October 29, 2007 by Rob.

One of the “great debates” for EVers is clutched vs clutchless designs.  The fact that the RAVolt has no clutch was a subject of much interest at the Maker Faire.  The very simple answer to “how does that work?” is that the unpowered motor has very little inertia so the synchronizers in the transmission can handle the work of matching speeds when I shift.  It’s a little more complex in practice.

I choose clutchless primarily because it was a faster and simpler design pattern to implement.  Here are some points:

• positive: less inertia (no flywheel) mean less power loss
• positive: less risk of over revving the motor (no power during shift)
• positive: simpler mating (coupling goes right to clutch disk)
• negative: wears on transmission synchronizers (some transmissions have weak synchros)
• negative: wearing parts are gears, not a replaceable clutch disk.
• negative: shifting takes longer (not suitable for racing)

I’m not really interested in the debate at this point because I put my chips on the table.  Experience will tell me if I made the right decision; however, I’m happy to explain what it’s like to drive clutchless for other EVers.

First, it’s important to realize that EVs don’t shift much.  The RAVolt stays in 2nd from 0 to 35 MPH and does not need to be in neutral while “idling” because the motor is not spinning and wasting our irreplaceable natural resources.  At any speed above 10 MPH, I shift into a cruising gear.  I choose the gear based on the road.  Entering the highway calls for 4th while 3rd works for normal cruising.  I can ride any gear down to 0.  The reason to start in 2nd is because higher gears are not designed to handle to torque of a standing start.  The reason to shift up is to avoid damaging the motor by over revving.

Whew, that’s a lot of wordy preamble.  Here’s the meat: clutchless shifting is just like regular shifting, but a slower.

The “slower” comes from giving the synchronizers time to get up to speed before I mate the actual gears.  The higher the speed difference the slower the shift.  That makes it hard to down shift.  The transmission resists shifting if the speed difference is too great.  In normal shifting from 2nd to 3rd, the motor is slowing down gradually while I’m improving the ratio.  That makes for an easy shift because the motor’s RPM are likely to match the transmission input.   If I’m too slow, chose the wrong gear (2nd for 4th?!), or accidentally rev the motor then the transmission will push back more.

One other observation is that it’s harder to position the shifter for 3rd and 4th.  I think that the transmission’s little bit of push back used to psych me out.  A clutched transmission definitely “drops” into gear with a more solid feeling.

Posted in Daily Use, Conversion | 2 Comments »

October 25, 2007 by Rob.

Today was “drive electric or die” day for Laura. With one of our gassers in the shop, she had to choose between enduring a fate worse than death by body piercing during an arena punk rock concert (aka a Pump It Up party) in our remaining gasser or taking our son in the RAVolt to a soothing guitar lesson with comfortable chairs.

After a mile of driving lessons, she was racing down MoPac leaving a sparking trail of electrons and no carbon footprints. She quickly mastered shifting without a clutch (no sweat) and she liked the manual steering (free workout). Overall, a successful EVgrin trip and now Laura is qualified to operate EVs in the US (except Delaware).

Posted in Storyline | No Comments »

October 24, 2007 by Rob.

The buzz surrounding Tesla Motors (to which I have/am contributing) is reaching an astonishing pitch.  This morning I read a major Newsweek spread about them and then my previous boss brought them up over breakfast.   That was fine until they’ve being covered by KnowledgeNews.  3 times in 6 hours!  It almost feels like some sort of EV tipping point.  Nah, maybe it’s just echoes from Al Gore’s Nobel.  Thoughts anyone?

Note: KnowledgeNews is a daily email subscription that assuages to my inner current events geek.  They provide short but through coverage of topics that are relevant to daily news.  Topics range from ancient history to hot iGadgets.  They are funny, smart, and relevant.

Posted in EV News | 1 Comment »

October 24, 2007 by Rob.

It’s no surprise that sulfuric acid is nasty, corrosive stuff; however, it’s disappointing that so much of it is spraying out of my batteries and onto the RAVolt’s sensitive skin.  I was not expecting to see this for a while, but I’d rather see it so I can fix it. Visible corrosion on a replaceable non-structural component is about as good as bad news can get.

