Electric vehicles to be made in Hawaii - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL Home

This is great to see!

Electric vehicles to be made in Hawaii - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL Home

Work on new charger for lithium pack

I wired up and tested the voltage on thepower supplies I got in from China. I was able to adjust the voltage to the corrct level with the power supplies wired in series.

Wind Power

Found this house with a sizable vertical access wind turbin not far from where I live on Dole st.

Be great to use that to charge my car

Sticky pots

I finally figured out how to simply solve a niggling problem I have had with the Metro for a long time. When the the car has not been driven for a day or more, when I first start out, the acceleration would be jerky. This is especially problematic for reversing, since it reverses fast. After I would drive a little while it would be nice and smooth. What I tried (and it worked), was to pump the accelerator pedal 20 times before turning on the car. Voila, smooth acceleration from the get go. So nice to solve this issue!

Packaging lithium packs

This is an image of the plates that I had cut at Honolulu community college. They were very helpful and did an excellent job. All the corners were rounded so they were ready to be installed.

I ended up using the original angle iron to secure this pack. It was actually very easy to do all I needed to do was put one plate underneath the pack. Then I put one plate on top of the pack and secured it the way it was secured before.


The pack of 10 batteries that are In the rear of the vehicle were more challenging. I bought some metal strapping from the hardware store and then used some bolts to pull the strapping tight. The metal is a thin gauge so I used four straps. It ended up being easier than I thought it might have been. Once I tightened up the straps it looked like it was very secure and would prevent any swelling of the cells.




Now I am waiting for the replacement cell from China. It should be in within two weeks, at which point I will be able to get the car back on the road.

First time on lithium power

Rear batteries

Front batteries

This is the first drive time on the lithium battteries. I finally have an outlett I can plug the car into. Big mahalo to Eric from Sunetric for wiring up the outlet. The charger draws 25 amps, so I could not use a standard outlet or extension cord. My first driving was unexentful, I do feel that the car is lighter.

There are 14 cells up front and 10 cells in the rear. I am using the same front to rear cables as before.

It's been way too long since I posted here....
Big news: I ordered lithium batteries from China. They should be in within 2 months. I am hoping to get 25 - 30 mile range once I have the new pack in.