Battery decisions

Through alot of reserch and discovery the current decision for the extra batteries is that we will be adding 16 batteries to a new bigger box in the tunck of the vehicle. Due to limitations on the controller we will be removing one battery from our new box and replacing it with a dummy peice so that in the future modifications and upgrades will be simple. The motor has a recomended limit of 170 volts but appon further investigation 192 volts is acceptable. The controler however has a 200 volt failsafe that it will not allow for electricity to flow through if it detects an amout exceeding 200 volts, this is the reason for the dummy battery. When the batteries are at 3.2 volts each the pack voltage reads 195 volts but when freshly charged single battery voltage can raise to 3.3 volts but will alost imidiatly fall down to 2.2 when a current is drawn. At 3.3 volts the pack voltage exceeds 200 volts which may cause problems. The controler issue can be resolved but at the cost of what we beleive to be 500 dollars, it does not seem iminantly important to pay for such when minor modifications can be made. With one less battery the pack voltage at 3.2 is 191.8 volts and at 3.3 it is roughly 98 volts. Lets hope that no more major modification will need to be made.

This week I have been working on installing the power steering control witch allows you to control how much steering assistance it gives to make it easier to steer.  I've also been working on the getting the inter components working (the interface, the battery meter, and the RPM gage).  The interface communicates what inputs are active such as the throttle position, what the motor is doing and the traction pack voltage and amps.  We've also tested the system that everything is working and running smoothly and has no shorts.

Upgraded battery pack

One of the goals for this project is to increase the overall range of this vehicle. After charging and discharging to see the amp hour and voltage values for each batteries we are left with 41 working batteries.

41 batteries
V: 131.2
Ah: 100
Kwh: 13.12
weight: 3000
56.31 km range

41 + 12 = 53 batteries
V: 169.6
Ah: 100
Kwh: 16.96
weight: 3099
70.45 km range

41 + 24 = 65 batteries
V: 208
Ah: 100
Kwh: 20.8
weight: 3183
84.13 km range

41 + 32 = 73 batteries
V: 233.6
Ah: 100
Kwh: 23.36
weight: 3239
92.85 km range

Saturn Modifications!

These Megan Racing lowering springs are one of the bigger modifications that I will be doing to the Saturn Vue. They are going to be the biggest mod to improve the Saturns aerodynamics. These coil springs are going to lower the Saturn 2" in the rear and 2" - 2.25" in the front. Lowering the car is going to give it better handling and steering as well as make is a much smoother ride around the corners and even on the highway. Another upgrade that we will be doing to the saturn is putting a belly pan across the bottom to help increase the aerodynamics. This is going to redirect the air away allowing it to go down the road with less resistance and making it a smoother ride. I am also going to put an air dam in the front grill which is going to do the same thing as having the belly pan under the car. It will redirect the air giving it less resistance allowing you to go farther on a charge. There aren't many upgrades that can be done because of the model of can and also because we have to stay within a budget and I believe that Nico will be buying more batteries to increase power, efficiency, and giving the car more Km to drive on a charge.

I have been working on changing wire connector ends so this way they will beadle to handle higher amperages to suit the new charger. I have also cut the plastic cover so the charger can fit. I have also made cords so that the charger can be charged by multiple types of outlets.