Winter is Here!

I have now well over 5,000 miles on my EV and winter has arrived! My heater is installed, but I am waiting for an overflow tank before I can use the heat full time. Right now the pressure builds up and shuts down the pump because it's a closed system, but once my overflow tank arrives it will be an open system and I can run it continuously. It's about 900 watts of heat but once it gets going it does a nice job of keeping the interior warm and the windshield clean.

I have gone about 7 months without buying any gas, and I am going to spend part of this break testing the winter worthiness of my EV. I just watered the batteries last weekend, about 1/2 a gallon for the whole pack, so I don't use much water which is good. This pack now has 4,000 miles and seems to get stronger all the time. I am hoping for at least 10,000 miles from this pack, hopefully more. I have figured my break even point is about 6,000 miles due to the benefits of driving an EV, so I'm pretty happy.

Winter's Coming

I have over 4,000 miles on the EV, and now winter is coming. While the batteries are insulated, I still don't have heat in my EV yet. These past few weeks have been quite chilly, even some frost. While preheating the EV works to clear the ice, it doesn't last too long on keeping me warm.

Today was a day off from classes, so after my homework I worked on my heater. I originally had this overkill setup with all sorts of electronics, but I decided today it was unnecessary. I now just need to pick up two automotive relays and some anti-freeze and I can install this sucker on Saturday!

If all goes well, tomorrow I will pickup the last parts of the heater, get it all wired and lugged up, then Saturday I plug it into the EV and I should have an all season EV!

Harvest Energy Fair

Yesterday there was a Harvest Energy Fair at the high school, so my dad and I decided to check it out. I also decided to bring my EV to show off and check out the advertised Plug In Hybrid.

There were a local company who sells Electric Bikes there with three bikes that people could test ride. My dad took one for a spin and loved it.
There was also a Tesla Roadster! The owner just received it this past Tuesday and got word of this little event and had to show it off.
In this picture you can see my Civic EV, the 2010 Tesla Roadster and the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug In Hybrid. The new Prius has a slightly larger hatch and a 13 mile EV range, the Tesla has a 250 miles range and my Civic has a 32 mile range. My Civic and the Tesla were definitely big hits, you have the home made commuter EV and then the sports car. And yes, not only did I sit in the Tesla, I got a ride! It has some serious zip, I know what I have to modify my Civic into next!

Still Going

Well, my EV is still going! I had to buy new tires a few weeks ago, I got a flat on my way home and it was not repairable. I got Goodyear WeatherHandler Fuel Max LRR tires from Sears, and they have really good grip on the wet roads.

Last weekend I removed my batteries, cleaned out the trunk and checked water levels. Everything was great, and this weekend I am insulating the battery pack. It's been cold at night, 35F, and the batteries aren't too happy. Today I purchased two 2x8 sheets of 2" foam insulation and tomorrow I will rig up my new insulation box. This box will be twice as thick as my last box, and it will be easier to keep sealed.

I am also hoping to test my water heater this weekend. It's getting pretty cold out, but preheating the EV with the ceramic heater has worked fine the past week.

Power Windows

Since my driver's window stop working, I decided to go all in and see what the damage was. Ever since I owned the car the drivers windows was the only one that would work from the control panel on the door, the passenger windows only worked on the individual doors.

It didn't take me long to rip off the fender, side trim and finally peel back the insulation and inspect the 25 pin connector. Four wires were completely cut off and another 8 had severe cuts in them.

After inspecting the connector, I called up Honda looking for a replacement and they wanted $500 for a whole new cable! After an hour of trying to remove the pins on the broken connector I said forget this, went down to Radio Shack and pick up 25 bullet connections. After that, I spent over 3 hours cutting cables, stripping wiring, crimping, soldering and testing.

Now all my windows work from the main control panel! It has been my largest pain, which is now cured!

I have also had significant progress on my heater setup, which I will post about once I get some more time to case it up.

3K EV Miles!

Last week I cleared the 3,000 EV mile mark! (1600 miles on this pack) It's been great driving gas free, but recently I have found a few annoyances that need to be worked on.

First, I still don't have my heater installed. The mornings have been getting colder (41F this morning) so it's time I got around to install it. Preheating the EV with the ceramic heater does work great, though. But my biggest pain has been the wire harness on the door. It's 14 years old and since I got the car I haven't been able to control any passenger windows from it, but this week it decided to stop doing the drivers window too. Not cool. So this weekend I am going to take off my fender and replace the wire harness. Well, more like repair it. It has been driving me crazy not being able to open my window for some fresh air, or to open the parking gate.

If repairing this harness does indeed fix all my window issues, I will then look into replacing my dead door lock. After I get heat installed, of course.

Proof of Concept

I have completed over 6 weeks of EV driving and loving it. I have officially started my EV Proof of Concept period with this setup, and the summer testing has been great so far. I have noticed some problems, not EV related, but problems with my Civic itself, such as problematic locks and windows, but nothing that impacts the EV fun at the moment.

Now this EV was originally designed to be my entry in the EV world, as my Proof of Concept and here are my requirements for my 1 year full test:

-8,000+ miles on a single lead acid pack

-All year capable

- Maintain 40-45 MPH

-20+ miles of range reliably

-Limited to no down time

-Fun to drive

The only thing I have left to do is install my heater for the fall/winter weather. I already have 1,000 miles on this battery pack and once I get around to installing my heater I should meet all my other requirements.

I should also mention that I have indeed noticed the extra money staying in my bank account, and I do like my parking space at school/work so it has definitely been worth it. So far my EV has been a great commuter and the real test will be how it lasts the coming school year.