'' Renault 12 Conversion (the Junk Truck)
This was my very first project, high on learning and low on budget. In the mid-70's there was not nearly the body of literature available on the subject that exists today. The vehicle was given to me, the starter-generator came from a surplus house, the cabling was bought from a scrap yard...you get the idea. This was being built using the "spare cash" of a full-time university student (oxymoron). At 48 volts, using eight 6-volt truck starter batteries, it had a range of about 12 miles on a charge, and a maximum speed of just over 40 mph in 2nd gear. In first gear it would nearly climb straight up! It wasn't pretty, it didn't have much range or performance, but it worked and I've been hooked on pollution-free transportation ever since. I eventually disassembled this vehicle to sell off the parts, and ended up close to breaking even.
I don't know why, but I have had several requests for images of this nasty brute. OK, I found some. Any prescient similarity between the shape of the nose of this vehicle (1978-81) and the current line of Dodge Ram trucks is purely coincidental (but if Daimler-Chrysler wants to send me a cheque, it's OK by me). ''
''1975 EVA Metro (Renault 12 Conversion)
This is a 1975 Renault 12 which was converted to electric power by Electric Vehicle Associates in Cleveland, Ohio in 1975, and renamed the EVA Metro, 1976 model year. The vehicles supplied by Renault were gliders, that is there was no gasoline engine, exhaust system or related components in the vehicle as it left the Renault assembly line and delivered to EVA. This vehicle has never been driven under its own power by anything other than electric propulsion.
The EVA Metro appeared in the 1977 American Presidential Inauguration Parade. It is not clear if this is the specific vehicle which appeared in the parade, however, the colouring of the vehicle appears to match that in black & white photos of the vehicle in the parade (reasonably dark, but not black).
This vehicle was one of seven purchased by the Province of Manitoba from EVA. This specific car was the personal use vehicle of Premier Ed Schreyer while he was Premier of Manitoba - he was later Governor-General of Canada. He confirmed this to me when I met him at a conference where I displayed the vehicle.
Due to problems with battery charging and maintenance, most of the vehicles in the Manitoba fleet fell into disuse and were auctioned off by the Province of Manitoba circa 1980. This vehicle was purchased by a gentleman in Brantford, Ontario who did not return it to operation while he owned it. I purchased it from him in 1982, installed a new battery pack and repaired some minor mechanical items and put it back on the road in June of 1982. I have had it ever since, although it has not been in operating condition continuously during that time.
The vehicle was originally fitted with a Cableform Pulsomatic motor controller, a Baldor 96 volt series wound motor, 16 golf-cart (lead-acid) batteries, and a custom-built "Battery Marshall" charger for the main traction pack, and a separate ESB charger for the 12 volt accessory system. The motor was mounted to the original flywheel of the original 3-speed automatic transmission. The traction pack charger was capable of charging from either 220 volt or 110 volt circuits. The original braking system was retained, with vacuum for the power-assist brakes being provided by a separate pump which drew power from the accessory battery system. Two accessory batteries were provided in the original vehicle, a relatively standard starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) battery in the trunk behind the rear seat, and a very thin battery behind the front grill in the "engine" compartment, connected in parallel. Six traction batteries were mounted over the motor under the hood, and the other ten in the trunk, all in steel frames both above and below the batteries. The vehicle was reported to have reached 58 mph in this configuration. The vehicle also carried a gasoline powered heater in the trunk which heated fluid which was then pumped through the original heater core in the vehicle's dash area. A one-gallon gasoline tank was mounted on the side of the engine compartment to fuel the heater.
I have made several changes the vehicle in the 15 years I have owned it. The gasoline heater has been removed and replaced by electric heaters that draw power from the main traction pack. There is only one accessory battery, mounted in the trunk. The original charger failed shortly after I started to use it, and has been replaced by a home-brew "Bad Boy" charger based on a Variac and a bridge rectifier, and more recently (1996) by a solid state (K&W) charger. The Baldor motors were not up to the task of powering this vehicle, and two failed in this vehicle. It currently uses an Advanced DC 9-inch motor. The original steel battery frames have been replaced with aluminum racks for the bottoms of the batteries only. The batteries are strapped to the racks using nylon web straps similar to seatbelt material. There are now 7 golf-cart batteries under the hood, and 9 in the trunk. The current battery pack is made up of Trojan T-125 batteries. The original automatic transmission has been replaced by a 4-speed manual transmission, retaining the clutch assembly. This has improved low-end acceleration (eliminating the wind-up of the torque converter), but reduced the top end speed slightly. Top speed I have achieved in this configuration is 66 mph according to the car's speedometer (106km/h). I have acquired a Curtis DC/DC converter to keep the 12-volt battery charged from the main pack, but this has not yet been installed.
The Renault has been retired from regular service. It is still operational, but the difficulty in acquiring parts (especially brake parts) has meant that it goes out of service for extended periods of time whenever parts are required. As a result, it has been replaced as my daily driver by the ELF (see below). It awaits refurbishing or a new home in a museum befitting its singular place in Canadian EV history.''
Re: DACIA TUNING
Re: DACIA TUNING
))))))
da' vreu sa ii fac trecere pe curent trifazic ca sa mearga mai tare 
