# Picked up a 1970 VW Beetle electric conversion



## ricklearned (Mar 3, 2012)

Interesting. 

I recognized the sewer pipe adapter for the motor cooling and thought that was a useful way to utilize some old construction parts.

I understand why it kept breaking down.


----------



## Ace_bridger (Nov 22, 2011)

Wow!! Someone has spent a long time building that and has had some interesting ideas.

If it were me...I would buy an open revolt controller kit ($600) and rip out everything except the batteries and go from there.

I'm not sure I'd drive it like it is but what fun!! You'll have a blast!!


----------



## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

I'd second the revolt, if you're good with electronics.

It's certainly unique, but I'm not sure the point of having a gennie in a bug. If you need 25-30 miles that'd be best done with a lithium pack. If you needed much more a stock bug would probably serve better.

There are quite a few people here who have ran motors at much higher voltages than what they were originally rated for, so you may be able to improve there.


----------



## windfish (Jun 23, 2012)

I'm fine with soldering and a novice at welding.
http://www.paulandsabrinasevstuff.com/store/page3.html
That kit says its specifically for 144v, I suspect it wouldn't be as happy with only 30 volts. 
Not sure about sending that many volts to a 30v motor, so if I went that route I'd need to find another motor. I guess I could look at some of the golfcart speed controllers, but I suspect this is significantly higher amperage than most are designed for.

Fixed the minor issues the Beetle had today, the accessory battery was bad -- and its used to power the relays. The wiring on the main pack was also not right. 
There's two relays to split the amperage, so yeah. Originally it was setup for at least 3 sets of 3 batteries, running 36 volts. 
Motor runs, but I'm afraid the batteries might be toast. I'm charging them individually with my 12v charger, not using anything that came with it for now.

A lithium pack would be great, but waay over budget. A new set of AGM's is questionable, though I suppose I shouldn't do flooded cell as the batteries are in the cab with me. 

I also have a very reliable (if not exactly fuel efficient) commuter, was offered an electric bug and said sure. 
Its a cute car, I might hang onto it for a little while or I might go ahead and flip it. 
Will charge all the batteries and think on it.

Cheers guys


----------



## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

The best part about the Revolt is it's Open. It will run on anything above 0V (up to 144 nominal), and you can program whatever cutbacks you need.

If you're replacing batteries, the cheapest I'm aware of are GC8s (8v floodies) from Sams, but you won't get the range you want. I have 11 of em in my cab (more up front) with room for 1-2 more.


----------



## windfish (Jun 23, 2012)

Gotcha. 
Skimmed through the instruction manual off that website, then the wiki. 
Neat stuff, I'll definitely think about going that route.

I read that the flooded lead-acid batteries outgassed quite a bit. I guess its 'just' hydrogen, but still not something you want a build up of in an enclosed space? 
AGMs being 'sealed' ideally shouldn't be as bad, right?


----------



## Caps18 (Jun 8, 2008)

In the black top batteries, what is that one cable (that should be red) doing? Does it have a purpose with the nuts and bolts in the middle? Is that a fuse?

It doesn't look too complicated, but I would recommend tracing all of the wires and writing them down. It looks like you have a 12V system and a 36V system. If you got two, five, or ten 6V batteries, you could make a 30V system, but I'm not sure how picky a 30V motor is at getting 30 V instead of 36. Actually get three 6V batteries and group two 12V ones with them to get to 30V. Finding a 30V charger might be challenging though.

I had planned on having two chargers in my project. One 12V battery charger for the accessories. And one big charger for the big battery pack. Why do you need the third?

It does need a throttle control, and a controller I would say. And a few hours to clean up and protect the wiring.
http://www.evparts.com/products/str...dot/12-to-48-volt-street-vehicle-controllers/

http://www.evparts.com/products/str...ot/potentiometers---street-vehicle-throttles/

The 33.85V for 3x2 12V batteries is a little low @ 11.24V. You don't want to get below 11.5V when you drive. 13.2 is where it would be fully charged for each battery. If they can charge up above 12V each, then get things working before worrying about the batteries. (Wait, why do you have 8 12V batteries in that picture? Is it hooked up as a 48V battery pack?)

I don't know for sure, but I don't think this car counts as an 'enclosed & sealed' place. The little bit of H2 will escape when you open the door or through cracks in the door frame. I think what they are worried about is people putting batteries in small airtight boxes.

Good luck


----------



## windfish (Jun 23, 2012)

Well, she's looking better now atleast.
Paint isn't great, but it buffed out a whole lot better than I thought it would. Chrome as well, amazing what aluminum foil can do.



















Looks like most of the batteries are toast though
Those two batteries on the left side are in parallel, but they're hooked to the second relay and the path to ground is through three other batteries. So every time the gas pedal was pushed and both relays activated an oddly matched 48v pack and the 36v pack were put in parallel. No good. I think it was driven like this for a few miles, couldn't have been too long though.
The 12v pair on the left seem alright, but of the others I've got a 9v, two 10v, an 11v, and two decent 12v. (+/-, I didn't write 'em down). This was after I charged each individually with my standard charger.

So I'm more or less starting from scratch.
Good news is that the Beetle really isn't in that bad of shape, fairly minimal rust, both front seats are in great shape, and most everything else I need body-wise is findable for reasonably cheap.
Rear suspension has also already been upgraded. 
The motor seems decent, but if I'm understanding this correctly, inorder to run at 36v I'm sending a whole bunch more current through the lines than I would if it were 120v. 3.33x as many, so I'd need a heavier duty controller and have less of a top speed.

I've made a wish list of sorts
$600 -- Controller, P&S Revolt
$100 -- Pot box, Curtis
$480 -- Charger, Quick Charge 120v
$1100 -- Motor, D&D 120v
$1500+ -- Batteries, 10x US Batteries 12v
(most prices neglecting shipping)
One or two of the remaining batteries could be used for the 12v accessories, a solar battery maintainer (6W Wellbuilt may work, but need to check sizing) from Northern should be enough to keep it topped off. (I like your setup there Ziggy)

The current motor adapter may or may not fit the new motor, so that may be an additional expense there. Flywheel probably should be balanced as well. 

Either way, this'll likely be an 'eventual' build. Don't have whole bunches of time, but I'll get the car cleaned out and looked over. The brakes are not right atm, plus I'd like to convert the front to disk. Also need to nuke the mess of wires in the back and tame the tangle behind the dash.

For some reason I was thinking the floodies outgassed more than they do. It looks like its a fairly negligible amount, just have to keep half an eye on water levels.

Cheers.


----------



## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

Lookin good! What'd you buff the paint with?


----------



## windfish (Jun 23, 2012)

Washed it, then three applications of Meguiars cleaning wax and a microfiber cloth. It was nearly dark as I was taking off application two so three was the following day, mostly fixing what I missed on the second run.

Pain in the rear, getting that first coat off, but it sure improved it.
The paint surprised me, seems like most of the time paint likes to blister and peel if its been neglected. I've got a few tiny bubbles on the roof and quite a few paint chips, but the oxidized layer just rubbed right off. 
Not the original VW paint, it was originally a green bug. 

Picture of the bumper as well, before and after (bumper was done before the wash/wax).


----------



## lowcrawler (Jun 27, 2011)

Wow -- good work spiffing it up. I've got a 1970VW plug bug as well.

If I were in that situation, I'd look at simply pulling everything out and re-designing something with whatever parts I could recycle. It's so jury-rigged as is that I wouldn't want to rely on anything installed as-is.

Though I don't actually think it's a huge mistake to go with lead on this particular setup... (low range requirements, low speeds okay, etc) I would still take a look at some of the smaller lithium pack options. A $4.5k headway pack (which provides higher C rates than the prismatics) would give you reasonable performance and reasonable range (potentially 30 miles on the freeway... much more at lower speeds).... slightly more money but in the end, it would vastly increase the utility of your car. Spending 5k on a car with minimal utility vs a 8k on a car with considerable utility is something you should think about. Not to mention the Lithium option will last longer.


----------

