The making of an all electric EV VW Cabriolet

This blog follows my process of converting a 1992 VW Cabriolet to an electric vehicle. As an EV it is quiet, dependable and has plenty of pep and range to get around town.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Loooong overdue, but very short, update

I apologize for those who've found this blog and are wondering why it stopped. Before I started my conversion I came across several very complete and informative websites, and several that got started, but left you hanging not knowing if the car got finished or abandoned.

It runs! I've driven the car for about 1100 miles so far over the past several months. There is still work to be done, it's hard to stop driving and call it a project again! My more urgent to-do list:

Install charger - it's sitting on the garage floor right now
Install heater - this is a biggie. I need to tear open the dash and make sure I trust the safety systems I'll have in. It's not Wisconsin cold here in central Texas, but driving a car with no heat when it's freezing isn't a lot of fun. Besides, since it's a convertible and the top inevitably leaks, I need the heater to defog the windowshield.
Install better battery gauges - Right now I only have an ammeter working, which is marginal as long as I don't press the range. In the short term I'm going to install a digital LED panel meter and get the SOC gauge working. Long term I'd like to have something look at each battery, be it active and switching a DMM between batteries, or passive like the red/green LED moniters that can be built for 50 bucks.

But all in all the car is great, I love giving people rides and getting weird looks in parking lots while people try and figure out why my engine is so quiet.