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Written by jonR
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Monday, 03 November 2008 00:00 |
 Fueled by Mountain Dew - and electricity
I had really hoped that the car would have been quicker. I was expecting the 600 amp Kelly motor controller from China to pull 600 amps from the batteries. The most it ever pulled was just over 350 amps. At 600, I could expect close to twice the acceleration. I don't know if the controller only delivers 350 amps peak because it gets too hot too quickly and starts throttling back current, or if it is just cheap and over-specked, or because I am measuring on the battery side of the controller. To test the later, I plan to move the current sensor to the motor side of the controller.
Surely the extra weight of the station wagon and the (selectable) AWD system (and its friction) make a difference. The car has a lot of torque, for about 1 foot or so, and will squeal the tires sometimes even when taking off in third gear. When the batts got very low, we did use the extra torque amplification of first gear and AWD to get it moving.
72volts at 350 amps is 25.2 kilowatts, which equals 33.8 horsepower. So the Prospector has 33.8 hp, a range of about 22 miles, and usable top speed of 45 mph. Good enough for most commuters, but it is pretty much dog slow. I don't think we will recommend going as low as 72 volts for a conversion in the future.
One last thing, with the car sitting at the angle it does, I failed to realize that the headlights now point up. Oh well, we will either install new springs in the back, move some batteries to the front, adjust the headlights properly, or some combination.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 20 November 2008 11:10 |
