Open Source Civic EV Kit

APRIL 7, 2008

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.

Kits 185

Kits Conversion Golf Cart Saturn 185

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

OCTOBER 12, 2006

After seeing the movie Who Killed The Electric Car , I got the nutty idea earlier this year to purchase an all-electric vehicle to commute to work. After doing some research, I found Electro Automotive out of Felton, CA and put down the $13,000 for one of their latest AC motor conversion kits for the Porsche 914.

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2007 NMG Kits Oregon 100

Open Source Civic EV Kit

APRIL 11, 2008

To save gas, I mistakenly took the electric 914 to U-Pull-It and forgot to bring a protective mat for the upholstery. Here I am after a half hour of washing all the grease and grit off my hands and arms. I haven't been this dirty since I worked on the Porsche 914 transmission for my existing EV. Cheers, Tim.

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Kits Oregon Google Porsche 100

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

FEBRUARY 9, 2008

Here goes (in no particular order): Things That Went Well During the Conversion The 914 AC kit from Electro Automotive is a good one. If you do your own conversion, tap into all these resources whenever you have an issue. Adding a "real" battery monitoring system like the PakTrakr was key in monitoring the state of all the batteries.

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Convert Kits Conversion DC 100

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

MARCH 1, 2008

I contacted Ken Hall at PakTrakr.com and he suggested adding EMI suppression cores to the links between the "remote" units to cut down on electrical noise. On a slightly non-914ev related note, I'm going to be running for a co-chair position within the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association.

Oregon 100

Oregon Connect Connected Kits 100

Porsche 914 EV Conversion

AUGUST 1, 2007

In other words: READ THE FRIGGIN MANUAL (RTFM) and understand all the graphs The car was still rather difficult to drive with the regenerative braking happening when I released the accelerator. In the original kit instructions, the regen relay turns on the brake lights when the AC controller is in regen mode.

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Kits Volt Light Plug-in 100