I Knew…and They Knew…

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A gentleman on LinkedIn posted a question about the “Cool Fun Factors of Converting a Car To EV”. I pondered this question for several minutes. They are cool. They are fun. But the question frankly annoyed me a bit and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Writing is basically a discovery process. You find out what you really think when you try to write it down for others. And so I formulated a response. It was some sort of moderated group and I guess it didn’t match his concept of Cool or Fun because it was never “approved” for public consumption. That happens to me a bit in this new Internet world where everything goes as long as you agree with it. But I thought I would share it. It’s an oddly twisted piece of work, apparently from an oddly twisted old man.

Every time I pumped a gallon of gas, I knew, and they knew, and they knew I knew, and I knew they knew I knew, that I really had no choice. They could charge 26 cents a gallon, which I have paid, or 50 cents per gallon, which I have paid, or $1 a gallon, which I have paid, or $2 a gallon, which I have paid, or $3 a gallon, which I have paid, or $4 a gallon, which I have paid or $5 a gallon, which I have paid, and I was going to pay it, because I have to have a car and it has to take me where I want to go. No choice. No option. They own me. And I don’t really have a goddamned thing to say about it.

And the guy with the gas station gets a little bit, and the state gets a little bit, and the Federal government gets a little bit, and the refinery gets quite a bit, and the country where the oil comes from gets quite a bit, and the guy who boats it over here gets a little bit, and actually the least of these is the guy with the gas station right here in town. He gets 4 cents a gallon.

And I knew, and they knew, and they knew I knew, and I knew they knew I knew, that if gasoline goes to $6 a gallon I’ll pay it, and $7 a gallon I’ll pay it, and $8 a gallon and I’ll pay it and $9 a gallon and I’ll pay it and they will all make just a little bit more when I do, and I’ll have just a little bit less. And I don’t have a goddamned thing to say about that.

And just to remind me that I knew, and they knew I knew, and I knew they knew I knew, in 1978 we had a little “gas shortage” in southern California where we waited in line for hours on end just to get the 10 gallons they would “allow us” at any price they wanted, and we tried to live our lives on that 10 gallons before going back to get at the end of the line one more time for another 10 gallons. It went on for over a year. And I didn’t have a goddamned thing to say about it. Had to have a car. It had to have gas.

And I even knew, and they knew I knew, and I knew they knew I knew, that they could take the money I put in that pump for gasoline and split it up seventeen ways, and there was still enough left over in the end to train fine young men who otherwise lived as I lived, and wanted what I wanted, that the reason they couldn’t have what I have, is that my land was the land of Satan. Bent on their destruction and in defiance of the laws of God and men and that they would indeed be rewarded in paradise if they but gave their lives to destroy our land and kill thousands of innocent people in my land and teach them a lesson by taking away forever their fathers, and their husbands, and their wives, and aunts and uncles and mothers all in the name of Allah. And I would continue to feed that pump. And I would feed it, and I would feed it and I would feed it forever. And I would feed it because I really didn’t have a goddamned thing to say about it. Nothing at all.

But what I also knew, and they knew, and they didn’t know I knew that they knew, because, so few knew and they knew that few knew, is that that gasoline, and my car, was spewing toxic gasses out the ass end that cause autism, Alzheimers disease, cancer, diabetes, and a host of other diseases that were virtually unheard of less than a century ago. And even though I knew, and they knew, they kept right on selling it. And I kept right on buying it. I kept feeding that pump and driving that car and I didn’t have a goddamned thing to say about it.

And then one day, with my American Express card clutched in one hand, and the pump nozzle in the other, watching the poor guy who runs the gas station and makes the least of all out of it, change the sign to raise the price of it all one more time, something snapped inside. Something just broke. I said “screw this” and put the pump nozzle back in the pump and walked off and left my car at the gas station and walked all the way home.

But they knew, and I knew and I knew they knew that I knew, that you just can’t live your life walking. You have to carry stuff. And it gets cold. And it gets hot. And it rains. And people attack you if you’re walking. And they take away the stuff you’re trying to carry. And it takes too much time. And it just doesn’t work. And you really just don’t have a goddamned thing to say about it. You have to have a car. It has to have gas.

And so in tears I went into my garage and got a glass of whiskey, and sat down on an old tire and drank it, and muttered, and drank it and stewed, and drank it and muttered some more. And I still didn’t have a goddamned thing to say about it.

So in anger, and in frustration, I took a car, and I ripped out the engine, and I ripped out the gas tank, and I ripped out the exhaust pipe, and the radiator, and the lead acid battery, and I ripped and I tore until there was nothing but a bare car with no way to move it. A dead car. I had killed it. This car would drink no more.

And I guess I would drive no more. I got on the Internet and started randomly ordering parts, electric motors, and batteries and chargers, and DC-DC converters, and cables and terminals and wires. Wherever I could find them, in whatever condition they were in, at whatever price was asked.

