# Fiat X1/9 conversion



## X1/9jm (May 2, 2008)

Greetings all. I’m new to the EV world here and have a project to work on. I have a Fiat X1/9 donor car to start with. It is stripped to the bare frame inside and out already for a previous project so it is ready to begin. My daily commute is about 25 miles round trip with 2/3 being on the highway (I can take back roads if need be though). Since I’m on a budget, I’m thinking about going with a donor forklift for the motor and related speed controls etc. For power, lead/acid car batteries. I can fabricate most anything I need but I do have a few questions. Can regenerative braking be added to the ‘forklift’ drive setup easily enough? I know solar panels embedded in the hood lids would not keep the batteries charged but how much of a benefit would they be sitting in the parking lot at work all day in full sun as a trickle charger? How much average does it cost to recharge the batteries over night hooked up at the house? Can a solar panel array at the house be used to generate and store energy during the day to recharge the car batteries at night? Thanks in advance and I can't wait to dig in.


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## MrCrabs (Mar 7, 2008)

How much is your budget? That really determines what range you can get, and if you can do highway driving or not.


Here is the one Fiat X1/9 I found on evalbum.com
http://www.evalbum.com/56
http://www.geocities.com/villahelena/ev.html

With a nice light car like that, you should be able to get under 300 Wh/mile.. 25 miles * 300 Wh/mile = 7.5 kWh.. Taking into account charger inefficiencies it should take around 10 kWh to recharge. The cost depends on your electricity rate. 

Adding regen to a series wound motor is usually not easy, and would cost more. If you could find a seperately excited motor (sepex) those are usually better choices for regen.

Solar panels on the car wouldn't be worth it. You need too many panels to get the voltage needed to charge the pack... However if you live in a nice sunny place, putting a solar system on your house would work.
See http://www.portev.org/solectria/ho/pvs.htm


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## mattW (Sep 14, 2007)

Forklift motors are cheap but unlikely to be highway capable as they are engineered for low speed use. Motors aren't that expensive, a kit like this one would do what you need, or you might be able to get away with this one for a bit cheaper. Again it all depends on budget.


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## X1/9jm (May 2, 2008)

What kind of speeds can be expected with the lift motors?


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## X1/9jm (May 2, 2008)

What sort of LEDs are used to convert the parking lights etc?


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