# 2014 Lotus Evora - Tesla DU, Time Attack Road Car



## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Hi All,

New here - I've been reading for some time and there is some great information on these forums. So thanks for that. 

I didn't want to make a posting here until we had our machine further along to avoid controversy and typical internet banter. But I think it is now time to share what we are doing, and I hope you all like it!

I come from a motorsport background and have previously built, developed and raced sports cars in various series in Canada and the US. In my world, electric cars are looked at as being silly and not practical for real performance driving. Obviously things are changing very quickly, and it is quite possible that by the time our car is done there will already be some very capable electric sports cars. 

However regardless of that - my goal with this build is to put together a very capable electric sports car to learn about electric drive and control systems, as well as to inspire and motivate people in my world to how amazing electric vehicles can be. Those of you that have electric vehicles know the many advantages that might not be obvious to most. 

The Lotus Evora was chosen because it is really one of the most under-rated sports cars out there. Extremely rare, fantastic chassis, and a less than inspiring engine. Mid engine, which is favourable to the Tesla DU, simple single CAN bus system which makes the reverse engineering job easier, fibreglass body that comes off the frame which makes fabrication a lot easier, and a 2+2 chassis design that actually only has two seats (the car is available both in 2 seat and 4 seat variants). The extra length allows for great space to mount the batteries for a low polar moment of inertia. 

The compromises:

-We are using two Chevy volt batteries simply because we can't justify the cost (yet) to make a custom battery pack. 
-Jason (wk057) and Michal (eldis) among others have made me aware of the Tesla DU limitations in terms of continuous power output, so for the initial build our goals will just be for time attack where we can do two laps or so at full power, before we overheat the inverter. 

The car will be a fully complete street car - the best thing to compare it to would be a 991 Porsche GT3. The goal is to have a comfortable, exciting and attention gathering car for the road that is still capable of extreme performance on the racetrack. 

Design Goals:

-We're hoping for close to 200km of range (125 miles). This will not be "EPA" range but closer to a 50mph average backroad cruise. 
-We're looking for around 420hp at the wheels (roughly 350kW at the motor)
-We're aiming for a laptime of 1:16.1 at Cayuga on a Hankook TD soft tire. I know this is meaningless to you all, but it will be fun to circle back to here once we are on the track. For reference the stock Evora on old tires could not best a 1:22 at Cayuga - and believe me I was trying!! The Evora had 250hp at the wheels when we dyno tested it stock. 
-We are trying to update the less than desirable aspects of the Evora - mainly the interior to make it more modern. 

We are using a Motec controller and M1 build, using their IDE to do most of the control of all of the modules in the car. The M1 will directly control the Volt slave BMS units, control the Chademo contactors and communication, J1772 communication and charging control, offer advanced traction control and different driving modes, and be an advanced data logger. We are still using the OEM Tesla motor controller and have had our friends at Avantics in Switzerland reflash the OEM Tesla module, and supply another module that communicates with the Tesla DU to keep it happy and thinking it is still in an original Tesla. 

Here's a video of the drive unit on the dyno with a single Volt battery. We still had the Volt fuses in on this one so we only did a quick power burst to ensure the drive unit was not in limp mode. It wasn't - it sucked 700 amps out of the Volt battery!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8rYXBYqPX8

I have to say a huge thanks to Vincent (bigmouse) and Michal Elias (eldis) for their incredible help through this journey so far. I started this project with very little CAN knowledge, zero programming knowledge and zero EV / electric car knowledge. So it's been a very very steep learning curve and I couldn't have done it without awesome people like these two. For everyone else that has helped, thank you as well.


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

A few more photos attached.


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

And three more


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi
I am really interested in how you are going to make out,

Are you going to use some sort of traction control?

I ask this because I am having difficulty in controlling my car

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forum...dubious-device-44370p15.html?highlight=duncan

With a powerful IC car (many years ago I used to hill-climb a mini with a 170hp Lancia unit in the front) I remember being able to feel before I lost traction

With my electric drive it seems to just go! - the first thing I know is that my tires are screaming and I am stepping sideways


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## nucleus (May 18, 2012)

That is such an great idea, using the Motec to give traction control. Is there an option for stability control?

Your project is fantastic. 

Great job. 

Me want.


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## riba2233 (Apr 29, 2015)

Wow I'm really amazed, nice job!


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## Tomdb (Jan 28, 2013)

This will be a nice beast when done. 
Wouldnt want to know what all this kit will cost once complete 

Will you be cooling the chevy volt pack via the intergrated cooling loop?


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## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

Incredible...want to see this thing at Cayuga!


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## dain254 (Oct 8, 2015)

That display is beautifully integrated! I have absolutely zero questions or suggestions, very well thought out design and great use of existing building blocks to keep costs in check!


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## electro wrks (Mar 5, 2012)

What a great job and a beautiful platform to work with! It's got a easy to modify, MIG weldable, steel rear sub-frame. It fits the Tesla drive unit ( I assume that's what the DU stands for) like a glove, with better access than in a Tesla with the bottom and top exposed. If someone gives you a bad time about putting the DU in the crush zone (I assume that's what the replaced accordion-like structure is) you could add a faux rubber and foam exhaust diffuser to protect the rear of the car. They seem to be making them almost as big as barn doors these days!

One area that caught my eye is the cut back or removed rear seat/luggage shelf/fuel tank cover box structure. It looks like, if it has indeed been modified, it may provide some important lateral and torsional stiffness to the chassis. If this is a problem, a well designed battery box could probably make up for it, structurally.

Also, I wonder if there might be an excess rear weight bias. With no or a smaller radiator(s) in the front and the main battery located behind the front seats stretching back close to the rear suspension area, this could be a problem. It might be necessary to sacrifice some low center of gravity for a better weight bias by bunching the battery cells closer to the front seats. It would be a shame to have to bolt lead weights to the front bumper like the old 911s had to reduce their tendency to swap ends!


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Thanks for the kind words everyone, much appreciated.


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Traction control will be done using the Motec engine controller. It will be implemented either with power limit requests sent over CAN to the DU, or through drive pedal input manipulation. This isn't sorted yet but should be pretty neat when it's all worked out. 



Duncan said:


> Hi
> I am really interested in how you are going to make out,
> 
> Are you going to use some sort of traction control?
> ...


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Thank you! The OEM Evora's ABS also features stability control. We've retained the OEM yaw/steering sensor and ABS, and have already tested that to be working without the OEM ECU in place. We didn't test it without the factory gauge cluster in place however.. so hopefully that doesn't pose a problem. 

There is a sport mode for the stability program that actually allows a decent bit of a yaw before any intervention from the system. It's quite nice!



nucleus said:


> That is such an great idea, using the Motec to give traction control. Is there an option for stability control?
> 
> Your project is fantastic.
> 
> ...


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Yes, at first we are going to just use water through a radiator for the battery cooling, but the intention is to use one radiator, and splitting the output of that radiator - one output will go through chillers into the batteries, and one output will go directly into the motor which is happier to see a higher water temp. 

The batteries and the motor each have their own water pump which is PWM controlled by the ECU. 



Tomdb said:


> This will be a nice beast when done.
> Wouldnt want to know what all this kit will cost once complete
> 
> Will you be cooling the chevy volt pack via the intergrated cooling loop?


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Thank you! Yes the car really is almost the ideal candidate. I put a lot of though into the bases vehicle and when I added everything up the Evora was the clear winner. Maybe I'm biased because I think it's such a beautiful car. 

The top of the fuel tank area was sheet aluminum, and there is now a lateral brace that connects the frame to support the upper layer of batteries. So the lateral stiffness should be the same. Since it is just sheet, any torsional stiffness provided would be negligible I would imagine. The under-tray is also aluminum and acts to further lateral stiffness as well (it's fairly thick stuff). 

As far as rear bias, I expect the rear weight to be about the same. The motor is further back, but the batteries are much further forward than the factory engine. We weighed the OEM engine and gearbox to be ~870lbs IIRC along with the fuel tank, mufflers, and other ICE components. The Tesla motor and batteries are approx ~1030lbs IIRC, and we removed about 20lbs from the rear frame. So call it 1010 lbs. 

We are installing a composite rear hatch without glass, and a carbon diffuser, so that should reduce rear weight by another 50lbs or so, and the OEM battery is no longer there, which is approx another 50lbs. So call it 910. 

So the rear weight is fairly comparable to stock, and the front weight will be much increased over stock, as we are adding the charger, electric power steering pump, and HV air conditioning condenser to the front. I expect most of our weight addition to actually be at the front, and I think our weight distribution will be closer to ideal as a matter of fact! 

The car did have a little bit too much trail in oversteer for my liking - I wasn't able to attack the corners as hard as I would have liked. So I am hoping the additional front weight should help the bias. I'm used to racing front engine RWD cars which are very much the opposite (stable / understeer in, oversteer on throttle), and so I like a car that can attack the entry. I've attached a photo of my race car just for fun, as well as the Porsche 991 GT3 cup cars that I work with (since you mention 911s!). I lead the setup and technical work with the team up here. We will be racing at Sebring next weekend actually!



electro wrks said:


> What a great job and a beautiful platform to work with! It's got a easy to modify, MIG weldable, steel rear sub-frame. It fits the Tesla drive unit ( I assume that's what the DU stands for) like a glove, with better access than in a Tesla with the bottom and top exposed. If someone gives you a bad time about putting the DU in the crush zone (I assume that's what the replaced accordion-like structure is) you could add a faux rubber and foam exhaust diffuser to protect the rear of the car. They seem to be making them almost as big as barn doors these days!
> 
> One area that caught my eye is the cut back or removed rear seat/luggage shelf/fuel tank cover box structure. It looks like, if it has indeed been modified, it may provide some important lateral and torsional stiffness to the chassis. If this is a problem, a well designed battery box could probably make up for it, structurally.
> 
> Also, I wonder if there might be an excess rear weight bias. With no or a smaller radiator(s) in the front and the main battery located behind the front seats stretching back close to the rear suspension area, this could be a problem. It might be necessary to sacrifice some low center of gravity for a better weight bias by bunching the battery cells closer to the front seats. It would be a shame to have to bolt lead weights to the front bumper like the old 911s had to reduce their tendency to swap ends!


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Sorry for the lack of updates guys - it's been a busy time. We finally crossed a big milestone by getting the car on the dyno with both battery packs. It made a whopping *440 horsepower* to the wheels! 

I wasn't able to apply full throttle until the end of the dyno run, as the axle torque would exceed the dyno limit. So the dyno graph doesn't look at all like what it should - I will try to do another one today and spin the motor up to a higher RPM to show more of the "flat horsepower" characteristic of electric motors. It looks like the motor won't exceed the dyno torque limit beyond 7500rpm or so, so I will apply a torque limit below that just for the dyno pull. It works out to about 300lb-ft of torque (4000nm dyno axle torque limit with a 9.3 gear reduction, do the math if you're bored).

The thing is nutty. We are using the OEM Lotus pedal and manipulating that to send to the Tesla DU, and the Advantics controller is taking care of the rest for the Tesla DU. 

Our Motec C1212 display is looking pretty awesome if I do say so myself, and it will continue to get better as I send it more channels and refine the design. 

I've got the regen paddle for the steering wheel all designed and 3d printed, so that will be tested shortly and I'll have it either 3d printed out of aluminum or machined. I'm pretty excited about that part of it! I'll try to make a post with more details about how we're doing that if you're all interested. 

I've also got a number of data logs I'd be happy to share with you all. I am currently mapping motor efficiency on the dyno, which is basically wheel power divided by battery power as there is currently no other load on the battery while we are doing our dyno tests. 

There will be a YouTube video coming up soon, stay tuned!


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Here is the YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/fKCMyHic2fU

And a few more photos of the car on the dyno. Party.


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## BuildMore (Oct 28, 2016)

This is truly inspiring work, loving it!

Did you have to narrow the Tesla DU, or is the wheel track of your Lotus as wide as a Model S?


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## jeff mccabe (Feb 23, 2010)

Your setup and integration looks awesome. So it sounds like you have made headway with getting the regen to work ? 
Cant wait to see it on the road.

Jeff


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## eldis (Sep 3, 2013)

Congratulations to Sasha for an amazing build!!
I've never seen anyone building a performance EV this quickly. It is a pleasure to be helping him on the Tesla DU control - I wish every customer picked up things as quickly as he does.

Yup, regen is working. We had to tweak a few things, since everything was still being tested.
The Tesla Drive Unit control is done using UMC Drive 3, by emulating pretty much entire Tesla Model S, to make the Drive Unit happy.

Theoretical maximum of this unit is around 420kW, but that presumes almost no sag of the batteries doesn't account for some of the losses. I'm sure that the final vehicle will get near that


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Hi Everyone,

Lots of updates to report. The car is on the road, we've made a few videos, and we've even got Level 3 Chademo charging working. 

The car is currently making 470hp to the wheels and is very quick. I've implemented a pretty cool PID traction control system in the M150, so the car has great acceleration even with cold tires. With warm tires the thing rips!

Unfortunately it seems our Chevy Volt battery packs are not as strong as they should be. A graph is attached of the current charge versus voltage. You can compare this to the 10kW discharge tests that were done and documented and see the difference. The packs are rated at 45aH, so we should be able to charge 90aH but the pack will only take 72-75aH. The next step will be to discharge and charge each pack individually and see if the problem lies with just one pack. 

The rolling resistance with the Pirelli Trofeo R's is pretty ridiculously terrible. But the car's efficiency on the standard tires is approximately 170wH/km at low speeds and around 200wH/km on the highway with the radiator ducts all fully open. 

Still a lot of room for improvements. We did see a significant reduction (from about 220 to 200wH/km) by adjusting the drum e-brake assembly as it was dragging a little bit. It doesn't take much to kill efficiency it seems. 

There's still a lot of work to be done before we get to the racetrack, but hopefully that will come in the next four weeks or so. Power steering and some brake upgrades first. 

Here's the video of the car driving around:

https://youtu.be/Rt4fGIoVMpM


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

eldis said:


> Congratulations to Sasha for an amazing build!!
> I've never seen anyone building a performance EV this quickly. It is a pleasure to be helping him on the Tesla DU control - I wish every customer picked up things as quickly as he does.
> 
> Yup, regen is working. We had to tweak a few things, since everything was still being tested.
> ...


<3 

Thanks so much for everything Michal, couldn't have done it without you. No way no how.


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Another log screen capture for any of the data nerds out there


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## riba2233 (Apr 29, 2015)

DA-YUM!!


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi
If I'm reading your charts properly your batteries are a bit cooler than optimum - I think you want them up at about 30C for max power - could help your sag


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## galderdi (Nov 17, 2015)

I am still very impressed with you project and progress. I had previously seen this thread prior to you getting it on the road and had be waiting eagerly for updates. Then I saw one of your videos on Facebook.....Yeehaaawwww!!!

For my forms of motorsport (motorkhana, hillclimb, khanacross, autocross) I gain major advantages because they are all quite short and are standing starts and often standing finishes. So the electric torque is a massive advantage. Plus I don't need massive battery range. 7kwh has so far proven to be adequate. and all this combines to allow me to reduce my overall weight. WIN WIN WIN _(Please note: The afore mentioned wins do not imply actual wins by driver or car, similarity to actual wins is purely coincidental and not intended  )_ All jokes aside though, I have achieved a 3rd place outright and I am still in the developmental phase. My next event is a khanacross this Sunday and I have been waiting for this one for months. It is my best chance so far to prove what the car is capable of.

So I am very interested to see how you progress with your requirements in a road legal car aiming for performance in time attack where you will need more range. Its a brave new world.


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## itchyback (May 28, 2014)

Hey,
I'm curious how you got traction control, could you speak a little more to that please?
You have a motec that speaks with the UMC3 by some means to manage amp increase based on feedback from wheel RPM and Motor RPM?


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Duncan said:


> Hi
> If I'm reading your charts properly your batteries are a bit cooler than optimum - I think you want them up at about 30C for max power - could help your sag


Very good to know! We are always looking for more data on these batteries, if you have any I would be very grateful!


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

galderdi said:


> I am still very impressed with you project and progress. I had previously seen this thread prior to you getting it on the road and had be waiting eagerly for updates. Then I saw one of your videos on Facebook.....Yeehaaawwww!!!
> 
> For my forms of motorsport (motorkhana, hillclimb, khanacross, autocross) I gain major advantages because they are all quite short and are standing starts and often standing finishes. So the electric torque is a massive advantage. Plus I don't need massive battery range. 7kwh has so far proven to be adequate. and all this combines to allow me to reduce my overall weight. WIN WIN WIN _(Please note: The afore mentioned wins do not imply actual wins by driver or car, similarity to actual wins is purely coincidental and not intended  )_ All jokes aside though, I have achieved a 3rd place outright and I am still in the developmental phase. My next event is a khanacross this Sunday and I have been waiting for this one for months. It is my best chance so far to prove what the car is capable of.
> 
> So I am very interested to see how you progress with your requirements in a road legal car aiming for performance in time attack where you will need more range. Its a brave new world.


Awesome! Very cool to hear about all of the electric cars that are starting to pop up in motorsport!


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

itchyback said:


> Hey,
> I'm curious how you got traction control, could you speak a little more to that please?
> You have a motec that speaks with the UMC3 by some means to manage amp increase based on feedback from wheel RPM and Motor RPM?


We have a module that outputs voltage into the Tesla DU controller as modified throttle pedal voltages. So the accel pedal position sensor goes into the Motec, and we use a number of inputs to determine the final power request, and then transmit both the main and the tracking pedal voltage to the Tesla DU. I've mapped out the power at each throttle position and RPM on the dyno, so it's easy to make a request for a precise power value. 

That is then sent out as a throttle position to the Tesla drive unit. Very rudimentary but it works really well actually. One day hopefully we can control the inverter directly? Michal? lol. 

So in the M150 ECU I can request 200kW, 350kW, whatever and that will be what we get out on the other end. 

From that there is traction control logic that just removes power when it detects wheelspin, with a bunch of PID logic and compensations and different aim slip values based on speed, lateral-g etc. It's pretty neat!


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Another update on the car for you guys, we've gotten it on the racetrack and it performed rather well! Here's the video from the Speed Academy guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyyqqPSIwqA&t=3s

I'll share some data with you all soon, but we use about 10% battery per lap, and we didn't have the cooling system connected properly for this test, so the motor loop was very hot and was likely actually heating the inverter rather than cooling it. 

Oh, and regen towing! Filling the battery up in 20 minutes with our pickup truck  it's all in the video. Enjoy!


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## itchyback (May 28, 2014)

OPSash said:


> We have a module that outputs voltage into the Tesla DU controller as modified throttle pedal voltages. So the accel pedal position sensor goes into the Motec, and we use a number of inputs to determine the final power request, and then transmit both the main and the tracking pedal voltage to the Tesla DU. I've mapped out the power at each throttle position and RPM on the dyno, so it's easy to make a request for a precise power value.
> 
> That is then sent out as a throttle position to the Tesla drive unit. Very rudimentary but it works really well actually. One day hopefully we can control the inverter directly? Michal? lol.
> 
> ...


wow, witchcraft! 
Michael has my motor controller and i've just ordered an arduino to drive some analogue gauges. I'll learn some programming and hope to link all that together, maybe in that journey i can learn enough to get traction control.

Thanks for the info!


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## bigmouse (Sep 28, 2008)

Loving it! You're having way too much fun.


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## galderdi (Nov 17, 2015)

I love it. It is a very impressive build.

Sometimes I wish I had the funds to undertake a more serious EV project like this.

But then again I do get enjoyment from squeezing every ounce of performance from a backyard, low budget car.


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Thanks guys 

We took the car drag racing, it did an 11.4 @ 124. We also just did a time attack event and the car performed incredibly, winning its class and every other RWD car at the event as well. Many of the car were full blown racecars, so to beat them with a fully interior comfy street car was very satisfying. Here are some pictures and videos (just links to Instagram for now since I'm too tired and lazy to upload them here). 

We've also added power steering, and a three way valve that re-directs the motor water into the radiator (rather than the heater core) when the HVAC dial is set to full cold. This made a big difference on the racetrack, it looks like as soon as the inverter temp goes above 75C or so, the DU starts to impose serious power restrictions. 

Drag racing video:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWTSSkDFxOn/?taken-by=onpointdyno

Tire warmers for time attack: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BW5mCVjFzG-/?taken-by=onpointdyno

Few pics and the final results from the time attack event:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW6QtYIFNF7/?taken-by=onpointdyno

Track photo:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW8iMy8FTuV/?taken-by=onpointdyno

And finally some in-car:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW_WPZel6af/?taken-by=onpointdyno


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## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

Incredible...congratulations!


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## mfox (Feb 3, 2013)

wow that's great


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## galderdi (Nov 17, 2015)

I am envious


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## OPSash (Oct 13, 2016)

Thanks guys! We appreciate the support. 

Since the last update I've gotten the Chademo Charger to work at a few stations that were giving us trouble, that was a big step as I've been fighting to get a few of these stations to work for a while now. 

We've also gotten the power steering to work properly, and adding in some different drive modes to change things like the amount of wheel spin allowed (drift mode!), power steering assist, cooling pump levels and duties (the pumps are PWM controlled, so they can run at different flow rates based on needs), and throttle / regen feel and power levels. 

I also had the battery area 3D Scanned, so I'll design the bulkhead and then hopefully find someone that can create some kind of mould for us that we can layup a carbon panel on. 

In other news, we just had our first baby! Those things are about the only thing cooler than electric cars I think. 

Here's the full video of the lap from the Time Attack event we won, along with some more details on the drive modes:

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If09etyztl8
*


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

Very nice! following since the first youtube video's of the project!

Technical question:
Do you have an idea what the maximum continuous power rating is of the drive unit?

I'm curious as I might want to use the drive unit to power a boat....


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

boekel said:


> Do you have an idea what the maximum continuous power rating is of the drive unit?


I don't think anyone knows that today... we need a controller that bypasses the Tesla 'safety protocols' 

This project should answer your question in a few weeks http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185753


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## boekel (Nov 10, 2010)

Kevin Sharpe said:


> I don't think anyone knows that today... we need a controller that bypasses the Tesla 'safety protocols'
> 
> This project should answer your question in a few weeks http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185753


I think its how much / how fast can heat be taken from the motor / controller...If it is possible to generate 150kW continuously that would be great...


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

boekel said:


> I think its how much / how fast can heat be taken from the motor / controller...


That's part of the story but don't forget that you may be prepared to tolerate much higher operating temperatures than Tesla... you don't have a customer warranty to worry about 

What we know for sure is the Tesla firmware is actively reducing power as the motor temperatures rise... we also know the open source controller won't do this unless it's what you want. We really need to push a motor until it melts


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## Kevin Sharpe (Jul 4, 2011)

Another great video


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## Spacemaster (Aug 18, 2013)

How much all cost at the end?


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## eUKenGB (Feb 21, 2019)

Hope Sasha is still reading this.

I first came across this project when starting to think about on what car to base my own EV project. I chose Lotus for the same reasons as Sasha and the Evora because it satisfies most of my other requirements. Then I discovered Blue Lightning.

Sasha, you've already done (a couple of years ago) pretty much everything I would need to do. Is there any opportunity to co-operate on another build?

I'm in the UK, but that can't be helped and wouldn't make it impossible, but there's simply so much that I could gain from the purchase of your parts and assistance.

Starting point would be an auto as they have transmission control buttons on the centre console and steering wheel paddles - although the latter wouldn't be required for regen as I'd have that just associated with the accelerator pedal.

My main deviation would be batteries. My car would have to remain standard in the cabin - apart from a Motec screen. So I would need to acquire more compact batteries.

I would also want to maintain assisted brakes and with a decent vacuum reservoir (possibly kept at optimum pressure while charging so always ready to go with no upfront battery drain?) and regenerative braking, the system hopefully wouldn't take too much from the batteries while driving.

Power steering concerns me though as would an electric pump be running all the time? Is there an electric powered rack that could be utilised instead? What about keeping the original rack unpowered and fitting an electric powered column such as from a Vauxhall Corsa C (that's UK model and not sure what it is elsewhere).

Also I would need to install just a Type 2 combo connector as that is now the European standard and should fit under the filler cap cover.

Anyway, just some thoughts. The big question is if you read this and could assist with another project?


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## brian_ (Feb 7, 2017)

eUKenGB said:


> Power steering concerns me though as would an electric pump be running all the time? Is there an electric powered rack that could be utilised instead? What about keeping the original rack unpowered and fitting an electric powered column such as from a Vauxhall Corsa C (that's UK model and not sure what it is elsewhere).


An electrically assisted rack or column is the obvious and most efficient answer, but electrohydraulic works, too. The proper pumps for these systems only run as required. A regular engine-driven pump run all of the time by a motor wouldn't be ideal.


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## MattsAwesomeStuff (Aug 10, 2017)

Sasha hasn't been around in a long time. I haven't even seen him drive Blue Lightning in over a year.

I don't know but I suspect he sold it, I think that was kind of the goal while building it.

He rarely even replies to comments on his channel.

He's a busy guy.


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## eUKenGB (Feb 21, 2019)

brian_ said:


> An electrically assisted rack or column is the obvious and most efficient answer, but electrohydraulic works, too. The proper pumps for these systems only run as required. A regular engine-driven pump run all of the time by a motor wouldn't be ideal.


Yes, one of those pumps would probably be the best solution, especially as the Evora is reputed to have the best power steering of any car, so best to change it as little as possible.


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## eUKenGB (Feb 21, 2019)

MattsAwesomeStuff said:


> Sasha hasn't been around in a long time. I haven't even seen him drive Blue Lightning in over a year.
> 
> I don't know but I suspect he sold it, I think that was kind of the goal while building it.
> 
> ...


Yes he does seem to have gone quiet. I'll just have to keep chasing as he has so many answers for me.


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