EVCCON 2023

After an eight year hiatus due to Jack Rickard's declining health and eventual passing, not to mention the COVID pandemic shutdowns, EVCCONN resumed this year.

Under the leadership of Jack's daughter Jackie along with Brian Noto and the rest of the EVTV staff, the conference was staged once again at the EVTV Motor Verks World Headquarters in Cape Girardeau, MO.

My friend Stan Cloyd offered to stop on his way from Mesa AZ and load my e-Bugeye in his enclosed trailer. He trailered his Tesla Model 3 and offloaded it to make room for the little yellow car. We caravanned the rest of the way, Tesla Model 3 and Chevy pickup/trailer. Made the trip in two days with a stop over in Texarkana.

I got to drive Stan's Model 3 from Texarkana to Cape Girardeau and must say I'm amazed at how easy it is to make long road trips! After entering the destination on the navigation panel, it plots all of the Supercharger stops along the way, charging only enough to get you to the next station with some cushion. Charging stops give you just enough time to find the restroom and check email.

Looking kinda goofy. Not good at selfies.

We arrived at the show Wednesday and lined up with the other early arrivals.

The welcome reception was themed "Tiki Mania" and featured Mai Tais and island fare. Great time to get reacquainted with old friends and new.

Thursday was opening day and I was honored to deliver a presentation on my experience as a serial EV converter. It went well and I brought it in right on time. There followed a panel discussion on Solar and off-grid topics with Stan Cloyd, Chris Snider, and Malcolm McCrea.

credit: screenshot from Michael Brown's video below

That evening after putting the e-Bugeye away for the night under the original Speedster in the EVTV shop, there was a barbecue at "The Captain's House". That would be Jack's home with a spectacular view overlooking the Mississippi River with gorgeous weather and a magical night view of the bridge. Also fireworks!

Staging Area for the Autocross

Friday, after very interesting presentations on Solar Challenge Cars by Byron Izenbaard and EV Oddities from Robert Dunn, we got outdoors for fun in the sun. An Autocross was set up in a shopping mall parking lot and lots of rubber was left behind on the tight course. Kevin Smith provided hilarious commentary and acted as "Cone Boy" dashing across the course on a Kooter to right overturned markers. It was a big day and most of the crowd moved on to the Drag Strip in the evening while several of us old guys chose an early dinner and a quiet evening back at the hotel.

Saturday we set up for the car show. That gap between the e-Bugeye and the Chevy Bolt was later filled by a Rivian pickup truck, a very cool and thoroughly modern vehicle. Very impressive. I decked out the under hood display with spec sheets on all three of my converted EVs and business cards for each with pointers to their respective web sites. Saves me having to write them down every time someone shows interest. Lots of conversations with curious people who were wondering what was going on in that mysterious EVTV building.

The last event was our EV Parade. We cruised through historic Cape Girardeau, past a fall festival on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University, down lovely residential streets, and stopped at St. Mary's Cemetery. At Jack Rickard's graveside it was a somber moment as we paid our respects to the man who started all of this and gave us our weekly dose of education, inspiration, and motivation. Many fond memories.

Finally, here is Michael Brown's video recap of the week's activities. Michael rode with me for the parade and does a great job summarizing the feel of the event.

Postscript:

On the way back to the hotel after the parade I was waiting at a red light when a Freightliner semi decided to occupy the same space. My eyes got real big and the monster munched into the rear of the e-Bugeye. When big things crash into small things, it's gonna be bad for the small thing. 

Happily it was a slow speed impact or I might not be here to tell about it. I'm alive but sore, especially after the two day drive back to Austin. The e-Bugeye is over at Pro Automotive and in very good hands with Master Craftsman and body work guy Robert Juarez. After all the insurance stuff is sorted out I'm sure it will be better than ever when he's done.

Robert marked up all the damage for the virtual insurance estimate and noted the lack of access to the inside of the boot. He suggested that he cut a hole in the floor to get in there with his hammers and such. Then he proposed building a battery box that can be raised into place as a fully populated unit. That will allow for four extra cells. Very creative guy!

