Back on the Lithium
Mmm, it’s been a looong time since my last post but not due to a lack of things to write about, more to do with suffering from a hefty case of Bloggers fatigue.
So what’s been happening over the last year (yikes!)? Well we’ve had a 1kW solar panel array put on our roof - kindly paid for (mostly) by the federal government, converted my toxic two-stroke Victa lawnmower to a thermonuclear turf trimmer and written some Flash software for reading electricity meters with a web cam. More on those down the track but the really big news is that I’m back on the Lithium! Well I’m not on the full dosage yet but I have spent some serious cash for the trial phase on some LiFePO4 (Lithium Ferrous(iron) Phosphate) that I’m quite excited about.
For some time now I’ve been dealing with the very patient Armin Pauza who has set himself up as Lithium Batteries Australia and who is the national distributor for BMI. BMI are a Taiwanese company that manufacture battery cells and battery packs using LiFePO4 electrode material manufactured in Germany by Süd-Chemie AG under license from Phostech Canada. So these guys are the real deal. BMI also assemble the cells into battery packs of various configurations which all have built in Voltage Management Systems and come with a three-year warranty.
So far I’ve only done one simple test which was to pull out most of the very heavy lead batteries from under the bonnet of the e-e and replace them with a SINGLE (144 Volt, 10 Amphere hour) Lithium battery and drive it around the block a few times!
There is a lot to tell about these batteries so I have dedicated some web space to them on my electric-echo website here;
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:31 am
Hi - Im been reading you blogs & find it very interesting. We have 1.7kw solar array powering our house and the car is the next project, but I am looking for something off the shelf rather than the challengine project you undertook. Interesting in a basic performance comnparising of the old lead acids Vs your new Lithiums - weight vs amp hours
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Dear Shaun, Since getting the prius my interest has shifted focus, naturally enongh, to how i might make this car better. I know of Hymotion’s effort and have corrosponded with effect that they say sales outside Canada or america are not iminant. I can’t get that melbourne cove to write back to me about his claimes, but that may be my computer skills, or his ignorance. No great loss as i cannot justify another 5 or so grand after having just bought the car,but looking down the track i would like to know weather an un quilified bum like myself might aquire the skills to fit the kits to other cars for profit.{agent or such} I don’t expect you to be a prius expert but do you think this plug in kit is terrible complex? i imagine there would be software additions but might the extra battery’s instilation be electrically uncomplicated. {phisical difficulties like brackets and space for them aside}
I found a site accidently while shopping for the prius that deals with making vehicles,mostly trucks, hybrids. They did have somthing to say about doing it to cars, but as that was abusy time, i skipped it to get back to the then business of finding the cheapest prius. It’s in the back of my mind though for the triton dulecab i have though. For that car to earn it’s keep it must remain capable of significant range.{impossible for full electric} Have applied for the grant for a 4kw grid connect but will have significant problems ahead building enough frame work for that many cells to face north at 27 degrees.Noticed your mower when i was up to see your car, great! Made me wonder about my ride on.
Did you see or hear of that electric helecopter on the “new inventors” show. Counterrotating single pylon rotors,half an hour endorance, and comes with a petrol option. Single seat ,but plans for up to 4 or maybe 6 if i remember correctly.I have been working on a toilet plumbing idea that looks like it will work to save water but i’ll not clutter your site with details, but if you’re interested call me. My goodness be at you ISE MISE michael cook
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Hi Marcus,
There will be a lot more info on Lead vs Lithium as I work through the testing phase but it is going to take some time.
Hi Michael,
I saw a website somewhere that described installing their version of a plug-in kit and it didn’t seem all that difficult. The real issue is a safe, quality kit and warranty of your vehicle and the kit. My advice would be to stick with the big guns like Hymotion until their ready to export, I was recently shown an article about a Prius plug in kit that caught fire! Remarkably the cowboys that fitted it blamed the driver!!
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Good to see you back Bro
November 26th, 2008 at 2:59 am
Hi! Nice reading your blog. I hope you update it a little more often than once a year.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Hi,
I have been thinking about building an electric car for a number of years and doing some serious research for the last 3-4 months. I am starting to formulate some detailed plans for starting my conversion in 2009 and I am thinking of using Lithium phosphate batteries much as you did but I haven’t seen any suitable chargers. I am famiiar with the unique charging requirements of Li-poly batteries as I have been flying electric RC planes and helicopters for several years so I was wondering what is required for lithium phosphate and what chargers are available?
Great website and blog!
December 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Hi Bob,
For large LiFePO4’s it’s basically constant current (limited by your mains supply or battery spec’s) then constant voltage, from what I’ve seen LiFePO4 generally have a maximum voltage of 3.6-4.2V. Hold the charge voltage till the current tapers off to near-nothing. The trick is to keep all the cells at the same voltage while some are still taking current.
Apparently BMI can provide 48V chargers for their batteries but not sure if they can be serialised together or not. Really any programmable charger with some form of battery balancing will do the trick.
January 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Shaun.
Keep up the good work.
As the owners of Canberra’ Sustainable House we take our hat off too you and all the inspirng work you with EV.
January 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Shaun.
Keep up the good work.
As the owners of Canberra’ Sustainable House we take our hat off too you and all the inspirng work you do with EV.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Hey Shaun
Thanks for the annual report - good to read you’re still on the case.
For our 1kWh PV install I set up a timelapse still cam on the invertor counter meter to take pics on the hour & used these to retrospectively reconstruct the daily export profile - would be interested to know more about your software solution - seems more automated than my clunky attempt?
Michael, there’s a bloke (Stan Baker - stanb@electrodata.com.au) who did the first Australian Prius Plugin conversion for UTS last year, and he’s in the process of establishing a conversion business in Sydney (www.greenauto.com.au). He’s happy to take orders now, but don’t expect much change out of $20K in this current post-financial-collapse market. The UTS does conversions also, but primarily for government/university departments (contact - Josh.Usher@uts.edu.au).
Being a Prius owner myself, I’ve all but given up on the idea of a reliable & affordable plug-in conversion - as have Toyota engineers for the time being - you will note the officially revealed 2010 Prius v3.0 is still not plug-in, so we will be waiting at least to 2012 for a plug-in Prius v4.0 from Toyota.
In the meantime, Mitsubishi will being testing their fully fledged “i-MiEV” EV run-about here in Australia this March, for sale next year for around $30K. That’s about the same as a 2nd hand Prius ($10K) + plugin conversion ($20K), but you’d be getting a new manufacturer backed purpose-built EV under warranty. Think about it
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/29/1232818637238.html?feed=fairfaxdigitalxml
Of course, this is not to mention GM’s Volt (full EV with range extender), to go on sale in the US last quarter of 2010, and GM’s Australian CEO has gone on record saying it will be available in Australia in 2012.
March 19th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Is there a way to locate someone locally to try this?
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:27 am
If by “do this locally” you mean “convert a car to battery electric” there are several companies in Australia such as the electric car company and convert UR car. Or check out the local branch of the Australian electric vehicle association.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Is it time to start believing in the Eestor bunny?
Worth a read:
http://theeestory.com/topics/2529
I read the whole thing. Dick Weir is 70 - hardly the type to dedicate his life to a big con. He thinks like an engineer. You can almost hear the gears turning as he speaks. Came to the conclusion the EESU is legit and DW is honest. Roll on Christmas.