EV ( Electric Vehicle ) Conversion by Mannyman

6-26-08 I made the local ABC News.

2008-06-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

I made the local ABC News.

4-20-08 Sunday @ Long Beach Grand Prix

2008-04-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Day 3:
Tesla uses a cool light up fill inlet that I will need to copy:
Somehow more pictures of Patron Girls ended up being taken:(I blame blurriness on the tequila)

Oh yeah, I was getting a lot of flak for not sharing the wealth.
So, I introduced my new friends to Mike of SSI-Racing

Mike used his own magic by having the Drift Queen show her skills in 2SSIC:

4-19-08 Saturday @ Long Beach Grand Prix

2008-04-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a cell phone vid of the races.

Unlike Electrics the race cars were very NOISY. Glad they were handing out ear plugs.

Make Mine Electric was there with a plug in Speedster replicar.

I got autographs from Linda Nichols and Chelsea Sexton of Who Killed the Electric Car fame.

Bubba Gump Shrimp sporting an EV Grin.

4-18-08 Friday @ Long Beach Grand Prix

2008-04-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

Finally got to see and touch a Tesla:
... and of course the electric vehicle everyone Really came to look at:

Yep, the Electric Glitter Poop on the same expo floor as the Tesla. Who knows, maybe after looking at mine they'll consider using a transaxle from a 70's era bug.
;)
And finally another reason to go to these EVents:

EZ Lube Ladies Love Electric Vehicles

2008 Toyota Grand Prix Long Beach

2008-04-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Having a great time at the 34th annual...

2008 Lifestyle and Alternative Energy Expo

April 18-20, 2008 - The Most Unique Expo of its Kind!

Again in 2008, the Lifestyle and Alternative Energy Expo will be FREE to more than 175,000 active lifestyle Grand Prix ticket holders who don't hesitate to visit the Expo more than once during race weekend. They'll enjoy:

Over 150 displays featuring the latest in automotive, home, recreation, travel and entertainment products and services. And, new for 2008, it'll be a showcase for GREEN TECHNOLOGY, including hybrid, electric, Hydrogen and bio-diesel cars, energy-saving products for the home and healthy lifestyle products.
Over 270,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space in the beautiful Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. Display opportunities range from 100 to 10,000 sq. ft.
Interactive games, simulators, race cars, video arcade, Family Fun Zone, X-treme sports demonstrations and other attractions create an exciting draw to encourage Lifestyle and Alternative Energy Expo attendance over and over again.
Meeting rooms and special bulk space rates are available to exhibitors seeking to conduct a "show within the show," at the same time providing exposure for their product or service to the Grand Prix audience.
Hospitality services are available to produce a unique trade show experience for your customers.

8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday & Saturday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday

3-28-08 PakTrakr in Dash

2008-03-28T23:10:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I need to talk to the manufacturer as not all batteries are being read accurately.

March 2008

2008-03-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

It is sweet driving an EV to and from work.

Lots going on:
Joseph's childhood friend is a programmer and was able to make the PakTrakr module for my Digital Dash into a reality.
Joseph named it the Electric Vehicle Intregration System (engineers...)
I nick-named it ELVIS.
Here's the 1st Draft at a logo:

Here's my cell phone video of the beta:

Plus the reason behind high gas prices:

Electric Dragin' Top Pix

2008-01-31T21:47:00.001-08:00

70's Paint job? Check.
Disco Ball? Check

Here are some pictures of my car from attendees at the EVent.

Forgot to mention the chrome magnetic pop-up fuel door. Inside is a spooled retractable electric cord and plug.

Notice the lightning bolts on the headlight covers, a gift from Mr. Q.

Electric Cars kick Gas! sticker courtesy of www.DriveGasFree.com

My favorite video so far (maybe because of all the footage of my car).

Electric Dragin' Live

2008-01-26T09:36:00.000-08:00

Watch as Pictures and Videos are sent Live to this Channel.

Attendees can chat and submit pictures and video from their mobile phones.
Viewers can use the Chat tab to either send text, voice, or video messages.
Scroll to see more Shows (video or slide shows) by mousing over the Channel window and clicking the pop-up arrows or the Shows tab.

Black Lightning

2008-01-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

I was there for Lloyd's EV Grin.
Lloyd and Joseph restored a 2000 Hyundai Accent Conversion. They bought new Batteries, took out the rust, and repainted the old battery boxes. They added a battery watering kit for the 24 6V 200 amp/hr Crown CR225's; and are waiting for a PakTrakr kit.