And I pieced them together over days and weeks and months. And I didn’t know, and they didn’t know, so I didn’t know if they didn’t know, that I didn’t know if it would ever work. But I kind of obsessed on it. And I drank my whiskey and I pieced things together that didn’t want to go together, and I fit parts together that didn’t want to fit together, and I made things work together that were not made to work together. I sawed, and I ground, and I filed, and I hammered, and I drilled, and I welded. It was a futile act. A waste of time. The tinkering of a fragile old man with too much whiskey and too much time on his hands. Alone in a garage with a bunch of junk he’d found laying around and cobbled together in one of his erratic eccentric spasms of obstinate rebellious mutterings and maunderings. The laughingstock of his town and the sorrowful and apologetic excuse made by his wife and children for just being that way and you can’t change him and what’s to be done about it anyway. And they all shake their heads and go on about their lives.

And one afternoon, after drinking a good bit of whiskey and playing with some high voltage, it struck me that it was time to go for a drive. So I got in the car and turned the key and pressed on the accelerator. The car shot out of the garage, down the driveway, and crashed through the wrought iron fence and into the street sideways and stopped. I ruefully untangled the car from the pieces of fence it was wearing so proudly, and pushed it by hand back into the garage, turned out the lights and shut the door, and went to bed. Promising. But maybe a few adjustments still in order.

Wife. What happened to the fence?
It got in my goddamned way and started asking a bunch of silly assed questions. What do you want to know about it?
Nothing….

But she knew, and I knew, and she knew I knew, and I knew that she knew that I knew, that it wasn’t going so well in the garage. She sat in embarrassment and shame that her hero was failing and perhaps beginning to lose it. None the younger, never really like the other wives husbands, and now this. Weeks and months and the money and so distant and distracted and he sure looks old. What would her friends say? And the children… But she also knew, and I knew, and she knew that I knew that she knew, that she didn’t have a goddamned thing to say about it.

So more whiskey. More high voltage. A bit of a change to a few variables in a mystical piece of software designed to do very little. And time for another drive. And I turned the key. Nothing. No sound. I very carefully pressed the accelerator, and the car rolled quietly out into the drive way. Stunned, I sat in silence in the sun. And then I drove it away.

And I drove it 90 miles an hour on the first drive. And on the second I drove it 109 miles before recharging it. And I drove it through the town. And I drove it on the Interstate highway. I drove it down Main Street and I drove it down Broadway. And I drove it over and over again. And I stopped it. And I accelerated it. And I drove it again. It was entirely silent. It made no gasses or smells at all. And the gearbox didn’t act like it did before. You could take off in any gear you wanted. And it accelerated smoothly and continously from stopped to about 50 miles an hour, and you shifted into fourth, and it started all over again, accelerating smoothly from 50 to 90 mph. I’d never felt anything like it. And it drove on and on and on – with no gasoline in it at all.

And so the anger should be replaced with joy. But it wasn’t. In fact it rose higher and higher, until the vision narrows to a point and the head pounds in a rythmic beat. Wait a minute. If a 54 year old guy, can build a car in his freaking garage, out of scrap parts and discards, that goes 90 miles an hour and over 100 miles, without gasoline, working half days falling down drunk on homemade moonshine, while 250 million OTHER cars are out there rolling around sucking up gasoline and paying at the pump because they don’t have a goddamned thing to say about it, what’s wrong with this picture??? Suddenly I knew. They HAD to know. And finally, I knew that they knew. They’d known all along.

But I knew that they DIDN’T know that I knew. And more than anything else in the world, knowing this finally gave me something to say about it.

And here is what I have to say about that:

FUCK OFF AND DIE.

Because I’m not JUST not going to pay at the pump anymore. I’m not going to JUST not be a victim. I’m OUTING YOU.

I’m outta the game. And I’m telling anyone that will listen that they can be out of the game too. And then they will know and they will also know that you know, and that you knew all along. And here’s the kicker –

there’s not a GODDAMNED THING YOU CAN SAY ABOUT IT – BITCH.

Electric cars are not about being cool. Electric cars are not about having fun. Electric cars are not about saving the planet. Electric cars are the biggest FUCK OFF AND DIE one man can ever utter or speak and actually MAKE IT STICK.  And if anybody anywhere thinks they are about anything else, they just haven’t yet converted an electric car.

You may buy a Prius.  You may save the odd snail darter.  You might feel good and smarmy about the planet.  But you have nothing to do with me.  Sucking up  “a little less” is not what I’m about.  Yes Rodney, we CAN all just get along – right AFTER they FUCK OFF AND DIE.

Enjoy this weeks show. Lots about the HPEVS AC35x2. A beautiful video from Zurich. And Anne Kloopenborg’s Amsterdam Battery Test Lab and Institute for the Investigation of the Paranormal.
It just keeps getting better.

Jack Rickard

60 thoughts on “I Knew…and They Knew…”

      1. Allan Høj

        I’ll try to answer the beste I can with my bad english it will take some time.

        My first thought was it was smart and I wanted one and still do. I would not care about any radiation, because I’m not going to sit in my electric car while it is charging, especially because I currently chargers with 12 – 13 A and must have 180 – 190 AH to the battery.

        An engine consists of stack silicone laminated iron if good direction oriented laminated iron if super good annealed directional laminated iron with approx. 9 pair of coils and the magnetic field is transferred to the rotor as pages with a few 1/10 of a mm.
        So there is no air gap of significance precisely what makes the engine efficient operation.
        There are only a winding head which is not able to transfer the magnetic field.
        HPEVS motoring-curve seen it appears that they have chosen two types one two pole and firpoler engine and it looks like they run up to 100 – 150 Hz depend on just what engine they choose, so we are talking about low frequency even if the choose 6 or 8 pole motor you have to run 400 – 500 Hz to counter the Rpm where the the torque curve starts to fall.
        As the last the stator is surrounded by an outer metal carp and bearing shield on the motor shield.