More to come, stay tuned ...

Not quite ready for Prime Time ... but close

Long post warning! (but worth the read)

The eBugeye ran when it came off the transport, but much needed to be done. Barry, the gentleman who took over for me in 2012, did some really marvelous things. The rear battery box is a work of art that no one will ever see. It's a sturdy plywood container with a plexiglass top, painted black so it will disappear. It's strapped down to the spare tire loops and quite solid. The battery cells are connected with the braided straps from EVTV.

I added the Thunderstruck Battery Management System which was no small task. There's no trunk lid on a Bugeye so everything has to be accessed from behind the seats with limited clearance. You lay on your belly and assume many contorted positions to reach back there. I got the job done with the help of some nifty right angle drive tools.

Trust me, there are plexiglass sheets protecting the connectors.

The front battery pack was configured much as I had laid it out originally, except with cabinet grade plywood on top. I added the BMS wiring here as well. I found some plexiglass sheet among the extras that shipped with the car and it was clear that Barry had intended to use that for protection on the exposed sides. So I cut and installed that so the car will be "finger safe" when the bonnet is up for car shows. Thanks, Barry!

The rear deck behind the seats is filled with electronic bits that simply wouldn't fit anywhere else. The box upper left contains the rear pack fuse, charge control relay,  and the current sensor for the BMS. Next to that is the shunt and logic for the Juntek wireless volt/ammeter. Below the circuit box is the J1772 charge port and the Thunderstruck Master Control Unit. This MCU handles the J1772 interface, the BMS, and the Charger. Next to the MCU is the service disconnect switch.

The ELCON charger was previously installed in the evTD. With the addition of the ELCON CAN bus interface it worked perfectly from the very first charge. Thanks, Thunderstruck!

Wrapping up the rear of the car, I added a chrome flip-up gas cap from a Triumph TR3/TR4/Spitfire. It's a dummy just for show, but dresses up the rear aspect beautifully.

We've experienced a full month of over 100 degrees (F) here in Austin, so before going anywhere I needed to add liquid cooling for my Soliton Jr controller. The coolant radiator/fan from the old PorschEV Lear charger just happens to fit perfectly alongside a tank and yet another Prius coolant pump. After plumbing this whole thing together I'm happy to report that it doesn't leak and turns on under the control of the Soliton. A little black paint and it will look like it's always been there.

I mentioned that the eBugeye ran when it arrived, but it felt sluggish and slow. I couldn't imagine that the smaller SolitonJr with the smaller 140 volt pack made that much of a difference. One of the very elegant design elements from Evnetics (now sadly out of business) is the configuration through a small internal web server. It interfaces through an ethernet cable port and supports just about any browser to work as a configuration tool. I had to add an ethernet/USB dongle to my MacBook Air, but finally got logged in to find that all of the configuration parameters were set to factory defaults. A little tweaking and the eBugeye now performs in the "Spritely" manner I remembered. It still felt a bit rough, so the twenty year old tires were replaced. Although the old ones still had plenty of tread, I suspect they were flat spotted from 10 years sitting in a garage. The eBugeye now runs smooth and strong so the final step:

From this

To this. We're Texas legal and back on the road after eleven years!

There is still much finish work to be done, mostly interior panels and sound deadening as well as carpet and some touch up. 

The target is to have everything ready for EVCCON 2023 in September. 

The eBugeye was present at the first EVCCON in 2011 and will be there once again twelve years later. Only this time there will be no last minute all-nighters getting things done for the show. It's nice to have a little time for a shakedown and punch list.

Welcome Home, Old Friend!

 Look who found his way back home!

Eleven years ago, the eBugeye found a new home in California with a fellow who had recently retired and was looking for a project. The batteries, charger, and controller were stripped out and repurposed in the evTD, so he received the rolling shell with the NetGain motor and adapter installed.

