Electric Yaris is here!

[cali yaris]

^ yeah you gotta get this up on your site!

[CTScott]

Thanks for the link. The pictures of the conversion process are very interesting. I can understand the cost with how well the system is integrated. I've seen $12K conversion kits, but there is quite a bit of work that goes into the conversion and typically there is quite a bit lacking with integration.

[cali yaris]

how does the A/C work in an electric car?

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

how does the A/C work in an electric car?

Scroll compressor can be spun with an electric motor. Both heat and AC make a significant dent in run time on EV's.

[firebird1999us]

Originally Posted by marcus

42 G's for get it i can get 2 to 3 yaris with that..

Yeah that's the thing with all of this stuff for me...for one it's very counterproductive as a consumer at the moment because even though you don't have to pay for gas, how long would it take me to recoup the costs of paying $13k for my Yaris new in fuel? Like 20 years?

I applaud the move in the direction...but it's still way to early for me to adopt. As is probably the case for most people right now.

[Kal-El]

So you really paid $42,000???

Let's see, that's about a $28,000 premium over a standard Yaris.

At today's gas price of $1.90/gal, $28K could buy 14,736 gallons of gas.

Averaging around 36 mpg in a regular Yaris (as most people do), that $28K worth of gas will take you....

530,496 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUCH.

[firebird1999us]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

So you really paid $42,000???

Let's see, that's about a $28,000 premium over a standard Yaris.

At today's gas price of $1.90/gal, $28K could buy 14,736 gallons of gas.

Averaging around 36 mpg in a regular Yaris (as most people do), that $28K worth of gas will take you....

530,496 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUCH.

Yeah, but in terms of early adoption that's actually not that terrible a price. And gas will likely be right back up at $4 a gallon gain this summer anyways.

[ztrack157]

This is just like the Prius thread I had before the hack. The initial price out weighs any possible economic recovery. He said he hopes it lasy 1500 cycles or 150,000miles. Then it will need new batteries. Plus any other servicing it may need. Hes says he has glitches. Hmm. $42k later as well jeez I know hes trying to be eco friendly and make a statement and its a cool concept but my god this was a poor purchase for how much it cost you. A guy in the San Franscisco area did something similar to his car with much better results than what you are reporting. Either way its your money this was obviously an economic want and certainly not a need.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Nice to see this thread back. Good job.

[freeridelectric]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

how does the A/C work in an electric car?

I wish I knew more about how stuff works on this car. The company that built it was very proprietary about it's components. I posted what was in the manual on the EV Album website. I am taking it to it's first OEVA (Oregon Electric Vehicles Association meeting tomorrow night maybe they can tell me more?

Originally Posted by CTScott

Scroll compressor can be spun with an electric motor. Both heat and AC make a significant dent in run time on EV's.

The heat is made with radiator fluid via a insta hot heating mechanism that circulates it through the existing heater core.

Originally Posted by firebird1999us

Yeah that's the thing with all of this stuff for me...for one it's very counterproductive as a consumer at the moment because even though you don't have to pay for gas, how long would it take me to recoup the costs of paying $13k for my Yaris new in fuel? Like 20 years?

I applaud the move in the direction...but it's still way to early for me to adopt. As is probably the case for most people right now.

The thing that is counter productive is the oil companies and the big three auto or small three auto corporations conspiring to keep any technology from being massed produced that is counter productive to the revenue stream they receive from pedaling oil and ICE to the masses.

This car is very inexpensive to build. The lithium-ion polymer batteries comprise approx 20,000 dollars of the conversion.

I drive a 4 wheel drive, 4 door Silverado for my commute before this Yaris. At 3 dollars a gal it will take me 7 years to break even. The batteries don't just die but do loose range.

Originally Posted by Kal-El

So you really paid $42,000???

Let's see, that's about a $28,000 premium over a standard Yaris.

At today's gas price of $1.90/gal, $28K could buy 14,736 gallons of gas.

Averaging around 36 mpg in a regular Yaris (as most people do), that $28K worth of gas will take you....

530,496 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OUCH.

What great is I don't have to fund a war from two sides. My gas so to speak is produce domestically.

Originally Posted by firebird1999us

Yeah, but in terms of early adoption that's actually not that terrible a price. And gas will likely be right back up at $4 a gallon gain this summer anyways.

You are right. I know of people in the OEVA that have spent 20,000 dollars and built the car them selves with acid lead batteries. They have a usable range of 20 miles as you should not deplete acid lead batteries more than 50% or you cut the life span of them. This also is with a used car valued at approx 5000.00 dollars.

I figured why not spend 21,000 more and have a new more usable car that will go 100 miles per charge and I didn't lift a finger. Having said this I do admire the guys who build there own.

Originally Posted by ztrack157

This is just like the Prius thread I had before the hack. The initial price out weighs any possible economic recovery. He said he hopes it lasy 1500 cycles or 150,000miles. Then it will need new batteries. Plus any other servicing it may need. Hes says he has glitches. Hmm. $42k later as well jeez I know hes trying to be eco friendly and make a statement and its a cool concept but my god this was a poor purchase for how much it cost you. A guy in the San Franscisco area did something similar to his car with much better results than what you are reporting. Either way its your money this was obviously an economic want and certainly not a need.

Perhaps the price right now out ways the economic recovery. Things change if batteries are massed produced and patents are not able to be purchased by Chevron-Texaco in order to be set on a shelf so they can sell more oil and gas prices rise which sooner or later is inevitable then this will be economically feasible.

You would have said that the first computers were a poor choice for how much they cost. The first computers were big, did little and cost much. Good thing someone early adopted them.


Please by all means provide me with a thread or site that says how the guy in San Francisco's car is superior. I would like that.

Talk about glitches. When I purchase my Silverado new in 05 the thing stranded me 3 times and would not start 3 more times at my house in the first 6 months. After the third time I told the service writer to replace the battery. He said what if that does not fix the problem? They were looking for a draw on the battery. Any way a few tows and rental cars later they did replace the battery. They called a week later and said they continued to bench test the battery and after a week the battery discharge on it's own. So it was a bad battery. They spent millions of dollars on refining the ICE cars and they still have plenty of glitches of there own. My electric yaris as never stranded me. I have pulled to the side of the hwy and rebooted the computer to get moving again but I fixed that when I nearly electrocuted myself.

Originally Posted by Kaotic Lazagna

Nice to see this thread back. Good job.

Thanks Lazagna. This is fun.

Here are some pics.

[Tamago]

will someone explain how it's better for the environment?

[freeridelectric]

Originally Posted by Tamago

will someone explain how it's better for the environment?

Electric cars do not directly emit pollutants like the hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carcinogens, or carbon dioxide spurred by all internal combustion engines. However, since much of the power grid that recharges an electric car burns large percentages of fossil fuels, they can indirectly pollute.

When comparing the emissions of a conventional gasoline vehicle to that of an electric car on a miles-travelled basis, the EV will always have far less emisisons, even when the local grid is fueled entirely by coal, the dirtest of fuel sources.

More importantly, the electricity that powers electric cars can be created from many diverse sources, including renewable ones like hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, tidal power, solar electric and wind energy

http://evworld.com/fasttrack/index.cfm?show=myths

Hope this helps.

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by freeridelectric

Electric cars do not directly emit pollutants like the hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carcinogens, or carbon dioxide spurred by all internal combustion engines. However, since much of the power grid that recharges an electric car burns large percentages of fossil fuels, they can indirectly pollute.

When comparing the emissions of a conventional gasoline vehicle to that of an electric car on a miles-travelled basis, the EV will always have far less emisisons, even when the local grid is fueled entirely by coal, the dirtest of fuel sources.

More importantly, the electricity that powers electric cars can be created from many diverse sources, including renewable ones like hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, tidal power, solar electric and wind energy

http://evworld.com/fasttrack/index.cfm?show=myths

Hope this helps.

so basically i'll need to first move to an area where i know the electricity is being made "cleanly" before i can brag about saving the environment?

and what happens when the batteries need to be replaced? how much damage will be done during the "recycling" process?

[cleong]

That housing you've made to house the LCD status screen for the motor system - I think it would be the perfect housing for a GPS, or for installing a set of gauges into. Cast up a mold and start popping them out!

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by cleong

That housing you've made to house the LCD status screen for the motor system - I think it would be the perfect housing for a GPS, or for installing a set of gauges into. Cast up a mold and start popping them out!

I was thinking the same thing. I am still trying to figure out how/where to mount my GPS and have been thinking about buying an extra drivers glove box cover to monkey with. That molded piece would be even better - If you could get it before the LCD hole is cut, you could make the appropriate cut-outs for whatever you wanted to mount. In my case, I'd have one for my TomTom GPS, and one for my iPhone, with brackets inside that allow you to pop them in and out at will...

[mikenacarato]

i think its awesome someone here as an electric yaris! although the price to pay is high right now, it will only come down in time. great job and screw the haters!

[cali yaris]

Another advantage to electric is that the power is made centrally, where emissions can be cleaned up before being distributed to individual cars.

I applaud this guy -- he obviously has already thought through every criticism that was posted here (yawn) and has made his choice. Forward-thinking, USA innovation -- bravo. (coming from a guy driving a Toyota).

[freeridelectric]

Originally Posted by Tamago

so basically i'll need to first move to an area where i know the electricity is being made "cleanly" before i can brag about saving the environment?

and what happens when the batteries need to be replaced? how much damage will be done during the "recycling" process?

Frequently Asked Questions: Electric Vehicle
Electric Cars and Coal Power Plants
Yes, electric cars have no tailpipe emissions. They produce no local pollution or carbon dioxide, but they aren't entirely pollution-free, especially if they are recharged from an electric power grid that burns significant quantities of fossil fuels like coal.

So, are they any better than a normal gasoline car? Absolutely.



For starters, in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, they generate a fraction that expelled by a normal gasoline engine car. For every gallon of gasoline burned, approximately 22 pounds of CO2, an important global warming gas, are created. If a car gets 25 miles a gallon it will emit 22 pounds of carbon dioxide over that distance, as well as other pollutants. By comparison, an electric car may travel the same distance consuming 5 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electric power at a rate of 200 watt hours/mile. Assuming the local grid is 100% coal-fired, roughly 5 lbs of coal would be consumed to create that 5kWh. Depending on the grade and carbon content of the coal, one kilowatt hour creates approximately 1.4 pounds of CO2. That's 7 pounds of CO2 vs. 22 pounds to travel the same 25 miles. But recall that the power grid isn't entirely coal-fired; it includes hydroelectric, natural gas, nuclear and a small, but growing segment of renewables.

But what about other pollutants, aren't today's cars significantly cleaner? Yes they are and getting more so all the time, which is good. But so is the power grid, at least in terms of many criteria pollutants, if not CO2. And as more wind and solar electric power is added to the grid, and older, more polluting power plants are decommissioned, the grid can get cleaner, though it will still take citizen awareness and pressure, especially in the light of the fact that hundreds of coal-fired plants plan to be built around the world in the come decades, to ensure the very best technology is used, including carbon sequestration if we plan to continue to utilize coal.

Electric Car Economics
If you can travel 25 miles on 5kWh of electric power, that means it cost you something like 40 cents to cover the same distance (@ 8 cents/kWh) it takes a gallon of gasoline at $2 and $3 a gallon at current (2006) prices. And if you recharge your electric car from solar panels, like many EV owners in California do, your per mile costs are even less and the payback period on your solar panels dramatically shorter because now you're replacing not relatively cheap grid power, but increasingly expensive gasoline. In the process, you're helping the environment and saving yourself a lot of money for decades to come.

Electric Car Battery Pollution
But what about all those batteries and the pollution they cause, especially when the cars are recycled?

Well, it turns out that if the batteries are NiMH, the nickel has economic value, like the lead in conventional starter batteries. They can and are being recycled, but even before they reach that point, there is a strong probability that EV batteries will find a second life as electric power storage for the grid. While their useful life in cars may end at 100,00 or 150,000 miles, they still can perform useful roles in providing businesses and homes with electric back-up or peak-shaving services. Only after that will they end up being recycled.

Lithium ion batteries don't currently appear to have the same commodity metal value as nickel, but they too can find useful second lives and their manufacturers contend that they when properly disposed of they will not present any environmental hazard, certainly not like that associated with older, heavy metal chemistries like lead and cadnium.

Originally Posted by cleong

That housing you've made to house the LCD status screen for the motor system - I think it would be the perfect housing for a GPS, or for installing a set of gauges into. Cast up a mold and start popping them out!

I didn't make it but yes it still can be use as a clove box. HBT put a reset switch, off switch, and a key hole in there.

Originally Posted by mikenacarato

i think its awesome someone here as an electric yaris! although the price to pay is high right now, it will only come down in time. great job and screw the haters!

I like to listen to everyones opinion.

I was a oil man all my life until gas went to 4.25/Gal with no end in sight. I could pay the price of gas at 8/gal but I did not like there being no alternatives in sight. I did not like oil corps making huge profits while telling me how they are helping me in their commercials. How they are inventing new ways to drill and how geen they have become. Mixing the truth in with the lies.

I would rather support this American company HBT and the Koreans since that is where the batteries came from and not OPEC. Though I am pretty sure it is South Korea not North Korea where the batteries come from.

This technology has been kept from you all by a select few.

Originally Posted by cali yaris

Another advantage to electric is that the power is made centrally, where emissions can be cleaned up before being distributed to individual cars.

I applaud this guy -- he obviously has already thought through every criticism that was posted here (yawn) and has made his choice. Forward-thinking, USA innovation -- bravo. (coming from a guy driving a Toyota).

Yes Cali, good point, it is much easyer to monitor one big smoke stack as appose to millions.