It's direct drive with a Transwarp 11" and an AC-51 coupled together. It's got a Soliton1 1000a controller and a Curtis 1239 500a controller. The transwarp is only wired for forward, no reversing contactors. The AC-51 handles reverse. Acceleration is more than adequate. I've yet to have the pedal all the way down, even with a single 33ah battery pack and a 300a battery limit it will still spin the tires in low traction situations. All up weight at the moment is 3000 pounds even according to the local dump. 3140 with the hood and a wood-and-solar panel bed cover. I plan on adding at least 1 additional 100 pound 4kwhr battery pack up front semi-permanently, and then room for an optional 2 in the first 8 inches of the 6 foot bed. These are the same Enerdel battery packs that I use for my zero-turn electric mower.
Thanks! Just got in on the road and it definitely turns some heads. I forgot to add that all the EV stuff was added without modifying the original 62 year old vehicle. I haven't drilled any holes in the frame, cut, welded, or made any irreversible changes to the truck. Even still has the non vacuum assist drum brakes, they are adequate because regen takes over now. All the cross members and battery support was built to bolt into existing holes.
I agree-- TOTALLY AWESOME! Any guess as to labor/material costs to make it? Range? And you're making a solar panel bed cover?!? Love this truck. Way cool.
As far as cost goes it's a little higher then is necessary because it has two electric drivetrains in one vehicle. The 75kw AC setup is around $5k, the ~150kw+ DC setup is $7k, and each 4kwhr Enerdel pack costs about $2k. So for ~10 miles of range it cost $14k. But the battery cost isn't built into the price of the truck, I use the same batteries for other tasks. This is the Zero-turn lawnmower that shares batteries with the truck: And I'm working on some additional electric vehicles that will also be able to make use of the same packs. These lithium batteries have already advanced to the point where it's difficult to use them to do as much work as they are capable. The same batteries can easily drive a truck around on the weekend, mow the lawn once a week, store excess solar power daily, push 1000+ amps at the track, cruise my boat around the lake and they will still die of old age before I wear them out from use. Incredible! Solar bed cover makes a few kwhr a day if its sunny, enough for a cruise into town and back. It's more to keep my stuff from blowing out of the bed than anything else, but it's great not needing to plug the truck when you are done with it. Just leave it in the sun
That's very interesting. I like the way you solved the question of cheap(ish) DC power vs AC sophistication and efficiency. How do you have the throttle set up to handle the two different sources? I suppose the most efficient option would be to start pulling power through the AC-51 until it hit its torque limit and then pile on with the Transwarp over that? Walter
i used a hall effect pedal assembly (HEPA) from a Prius. It's a common throttle solution for EVs. It has two independent hall signals with slightly different voltage curves. I just hooked one up to the Soliton1 and calibrated the min and max throttle values, shut it down, and then did the same for the Curtis AC system. When they are both on they get the same throttle command but are electrically separated. Therefore if one system is shut down it doesn't effect the other. I don't have many road miles on it yet so I'm not sure about the optimal driving strategy. I built it more for truck stuff, moving heavy stuff, pulling other vehicles, etc where efficiency isn't a huge consideration as it is short duration work. The AC motor is undersized for much acceleration, but perfect for maintaining an efficient cruise once the bigger DC motor has done the grunt work of getting 3000 pounds started from 0 rpm. If you weren't in a hurry at all you can not even switch the DC system on. I'll have more data from the two systems once I get more instrumentation hooked-up and working.
I want to just pile on a "me too" for the awesomeness of combining AC and DC. I am looking forward to all your updates.
With dual sensors and separate lines to the controllers, you could set each one to come in wherever you want on the pedal, I suppose. Lots of room to optimize to your heart's content. Is there a particular vendor you recommend for the powertrain parts and batteries? Walter
Awesome. Can you explain reason for two systems? You talked about AC system for cruising and DC for acceleration already. Thanks.
Sure. Mainly, I didn't want to modify the original vehicle too much, outside of removing the engine and transmission. That means keeping the solid front axle, the drum breaks, the rear axle and it's respective gear ratio. I've always liked the simplicity of direct drive electric drive trains. And I have this notion of running multiple electric vehicles off a common 150v lithium battery pack system. So at very least I needed strong regen breaking (ac) and high low-rpm torque for doing truck stuff(dc). And the ac system actually simplifies the direct drive dc system by allowing the elimination of reversing contactors, and the dc system simplifies the ac system by eliminating the need for high peak torque/power
Very clever, and nicely done. I like the idea of sharing the pack with different equipment. How much trouble is it to move around? Also that must be te first vehicle mounted solar array I've seen that is actually doing something useful... actually has enough surface area.