Seat Ibiza EV

Today has been an interesting day.  We went and had a look at a Seat Ibiza electric vehicle which is in the final stages.  It has an Impulse9 (slightly smaller brother to the Warp9) by Netgain, a 1000Amp Logisystems/Netgain controller, Zivan charger, 120V of Thundersky 160Ah lithium batteries with EVWorks BMS.  It has no clutch, has crash inertia switch, circuit breaker with emergency disconnect and fuses as backup. It is a 4 seater but may be a 3 seater depending on weight.  It has power steering AND airconditioning.  As you can see by the photos the workmanship under the bonnet looks very, very good.

We went for a quick zip around the block and I couldn't believe how much torque it had.  Unlike the Curtiss controllers it was quieter than a church mouse, when we got out of the car Connor said it was just soooo cool and can't wait to get the X7 on the road.  Seeing this car has given us that extra boost and confidence in what we are trying to achieve.  When Steve started the project he approached me to sling a few ideas around but really I learnt way more off him as he has done some thorough research via talking to people who have real experience in converting an EV and indepth internet searches.  It was through our discussions that I decided to go for the Logisystems controller, Iota DC/DC converter, Zivan battery charger, opting for an aluminium batt box in the front and he put me on to Google Sketch which has been handy.  Thanks for your help Steve and I hope the car does well for you.  It certainly looks good!

Front Battery Box

I've done a lot of procastination for the front battery box.  A lot has to do with the price of batteries, initially I want 160Ah Thunderskys at 144V to give good top speed and distance.  As I've changed jobs money is a bit tighter than it used to be so I've been looking at alternatives.  There are now 90Ah, 100Ah, and 120Ah to choose from either Thundersky or Sky Energy.  Packaging is similar in size and I've compromised from my original 160Ah to go for the 120Ah from Sky.  The height of the batteries is the same as the 160Ah but have the same footprint as the 90Ah also they are 3.4V as opposed to 3.2V.  This should give me a range of 80-100km with a top speed of 120km+.

Now I can organise my front battery box to suit.  I'll have 12 batteries in one long string.  The box cost me AUS$250 to get made and I'm now working out suitable mounting.  I'll use the existing mounts at the front where the radiator was and look at mounting through the chassis rails, to do this I'll need to drill a hole then sleeve it so when the bolt is tightened up it doesn't deform the rail.