September 2011 to Present
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Sept 6, 2011 - After much fiddling with the bodywork, I finally am ready to take it to the paintshop. |
Oct 1, 2011 - The paint shop was quite busy so they didn't actually start to spray the final coat on until October.
It looks quite orange in this picture because of the lights in the shop. The real colour is much more yellow. |
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Oct 10, 2011 - All back together and ready to be appraised for the insurance. |
| Oct 11, 2011 - Getting ready to trailer the car to get the Safety Inspection done. |
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Oct 13, 2011 - I was more than a little nervous when I went to the MOT office to finalize the registration as an electric vehicle. As it turned out, It was quite straight forward. I was issued my new ownership, plates, and EV stickers within about 10 minutes. |
| Oct 16, 2011 - Finally got a short break from all the rain we've been having lately and got to drive around the neighbourhood legally. The performance is awsome. First gear is pretty well useless - all you get is wheel spin. I ended up just leaving it in 3rd gear and driving it as if it was an automatic. |
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Oct 21, 2011 - The car looked too plain being all yellow so I decided to add a racing stripe. I designed the stripe using a halftone fade at the edges and my logo and Danger High Voltage warning on the rear deck. It was printed on clear vinyl so that the yellow would show through. |
| Oct 23, 2011 - Just got everything finished just in time for the annual EVFest electric car show in Toronto. I won first prize for Best Technical Construction. |
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Nov 1, 2011 - Now that I've driven the car around a few times, I decided that I didn't like the 5-point racing harness that I had installed. Too bulky and awkward. I welded some brackets on to the roll bar and installed a pair of regular 3-pont seat belts that I had salvaged from the Suzuki Swift. Much better and more comfortable. |
Nov 2, 2011 - 15°C today and no rain - time for a drive around the neighbourhood. Lots of stop-and-go. Here is some data that I logged:
Distance - 26.9 km
Ride time - 49 min
Max speed - 68 kph
Max RPM - 5780
Energy used - 2.7 kWh
Motor temp - 34°C
Controller temp - 44°C
I was quite pleased. That's only 100Wh/km which translates to 0.6¢/km based on off-peak charging. |
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