Engine compartmentInstrumentationTrunk
OwnerBob Rice
Owner's Other EV1987 Nissan Sentra
LocationKillingworth, Connecticut United States map
Vehicle1989 Volkswagen Jetta
Black Jetta conversion. Clean lines and custom filled-in grill.
MotorAdvanced DC Series Wound DC
Rebuilt by Warfield Electric, BOTH armature and field, came out of my Rabbit ,last year. Rabbit clutch, plate fits Jettas just fine, was a bolt in deal!
Drivetrain9" ADC stock VW tranny, 5 speed with clutch.
ControllerDC Power Systems Raptor 450
Rebuilt by Peter Senkowsky, THE DCP controller guy!
Batteries20 Trojan A little of EVerything., 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
Mix of Trojan batteries, T105's T-125's a few T145's and some Interstate 2300's a Dog's Breakfast of what I had floating around the shop. to make up 120v system.
System Voltage120 Volts
ChargerManzanita Micro PFC-20
Great plugitin and forget it 120/240 volt unit.
HeaterNot yet, Black car, solar works fine on sunny daze! Defroster sorta works blowing cold air! A HEATER is needed!
DC/DC ConverterSevcon Little black box.
Hook it up and forget it. Best thing since round wheels! Keeps the Wal*Mart 12 volt garden tracter acc. battery nice and juicy.
InstrumentationTraction Battery Volts/Amps
Top Speed80 MPH (128 KPH)
With the 5 speed you can do 80-85MPH, but it cost too much in AMPS, 200-250.
AccelerationWell? decent since I put in a GTI pressure plate and clutch.PROBABLY beat my blistering 54MPH in the quarter, with the Rabbit at Power of DC?
Range50 Miles (80 Kilometers)
Well that all depends. How ya drive it. Baby it and you can go 70 miles if you keep the amps down to 100-150 on the hiway.
Watt Hours/MileAgain , Don't know? Whatever it takes, plugitin and drive it.
Seating Capacity5 adults
Curb Weight3,400 Pounds (1,545 Kilograms)
Right at the GVW. Sigh, However if you take 5 batteries out it will give you a 300plus inside the gvw.
TiresCooper Conneticas, cheepo 13x175's
Conversion TimeAbout 6 months.
Conversion CostHsad the electric hardware from my dead Rabbit, motor batteries controller, charger. Just time spent building battery boxes, etc, and Debugging quirky Jetta electrical system. Any of you that have owned VW's know what I mean? Part time headlights, tail lights, turn signals , etc!

Lottsa TIME TIME TIME. Scratching head and HOW am I gunna do THAT?!
Additional FeaturesALL the batteries are OUT of the passenger cabin. You can use all the seats!13 in a dropped well type battery box, covered up so I still have a trunk, shallow, but STILL useable.Rear springs came from Coil Spring Specialties. Told them I was adding 700 lbs to the rear axle. They made them perfect! Car sits level, Front's are stock. I run the power steering pump and Diesel Rabbit's vacuun pump, with a wraparound belt,pullies, off the motor. When parking ya slip the clutch to rev the motor, like in a gas car, to get power steering, a nice touch.Room in trunk for a spare and jack, and 100 foot 'stench chord. Never travel with out that!Fiberglassed over the VW grill, looks nice and sorta keeps the rain out of the former engine room.Helps in the aero dept, too.
I sorta like how this one turned out. Jetta, older ones are easy to hack up, to comvert, Downer is the electrical systen Jettas are Infamous for. Makes a nice clean conversion, with useful passenger cabin.It's not really finished. What EV on here really IS. John Wayland eccepted!See "Blue Meanie" What we all aspire to.

code by jerry