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jray3

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
1,871
Location
Tacoma area, WA
Granted, many body accessories won't bolt up to US-spec cars, but I and my i'd love to have participation of somebody in Japan, even if they drive a gas-powered i. Still looking for details on the AWD i, and the 'stock modified' iMiEV Pike's Peak racer. A stock i with improved aero- not that wedge with a pimple in the middle, that's what i wanna see.
 
I'm not that worried about the body shape or the aerodynamic efficiency of it, because I don't drive it that far or that fast, but I can hadly wait until the electrical schematics are made available and the hackers get going on making improvements to the way the guts of the car function. People are already making modifications and improvements to the Leafs and when we get a few more owners like that around here, things will really perk up . . . . I hope :D

I'm following the progress at Open EVSE closely and when they get that perfected, I'm definitely going to build me one of those! http://code.google.com/p/open-evse/

Don
 
My i hits the highway regularly, but yeah, improved aero would be of marginal benefit. I'm interested in the AWD for the performance benefit of adding a parallel electric drivetrain and not meddling with the original drive. A 6" series motor up front with 1000 amps from a suitcase pack could turn the i into a pocket rocket, while retaining regen (or use an AC20 drive and dial up the front regen). Pull the extra pack on Monday morning, and commute all week in civility with a fairly small range penalty from the idle front axle...
DIY DCQC is another goal- put in 330VDC thru an Anderson 350 in the empty CHAdeMO port, and get yourself up to 80% at home in a fraction of the time and cost.
Or there's the warranty-proof method of putting some powered rollers in your garage and letting the car recharge via regen. Imagine tying the car down on a dyno and then regenning at full bore until the car is full. If max regen is 104A at 330V, per JoeS' measurement, an even 34 kW of forced regen would refill the car to 80% in oh, 23 MINUTES.
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=288
I foresee driving to the top of steep pass in the near future in order to test this theory! Certainly safer than forced regen at the end of a tow rope, like these crazy dutchmen:
http://jalopnik.com/5805407/crazy-geniuses-charge-electric-car-by-towing-with-pickup-truck
 
jray3 said:
Or there's the warranty-proof method of putting some powered rollers in your garage and letting the car recharge via regen. Imagine tying the car down on a dyno and then regenning at full bore until the car is full. If max regen is 104A at 330V, per JoeS' measurement, an even 34 kW of forced regen would refill the car to 80% in oh, 23 MINUTES.
I would be very surprised if the motor cooling system could keep up with THAT for 5 minutes, let alone 23 . . . . I suspect your 'warrany-proof' idea would go 'Pooofh' when you dragged it in with a seriously cooked drive motor - They would know for sure you didn't do THAT just driving the car ;)

Seriously, there are much cheaper ways of destroying things! :twisted:

Luckily, we've yet to feel that the charge time is too long for our needs . . . . and all we're using is the Level 1, every other day or so

Don
 
I hafta remember to add emoticons to convey my frequent lack of sincerity... ;)
BUT- the car should certainly have safeties to prevent overheating/overcharging due to heavy regen. I happen to live on a level area, so have yet to try hard regen with a completely full pack, but the rule seems to be that EV enthusiasts live at the top of hills, like my two Leafy friends. (The Leaf just won't give full regen with a full pack.) I don't know if the iMiEV regen simply fails to come on with a full pack, or what..
In all seriousness, full regen for 20-30 minutes should be just as within the car's capabilities as a 30 minute hill climb. With 'only' 2/3 of rated traction power available for regen, it wouldn't be as stressful on the drivetrain and inverter, and the battery management system and battery cooling is designed to accept that rate of charge from CHAdeMO.
 
...but why??? So that the imiev becomes more like a big, wasteful, long range, 4wheel drive, boat towing, off road monster golf cart, that uses excessive amounts of power during the day when the grid is stressed? Just use an ICE for that. It's better and cheaper.
 
fjpod said:
...but why??? So that the imiev becomes more like a big, wasteful, long range, 4wheel drive, boat towing, off road monster golf cart, that uses excessive amounts of power during the day when the grid is stressed? Just use an ICE for that. It's better and cheaper.

You need to remember that this car is a toy/project/experiment/hobby for alot of us who bought it. ;)
 
Wee John said:
You need to remember that this car is a toy/project/experiment/hobby for alot of us who bought it. ;)
The rest of us (who need this car to last for ten years) will be learning lots from your . . . . experiments!

Don
 
Don said:
The rest of us (who need this car to last for ten years) will be learning lots from your . . . . experiments!

Don


Exactly. That's why some of us will have it for ten years and some of us, like myself, will have it for thirty+ years.
 
Woo-hoo, let's hear it for vehicular longevity. My '65 Karmann Ghia may be reduced to Sunday cruiser status, but the 1987 F250 still works hard and the 1971 Karmann Ghia EV conversion will outrun just about anything the kids bring on! But EVen a monster-modded i-MiEV wouldn't come close to having the environmental footprint of EVen the '92 Civic gasser that it replaced. And if a boat-towing MiEV means that fewer hydrocarbons get dripped into my favorite fishing hole, that's all the better. I'm strongly leaning towards getting myself a trailer hitch for Father's Day; trying to get 'em to quote an aluminum version...
http://shop.tlcentral.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=157&idproduct=1045
 
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