[FC] Electric Rampside

[Paul Steinberg]

Don't forget to never have it towed with the wheels on the ground.  That is what killed the first electric Corvair that was built by the students at MIT back in the 1960's.  When the batteries died, it was flat towed back to the school and that burned out the motor.  I saw the actual car in the 1980's sitting in someone's back yard.  That person has since died and I believe that the car has also gone to its final resting place by being recycled into a car from Japan.  
Paul in CT
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: TiM M 
  To: FC list 
  Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 1:49 AM
  Subject: Re: [FC] Electric Rampside


       Yep, the clutch and 4 speed are still there, I
  only use first for climbing steep hills like my
  driveway... If you're driving around on relatively
  flat roads third works fine from a stop up to 55 or
  so. The motor has the torque to handle it but things
  tend to break and the motor will over heat. There is a
  guy in Oregon with an Electric Datsun that's on his
  third Ford 9" rear end, he twisted the first two, the
  one he's running now is a heavy duty special one made
  for monster trucks... this is in a Datsun 1200. The DC
  motor has an internal fan, if you run it at low RPM
  and a high load it gets hot and doesn't move enough
  air to cool it. The DC motor has a 6000RPM red line,
  spin it faster than that and it might fly apart. You
  never downshift an electric motor unless you're going
  slow enough for the lower gear or bad things can
  happen. You leave it in gear until you come to a stop,
  that may the motor stops turning and you can shift
  down. It takes a bit of getting used to when I drive
  my gas 4 speed... The AC conversions have a much
  higher RPM range. They usually lock the tranny in
  second gear and your good from a stop to around 70MPH
  or so. You also get regenerative breaking with AC, but
  it costs more and you need allot higher voltage. Pros
  and cons on both sides of that debate.
       Did some one say snow? That's the white fluffy
  stuff that falls from the sky right? I saw some of
  that in a movie last week I think.  ;-)

  TiM McCann]
  '61 Electric Rampside

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