The solution is to replace the el cheapo (that’s Latin for inexpensive) caps that come with the Trojans with some high grade Water Miser battery caps. These caps have premium organic lotus-scented bath beads that trap the escaping battery acid in a luxurious spa experience convincing them to remain within the confines of their downtown mixed-use condo. That reduces both my watering frequency and the RAVolt’s corrosion risk.

How much to treat my batteries to this lavishness? Just $22.50 per battery or $260 for the whole pack. But who can really put a price on inner peace?

Note: Special thanks to Erik w/ AustinEV for the tip. He’s using these caps and highly recommends them.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Pictures, AustinEV | No Comments »

October 24, 2007 by Rob.

I had an EV first experience today that was much more empowering and community building that I expected.  Mark was demonstrating his MR2 (including burn outs) at a school down south and needed a stop over charge to make it home.  I was more than happy to supply the e juice, but was surprised at how much commitment he was putting into making this happen.  In order to get to the school by 8, he had to show up at my house before 7 and then leave the MR2 for an additional charge while he was at lunch.  The total electricity used < $2.

Mark was a perfect guest and I tried to make him welcome (nice chair, WiFi, etc).  We did not spend hours over coffee, in fact, we really did not chat that much because we both had things to do.   I was left feeling good that I’d helped him in a small way when he drove off and even better knowing that I was part of this larger community.

Maybe this is corny, but EVs are not just about an alternative fuel, they are also about community.  In a EV world, you don’t buy fuel from a faceless multi-national corporation, you get it from your friend over coffee.

Posted in Daily Use, Green Tech, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

October 22, 2007 by Rob.

Today my batteries were very sad.  They were gasping on my way home via 360 and sagging down under 100 volts.  The total drive was just 20 miles and one that I’ve driven several times.  I’m a concerned because they should have gotten a full charge last night.  I know that I did not get a good charge at the Faire because my batteries were low (but not dead) when I got home Sunday after 27 miles.

I’m going to check the water and voltage on each cell tomorrow.  I also wonder if the “cold” weather is impacting performance.  I don’t think that high 50s should have any impact on the batteries, but today was the RAVolt’s coldest to date.

Such are the mysteries of driving with Floodies.  Tomorrow, I’ll have photos and a post about my first corrosion from splashed battery acid.

Posted in Daily Use | No Comments »

October 22, 2007 by Rob.

If you’re interested, here is what I have on my display board.  It’s not new for the blog, but it’s a good summary for RAVolt noobies…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Daily Use, Storyline | 1 Comment »

October 22, 2007 by Rob.

I’ve talked with several people about the Faire today and everyone finds it hard to describe.  It was like a science circus where you got to talk to the performers.  Everyone kept finding more and more to do the longer they were there.

Gary sent me this picture of our “Alternative Vehicle Corner” in the barn and I added some labels.  The picture was taken at one of the down times while they were running the Mouse Trap.  Usually we were packed with people.  The Zap EVs and Bio Diesel exhibits are behind the camera (360 view provided by your imagination)

Posted in Pictures, Storyline | No Comments »

October 21, 2007 by Rob.

Sunday was quieter, but equally fun at the Makers’ Faire. I got to wander around and see “The Mouse Trap,” a Rube Goldberg machine based on the game, and “The Fire Show,” a light show made from propane torches/sculptures. There was so much to see and do that most of the friends I saw regretted only buying a 1 day pass.

It’s going to take a while for me to process my impressions from showing the RAVolt to so many people. I’ll post those over time. If you’re new to the site, welcome! I’m happy to answer more questions. I will post the content from my show sign.

Here is a picture of my ribbon!

Posted in Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

October 20, 2007 by Rob.

Isaac enjoys the “A/C” in the RAVolt on the way

Talking about the conversion to one of many visitors

Whew, finally a chance to rest!

Plenty of EVs to show (Zap, Gary’s ZWheelz, Mark’s MR2).  The MR2’s motor burned out ON THE WAY so Chris and Aaron and crew doing a motor swap live at the show so he can drive it home.  How cool is that!

Some cool bikes:

And a cool car art display made with dirt (dirtycarart.com)!

Posted in Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »