| Owner | Greg Sievert | ||||
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| Location | Musk Vale, Victoria Australia map | ||||
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| Vehicle | 1993 Volvo 240 GLE Wagon Last of the Volvo 240 wagons. Not as heavy as you might think, and plenty of room for batteries. This one is in great condition inside and out. | ||||
| Motor | Warfield WarP 9 Series Wound DC Nicely made in the town where my great grandparents lived (Frankfort, IL) | ||||
| Drivetrain | 4-speed manual, clutchless, rear wheel drive. Original engine was a B230FX (2.3 litre 4-cylinder with cast-iron block and aluminium head) and Aisin 4-speed automatic. | ||||
| Controller | Cafe Electric Zilla 1K HV Ordered August 2008 when the run-out of production was announced. Using the HEPA pedal assembly. Arrived April 2009. Yippee! It's a thing of beauty. | ||||
| Batteries | 45 CALB/Skyenergy SE-130AH, 3.20 Volt, Lithium-Ion Batteries arrived Q3 2010. No issues so far. EV Power BMS. Tracking battery voltage vs. SOC, my plots exactly match the Sky Energy plot for these batteries. | ||||
| System Voltage | 144 Volts | ||||
| Charger | Zivan NG3 Mounted on the rear of the battery box. Works well! | ||||
| Heater | Minimal requirement as we live in temperate Melbourne, AUS. Heated seats. Window defogging uses the original heater box/fan with 2x ceramic heater cores running pack voltage. Bought 2x cheap 240V AC room heaters and tore them apart for the ceramic cores. I rigged up 2x microswitches off the original heater control lever to give low and high heat. Safety systems from the original heater units maintained, as well as wiring set up such that the fan must be on for the optically-coupled relays to engage the HV to the heater cores. | ||||
| DC/DC Converter | Meanwell PB600 We put it in the glove box (out of the elements), so you can hear the cooling fan running while driving. We were originally hoping to get a special fan- less DC converter, but that deal fell through. If I were to do it over, would put the DC/DC in the rear on the battery box. | ||||
| Instrumentation | TBS Electronics E-Xpert Pro. Original speedometer (it's driven off a sensor in the diff) and tachometer (Zolox speed sensor on front of motor with feed to the Hairball). Vacuum gauge with low vacuum warning light. 12-volt battery gauge. Outside temp gauge. May try to develop a display screen of some sort for the center console area. | ||||
| Top Speed | 80 MPH (128 KPH) Speed limit in Victoria is 110 kph (so no need for anything higher than that). On our first freeway test drive we took it up to 105 kph with NO PROBLEM! I've had it up to 80MPH and it had plenty more to go. | ||||
| Acceleration | Similar to or better than original car - confirmed in first test drive (happy with 0-60 mph in less than 11 seconds) | ||||
| Range | 40 Miles (64 Kilometers) Range in urban traffic is 60-70 km with 30% reserve left in batteries (70% DOD). Farthest we've driven it on a charge is 76.6 km, with approx. 30% remaining in batteries. | ||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 337 Wh/Mile After 27000 km (17000 mi), 337 W- hr/Mile per the TBS gauge; Wall-to- wheel is 417 W-hr/Mile based on energy used to re-charge based on the Power Mate. Urban commuting in traffic at speeds of approximately 60-80 kph. Includes using the heater on cold mornings. Some longer drives at speeds up to 100 kph; car is most efficient driving at these highway speeds. | ||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | Original = 5 (but the 240 was available with an optional rearward facing child seat to make it 7). Converted to a 2- seater with large, flat rear load floor (batteries sit where rear seat was, forward of rear axle). | ||||
| Curb Weight | 3,200 Pounds (1,454 Kilograms) Weighed donor base car pre-conversion is 1387 kg = 3056 lbs (including power steering, heavy auto transmission, AC, rear seats, etc). Post-conversion car came in a bit heavier than expected at 1460 kg. Weight distribution 47%F/53%R | ||||
| Tires | 215/45R17 Pirelli P7 | ||||
| Conversion Time | Car acquired in October 2008 with approx. 238000 km on the odo. Nov 2009: Engine is out; engine bay cleaned; Working on adapter plate (see new pics) Jun 2010: Adapter plate and coupling completed; motor mounts complete; motor and transmission are test-fitted and motor test-run - no vibration! Oct 2010 - motor final fitment in car. Designing battery box Jan 2011 - battery box almost complete; wiring and electronics boxes are being constructed. Feb 5, 2011: First test drive!! It goes well. Mar 2011: Complete and approved by VASS engineer, and re-registered as "electric". Hooray! | ||||
| Conversion Cost | Glider cost (after sale of engine and transmission) is about $900. Total cost around $30k AUD ($25-30k USD depending on exchange rate). We've gone for high-quality components. You could do it cheaper if you bought cheap stuff! | ||||
| Additional Features | Heavy-duty anti-sway bars by ipd. Bilstein HD shocks all around. Lower front springs to even out the ride height (due to 5% shift in weight distribution towards rear). Custom microprocessor controller off MAP sensor to turn vacuum pump on and off and switch on dash warning light if vacuum drops too low. Custom carpeted load floor battery cover to conceal battery pack from prying eyes. | ||||
| Jan 2015 update - we've moved out to the country (had to have the car trailered as the range was insufficient to drive to our new home!!) Jun 2012 update - In Feb 2012 we had to pull the motor coupling and disassemble motor to fix the damaged shaft. Vibration led to a damaged coupling, which is now fixed and the car is back running great. Only current issue (excuse pun) is the TBS meter is reading only 58% of the actual current. Still trying to get that sorted out. Jan 2012 update - other than a slight vibration due to the motor coupling not being perfectly aligned on the damaged motor shaft, the car continues to impress. I recently added a blanking panel to the front face of the grille to improve aerodynamics. Also had the windows tinted to reduce heat gain on warmer days, although we rarely leave the car parked in the sun to avoid heating up the batteries. Sept 2011 update - motor coupling keyway sheared due to coupling sliding partly rearward off motor shaft. New coupling made up to incorporate a taper lock bush as well as the centre spring section of a clutch disk. All working well again! Converted from power steering to manual steering; air conditioning and complex heating/ventilation system deleted in favour of a more simple, light- weight solution for window defogging only (no real need for heat or AC); Clutchless coupler for simplicity. Custom coupling machined up to accept clutch centre section. Based on the weight calculations (original car is 50.4% Front/49.6%)...Post-conversion with 45 batteries in the rear seat area the weight distribution is 47% Front/53% Rear - this is ideal especially given the lack of power steering. | |||||
1993 Volvo 240 GLE Wagon
“eVolvo”
Last Updated 06-22-2017
Copyright © 1997-2024 by Mike Chancey