First video is up!

Well, it's not much, but you can at least see who I am and hear me talk about the state of things right now. This shows my old Honda and why I'm looking for a new ride.

You can see the video here:



Or go to the link directly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTDK8xVP1w4

Future updates will be video responses to make it easier, or you can subscribe to my channel and really make my day!

Now I did forget to mention during the video why the Honda wouldn't be a good conversion project even if it was new. I'll cover that in the next installment, but there are a couple of reasons.

1) It's an automatic. Remember in my donor car specs that I was only looking at manual transmissions. There are several reasons for this.

a) Converting an automatic requires additional work and expense. My general laziness will become apparent in no time, so I might as well introduce it here. To make an automatic transmission work requires a more complicated setup, as the automatic transmission is under constant movement from the engine idling. In an electric vehicle, the motor does not idle, however. This means you have to either get an additional motor, or every time you stop you have to put it in nuetral and continue to give it pressure on the throttle, wasting a lot of energy. It also adds significant weight, having the fluid there, the heavier gear box, an additional motor if you choose that route, etc.

b) It's significantly less efficient. Part of that is because of the weight, but also, the more complicated automatic gearbox introduces increased resistance. That is why manual transmissions are given better gas mileage on dealer stickers. On a sticker for a gasoline car, it's only a few MPG, not that big a deal, but in an EV where range is already a limited resource, cutting into it further should be avoided where possible.

2) The car is too heavy. Now I'm sure you've seen people create heavier electric vehicles; the S-10 pickup conversion is very popular right now, so let me qualify that a bit. The gross restricted vehicle weight is not high enough for it's weight. The curb weight (what the vehicle weights with a full tank when it's devoid of passengers and cargo, i.e. parked) is around 2,822 lbs. I forgot to write it down off the door, but the gross weight (the total weight it can cary, car, cargo, passengers and all) is only about 3,600 lbs. In other words, it can only cary 800 lbs. of passenger and crew. When doing a conversion, depending on how many/what type of batteries you are using, it's not unusual to add 800 lbs. of batteries. For example, some 12v batteries I looked at the other day were 82 lbs. each. For a 96 volt system I need 8, making the weight of the batteries alone 656 lbs. The motor is then about 150 lbs. The weight of the other bits, like the controller and charger, etc. come to about 50 lbs. I would esitmate, making the total weight added 856 lbs. That leaves me -56 lbs. of passenger and cargo room! While the engine and exhaust system and tank are taken out, that only makes about 200-400 lbs. weight, depending on the size of the engine. Taking an easy average, 300 lbs. leaves me with 244 lbs. of stuff. Since I was recently up to 200 (I've lost some weight since thankfully) that gives me 44 lbs. of stuff to move around.

Now this would probably be fine for my usage. But if you forget about it and break a strut or axle because you had a buddy hop in one day, you'd sure be upset!

With the Geo Storm, the GRVW is around 3,200, or about 1,000 lbs more than the curb weight. It also has a larger engine, which gives me more weight to play with. I don't think I'd want to haul my mother-and-law around in it, but you can reasonably haul two people.

In the next installment we'll pick up the car, ready the work area, and if we get ambitious, drain some fluids! I'm very excited and can't wait to pick up the car this Saturday.