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An Easy EV Conversion Kit For People

Open Source Civic EV Kit

After spending the past year and a half converting a Porsche 914 to an electric vehicle, I decided to expand my horizons by designing an open-source electric vehicle (EV) conversion kit for a commonly used car. This project started about a month ago when I became co-chair of the Oregon Electric Vehicles Association.

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My 2007 Dream Project

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

Since I live in Portland, Oregon, I went to a meeting with the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association and found out about several companies that provided drop-in electric conversion kits for existing cars. I'm currently working with Craig Loughlin out at Camp914 to purchase a 1976 Porsche 914 for the conversion.

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Going Back to U-Pull-It - Don't try this at Home

Open Source Civic EV Kit

I haven't been this dirty since I worked on the Porsche 914 transmission for my existing EV. I ran the meeting for the Oregon Electric Vehicles Association last night and several people seemed interested in the open-source EV kit. Next up: organizing the civic-ev-kit Google group to get tasks lined up. Cheers, Tim.

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Reflections on Converting a 914 to an EV

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

Here goes (in no particular order): Things That Went Well During the Conversion The 914 AC kit from Electro Automotive is a good one. I modified the wiring in the original 914 AC kit (as suggested by Paul Jorg) to turn on the regen when the brake lights came on instead of controlling regen by releasing the accelerator pedal.

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Playing with PakTrakr

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

On a slightly non-914ev related note, I'm going to be running for a co-chair position within the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association. If I don't get elected, I'd like to start an open-source EV kit that uses all local businesses to manufacture the custom car parts with freely available designs. We'll see what this year has in store.

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Measuring State-of-Charge on Lead Acid Batteries

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

The 914 AC kit uses 8V golf cart batteries and I'm wondering if different batteries like Hawkers or Optima Yellow-Top batteries would be better. We might possibly work together on a project after chatting at the next OEVA (Oregon Electric Vehicle Association) meeting. Both US-Battery and Trojan have 8-volt golf-cart batteries.

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Hacking the Regen System and Fixing Acceleration

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

In the original kit instructions, the regen relay turns on the brake lights when the AC controller is in regen mode. I recommend this alteration to anyone using this kit! The Oregon Electric Vehicle meeting is tomorrow and EV awareness day is August 11th. With my driving frustration, this seemed like a good idea.

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