Throttle Assembly II

Today I visited my accountant Bob. One year ago I told Bob about this project and he's been following it ever since. As I walked into the office, he was unwinding an extension cord saying "We've been expecting you." It was hilarious. Sadly though, I couldn't help but feel little disappointed that I wasn't driving the Z3. Bob was kind enough to help me get the ONE and ONLY tax credit that I can for this entire endeavor; $75 for the installation of the charging station in the garage. Buy an electric car and the government throws money at you. Build one and they have nothing for you. Of course that's not why I'm doing it, so on to the build

Once I got home I started working and got a few things done. Remember that I had to redo the charging port in the car to handle the higher current? Well the one part I hadn't done yet was upgrade the connection from the plug under the gas cap to the charger itself. I took off the connectors that were there and installed proper 50 amp Anderson connectors. Easy work, but important.

Next I installed the first of the smaller battery boxes up front. Not difficult, just time consuming working in the tight space. Once that was in, I was able to do the final work on the throttle assembly.

In the picture, the firewall is off to the right. The throttle pedal is sitting in the newly installed smaller battery box, and the bracket you see to the right is mounted to the larger box I was working on last week. The pulling distance on the pedal is perfect. When I push the pedal in the cabin all the way to the floor, it pulls this pedal it's full throw. I built this Rube Goldberg device because it just seemed better than cutting up the factory pedal assembly and trying to rebuild it and fit in the new pedal. I just couldn't envision that going well.

The rest of the day I worked on cutting, bending and fitting some of the aluminum straps I'll be using to anchor the batteries. I'll work on getting the last box in tomorrow and finishing up the straps. I'm waiting on some ring connectors to come before I can start running all the interconnects between all the batteries.

Charger Plug Part II

Earlier I had mentioned that I was going to need to redo the charging port for the car. I found out the charger can draw up to 25 amps even though it's the 20 amp model. Well, that renders 20 amp plug I had used insufficient. After looking around for a good solution, I hit upon the same solution nearly everyone else that uses 220 for charging uses, an L6 30 amp plug. I was lucky enough to find a recessed receptacle online for a good price.


This type of plug is also a locking plug. Push it on and turn it and it won't come out accidentally. Of course I have a kill switch connected to the charging door so that I can't drive away with the car plugged in. The kill switch is under that ugly blue thing at the top of the door. I needed to put something over the switch to keep water off of it, and the best thing I could think of was a piece of a rubber glove. That's the thumb of a rubber glove. I used magic marker on the end of it, so you don't see a bright blue sliver under the gas door. Yeah, I know it's kind of cheesy, but it works.

Also, I found out that the battery guys don't have the right interconnect straps at the shop, so they are going to have to order them from China. Fortunately they will be shipped via standard package shipping, and not container ship transport. The said they'd give me an ETA as soon as they have one.

A Few Things Worth Mentioning

Today, my dad and I finished up the electric run from the service panel to the garage. I'm waiting on one part (the outlet) so that I can wire it to the box and then call the city for inspection.

Long ago I had chosen the form factor for the power plugs I would be using. Unfortunately, it was before I really understood what kind of power I would be drawing. I ended up choosing components that simply aren't up to the current I'll be sending through them.

I found out what I really need is something that can handle 240 Volts and up to 30 Amps. The best fittings for the job turn out to be NEMA L6-30. Since almost none of it is installed, it's no big deal, I just have to get the right parts and install them. Unfortunately, there is one bit that is installed, and that's the receptacle in the car. So, I'll be needing to take that apart and re-do it. The truth is, I'm kind of glad, because the new configuration will be sturdier and it will look way cooler. I'll include pictures once I'm done.

However, the best news for the day just came from FedEx. They called to arrange delivery for the batteries. Tuesday the 19th, between 2 PM and 6 PM, I will be losing some floor space in my garage to a palate of batteries. Joy!

Charger Plug

Here's a couple shots of the charger plug assembly that I've put together.



Basically I just cut a disk out of aluminum plate, carved a hole to match the back end of that plug and then fixed it into place by putting the plug on one side of the plate, and the stress relief clamps that the plug uses on the other side. Once I screwed them down into place the plug is secured and doesn't move.



This is the assembly in place under the gas cap. Seems like the most logical place to put it after all. I still need to figure out how I'm going to affix a switch in that compartment so that when the door is open, the Zilla controller is deactivated and the car won't run. After all, I don't want to mistakenly drive off with the plug connected.