04-19-2009 Return of the Electric Miata

All the parts are back from draftsperson and I had time this weekend to reassemble the car. It's a lot easier when the parts are all fabricated and ready to go - kind of like having a kit... : )

In the process I took a lot of pictures for the kit's installation guide.

The installation guide is about 50% complete at this point. But it is looking good.

01-18-2009 EV Miata Conversion Kit Survey

I've gotten a number of questions about providing a conversion kit for the Miata so back in August of last year I posted a survey to determine what kind of kit people were interested in. The link was on all pages of the main www.evmiata.com site and asked you to vote for the components, battery and kit type that you'd like to see.

The choices were:

components

• 156v WarP/Zilla
• 144v WarP/Curtis
• 144v WarP/Belktronix
• 144v Selectria

Batteries

• AGM
• Lithium
• Flooded lead acid

Kit Type

• Basic - Battery racks, brackets, motor mount and adapter
• Standard - all the above plus motor charger, controller and associated parts
• Complete - all the above plus bolts, cable ties and pre-terminated cables

The results were pretty impressive:

• 405 total surveys taken so far
  
• 180 votes (45%) went with the 156v WarP/Zilla route
• 29 votes (7%) went with the 144v WarP/Curtis route
• 57 votes (14%) went with the 144v WarP/Belktronix route
• 137 votes (34%) went with the 144v Solectria route

Of those voting for the 156v WarP/Zilla...

• 102 votes (57%) were for AGM
• 65 votes (36%) were for Lithium
• 13 votes (7%) were for Flooded

And for those voting for 156v WarP/Zilla with AGM...

• 27 votes (26%) were for Basic kits
  
• 26 votes (25%) were for Standard kits
  
• 49 votes (48%) were for Complete kits
  

So, as they say in politics, the people have spoken.
I'm closing down the survey today.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the survey!

12-07-2008 Follow up KFOG interview

I got a call from Peter Finch, who does the Fog Files on a local radio station, KFOG. He wanted to do a follow up interview now that the car was running. We set a time for Sunday just before game time for a chat and a quick drive.
He showed up and pulled out a huge microphone and even huger digital recorder and, after I backed it out of the garage, got in. He asked a few questions as I pulled out, then I asked him if he had his seat belt on and punched it. To be honest, we were going downhill, but I think it made an impression on him. We then drove maybe a 10 block loop while a few people stared at the car making the funny noise driving around with a microphone in the drivers face.
We got back to the house and plugged the car in so he could record the charger doing it's thing (those radio people like stuff like that). I gave him a run down of the components and he mentioned that it all looks too simple which led him to ask why I thought Detroit couldn't build them...

Anyway, it ought to be a pretty good segment.
Not sure when it's going to air, but I'll post a link when it does.

12-06-2008 Guest Speaker at December SFEVA meeting

I was asked to show the car and speak about the car and plans for a kit at the San Francisco Electric Vehicle Association (SFEVA) meeting today. They meet first Saturday of the month at Luscious Garage in the SOMA district. As soon as I pulled the car into the shop and popped the hood I was deluged with questions and comments. I also got some great compliments from Carolyn of Luscious Garage and Pat of Pat's Garage, which I really appreciated. In general, people loved the car asked a lot of detailed questions and snapped a lot of pictures.

11-15-2008 EV Miata shake down cruise

Our prototype Miata conversion is on the road! The car is probably 85% complete, but it's good to see it on the road. This was a shake down cruise and a number of "loose ends" were identified. The video is pretty rough, but you can get an idea of the acceleration of that this conversion is capable of - and this is with lead-acid batteries!

08-02-2008 Guest Speaker at Auguest SFEVA meeting

The August San Francisco EV club meeting was focused on conversions, and Dale Miller asked me to talk about this project.
The meeting had a great turnout - people came from as far as Sacramento.
There were two guest speakers other than myself, and we each has our own agendas. The first speaker talked about solar power being going hand in hand with electric cars, I talked about the benefits of conversion kits and the need for kits on later model cars, and the last speaker talked about the beauty of a simple truck conversion. There were a surprising number of really good questions from the group - obviously a lot of people there were seriously considering a conversion and were deep into the research phase.

03-29-2008 EV Miata interview on KFOG Radio

Peter Finch from KFOG came by to do a short piece on my Miata project and my neighbor's veggie oil burning Mercedes diesel. It's short, but I think it gets the message across that regular people can do something rather than wait for the auto makers to build alternative fuel vehicles. It's due to broadcast for a week, but you can listen to it on KFOG.com at the link below:

Fog files gas free.mp3

A longer version of the interviews is found in a "The Beat of the Bay" show on people having "Ah Ha!" experiences:

Beat of the Bay Ah Ha.mp3