alarm immobiliser on imiev

I need to install a third party alarm on the imiev and need to also do immobilizing of the vehicle. On a gas-powered car, i'd install the immobiliser relay on the car starter, so if there is a problem with the immobilizer, nothing bad can happen while driving the car. What solution do you recommend for the iMiev since it doesn't have any additional electric starter?

Is there a reported case of someone actually stealing an EV? If I was a thief, I think I'd be looking for something else to use as my get-away car! :lol:

"The officer reported there was a short, medium speed chase, but they caught up with him at the recharging station!"

Don

Hehe, we use it for short term rentals, and we sometimes leave the keys inside the car for our customers. That's why immobilizing is pretty important for us. Any suggestion on how to do it though?

If the Open Vehicle Monitoring System (OVMS) had the ability to control the i-MiEV, that could be used to remotely unlock the doors.

In this scenario, place key in vehicle, use OVMS to lock the doors, then when the renter is at the vehicle, remotely unlock the doors. Alas, it doesn't have the capability due to the way the i-MiEV is set up (this would work with the Tesla Roadster, though).

Perhaps you could use a window lock box like some dealers do for cars left unattended on display (shopping malls for instance), then give the renter a combination to unlock the box. Of course, use a different combination each time the car is rented.

Don said:

Is there a reported case of someone actually stealing an EV? If I was a thief, I think I'd be looking for something else to use as my get-away car! :lol:

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To be fair, a black Tesla Roadster would be perfect. Rip off a bank or something at night, shut off the lights and sneak down alleyways. Nobody would see or hear you :lol: .

Actually, no, don't do that.

Thanks for your reply! We can lock/unlock the doors, but we need immobilizing as a safety feature (so that even if you break a window and get to the keys, you still can't start the car). My question was how can we do the immobilizing and be sure we don't cause any dangers for driving in case something goes wrong. On gas based cars, we could install a relay to disconnect/connect the car starter, and if anything went wrong with our system while someone was driving the car, nothing happened until he stopped the car. How could we do that in the case of the imiev?

I suppose a relay on the Start wire of the ignition switch. Since the i-MiEV uses a standard keyed ignition switch, the setup would be pretty much the same. There are separate contacts for ACC, On, and Start.

Have a normally closed (or open, depending on how much time the car spends immobilized) relay that will make a connection when the car is allowed to start, but disconnect the Start wire when you need the car immobilized. You still have the failsafe of if something goes wrong with the immobilizer, it won't affect the car until a restart.

That should work fine - So far as starting is concerned, the iMiEV is very similar to any conventional car. You gotta have a charged 12 volt battery to get things going. Put a relay in that start wire and nothing happens unless the relay is closed. Not entirely sure what would happen if you opened that relay while the car was in operation though??? Should be easy enough for you to test it though

Don

Great, thank you so much for your replies, probably going on the Start wire of the ignition switch is my best bet. Will have to test what's happening if the circuit is open while the car is moving and see that it doesn't suddenly stop.