1981 Jet Electrica
OwnerCarl Schlegel
LocationOlympia, Washington United States map
Email email image
Vehicle1981 Ford Escort
Glider, delivered new to Jet Industries in Austin Texas where it was completed as an electric vehicle. It has always been an electric vehicle. I have only owned it for a short time.I have installed new Interstate (US Battery) U2400 6 Volt Deep Cycle batteries for it's 96 volt system, new tires, cables, and a few miscellaneous items that were damaged or missing from sitting in the back of a shop for many years. My students and I have been putting this together in a high school shop.
MotorPrestolite Series Wound DC
Drivetrain96 volt Prestolite 20HP motor, 4 speed manual transmission, stock Jet installed controller and charger.
Controller EVH-PWX16 EV Controller
This controller purchased from Mark Hazen of EVHelp.com is now installed, and thanks to some great mentoring from Mark seems to be working great at powering this vehicle down the road! The original controller was installed in the back of the car with long cables carrying the power to the motor up front. Poor design! After frying componets in the new controller, Mark repaired it for me and I then moved it up front close to the motor where it should have been in the first place. It is working fine now!
Batteries16 Interstate u-2400, 6.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded
Deep Cycle
System Voltage96 Volts
Charger
220 volt AC to 96 volt DC and 12 volt DC combination. I had to remove this charger form its original position in the front of the car and reinstalled it in the rear. This was becasue I needed the space up front to install the new controller to get it as close to the motor as possible. An expensive lesson was learned about having the controller too far away from the motor, but we are all better now!
HeaterStock Jet Gasoline
InstrumentationStock Jet
Top Speed55 MPH (88 KPH)
I have had it up to 55 MPH, which takes a little while to obtain. Most of my driving is in the 30 to 40 MPH range which is just fine for where i drive going back and forth to school about 13 miles round trip.
AccelerationKind of sluggish but not bad...
Range40 Miles (64 Kilometers)
The way I have been using the car, mostly under 40 MPH, I feel pretty safe at running 40 miles. I could probably go a bit more but I am pretty cautious.
EV Miles
Current:5 Miles (8 Kilometers)
Seating Capacity4 adults
Tires165/80R13 Kumho
Conversion TimeSo far just a couple of weeks in refurbishing a vehicle that looks to be in pretty fair shape.
Conversion CostA secret so far! Hopefully, not much more.

code by jerry