        When we talk about wireless transfer of energy we usually talk about HF.
        It could be operational in 2 – 4 GHz (microwaves) or if they choose a more tradisionel way to do it as an iron core they must be quite close together, which the film do not indicate.
        I suspect that the have chosen something as HF and the distance between devices will presumably have an appreciably greater radiance.

        But as I try to justify my first comment, I shall bring to mind the gizmo should probably also through various tests for radiation and it is possible that there is not such a magnetic field of importance.

        I forgot to say super show again 🙂
        I very much look forward to the conversion of the smart car

        Regards Allan

        1. CollinK

          Using 2-4GHz would be a bad idea because that tends to be dominantly far field and interacts strongly with water which is problematic. You certainly would have to really make sure nobody got in the way of a 2.45GHz beam! 6KW charging at that frequency would put out microwaves 6 times more powerful than we usually use to cook food. The video shows there being no safeguard against putting your hands in between the floor unit and your car. 6KW on your fingers would be unpleasant.

          Traditionally, wireless charging was inductive. Inductive coupling falls off to the fourth power of the distance so things have to be placed right next to each other for any efficiency. But, what about something more like 10MHz? That’s still fast and from what I can tell a quarter wave 10Mhz antenna would be around 7-8M long. That’s pretty big but you could fold it up under a car. The nice thing about 10Mhz is that the wave is like 30 meters long so the interaction between it and people would be pretty minimal. Granted, I’m not a charging or wireless engineer so I don’t know if there is some other reason not to use 10MHz. Maybe 100MHz would be even better. But, personally I’d stay away from microwave frequencies because they *do* mess people up.

          1. Andyj

            Yeah, your eyes and testicles will expand and pop.
            Another downer with these are transfer efficiency so you pay more for the pleasure – the GM1 and Toyota RAV4 EV’s had the old paddle thing they used on fork lift trucks.
            Another huge downer is making them work using three phase… Forget it.
            The EU standard is the IEC-62196 three phase version of the single phased J1772. The new Brusa charger is tailor made for it. Isn’t 43KW cool enough?
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_charging
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magne_Charge

          2. Jack Rickard

            10 MHz appears to be the frequency of choice. It is not PRECISELY inductive. More of a tuned loop which moves the Q way up. I think the MIT stuff was at 20 MHz. This is several orders of magnitude below the GHz range. But I think most of it IS going to 10 MHz.

            30 meter amateur band.

            Jack

          3. Allan Høj

            Yes 2 – 4 Ghz is probably too much, I think back to the system that I have reparreret through time. They are used for wiping multiple layers of veneer or used to look for pinstripe error in the round knitting machines. Applicable to both systems were used tubes and operate around 27-30 MHz

            The transmitter was simply constructed, with x number of plates which is displaced, relative to each other and arranged for an adjustable capacitor, a couple of resistors to the grid and cathode, antenna / coil to transfer power to a coil sit near approx. 1 cm

            It has not exactly been something that was able to make a Q which peek, I am convinced that the graph was wide and repeated harmonic which wash not dropping much. the transmitter was wide as a barn door.

            I’m also not wireless engineer which you probably have figured out.
            I have tried to find out what frequency they use, but without success, it would be very interesting to find out.

            With regard to the driving of one phase or three is unimportant since it is rectified and is connected to an oscillation circuit which precisely run on DC.

            The new Brusa charger is more than NICE, but I have “only” 15KW in my house.
            I still like wireless charging and is willing to pay a little extra for the low level of efficiency however the low level of efficiency it what worries me (magnetic field). the Power has to go somewhere, heat and magnetic field.

            I have 7.8 Kw solar panels on my roof and use the power plant as a battery and settlement is 1 kw up 1 kw down = $ 0.
            I may not connect additional solar cells to the existentially plants.
            So it probable ends with I put up 5-6 up solar panels and chargers directly to the battery pack. It would be delicious, great, nice to get out to a car that is always charged with the new wireless charging.

          4. Andyj

            OOF! A 10Mhz magnetic loop antenna knocking out how many watts? They will have to forsake the resonant capacitor, use a high z feed setting impedance inductively to the receive coil instead. Some means to sense the receive coil will have to be built in. Will save blowing the output trannies from impedance changes too. Nonetheless RF is RF and at 3KW+ levels I don’t care, that’s scary, keep away.
            400Hz Naval & aircraft AC for power transmission I can live with.

      2. Allan Høj

        Yea… Andyj

        There sits 10-15 fluorescent tubes in a unit a 58 W each, there were also smaller modules, when we talk about the table to find pinstripes error.
        The device for wiping glue veneer with, I have no idea how many watts it was Producing, but enough to light a fluorescent lights of 58 W if you keep one hand on the tube it lighted up it if you got too far away from the transmitter the fluorescent lights went out, but turned on again if you put the other end against the floor or wall.
        I think I’ve got my potion of radiation. When you are young, there is nothing that can harm you, but later in life it gives thoughts for reflection.
        Think about the guy that work with this every day…… He must have lighted up in the dark :/

        Allan

  3. Scott Houghton

    @ Anne,
    I am also in the process of bottom balancing some CALB CA series cells…64 of the 100AH.