Here's the video:

San Diego Auto Show EcoCenter

2008-01-06T01:00:00.000-08:00

Dec 26 - 30, 2007 | San Diego Convention Center
Met up with Mike Kadie, Bob VanGorder, Joseph GottLieb at the

Here's a slide show :

Mission Completed with 1 week to spare!

2007-12-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

EV Grin

Took it for a test drive today for the 1st time.
There is still a some more work to do before I take it home, but it is now a fully functioning Electric Vehicle. Here's a re-cap.

Engine In.

Engine out.

Electric Motor In ....
plus Belktronix EV System (Controller, DC/DC, Battery Charger, Pot Box, Contactor, Fuse, Vehicle Integrator.)

Ok, here' some video.

I offered Bob, 1st drive, but as he didn't convert it, he wasn't willing to drive it out on the street. :P
Here I am taking it out into his Ramona neighborhood.

I told Bob the brakes were a bit squishy (technical term for not at all like power brakes). So He gets in to try them out. Luckily they work or else that would have sucked. It would have been a more exciting video though...

T-Rex Lightning Freeway Trip

2007-12-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

This man-machine had no problems what-so-ever of eating up freeway speed traffic.
Turns out quite a few cars either sped up or slowed down to take pictures of our 3 T-Rex caravan. Thundersky Lithium batteries held up all day long, we didn't even see a dent on the meter.
Scenic Route to Hotel.

View Larger Map

More T-Rex Lightning Pix

2007-12-10T08:18:00.001-08:00

Slideshow of T-Rex Lightning Demo
More pictures will be added as I get them.

Awesome Electric T-Rex Lightning Vehicle

2007-12-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

12-09-2007
T-Rex dropped by to show off their incredible Electric Reverse Trikes today to the Electric Vehicle Association of America. We all met up at the Kearney High School parking lot.

I had the pleasure of meeting the Chairman, Richard Groome, whom I'll end up naming a puppy after for his letting me drive one the Bad Boyz from the high school, up the I-805 freeway and all of Mira Mesa Blvd to the hotel he was staying at. Map of the route at end of this post below.

Richard Groome of T-Rex with open top Lightning, Keith (Lightning Bug-E) and yours truly.
Here's a video of the parking lot experience; excuse the Expletive ( I guess that's why I'm not a new anchor.)

Frackin' Sweeeeet.

Lloyd, Bob and Keith trying to harness some Lightning.

T-Rex will be coming out ( I kid you not) with a version for women called a She-Rex.

Here's the best part:
I'll post more pix as I get them from the freeway ride taken by passenger Joey G.
This man-machine had no problems what-so-ever of eating up freeway speed traffic.
Turns out quite a few cars either sped up or slowed down to take pictures of our 3 T-Rex caravan. Thundersky Lithium batteries held up all day long, we didn't even see a dent on the meter.
Scenic Route to Hotel.

View Larger Map

EVS 23 and Electric Vehicle ( EV ) Conversion 12-5-2007

2007-12-05T23:08:00.000-08:00

Got up super early this morning to accompany Keith on the drive up to EVS 23 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Keith and I picked up a BugE slated to be auctioned for charity.
http://musicindustrynewswire.com/2007/12/01/min400_164612.php
more pictures here:
http://www.harveyev.com/cgi-bin/emAlbum.cgi

Here's Keith tying it down to the bed of the pick-up. You might notice he's wearing the Official Electric Dragin' long sleeve t-shirt .

Keith and I, also drove by Aptera to beg them to attend the Electric Dragin' Event coming this January 26-27 @ Barona Drag strip here in San Diego County.
Super Secret Blurry Spy Photo:

When we got back I had just enough time to attach my BelkTronix EV System Controller and DC/DC Convertor +Charger.

EVorBust Store Now Open 12-01-2007

2007-12-01T17:39:00.000-08:00

Just in time for X-Mas. EVorBust Gift Shop

Yogurt said it best:

Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs the T-shirt. Spaceballs the lunchbox. Spaceballs the coloring book. Spaceballs... the flamethrower! Kids love it. And my favorite, Spaceballs the Doll -- me!

Scene from SpaceBalls:

New Logo 11-30-2007

2007-11-30T23:54:00.000-08:00

While I'm waiting for BelkTronix to finish fine-tuning my controller (one of his component manufacturers revised a part, so he has to match that revision with his own) I goofed around and created a new logo for the blog. I was going for the '70s vibe with the text. Kinda makes you wanna cruise around and look for a Discotheque.

