… a continuation from part 1. When putting on the cell boards boards on the cells I was extra careful to not let the wires touch anything or to put the board on backwards. Each... [read more]

UPDATE! After 100 miles, the solder got so hot that it melted out. I asked the friendly people on EVDL why this would happen. It could be because the inrush limiter was not rated right,... [read more]

I’ve been driving the car for a few weeks now, and I’m behind on some blog posts about it. The car has a small problem with the DC-DC converter, so I couldn’t drive it this... [read more]

Here’s a video of a walk around I did describing some of the car’s elements. I fumbled on “contactor” :)

Here’s an old video tour of my paint booth when I painted the bug earlier last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko3zn4Lw44E

I have a lot more details later, but here it is!

There needs to be a way to connect one 3.2v Thundersky battery to another to form the battery pack. I’ll have a total of 48 cells in two separate packs. Apparently some batteries come with... [read more]

I’ve been working hard on the car, but progress has been slow. I was missing some BMS boards — I should have counted them 6 months ago! So, I had Justin and Evolve overnight them... [read more]

How about just some pictures?

Don’t forget about the original design: http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/2010/12/plug-bug-battery-box-design/ I did modify it slightly as I went along. I learned a lesson from the front box: add 1/8″ or so to the total length to avoid it... [read more]

I’ve been working on fabricating the battery boxes out of 1/8″ steel angle iron and flat stock for the past two weeks. The first step was to strap them together to get an accurate measurement... [read more]

Tuner’s Cube. I made it for my dad for Christmas 2010. Aaron helped me over Thanksgiving break to figure out the details and did some machining on it too. It started out as a ~3.5″x3.5″... [read more]

Here’s a wine glass rack I made for my dad’s wife, Karen. I made it a while ago, but it was a Christmas present, so I couldn’t post it till after the 25th. It is... [read more]

Here’s how I strap the Thundersky batteries together. As previously mentioned, I bought the Mini Polyester Strapping Kit 5/8″ x .040″+seals + tools for $80 (plus shipping) on ebay. The pack of 4 (or 5)... [read more]

The unladen weight of the stock bug is 1807 lbs. The gross vehicle weight is 2645 lbs. Front axle load: 1080 lbs, rear: 1609 lbs. The front axle had the 10.6 gallon tank removed —... [read more]

I did some research on what people have done for battery boxes. The cells need to be contained well so they don’t go flying around in the event of an accident. A few interesting posts... [read more]

I’m a little behind on the status of the project…I got the batteries on Dec 8th, but was really busy that week due to Louise’s show, Left of the North Pole. It was a pain... [read more]

My batteries are in California! I just need to have the guy call me to pick them up. I’m dying to get them and put the car together, but in the meantime here’s what I... [read more]

I wanted to have a good sound system in the car. I bought an Alpine stereo and a set of speakers. I was initially going to mount them in the doors, but I read that... [read more]

A typical gas powered car has a large 12 volt battery mainly for the purpose of turning the engine over during starting. That usually takes a lot of amps to crank it over. Since my... [read more]

Tricycle From the back of Justin’s Shop (ebikes.ca), Vancouver, BC, Canada. 2010.

It’s raining today but I did add a cool option to my car. The iPad mount! I was originally going to make my own mount, but that would take days of machining time and would... [read more]

I got my heater installed; I can test the fan and make sure the contactor comes on, but heat won’t come out until I actually have my battery pack installed. I cut a hole on... [read more]

I’m still waiting for batteries, but i’m getting a lot of the little details done. The car could be drivable if I actually had a battery pack. I can turn on the key and hear... [read more]

More progress tonight. Here’s aluminum L angle pieces to mount the radiator on. I slotted the car with a 4.5″ angle grinder (plus a cut off wheel) to keep the L shape and make the... [read more]

The project is moving along slowly. I was pretty busy with other things last week and didn’t get much time to work on it. I wanted a 1/8″ sheet of aluminum to back the motor... [read more]

I worked on the bug a bit yesterday but didn’t get much done; things go slow! I ordered a Heater Kit from Canadian Electric Vehicles – http://www.canev.com/KitsComp/Components/Heater.html — the easiest way to do a heater... [read more]

Last weekend was a big weekend for the project. My buddy Aaron, who has a lot of home-built EV experience and now works at Tesla came over to lend me a hand. He brought over... [read more]

A quarter shot of the bug with the painted wheels, white walls and new dome style hubcaps (from CIP1):

Not much to say, but I got a bunch of the rust off of the seats, fixed some broken parts, painted them and then put them back together with new foam. I got new seat... [read more]

We got a new kitten! This is Kika, a marble colored Bengal. I miss Piper, our Siamese a lot. She has yet to come home. I told Louise I didn’t want a new kitten to... [read more]