks for the links, a lot of good information is available.

Differant approaches to get to differant goals. I took the approach of attempting to get a commute vehicle put together.

The car I am building will be extreamly light, Id guess that my complete ready to drive car will weigh less than the cutlass body alone. Additional weight requires more of a foundation which adds even more weight and the more weight requires more work to move. My car should hit 55-60 top speed and be capable of 200+miles at 90% top speed after the batteries are used down to 75% of their usful life.

nice information in any respect, thanks for the forward.

Mark

[72cutlass]

The reason I picked this car was really just because I allready had it. If I had had a honda crx I would be converting that instead. I hope to eventually do conversions for people but I think I need something to get their attention. Most people think electric cars are slow and weak so making an electric pro-touring car should break some of those misconcepsions. Anything can be converted to electric its just a matter of how much you want to spend. I plan on eventualy converting a half ton truck as well after this project is done.
I don't really think the car will weigh to much. Their will be at least 1200lbs of parts removed as well as changing alot of the body parts to fiberglass. http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/site.htm All of my metal fabrications will probably be done using aluminum and I'm considering doing an aluminum floorpan, dash mounts, and whatever else I can think of. The key will then be picking the right electric parts so as not to add to much of that removed weight back in.
I'm also doing some research on how I can regenerate the batteries as I'm driving. The electric motors allready have whats called "regenerative breaking" which basically turns the motor into an alternatore every time yoiu take your foot off the accelerator.
I'm also thinking of running a couple of 150 amp alternators for more regeneration. I'll allready have a pully coming off the motor for the power steering pump so i'm thinking of extending the shaft on the pump and running the alternators in line with the pump. I need to do more research on how much drag this would produce but it would seem that the only drag would be the brushes and that must be fairly minimull.
Another thing i'm researching is having some solar panels flush mounted into the body.
I would modify the fiberglass hood and trunk lid so that the panels were inset. then I could mold the panels right in smooth. When I painted the car I would mask off the panels but then clear coat over them to give them a smooth surface with the paint.
This is all still in the planning stage tho and probly wont get started till the new year.
Cheers
Dave
:3gears: