# Planning Ford Escort conversion



## mattW (Sep 14, 2007)

That's because you are looking at car starter batteries not deep cycle EV batteries. A car starter battery is made to be able to put out big amps one off and then be recharged, they only ever use the top little bit of their capacity. For an EV you need a battery that can discharge nearly all of their charge and be recharged without damage; those batteries are called deep cycle. Using starter batteries will give your pack a very short life, say 3-6 months compared to 4 years fro a well maintained deep cycle pack. If you want to save money your batteries are not the place to do it.


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## james.m.k (Feb 8, 2008)

Thanks Matt and Jaqie.

I've already got the car. Really the only thing wrong with it is the engine.

As for the batteries, are marine batteries the sort of deep cycle you're talking about?

Also, it's a manual transmission. I'm wondering if I'm going to need to remove it. If I can keep it in I suppose that I could use it as a bit of a throttel (manually). Plus I immagine that would make hooking up the wheels to the motor easier / convienient.

Thanks!

James


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## mattW (Sep 14, 2007)

OK for a DC conversion you generally need a donor car without the engine but keeping the transmission. There is some debate as to whether it is better to keep the clutch or not but generally most conversions use an adapter plate to connect the DC motor to the transmission. As for throttle the standard way to control it is using what's known as a pot box, its just a resistor that changes its resistance based on the position of level connected to the accelerator pedal. This is then connected to a controller which takes that signal and uses it to distribute amps to the motor. If you look at our wiki there is a discussion of the type of lead acid batteries to use for an EV as well as links to various suppliers so that should help you. With a limited budget your best bet is to get good quality batteries at a lower total voltage (say 72V) this will limit your top speed and acceleration but will minimise the cost of the overall system without needing recycled batteries which will just die in a year or so. Well kept new battery will last 4-5 times as long, the forkenswift conversion is a good place to start also (just google it).


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## james.m.k (Feb 8, 2008)

Thanks for the info Matt!

Looks like I'm going to go with wet cell lead-acid. The prices of the batteries really are shocking! I can remember $20 car batteries. Now most everything is $45!

Which brings up another issue I've been pondering.

I've got a go-cart (and a couple of old snow blowers). I've been thinking of hyberdising the car. Possibly hooking the old alternator up to the go-cart engine. The structural struts of the go-cart are cracked anyway, so the thing is dangerous. But I've seen comments saying that alternators produce poor current for charging. What do you recommend?

Also, I rather consider this to be a long-range project. Something that I can add to as time goes on. So I've been wondering if I might be able to supplement fewer batteries with the output from the alternator or a generator? (As I said, I've got a small budget.)


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## james.m.k (Feb 8, 2008)

Jaqie,

Hmmm. You give me lots to think about.

Going back to your original suggestion about welding, would you suggest arc or acetylene?

Just thinking about it, I imagine that acetylene would be more flexible because it would give me the ability to cut, but I also imagine (guess) that MIG / arc (I'm assuming they are basically the same) would be easier.

Did some looking today, found a MIG kit on sale for $99, but the real low-mid-range seems to be $200-$300. I did find an acetylene kit for $278.

TIA!


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