Deciding on Parts

So work had me out of town and away from the shop for a week, so progress has slowed.  I did get some time while in California to do some research and order parts.  


Motor Adaptor:  The motor adaptor is specific to the transmission in the car, so the only choices are to find one that is available or have one customer made.  It so happens that the Audi TT shares a transmission with the new VW Beetle and there are many more of those being converted so an adaptor is available from Canadian Electric Vehicles.  The cost of the CEV unit is considerably less than having a unit custom made so the choice was easy.  They also have a good reputation for a well-built product.  On an adaptor from Canada is on it way to Iowa.

Motor:  The first choice is AC or DC.  AC gets you regenerative breaking but the cost are much higher for the same level of performance.  DC gives higher torque and performance but does require maintenance to the brushes over time.  Since the only readily available AC system, the AC-50 from HPEV, lacks the performance that I’m looking for I decided on to go DC.  For DC systems there are 2 paths that can be taken: 1) Start with a used forklift motor and rebuild and modify it for higher voltages.  2) Buy a new motor build for use in an EV.  I chose to go with a new Warp9 from NetGain motors.  The Warp9 can match the performance of the stock Audi 1.8l turbo motor and they have a reputation for a good solid product that they sand behind..  I thought about the Warp11 for even better performance, in the end the 9 should give me plenty of performance and will fit without modifying the frame of the car. 

Batteries:  First I will say, “Lead is dead”.  To make a viable electric car Lithium batteries are required.  There are several different types of Lithium batteries that each has a different set of benefits and limitations.  After looking at some of the batteries I decided on the new CALB CA180FI cells.  I will be running 50 of these 3.2 volt cells to give about 160 volt and 28.8KW.  That should give me 100 miles range with a reserve. 

I decided to save on shipping and take a road trip with my son Max down to visit Jack and Brian at EVTV.  They are now selling the Calb Gray cells.  They happened to be getting ready to film their show and asked me to join them.  There must be something wrong with there camera, it makes me look like I have not hair.

It was a lot of fun taking a drive in their red Speedster replica.  It was a short drive do to a thunderstorm rolling in, but in the 10 minutes there were 3 people who honked and gave a thumbs up to the car. They were not even aware that it was electric, the shape of the car just attract attention.  The power of the car was amazing and the only sound was a few rattles from various parts of the car.  I can't wait to get the TT on the road.


After loading the mini-van down with batteries we headed back to Iowa.  Having 600 lbs of batteries in the back of the van got me a little concerned.  The load leveling system helped but we could still tell we had extra weight on board.  I'm sure I will end up making changes to the TT springs to be able to support the extra weight.

After unloading the 50 batteries, I took a picture and put them away for safe keeping.  After seeing the video of what happens to a wrench being shorted across these sells, I don't want to dropped anything across them.

While I was gone I got the "triple square" tools required to pull the pressure plate and fly wheel.  Bad news, when I got the clutch out it showed signs of lots of heat and abuse.  It will have to be replaced, good news is that a performance clutch is about the same price as stock so I will be getting an upgrade.


I also pushed the car out side and went through a bottle of heavy duty de-greaser cleaning the engine compartment.  I hope to stay a little cleaner while working on the car going forward.  

Since I didn't have parts to start putting anything together, I decided to break into the wiring harness for the gas engine.  There was one wiring bundle that went from the ECU to most of the engine electronics and sensors.  After removing things like the injectors, coil packs and knock sensors there was not much left.  I decided to leave the throttle body electronics intact for now.  I have not decided if I want to try to keep the ECU happy so I can pick the throttle position sensor from the throttle body to keep the cruse control working.  Seems like a lot of extra work for something that  is not going to get used in a vehicular that has a 100 mile range.  But it stays for now.  


I have the other half of the ECU wiring harness out of the car but ran out of time to dig into it.  This half is what goes between the ECU and the dash.  Looking at the wiring diagrams in the Bentley manual for the TT, I see lots of individual signals but no CAN bus yet.  Gives me hope that I may be able to get rid of most of the faults on the dash.  But that is for later.  


Next week I hope to get the motor mounted to the transmission and the motor mount made.  Once the motor is in I will start on battery boxes.