Electric Sports Car Build Off
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Team Hogeschool Rotterdam
‘How to build your own EV’
Short summary on the book ‘How to build your own EV’,
from the authors: Seth Leitman and Bob Brant.
The book is very useful for acquiring knowledge on electric conversion vehicles, but for the
ESCBO project I just have extracted this build guide because that is of direct use to
everyone.
Build tips:
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Get a just in time arrangement concerning the parts, to do this keep an eye out for
the delivery times.
The building order is as follows:
o Chassis preparation -> remove all unnecessary parts.
o Mechanical preparation -> make all the adjustments concerning the mounts
for the electric motor, controller, BMS, Battery pack.
o Electrical installation -> make all the connections needed for the high
current system and the 12 voltage system.
o Battery installation -> make the battery connections.
Chassis preparation
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Buy chassis and all electric components except the battery.
Clean and measure chassis for installation other parts (angle/height of drive shafts,
distance flywheel-clutch plate)
Remove all unnecessary parts from the chassis
Mechanical preparation
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Install brackets for the electric motor.
Make chassis support for electric motor (old tires will work excellent for shock
absorbers)
Make electric motor connection to transmission (the adapter plate and motor shaft-toflywheel-hub)
Battery mounts and casings
All other mechanical adjustments
Clean the chassis for the next more delicate step
Electric Sports Car Build Off
Powered by Siemens
Team Hogeschool Rotterdam
Electrical installation
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First you begin with the high current system: motor, controller, circuit breaker, main
contactor, safety fuse, Ammeter, Voltmeter, SOC meter, shunts, safety interlock.
High current system must be floating, this means there must not be a connection to
the chassis! (you don’t want to arc weld your wrench to the chassis, when fastening
your batteries!)
Low/12 volt system comes next: key switch, throttle meter(pedal), Ammeter lightning,
Volt meter lightning, other instrumentation, Safety interlocks, 12v battery, safety
fuses
Voltmeter can be always on -> uses minimal power.
SOC meter must only be on when contact is on.
Battery installation
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Depending on the type of batteries, you must install a fen for when the batteries are
charging (hydrogen gas).
AC neutral connection of the charger must be connected to the chassis to prevent a
shock.
There must be a relay installed that immobilizes the vehicle when charging.
The batteries are purchased last because else they have to be constantly charged
due to self-discharged.
Make all connections to the battery clean and tight (clean battery acid with baking
soda solution in water).
When making the last battery connection, turn the circuit breaker off!
Hyperlinks
www.EVparts.com
www.electroauto.com
www.grassrootsev.com
www.KTA-EV.com
www.go-EV.com
www.metricmind.com
www.electricauto.org
www.he-cars.com
Summary ‘How to build your own EV’
Versie 1.0
Hogeschool Rotterdam
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