Purplemeanie

Hi All, For those of you that can make it, we have our monthly meeting, May 14th at 8:00pm (see email for Zoom details). Before we get into topics. Can I ask that, if you've haven't, then you all do the following on the new Website: Join the EV Special Interest Group here Follow the News Section here Follow the Forums here You can also subscribe to the EV SIG Calendar and have the meeting dates always on your Phone/Tablet/PC by going to this page and selecting the "Subscribe" drop-down and then "Subscribe to iCalendar Feed" (follow the instructions), best done on a phone/tablet. I'm asking you to do this because in the future these links will enable you to get EV SIG updates as we move away from LoveAdmin. Tentative Topics: John's EV Project updates Progress has been a bit slow this month again. I'm waiting for details on a new motor and inverter option. Hopefully I'll have all the details for the call. Hopefully see you on Tuesday 14th. The background for the interest group and info about the meetings can be found here: https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forum/chitchat/announcing-interest-area-electric-vehicles The minutes of the meetings can be found here: https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/blogs/blog/359-electric-vehicles-news/ If you’ve not joined the calls before then in brief the agenda will be: Introductions by new attendees What’s new in the EV world Thoughts on Caterham’s plans for EV Seven Conversions AOB Participation in the meetings is, of course, optional. John

Afternoon all, I've just uploaded the first progress video on this EV project of mine. The video covers the purchase and road registration as an ICE car.

Hi All, For those of you that can make it, we have our monthly meeting tomorrow, April 9th at 8:00pm (Zoom details are sent by email). Before we get into topics. Can I ask that, if you've haven't, then you all do the following on the new Website: Join the EV Special Interest Group here Follow the News Section here Follow the Forums here You can also subscribe to the EV SIG Calendar and have the meeting dates always on your Phone/Tablet/PC by going to this page and selecting the "Subscribe" drop-down and then "Subscribe to iCalendar Feed" (follow the instructions), best done on a phone/tablet. I'm asking you to do this because in the future these links will enable you to get EV SIG updates as we move away from these emails and LoveAdmin. Tentative Topics for Tuesday: John's EV Project updates Progress has been a bit slow this month as I've been let down (twice!) by my prospective motor and inverter supplier. I'll have the full details on the call. Hopefully see you on Tuesday. The background for the interest group and info about the meetings can be found here: https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forum/chitchat/announcing-interest-area-electric-vehicles The minutes of the meetings can be found here: https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/blogs/blog/359-electric-vehicles-news/ If you’ve not joined the calls before then in brief the agenda will be: Introductions by new attendees What’s new in the EV world Thoughts on Caterham’s plans for EV Seven Conversions AOB Participation in the meetings is, of course, optional. John

Aft'noon all, JK has twisted my arm to throw my experience of Lithium batteries into the ring here. Firstly, after the second Banner battery died on me in the space of 3 years, I decided I'd go Lithium. I nearly did when the first Banner died but I needed something quick and so just went with what I knew - Banner. But when the second one went, it was time for Lithium. My first purchase (yes there's more than one), was a Varley Li-5. This had been recommended to me so that's what I went with. Specification Model: 7162-0002 Battery Chemistry: LiFePO4 Nominal Voltage: 12.8V Capacity: 5.5Ah Short Circuit Peak Current: 736A Cranking Current*: 335A Dimensions (LxWxH): 99 x 82 x 95mm Weight: 1.1kg Terminals: M6 Female Operating Temperature: -10ºC to +50ºC Storage Temperature: -20ºC to +60ºC Unfortunately after installing it and playing around with mounting options, including buying the Varley Mounting Bracket for the Li-5, it was clear after a few weeks that the Li-5 wasn't up to the job for a 420 2.0L Duratec. Turnover was very sluggish and it didn't take many cranks for the battery to then twist the engine even more slowly. It never actually let me down starting the car, but that was probably only a matter of time. So, I went back to the Demon Tweeks website and had a look around for something bigger. I landed on the VT-900.. here's the specs from the Varley site: Specifications: DMS Part No: 7162-0068 Voltage: 12V Capacity: 16Ah CA:160A CCA:900A Terminals: M6 Female Weight: 2.5kg Dimensions (mm) LxWxH: 175 x 87 x 155 As you can see this has nearly 3 times the cranking current and lights my 420 up like it's been struck by lightning. The engine cranks really quickly and fires immediately. Much much better than the Li-5 and much better than the Banner. The battery has been installed for about 9 months and has held its charge over the winter, even without being on a battery conditioner. To be honest, I think this battery is overkill for a 420, but it certainly seems to do the job, for the moment. And there are as many solutions to this problem as there are cars. 🙂 Mounting I also recently modelled and printed a battery tray so the smaller VT-900 sits in the space that the Banner originally sat in. See pictures below. The battery needed to be located in the centre of the tray, but also needed raising. The 3D print solves that problem in all three dimensions. STEP And STL files attached and linked here... 420 Lithium Battery VT-900 Base v2.step 420 Lithium Battery VT-900 Base v2.stl The mount has been installed for a few months and is working well at the moment.

Some brief notes on discussions: Caterham Cars 2024-02 Webinar with Bob, Simon and Richard (here) General view was that the conversation was rather downbeat, while some thought it was ok to see/hear warts-an-all CC are clearly more negative about EV Seven. And group agreed it looked difficult to come up with a business case for a EV Seven Group discussed Project V and still concerns about whether CC can find the money. There was scepticism that CC can get away with the £100m figure they cite for turning Project V into a production car. Apple pulling out of their EV development and Dyson deciding productionizing their concept would have "bankrupted the company" Electric Classic Cars video on how an EV conversion is registered (here) Agreed this was a good video Emphasised why its important to do conversion in line with R100 testing AND why important to keep above DVLA's Heavily Modified Vehicle points rule threshold JM's videos People didn't have many comments (probably being polite!) JM EV Project JM went over the images from above of proposed gearbox by sharing screen of Fusion 360 models JM mentioned how difficult it's proving to be to find component designers (gearbox, motors etc) who are prepared to work with "man in a shed" operations, even though JM is using a company with good financial history etc to run the project through. JM was looking for people who could give practical experience of gearbox design Steve Perks from Tracksport was mentioned as someone to contact It was suggested that JM go back and think if space planning problem can be solved with simpler solutions. Some agreed, but others thought solution wasn't too bad given space constraints JM showed how he controls CAD packages with SpaceMouse (here) JM said next job is to 3D print the design with real bearings to prove it "works" and can be assembled (its quite possible to design something in CAD that can't actually be put together)

If you're coming a long to the meeting tomorrow then I'm hoping to have a bit of a discussion about my thoughts on epicyclic gear reduction boxes. Here's some images and a video that have been posted to the WhatsApp group... Hopefully see some of you tomorrow. John EV_Gearbox_002_2024-Mar-11_05-45-22PM-000_CustomizedView14920322368_mp4.mp4

For those still following (awake), I've also posted a more in-depth look at this project here: https://purplemeanie.co.uk/index.php/2024/03/06/ptevis-suspension-logger-mini-project/ John