The Plug Bug – 1969 Electric VW Beetle
In April of 2010 I purchased a 1969 VW bug with the intent of converting it to run on electricity. In May I ordered parts. In January 2011, it finally moved!
154 volts, 200 ah cells, 30.8kw-hr battery pack. Roughly 80+ mile range when in the Santa Cruz mountains. Up to 100 miles if not driven in the hills, and maintain 55mph.
Components:
* Netgain WarP 9 DC Motor
* Netgain Controls WarP Drive Controller (1000 amps) [No longer available]
* 48 3.2v 200ah Thunderksy Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, in series for 154v nominal. 192v fully charged. 200ah in each cell.
* Elithion Lithiumate BMS (Battery Management System)
* Belktronix DC-DC converter
* Manzanita Micro PFC-30 Charger (NOTE: I don’t recommend it; mine failed twice. See this post and this post ).
* Stock transmission, with standard clutch
* Front lowered 2″ with drop spindles
* Disc brakes all around
* 2″ shortened adjustable front beam
Range:
* Roughly 220-350 watt-hours consumed per mile
* 100+ mile range in theory (to 20% State of Charge), but acceleration and the hills take a lot away. My typical driving seems to give about 70-80 mile range to 20% SOC. That would be roughly 100 mile range to 0% battery (which I won’t do).
* Longest drive so far: 70 miles, and the battery was at 38% State of Charge. In theory, that is a 113 mile range to 0% battery level. This included driving over highway 17 twice (but lots of hypermiling).
* Update: another mileage test indicates about 120 mile range at 55mph on flat.
Performance:
* Better than a stock bug
* Lots of low end torque
* Drives 55-60 mph up highway 17 (> 5% grade at some places) and I can still accelerate
* Top speed, in theory 95 MPH (based on the gear ratio, and 5000 max ratio RPM of the motor)
* Top speed I’ve actually gone: about 85+ MPH
* Over 40,000 electric-only miles!
Check out some of my Cool Pictures !
Plug Bug – first drive video:
VIDEO Walk around video describing some of the components (note: some things have changed over the years)
VIDEO More Videos: Here is my YouTube PlayList of the Plug Bug.
A couple of in progress pictures.
Below are chronological posts from my “Electric Bug ” category on my blog from oldest to newest. You can see the process of me building up the car, and making decisions as I go along.
April 5th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
April 15th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
April 26th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
April 29th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
April 29th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
May 10th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
May 21st, 2010 at 6:30 am
May 21st, 2010 at 6:44 pm
May 27th, 2010 at 7:23 am
May 29th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
May 29th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
May 29th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
June 1st, 2010 at 9:06 pm
June 4th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
June 6th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
June 20th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
June 27th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
July 3rd, 2010 at 11:10 pm
July 14th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
July 31st, 2010 at 8:14 am
July 31st, 2010 at 8:19 am
August 5th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
August 14th, 2010 at 8:32 am
August 15th, 2010 at 8:36 am
August 15th, 2010 at 8:54 am
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:51 am
September 11th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
September 14th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
October 5th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
October 5th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
October 5th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
October 10th, 2010 at 9:31 am
October 17th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
October 18th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
November 4th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
November 7th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
November 7th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:18 pm
December 2nd, 2010 at 10:39 pm
December 4th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
December 19th, 2010 at 10:37 am
December 19th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
December 22nd, 2010 at 12:00 am
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
December 30th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
December 30th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
January 1st, 2011 at 10:45 am
January 10th, 2011 at 11:40 pm
January 10th, 2011 at 11:48 pm
January 16th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
January 25th, 2011 at 8:15 am
January 26th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
February 3rd, 2011 at 11:35 pm
February 7th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
February 7th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
February 7th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
February 17th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
February 17th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
February 23rd, 2011 at 7:04 pm
March 8th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
March 10th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
March 15th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
March 18th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
March 19th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
April 7th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
April 9th, 2011 at 8:18 am
April 10th, 2011 at 10:04 am
April 12th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
May 18th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
May 18th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
May 29th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
May 29th, 2011 at 9:14 pm
May 30th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
June 19th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
September 20th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
November 13th, 2011 at 9:20 am
November 13th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
December 22nd, 2011 at 10:38 am
March 31st, 2012 at 11:30 am
April 20th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
April 20th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
April 29th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
May 28th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
May 30th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
May 30th, 2012 at 8:31 pm
June 23rd, 2012 at 8:21 am
September 25th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
November 5th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
November 8th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
November 8th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
November 9th, 2012 at 8:39 am
November 14th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
November 17th, 2012 at 8:40 am
November 23rd, 2012 at 11:25 am
November 23rd, 2012 at 11:37 am
November 23rd, 2012 at 12:12 pm
November 25th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
December 31st, 2012 at 11:59 am
December 31st, 2012 at 12:09 pm
March 7th, 2013 at 7:12 pm
March 8th, 2013 at 8:20 am
June 9th, 2013 at 3:01 pm
September 12th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
December 20th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
December 31st, 2013 at 2:02 pm
January 14th, 2014 at 7:02 pm
August 9th, 2014 at 9:20 pm
September 4th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
September 4th, 2014 at 6:14 pm
October 25th, 2014 at 6:28 pm
May 25th, 2015 at 9:06 pm
May 25th, 2015 at 9:32 pm
June 5th, 2015 at 6:38 pm
July 13th, 2015 at 9:30 pm
July 22nd, 2015 at 8:12 pm
July 30th, 2015 at 8:31 pm
August 21st, 2015 at 7:18 pm
October 15th, 2015 at 8:02 pm
October 17th, 2015 at 10:12 am
October 25th, 2015 at 6:43 pm
November 13th, 2015 at 6:38 pm
November 16th, 2015 at 9:17 am
November 17th, 2015 at 9:59 am
November 18th, 2015 at 8:58 am
November 19th, 2015 at 7:52 am
December 17th, 2015 at 5:17 pm
April 22nd, 2016 at 8:22 pm
October 25th, 2016 at 5:57 pm
February 7th, 2017 at 7:39 pm
October 26th, 2017 at 11:05 pm
November 8th, 2017 at 10:01 pm
November 13th, 2017 at 7:58 pm
November 17th, 2017 at 9:47 am
November 18th, 2017 at 6:53 pm
January 10th, 2018 at 5:53 am
January 10th, 2018 at 5:54 am
December 21st, 2018 at 10:08 am
August 8th, 2019 at 9:19 pm
June 29th, 2023 at 12:27 pm
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