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Welcome to the Electric Car Weblog. In addition to links, news, and tips about electric cars and other forms of alternative transportation we are publishing an on-line diary of our current EV project. Started in August 2005 the chronicle follows the conversion of a gas powered Ford Probe into an Electric Car.

You will find articles organized by categories, along with recent comments, along the right hand column of the website. If you are just getting started with the idea of converting a gas car to electric be sure to check out Your First Electric Car .

Welcome and enjoy!
  -Jerry

EV Schematic · 28 October 05

Yahoo!

In the last episode of Electronics for Dogs they covered the high voltage section of a typical EV schematic. It was missing a few things and, of course, didn’t cover any of the low voltage controls. Time to bring all of that together.

The last EV schematic I drew was in early 1996. Back in 1996 people were starting to think this internet thing might actually go somewhere and, what-the-heck, let’s buy some of this Yahoo! stock.

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Electric Car Motors · 25 October 05

ADC electric car motor

I realized the other day that some folks might be reading this EV conversion without having read our first one. One day I pop out the gas engine and a few days later a fully attached and matched electric motor is in place…

Hey, where’d that come from?

Let’s talk about EV motors…

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Ugly Stick · 21 October 05

Ugly Interior

This adventure isn’t for clean freaks.

If you wash your hands after sneezing, own special brushes for washing root vegetables, and your household products predominately feature the words anti-bacterial this article is probably not your cup of tea.

On the other hand if you like looking deep into the underbelly (or knee-pits) of the world just to see what makes it tick, then come with me oh valiant reader.

Don’t worry about wiping your feet…

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Trombones & Snakes · 18 October 05

Pwr Steering Hose

Remember way back when, back when I was yanking practically everything out of the engine compartment?

When I got to the point of removing the power steering pump, reservoir, and hosing there were two power steering pipes that ran into the the fender area…and never came out.

What were they doing in there? Where did they go? Was there some top secret hose committee plotting the downfall of the world through unnecessary pipe runs?

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Boxed In · 14 October 05

Cardboard Box

Last night I brought home a bunch of scrap cardboard with the one goal in mind of making a cardboard battery mock-up so I can start experimenting with battery placement in Eve.

Nothing is ever that easy.

“Lessee,” I mumble to myself, “What size of battery am I going to use? I know, let’s check the internet!”

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Electronics for Dogs · 9 October 05

Throughout the conversion process I probably toss around a lot of jargon that is unfamiliar. And it isn’t just because I’m making things up, although that is certainly a big part of it. There’s automotive parts and techniques that might be new and of course the whole “electric car” portion can seem like really complex electronics.

But an electric car isn’t all that hard to understand once you grasp a few electronic basics. In fact at its very simplest an EV isn’t that much different from the circuits in a light dimmer or a remote control toy car.

Here’s a fun little series of electronics primers, presented by Zeke and his friends. Hopefully it will be useful for those who haven’t cracked open an electronics book or who have tried and failed to understand the wiring diagrams in the back of a car’s how-to manual.


Electronics for Dogs, Part I

Read Electronics for Dogs Part I

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Clean Start · 7 October 05

Motor and Transmission floating

It may not be one of the universal truths, but when venturing into a new project you should always consider which new tools you’ll be able to get away with justify buying.

This truth became self evident when I checked out the price of renting a pressure washer. For another eighty bucks I could buy a brand new one. That’s exactly what I did, picking up a 1750psi electric pressure washer and a couple cans of engine cleaning solvent.

Time to do battle…

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Gas Free · 30 September 05

No Gas

I won’t be so bold as to say that Eve is an EV just yet, but I think it is safe to say that she is no longer a gas car either. Last night I removed the last vestiges of gas, namely, the gas tank.

If you’ve never pulled a gas tank out of a car you’d be surprised at how much crap is hooked to it. I imagine that it probably looks a lot like Dick Cheney’s heart, what with all of the bypass hoses, valves, and wires.

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