Some local Electric Vehicles both Live and In Progress

2007-11-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

Paul Marshall has his car at Bob's Garage too. Check out the largest car conversion EVer:

Mr. Q worked on this Toyota MR2.

Lloyd is converting a Porsche in his spare time. Ok he has very little spare time, but is Jones-ing for an EV bad, so he's also going the pre-converted route and buying this electric Hyundai:

Electric Vehicle ( EV ) Conversion 11-23-2007

2007-11-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

Took some more pix of my Lead Sled.

8 12V PowerSonic PG-12V140-FR in the rear, plus 4 in front all cabled up.
All according to plan:
BelkTronix BatMon battery monitors on each battery.

Will install my PakTrakrs after I'm done testing the TouchScreen Interface...

Theme Song

2007-11-21T11:33:00.001-08:00

Ok, this was fun for a bit. Moved it here to avoid loading each and every time.

Electric Vehicle ( EV ) Conversion 11-19-2007

2007-11-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

Lloyd helped me load 800 pounds of batteries onto the rear battery packs.
OK, he did most the heavy lifting, but I'm more of a management/supervisor type anyway.

Later, Paul couldn't wait another day for me to wire all of the battery management boards and resistors, so helped me cut, lug, and crimp cables on the condition we would make the wheels spin.

Bob, did the honors after spending ten minutes testing my batteries, checking my connections, and letting me know I connected the front pack to the rear pack wrong.

What happened was that I had labeled the 2 cables (1 red and 1 white) and forgot that the red was to go from Positive in the front pack to Negative in the rear, and the white from the negative connection in the front to positive in the rear. Well it took just 2 days for me to forget and I hooked up the red labeled cable in the rear to the positive and the white to negative. No sparks, but I wasn't getting the expected voltage.

Once we switched the cables around in the Anderson connector, we were good to go.

Bob did the honors of spin testing the motor and wheels. 1st with 4 of the batteries from the rear pack.

We weren't expecting that big of a spark, and didn't want to burn the motor out, so decided to lessen the voltage before connecting the jumper cables again.
Next we tried it with 24 Volts.

I'm pretty stoked, as before today I had not tested the motor. I had seen the rear shaft spin while rolling the car, but not via electrical power.

Electric Vehicle ( EV ) Conversion 11-17-2007

2007-11-17T21:40:00.000-08:00

I think we helped raise some cash for kids who are homeless due to the recent fires.
Bob, Bill and Lisa were there.

After the show I went back to Bob's to work on my car and had a couple of volunteers donate some sweat to the venture. Bob is pictured about to help remove the driver's seat while Paul is helping situate the rear battery box.

A couple of days earlier I finished wiring the front 48V battery pack (4 12V batteries) plus the Belktronix BatMons, and an Anderson Connector. It was nice to see that the 400 pounds of batteries were still suspended by my ghetto welding job.

EVs for Charity

2007-11-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

EVAOSD is being asked to join in with San Diego Car Clubs to support fire victims and their families this weekend. We have two invitations for this Saturday, November 17, 2007. Please support these events with your electric-drive vehicle and/or your attendance.

Car Show to provide toys for burn victim children during the holidays. Ramona, CA; Fitness Center; 500 Main Street from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, 11/17/07

Car Club Charity Event from a home built in 1917 in Lemon Grove, CA; 8301 Mt Vernon St.; 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. by Woody Downing Fire Chief Retired and “You-Auto-Know” Dave Stall live radio broadcast www.kceoradio.com.

I urge you to support these outreach Car Shows to support our neighbors in need.

Also next weekend (Saturday, November 24, 2007) Dave Stall is donating a 2 hour Radio Show to discuss electric-drive and our up coming Electric Dragin’ EVent in January. Be sure to attend; bring you car or listen in to the show.More Info at www.ElectricDragin.com

EV ( Electric Vehicle ) Conversion Nov-2007

2007-11-16T00:12:00.000-08:00

The car needs a new clutch cable and some additional work that are beyond my BigLots tool set.

Good thing I made friends with a professional EV mechanic, Bob Van Gorder. I've posted about him and his electric Cony before. A few of the cars that will be at the Electric Dragin' EVent were converted by Bob including a Rolls Royce.

So, Keith (of LightningBugE fame), along with Joseph (Friendly Neighborhood Electric Car Dealer) helped me load up the EGP onto a trailer for the 20 mile trek to Ramona, CA. Luckily Bob's shop survived the recent firestorm, and he had an open bay available for me to work on the car there.

While I was there he was readying a Mazda Miata conversion for its 1st test drive. Here's a video of it.