Taking Her to Lunch

Another look at what the current state of our Electric MINI Conversion. We shot a quick video just following me going to grab a bite to eat. The idea is just to show what she looks and drives like, and that it does not require any forethought to take it anywhere. As long as "anywhere" isn't more than 50 miles away. So this is what a typical lunch break looks like, if Alabama Shakes was the soundtrack to my life.

Just your Average Hwy Speed

I can't just start posting here without addressing the fact that is has not been a few weeks, or even months, since I last posted here. It has been well over a year. The fact is, the build had gotten much less exciting.

During those first few weeks we spent long days and night speeding through the conversion of the MINI. Designing new parts, spinning the wheels for the first time and quickly moving onto spinning them in the parking lot with a lot of smoke. Once we had gotten through the first 80% of the work, the last 20% is more calculated. Changes occurred and breakthroughs were had, but the pace was slowed.

These days, the MINI is just another car. We plug it in, we drive it, we bring it back. That is how we are testing it to make sure that is holds up to the rigors of everyday life. People have asked me how it is going, and I felt like this photo I snapped of Tristan driving her on the highway was somewhat indicative of the progress. She just works.

So, you know the ending now. I will try to work backwards and show you how we got there. Watch for more updates as we work back to the future.

Keeping Dry

As you may know, it rains a lot in the Pacific Northwest. After a nice dry summer, we expect it to be wet from here clear on until summer. In order to avoid any issues we are taking extra precaution keeping water away from some of our components. All of these were designed for EV's and their manufacturers expect them to get a little wet, but there is no reason to take chances.

Today, we wrapped the inner portion of the two piece cowl duct in...duct tape. It looks clean, and does the job for almost no cost at all. we were able to close up the hood scoop the same way. What do you think?

Back Seats Back, Alright!

Tristan and Chester have gotten the battery pack completely moved underneath the car allowing them to reinstall the back seats. The only EV component that remains inside the vehicle is the one you see in the photo, the charger. That charger should eventually be eliminated all together using a new feature of our new Synkro Motive controller. Leaving the interior looking much like it did when the car was stock.

 This is where all the cells have moved to. When you want the car to still drive like a MINI it is important that you don't add a bunch of weight up high above the belt line and raise the center of gravity. So, we sat all the heavy cells down between the wheels. We removed over 80 lbs by eliminating a full gas tank, and another 40 lbs with no exhaust, but we added 300 lbs with the packs. We'll have to get her on the scales to find out for certain, but we think that despite the extra 180 lbs of batteries in back there may have been no net weight gain because of the lighter motor vs engine.

Relocation

The batteries have been working out well. All the cells have been charging and discharging as Tristan and Chester expected during testing over the last few weeks. Now, it is time to move them to a new home. We have battery boxes they designed to take up the space recently vacated by the gas tank, and also the area where the exhaust was. The picture above shows the 31 cells that will reside in the 'Tank Pack'.

New In Box

Some of the components could handle a little moisture, but especially in Portland we want to be ready for the rains of fall and winter and spring (it rains a lot here). Consequently, we needed a good housing for the controller and DC->DC converter. The box will have a clear cover soon, but here is how it is looking today.

Burnout#3

CravenSpeed's Electric MINI Cooper is finally starting to lay down some nice power thanks to our new LiFePO4 battery pack. Since the Dyno trials are not scheduled until next week, the best way we can display the torque right now is by smoking the tires.