Moving forward, now that the MEVP is practically finished, we are working on upgrading Azul’s car. His car is a 1980 Renault LeCar, also known as “The Lectric Leopard”, whch is an early production electric car, converted by U.S. ElectriCar, Athol, MA. This car never had a gasoline engine, so it can be considered a true EV.
From the factory, this car has a Prestolite MTA-4001 Series Wound DC motor driving the original 4-speed manual tranny and has no Controller. It actually has a 2-step contactor (24/48 Volt). It’s powered by 16 6 Volt, Flooded lead-acid batteries, for a total system Voltage of 48 Volts. The charger is the original 110 VAC 48 VDC with manual timer. Very cool old stuff and it all works. He gets good range (50 miles, but he has done up to 60) but it need more power to safely ride Miami’s highways…. that means without getting rear ended.
This is a really cool car, and Azul has restored it to a near mint condition. He helped us A LOT in the development of the MEVP1, so now we are helping him upgrade his car. We are going to advance the motor to put more voltage though it, put a new battery setup, a Curtis controller, pot box, new charger, DC-DC converter and a new vacuum pump. This is going to be a cool restoration/update project.
Stay tuned for updates!!! Let the MEVP2 begin…..
Well, the car turned 20… 20 miles, that is. Danny is out of town so I have been just doing minor tests and adjustments to it. Yesterday I drove it around Miami Beach, inflated the tires and fixed some of the light that weren’t working. I think we underestimated the effect the wrap would have on people. When I stopped by the auto parts store, all the guys that work in it came out to check it out and a guy from California, named Chuck, told me about an idea of creating a steam engine with a concave mirror…. I have a feeling that we will be meeting a lot of interesting people through this car.
This is gonna be fun….
We want to thank all of you who came to see us at the fair. We had a great turnout and hopefully inspired many to convert their cars into EVs. The car is running and back on South Beach, adn we will be doing some upgrades to it and testing it out, so keep checking the blog out to see how the car runs!
Sorry for not updating the blog so often, but we are working out butts of to finish the car for Green Art Fair! we hope to see you all there. The Fair opens to the public Wednesday 12/3 and it goes till Sunday 12/7. Tickets are $15. There will be a lot of cool things to see, and of course, you get to see our car finished.
You are going to love the car!!! and the show….
To check out details on the event click HERE
To see our facebook event, click HERE
Looking forward to seeing all of you there!