Barry, the new owner, added 44 100Ah CALB batteries, a SolitonJr controller, and a Thunderstruck DC/DC converter, along with all the bits and pieces to complete the project. Unfortunately Barry passed away shortly after his first test drive around the block. I asked his son, who had inherited the car, to let me know if he ever decided to sell it. After sitting in his garage for nine years, I guess he finally decided it was time to let it go. Long story short, it’s back in my garage alongside the evTD and the PorschEV.

With five cars now in the fleet, the wife notes that at least two need to find new homes. As soon as I get the Bugeye licensed and inspected (more on that below), I'll detail the Porsche, finish the new battery pack in the MG, and get both on the market. If you have interest in either or both, drop me a line and we'll work something out. I'd like them to go to a good home with someone who appreciates the special nature of these cars.

Interestingly, the Bugeye was set up for charging directly from the builder's home solar, so I need to add a charger to the system and finish some of the loose ends that were left. The good news is that I happen to have the Elcon charger formerly in the MG that is supported by the Thunderstruck control set. Thunderstruck has introduced a new Master Control Unit that incorporates the charge controller and BMS controller in a single integrated box, so that's what's going into the Bugeye. Stay tuned for more as the saga continues.

Meanwhile the Poor MG Sits ...

 Before the Porsche diversion, I had actually been making pretty good progress on the MG TD.

I had settled on another Better Place pack, twelve years old but unused, still in its "carsophagas"

Unpacking revealed the ninety six cells of electron storage with all the included bus bars and superstructure. Note the old blue GBS cells stacked against the wall.

Obviously this monolith won't fit, so reconfiguration is in order.

One long pack behind the seats

Twin banks for the front

I was so pleased with the Thunderstruck transformation in the Porsche that I duplicated that setup for the MG. So here you see the TMS2500 charger in the front bay with the forward batteries installed and the Meanwell DC/DC alongside.

Meanwhile, another opportunity interrupts ...

In for a Dime, In for a Dollar Part Deux

Here it is almost another year later, with much to report and at the same time limited progress. We noted at the end of the previous post that the EVTV charge controller in the Porsche had failed and prospects for a direct replacement were dim. A little exploring turned up a charge controller from Thunderstruck Motors that seemed to fit the bill with the added benefit that it managed the J1772 charge port as well as the DC/DC converter.

It listed support for SOME Lear chargers, so I forged ahead with a direct replacement for the fried EVTV charge controller. Turns out my Lear (Chevy Volt) charger is one that's not supported, so after an extended attempt to get it talking appropriately on the CAN bus (support from Thunderstruck was outstanding by the way), I threw in the towel and ordered the charger that the controller was designed for, the Thunderstruck TMS2500. This is a very impressive product: light weight, air cooled, very quiet, and it worked great first try.

So why not go whole hog and add the BMS to keep tabs on the battery pack? Even Jack Rickard relented on his opposition to BMS's after having a Better Place pack like mine nearly burn his shop down. I added a BMS Controller with three satellites and sprang for the BMS Display. After installing all of that kit, I finally have the Holt Grail of instrumentation, a comprehensive real time view of the state of the battery pack. Installation was straight forward if messy, so this was a real opportunity to tidy up a lot of things that got grafted into the rear harness over the years. First thing was to consolidate the mid pack contactor, DC/DC fuse, and two control relays into a box where they are vastly more maintainable than the former location hanging underneath the platform.

Each positive connection plus one negative per harness gets a BMS lead which doesn't seem so bad until you realize that adds up to 104 leads for the 96 cell pack. 

It gets a bit disorganized, 

but nothing a few zip ties can't handle.

With everything in place it makes for an attractive installation.

So after finishing up the job, what do you do the very next day? I say take it to a car show!

Between the new Scott Drive Inverter/Motor Controller and the Thunderstruck charging system and BMS, the Porsche is a smooth ride with nearly all the kinks worked out. Meanwhile the poor MG has been languishing in the garage ...