    To drain them, I first grouped cells into packs of 4 to break in my WarP11 brushes @ ~12V/no load. I had them set up with the JLD404 to monitor current/voltage and also open a contactor to stop the discharge when the cells reached 11.0V (2.75V per cell). Each group started at almost exactly 13.21V, and each groups “low cell” when nearing 11.0V was never less than 2.7ishV.

    After going through all 64 cells using this method, I then connected each cell individually to my PL6. I have it set up to discharge @20A CC to 2.5V, then CV to 2A.

    My findings:
    – Lowest SOC cell put out 38.08AH total
    – Highest SOC cell put out 41.63AH total
    – Average for all the cells was 40.31AH total
    – Most cells bounced back up to between 2.72V and 2.76V after 10 days or so. Though there is one cell at 2.775V, two cells that stopped rising after 3-4 days that are 2.693V/2.707V, and one cell that rose to 2.691V after 1 day and has since fallen each day (was 2.668V after 5 days, I’m thinking this one is bad). I’m currently running the three questionable cells through 5 cycles each to see if they will “conform” with the rest. Have you found any cells that “self discharge” after completing the bottom balancing?

    So even though mine were not “balanced” from the factory, they were all very close. I’m surprised you had some that were that low of a SOC.

    .

    1. onegreenev

      Working on 28 100 cells all of which are totally out of whack. Connected to a motor and my JLD404 to read AH’s out and to my volt meter to monitor the voltage and to shut off the contactor when the cells reach 2.5 volts. They then bounce back to 2.8 and the contactor turns on again. Generally at 2.8 volts static with some above that to be trimmed later. I am on cell 20 right now. works like a charm. But my cells were pretty much empty at around 3 or so volts each. Will be posting on my blog later the results of this bottom balancing. Then on to do 35 more 100ah Calb SE cells. Average amp draw from the warm motor is around 30 amps. Interesting little buggers. All with a life of their own but alike none the less.

      1. zak650

        Anybody with a lot of cells to bottom balance, 20 feet of 3/8″ rebar equals a 160 amp load. I put up a video on youtube showing 6 Calb CA100 cells in parallel being bottom balanced using a JLD5740 meter to control it.

  4. John Albergo

    Well-said Jack. That’s a very big part of it. Reminds me of circa 1992 when I’d gotten tired of our third answering with a tape-munching habit.

    “Hi I’m looking for a new answering machine”.
    “Ok. Would you like a machine with one tape, or two”?
    “What I’d really like to have is one with NO DAMNED TAPES”!
    “Actually we just got this one. No tapes, but it’s expensive and the record time is really short; only 20 minutes”
    “SOLD”!!
    And I never went back.

    And so it goes with EVs. The mountain of crap that is gasoline combustion, is so ubiquitous, so massive and has so many faces it’s hard to back one’s mind up far enough to even see it. And when you finally do, the cost and 100 miles of range isn’t a constraint, it’s a joyful celebration of freedom.

  7. CollinK

    Jack: Speaking of the Ac35X2, I didn’t catch much mention of the motor temperature. It seems that there are chill plates for the controller. I believe you said it cuts back around 85C or so. But, what about the motor? It seems very prone to overheating to have two controllers dumping energy into the same motor shell. Where is the heat to go from the motor? I ask because 150kW is very nice and snappy but I’ve had much weaker motors near that size that overheated constantly and I hated it. The Siemens motors for use with the DMOCs are liquid cooled, larger, and less powerful. So, what’s the story with the AC35x2 motor? Is there any information on heat dissipation / build up? That would the biggest question I’d have before wanting to purchase something like that.

    1. Jack Rickard

      I don’t know the answer. They posted a rather unpersuasive thermal graph of an enclosed AC75 or AC76. But it didn’t look like it was doing much power.

      I know I’ve always been amazed at the AC-50. No matter how hard you run it, it just never does seem to get very warm.

      Jack

  8. Damien Maguire

    My cells turned up yesterday from Anne. I stood for an hour staring at the pallet. Bit like one of those horror movies when the guy gets out of bed and stands there staring while the video fast forwards. Then today I read about a quarter way through this post and I knew it would answer the question i get asked the most. Why?. So I printed it out this evening and handed it to my 72 year old mother (mama don’t surf). She read it. Then re-read it. Finally she removed her glasses , cleaned them and said “Ok son , I understand now.” Enough typing. I got 50 cells to bottom balance ……..

    1. Jack Rickard

      You bring me to tears Damien. Yes, I recall the first Thundersky delivery. Pallets of them stacked in the driveway. Sunny morning. And a huge head rush just standing there looking at them.

      Of course I had to wait 16 weeks to get them in those days….

      Extend our best to mama. I guess we could start a WAC corp for the army… get her an Ipad.

      Jack

  9. Joel Clemens

    Great post Jack.
    I have a comment about the video, rather a minor semantic argument. People often get confused between regenerative breaking and regenerative coasting. (I know that you meant coasting, but you kept saying breaking). Smart people who pay attention have realized, and agree with you, that regenerative coasting is rather detrimental to range, us Leaf drivers would like to disable it somehow, but it is yet another reason to convert your own. Regenerative breaking is actually a very good thing to have when you actually have/want to slow down/stop. In this case, I wish the Leaf’s regenerative breaking was more forceful. Apparently these settings can all be changed with the Tesla Model S.

    1. Jack Rickard

      We don’t like to break anything here at EVTV. That is not to say we don’t. We just don’t like it. I’ve never seen regenerative braking and regenerative coasting discussed separately. But you could indeed actually configure the Curtis controller to do just that. To my knowledge you cannot do it on a Tesla Model S, although the degree of regen is indeed adjustable.

      And yes, when you actually step on the brake, regen would be very much in order. I’ve actually grown to like the FEEL of regen coasting to some degree. But I like the free roll as well

      GENERALLY, controllers have a dead zone between the minimum regen and the minimum acceleration. On many, you can widen that. We have that spec’d for the GEVCU. And so by keeping your foot on the throttle you can “feel” that deadzone which allows you to free roll. In that event, you kind of have the best of all worlds. You can just kind of feather the throttle to roll, or let off a bit to bring regen gradually into play.

      While I will admit it is a bit tedious to go for a test drive, come back, hook up the computer, make some changes to esoteric variables, and go again, this is how you customize or “tune” your car to what you like. That simply can’t be done in an ICE car. And I would think it would be extremely difficult to make that available to the owners in a store bought car. But as the builder and converter, you are lord and master of the beast. If you are willing to spend the time, it gets pretty good.

      I doubt I will ever have an automobile that was as comfortable for ME and fun to drive as Speedster Duh. Largely because I went through the process over and over. Unfortunately I sold it and I actually regret it at this point. That was a gorgeous car and kind of like putting on a ratty old goatskin jacket I still love. It just fits. And it was so worn it didn’t fight me when I moved around. No old goat jokes please. And no, it didn’t smell. Well ok, it didn’t smell when it was new.

      Ed Clausen explained to me he didn’t think he would do his conversion because now he had a most excellent Leaf. I listened for the next 30 minutes to all the things the Leaf had gotten WRONG and he couldn’t change it. The warranty you know.

      Me? I have a great warranty. I can do anything I want to the car, and even if I dick it up? EVTV will fix it. No questions about the fine print or whether it is covered or not. It’s covered.

      It’s getting hot here on the Mississippi. Generally does this time of year. My solace over the last ivory DUH is the glossy black Escalade. The air conditioning can actually give you a headache. We lost the very quiet dual fans on the front of the beast along with the radiator. But we needed airflow for the AC condenser. So I got a beast from Summit Racing and was both disappointed and alarmed at the incredible howl it puts out and the current it uses. It’s a banshee I tell ya. But it has IMPROVED the AC much beyond factory. This thing blows a gale of ice cold air at a dead standstill sitting in the sun – in a black truck. In the shop, I can put my hand over the motors and actually grow concerned at the very hot temperature of the very strong flow from this fan sucking air through the condenser. Its so hot you can’t keep your hand in. I guess I kind of envisioned it serving double duty to “cool” the motors running the air over them. Not. At least not standing.

      1. Jeff Southern

        I like my AC-50 set so that it does very little regeneration when lifting off the throttle (10%) but I set my brake pressure initial curve to 60 % which calls for a lot of regen with little brake pressure….

        I find with the rolling hills here is north GA it is significantly more efficient because I do not lose speed going down a hill….

    2. Andyj

      You can easily coast in the Leaf. Just push the puck to “N” and hold it there for a couple of seconds. The latest Leaf has a very forceful regen setting.

      1. onegreenev

        Andyj

        Ive done it and don’t like it. You have no control. I’d like to be able to turn throttle off regen down or off and brake regen up so I can decided when to regen. I want control. Goddamn car companies got me by the balls on this one. Still like the car and don’t regret getting it.

        1. Andyj

          Oh, I love free wheeling but this crowded country means whatever is in front soon becomes an obstruction.
          My only gripes for driving are:-
          1. The car wants to roll while stopped, as if it’s an ICE auto so any lengthy waiting at the lights etc. Get the “N” treatment.
          2. The puck is backwards to me. Pull should be reverse, push for forward.
          I guess its a hangover from previous Heath Robinson efforts at making a car.
          .
          Only noticed this past 10 minutes because I’ve never charged to “100%” before, (We’re off on an adventure soon), I live on top of a hill… There is no motor braking (regen) at all until some charge is used up.
          .
          Everything in engineering is a compromise. The man who makes it better and more simple is a genius. The trouble is, Peter, some of us would love a handy knob, control dial, app. for everything, Like a Flash Gordon rocket ship made by Dr. Hans Zarkov! However, half of the car market is for the Dale Ardens of this world.

  10. Chuck Milliken

    Regarding the new HPEVS setup… I suggest a JLD meter attached to that regen switch to turn on regen only after the pack voltage drops below a set level. That way you don’t fault the controller, yet can put in the max pack.

    1. Jack Rickard

      That would probably work if you did it by AH. If by voltage, when the regen kicked in and the voltage came up it would cut regen out, dropping the voltage, and cutting it back in. Sounds like a good way to convert an electric car to a bucking bronco, which of course is a Ford.

      Jack

  11. Raymond Blackburn

    Yea, well it’s much easier for a rich old man to say fuck off and die to those ever loving blood sucking bitches than it is for one of very limited means. I did it anyway. How much is being happy worth? I am a much happier person without those parasites taking money out of my wallet and polluting my environment to propel a car with four wheels down the road. Much happier now that I have a choice. Unlike you Jack, I don’t ever want to use a ICE as my car again. I am changing occupation to do just that. I got to a point where I did not care how much I had to pay to get gasoline out of my personal life. I only knew the only way I could be happy was to be rid of the all knowing and all powerful parasite that oil has become, I new I could only be truly happy by not supporting the oil economy that many of my friends and relatives don’t like supporting much of the time but feel helpless to fight. I wanted to support a different economy and driving a EV does that. Yes, I eat so I use oil, the semi trucks deliver so much but I am not willing to give up the struggle. Let save some oil for the future and make physical products out of it instead of burning it. I ordered my car in 2008 because I did not know enough on how to build one. It is a car as good as any of yours and I will keep it going with EVTV’s help and some EE’s I met at OEVA. Go ahead and sensor this comment as well at least you had to read it. I don’t give a flying fuck one way or the other, I will say your doing a lot of good Mr Jack but I don’t agree with you on everything, not by a long shot. I must give you credit, most with your wealth would take it in the rear, say thank you, may i have another, as it is a small junk of your wealth and you can easily afford it.

    1. John Hardy

      “Let save some oil for the future” Yes absolutely. Our grandchildren will have no scalable and affordable way to fly across the Atlantic if we insist on using low cost oil to drive cars which could just as easily be driven by hydro, nuclear or solar.

      I think maybe you are being a bit hard on the oil industry though Ray. There are villains in every business including ours and I get angry at the misinformation and suppression of information that one suspects originates with them (Jack’s “…autism, Alzheimers disease, cancer, diabetes…”, not to mention brain development in children) – but if they all just quit we would starve. I get just as angry at plane loads of climate change groupies junketing off to Bali, Cancun and Copenhagen at our expense. I haven’t yet figured out a way to get them to, er, depart the pattern and terminate.

    2. Jack Rickard

      There’s a lot about me in there Mr. Blackburn. And quite a bit about you. Your class envy is both misplaced, inappropriate, and obviously a long term issue with you. I can assure you I have had much less than you, and indeed much more, all in one lifetime. But the proof is in the pudding. You trade one victimhood for another. Now you are dependent on the maker of your car, a proprietary beast you now drive, care for, and maintain by them and at their whim. Ironically ,it is YOU not I, with the “checkbook solution” and you’ll learn to drive their way on their batteries or not at all. I had the satisfaction of building my own. It is unlikely that EVTV nor your EE friends will be able to free you from that yoke. The cars I’m seeing come out are too proprietary and too secretive and I’m frankly uneasy that the dealerships or even the manufacturer will be able to maintain and troubleshoot many of them.

      We do share a common resentment of the oil industry, but I hope no one confuses us further. You appear to be internally embittered in general. Of course you don’t agree with me on everything. You don’t know enough nor have either experience or sense enough to do anything but generally disagree with everyone.
      I’m basically a happy guy who generally gets along. Kind of a narrowly focused ire instead of a general one and not wrapped up with 10,000 other things mostly related to a vague and generalized class envy due to a lack of success in your own life. And that’s kind of a circular attitudinal thing only you can address.

      What do you imagine that I “knew” to build one? I didn’t change my own oil and was totally disinterested in automobiles and the automotive industry at the time. I still don’t know what half the stuff I remove from cars now does or what its purpose is. Similarly the winner of our components contest from a year or so ago was a Saxiphone player with similar lack of experience in things mechanical.

      From my point of view, you took the easy road, wrote a check and miss the whole point. I demonstrated it could be done. You admitted it could not be done, and you had to wait for some “white knight” to offer a car to save you. You remain a victim and have traded masters. I am free and by my own hand. You look to EVTV and your EE friends to bail you out. We solve our own problems here. In short, you were a user of oil. Now oil free. Still a user.

      Again, and again, and again. I cannot suggest nor demonstrate adequately by video or text what a deep, visceral sense of personal satisfaction derives from doing your OWN conversion. Not that hard really. It’s already a car. Rearrange some parts. And it’s still a car, but it doesn’t use gasoline. And just as your store bought car, it doesn’t SAVE money it COSTS money. They are indeed counting on your very sense of economic farthing counting to keep you wed to the pump. The least expensive option is to give THEM the money and stay a serf on the fiefdom. Which is just what most do. I literally say millions for defense, not one cent for tribute.

      And so I live it. While you are a spectator who has changed seats. You resent your old master, as you will come to resent your new one. And of course you deeply resent me, because I am free, and you still hoe the soil on the Lard’s Holding. Sounds like a lot of resentment all around. I was just pissed at the gasoline situation.

      And no, I had neither to allow the comment nor read it. I chose to. When you are free, you can do that.

  12. Fred Behning

    Hey, don’t pick on us Saxophone players! Actually, I’m mostly playing Oboe and English Horn in community bands and orchestras these days.

    Jack, you’ve noted the connection between computer geeks and EV builders. There’s also a pretty well documented correlation between musical skills and IT aptitude. We know Brandon Hollinger is a professional Saxophonist and Alex Viera plays Bassoon, so I’m curious – how many of you guys and gals have a music background? Any genre counts – Classical, Garage Band, Folk, Rock, Country, Heavy Metal, Reggae, Big Band, Marching Band, enjoying the theme from “Lonesome Dove”, whatever.

    If there are enough players, maybe we’ll put together an EVTV Chowder and Conversion Society Band for EVCCON this year!

    1. Jack Rickard

      When I was young and pretty I played the guitar and sang and was a bit of a thing hereabouts in 1971. It got me over on the young lassies of the day. Today, I sing in the church choir, between coughing fits. But occasionally I can still let the dogs out a bit on a clear morning.

      Brandon Hollinger DID say something kind of cute though. He said “the stuff I took out sure looked a lot more complicated than the stuff I put in..” And that’s how it looks to me. The Mini Cooper had 17 different connections to the gas tank. I mean what? It’s a tank. Gas goes from the tank to the engine. Ok, a sensor to tell full from empty. What? 17 hoses, tubes or individual cables with individual connectors.

      Jack

    2. Jarkko Santala

      I’ve done a motorcycle, converting a car now, System Administrator by day and play the drums. Do I fit the profile? EVCCON might be a bit of a reach though…

    3. Jeff Southern

      I am kind of the odd man out…

      Wife calls me a hi-tech redneck… I have some electronic skills, programming skills, mechanical skills, but at my heart I am a motor head or a hotrod kind of guy. I like also like hunting and fishing and generally being outdoors…

      Most of my friends are kind of the same way. One guy spends his days in the corporate board rooms of SunTrust bank and the rest of the time he is in dirty old overalls tinkering with old cars or hunting or fishing with me…

      To me technology is a means to an end, but not particularly interesting…..

      I can carry a tune, but lets just say I doubt I could have made a living at it…

    4. Brian McDaris

      Fred, I am a french horn player and a baritone voice, both of debatable quality. I played in high school, college, and had enough professional time to figure out that last chair orchestra horn players generally starve to death. 🙂 I’m game, tell me what selections you have in mind so I can practice.
      Brian McDaris

    5. Mark Bush

      Hey Fred,
      I have been in many bands or groups. I sing rock, baroque, opera, musical, folk, country and western. I also write, play, and build EV’s. I have the right to use the plural “EV’s” as I am building my second one. A 1973 Porsche 914 with an AC50 Kit from Jacks Place complete with an EVTV liquid cooling kit. But to answer your question Guitar, Bass, keyboard, Mandolin, Uke, Clarinet, Sitar Guitar, Voice, still trying to master them all.

  13. onegreenev

    Independence Day! I’ve had some. The day I decided to get off my ass and go back to school to better myself at age 42. The day we got our solar panels installed and turned on. What a Great feeling it is to say screw you. That is one of the main driving forces that got us to get them. The day I drove my first conversion, a 64 Ghia. Now that was a kick in the pants, I got to pass every gas station and fill my beastie for free. Now thats independence and my poor little VW TDI just sits mostly rotting in the sun. And I thought I was doing good when I got to drive a diesel that got 48 mpg. I have two conversions going on and one I purchased. However the one I purchased was done so because I wanted to drive electric while I built some more electric cars. I did not buy because I could not do my own. It was a choice I don’t regret. No problems of any kind for the past 25,000 miles. I like the choice to do my own because I get to choose what I convert. Independence is a wonderful thing. Another Independence Day was seeing Jacks first video which came out just after I finished my first conversion. Keep it up Jack, were with you all the way.

    Pete 🙂

    1. Mike Schooling (Skooler)

      Jack,

      Only just got round to watching this weeks show. At the start you mentioned UL listings. Sinopoly sent me some details about this but it’s not something I’m familiar with so I didn’t really take much interest… quote from them below:

      “Our 100Ah cell has already got UL1642 certified.

      http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/template/LISEXT/1FRAME/showpage.html?name=BBCV2.MH49262&ccnshorttitle=Lithium+Batteries+-+Component&objid=1083043330&cfgid=1073741824&version=versionless&parent_id=1073747351&sequence=1

      This is the first one large lithium battery manufacturer to get UL certified. It is a very good selling point of your product which is selling in North America market.

      Please note with thanks.”

      Cheers,

      Mike

    2. Jeff Southern

      Interesting Pete…

      I have to admit that the first show I watched I thought Jack was crazy…. But then I realized that he was just a little insane and it all started to come together as most of the people I like are considered a little insane…

      1. onegreenev

        Jeff,
        I was going to go all out with the renewable resource biodiesel or straight veggie oil route with my TDI until I got wind of converting to electric. When I saw that I knew it was the answer. But most of my information I was able to gather in the beginning was just garbage and my first conversion was successful but considered a dismal failure in that I was unable to use the thing for anything but a grocery getter. No commuting or any of that stuff. But the information, which by the way is still out there, says I can go 60, 80, and even 120 miles per charge using nothing more than lead acid batteries. HOG WASH. My dreams were dashed until I got wind of the Lithium Batteries. They were way out of my league at the time. Jack could do it. Not me. Now I can. 🙂 Opens up the world. Coupled with free solar it makes perfect sense. By the way, our solar system is now paid in full. Its only up hill from here baby.

        Pete 🙂

        1. Jeff Southern

          I would love to do solar, but I live in a subdivision and the trees on the neighbor’s border make that very difficult….

          The sad part is that I work for an electrical distributor and can get SolarWorld 270w panels at cost….

          I am thinking seriously about a Solar Powered Pontoon boat though….

  14. onegreenev

    Jack,

    Read your post to the wife and she busted up. I wished it was you reading it aloud because you just have a way with words, but it worked. She’s in this all the way too. Tis nice having local support. 🙂

  15. DRdove

    http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1366&doc_id=264712&dfpPParams=ind_184,industry_auto,bid_318,aid_264712&dfpLayout=blog

    A new tool called an eGallon calculator tells you how much it costs you to drive an electric vehicle the same distance that you could go on a gallon of gas in a similar car. The unveiling of the new calculator is part of an effort by the DOE and the Obama Administration to get more drivers to consider electricity as a fuel.

    1. Stan Cloyd

      When it comes to regen I could care less EXCEPT for when my EV has become robust enough to go from Phoenix to Flagstaff. Any of the mountain roads out of this hell-hole involve long uphill pulls followed by loooooong descents down the other side of the mountain. I heard that one of our brethren has already built a “Flagstaff class” EV with prismatics that can do it in one shot without a mandatory recharge stop in Cordes Junction. (takes deep pockets) Under the extreme conditions of the mountains I imagine regen would have the greater range extension that in relative flat-land commuting.

  18. Alex Vieira

    Sounds like a great gig, Fred! Two questions: is it union scale, and is mileage included? 🙂 I would totally be up for that, but EVCCON once again falls during a time when I can’t get away from work. 🙁 Too bad, sounds like we have enough sax players (yeah, me too!) to have a big band section. In only 5 short years, though, I can retire, and then I’ll have lots more time to build a car, but not as much money. Doh!

    Doesn’t surprise me a bit to hear that Jack has a little music in him. I’d say he chose more wisely for what to make a career, though.

    Great rant, Jack. I feel very much the same way that you do every time I fill up my car with gasoline. YUCK! But if I try to convey that to others, I see the look of horror in their faces as I rock their apple cart, and I eventually just give up. Converting and demonstrating a car is THE simplest and most direct way to get your point across. I haven’t given up. I will do it. Just have to be slightly responsible to my wife and 18-month old daughter, so it will happen a little more slowly.

    Peace,
    Alex Vieira

    1. Allan

      Thanks Jack for putting words to how I feel about converting owning and driving an electric car, my first attempt was bio diesel, diesel engines were originally designed to run on vege oil, they kept that quite for a long time, then alcohol, hmm alcohol or lead as an anti knock compound lets choose lead, thanks for that Mr Midgley, There are so many reasons not to play, my heart goes out to all the families that have lost there income, health and communities due to the use of correxant in the Gulf of Mexico, we here in New Zealand also have that as our first response to a spill, although funny enough it’s use is illegal in Britain Thanks BP and congrads on the successful application for more drilling rights in the Gulf.

  19. Allan Høj

    Jack
    I know, and you know, and you know I know, and I know you know I know, that that i sucks at this….. But I love the way you write just love it Jack. However would you fuel nozzle not just be converted to a electric cord and you have nothin to say about it.
    would it not happen again, when all people are using the same source of energy, you would just be with out the guy with the turban on the head who try to lecture us how to live in this world and terrorising mankinde. But maybe we helped the planet and people in the process and get to make a statement. But it will take a great deal of time before it happens.

  20. Technogeekworld

    If I find out who those dealership skums are that are lobbing those BS laws restricting Tesla sales, I will never buy from them! Even if they manage to Bully/ strong arm their way into Tesla sales. I’ll use my out of state residence to own the car I want to drive and drive it into their dealership and burn the words F.O.A.D!!!!! on their lot. If I get publicity ,….all the better.

  21. Warren

    Jack,

    I really enjoyed your editorial rant this week. You really know how to jerk at the heart strings. I don’t know if you or Brian have been following this kid’s adventures, but I think you would enjoy them. He is doing his third cross-country trip on his much modified Zero electric motorcycle, just this year! He has over 30K miles on it in a year.

    https://www.facebook.com/lifeoffthegrid

    He has lots of great pictures with captions. But this is my favorite. 🙂

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=444928158936327&set=a.165563456872800.36746.164748896954256&type=1&theater

    Keep up the good fight, Warren

  23. John Hardy

    Just watched Lord Drayson take the world record for an under-1000 kg electric car. 4 Rinehart controllers powering 4 (I think) Yasa motors, inductive charging and A123 cells. A smidgin over 200 m.p.h. It was set at RAF Elvington so the challenge was acceleration: a measured mile in the middle of a 3000 metre runway doesn’t leave much room for accelerating to 200 m.p.h. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23051252

    Epic, but I wonder if you could get pretty close with two 11 HVs and Lithium Titanate cells

  24. Nathan Knappenburger

    Wow after reading the comments, i can hardly believe how such a diverse group of people can walk such similar paths. I was forming a checklist diesel car check, electric car check, solar power system check. What I want to do as well is garden and tinker we are all limited by time and reources. Of all of the projects i have done the most rewarding is the solar system. I guess this speaks to the desire to be free and once you see the chains that bind you, it is our nature to through them off! This is one source of the electric car deniers if they admit that electric cars work then they have to admit they are a slave to the oil companies, human nature would demand actions be taken to free yourself.

  25. Pingback: I Knew…and They Knew… | My Renault Zoe electric car

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