2CV conversion to fuel cells

[FairAir]

As the UK Government will not fund any fuel cell vehicle applications other than by OEMs, we decided to build a fuel cell powered 2cv to drive to Cop26. The fuel cell stack will be 3.5kW built by us from our own designed and fabricated alkaline fuel cells. They will charge a battery pack giving a range of 300 miles. The choice of a 2cv was that; we have one, it is ubiquitous, it’s fun, it demonstrates that any vehicle can be converted and it is a simple car. We invite anyone interested, wanting to learn more or wishing to contribute some time and knowledge, to join us. It is being assembled in France and will be driven to Paris, London and then Glasgow for the festivities. We want to embarrass the French and British Governments by showing that innovation is not dead and its not just their dinner pals who can accomplish serious change. The fuel cells will run on hydrogen produced from aluminium reactions and the total budget is 10,000 euros.

So our starting point was to blindly buy what looked like a cheap motor, a Meiden Y61 which is rated as 60 or 70kW (depending on source) and 400V AC. A lot hours on the the internet and watching of youtube revealed that it is from a Mitsubishi Outlander.

We set about trying to find an inverter which was in-expensive. We soon realised that the combination of cheap motor and inverter are difficult to come buy, it seems you get one cheaper and the one to control it costs more.

We went down the route of looking at industrial inverters and upgrading components, but the upgrades were as expensive if not more than an off the shelf industrial inverter which would have cost in the region of £5k.

It wasnt until we contacted EVBreakers and was inquiring about full drivetrains that they put us onto Damiens site EVBMW which lead us here. What a find!

So, from the information we have read here, we have purchased a Toyota Auris/Yaris inverter from EVBreakers along with data and power cables for £180 including delivery.

We believe that we can purchase Damien's controller board (https://www.evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-w ... -board-kit) to get this working.

We are a collaboration of people working together remotely to provide a market for our fuel cells which we will gladly teach anybody (so long as you agree to terms of use). We are coming at this EV conversion with no prior knowledge other than what we can carry across from our paid jobs and past experiences, but we aim to be as open as possible so other new comers can learn from our mistakes.

Will post more as we move on, and if anybody is interested in getting involved please do!

[PaulHeystee]

Hi,
I am certainly interested, I am working on a Daihatsu Rocky/Fourtrack 4x4 using a Nissan Leaf motor and inverter.
The usage of this 4x4 is for foresters and nature reserves so electric would be perfect for both environment and noise (lack of)
This Hydrogen fuel cell pack would be a good addition I think.
However I also have plans for a Citroen Ami conversion (in France)
If you have any questions, please let me know.

Regards
Paul

[SuperV8]

Sounds interesting but don't you need to size the fuel cell for constant speed/cruise demands? 3.5kw is only about 4.5bhp - so not enough for cruising speed and the battery (presume smaller than a regular BEV?) would deplete.

[arber333]

We are a collaboration of people working together remotely to provide a market for our fuel cells which we will gladly teach anybody (so long as you agree to terms of use). We are coming at this EV conversion with no prior knowledge other than what we can carry across from our paid jobs and past experiences, but we aim to be as open as possible so other new comers can learn from our mistakes.

Will post more as we move on, and if anybody is interested in getting involved please do!

It is just what we need. Water goes in and H2 goes out. This however is only halfh of application. Can you elaborate what do you use to make 3.5kW of electricity? Is this step integrated into the Al - water cell or is it to be separate.

My interest is domestic power. There you have time. During the day the sun + fuel cell provide power and cell works solo during the night. For that 3kW is sufficient. Please send me more details.

tnx

Arber

[FairAir]

Apologies for the lack of info. The pandemic and other work has meant that I've not been able to do much on this.

We did get two interns in France to move this forward and I will try and upload what they have done, and I will be trying to get the motor spinning over the next day or two.

To answer the question regarding 3kW. This project is a demonstration of what we can do with no money and is to embarrass policy makers and "experts" who turn us down for funding. We will have batteries and the 3kW is to range extend. Running the fuel cells at full power makes most sense and the aim is to reduce batteries required and size the fuel cell to keep the batteries above 70% (although we wont achieve that in this project) prolonging their life, however we intend to increase the installation of fuel cells to reach this objective once we get funds.

If you would like to know more about the fuel cells, please email us at Info@FairAir.London as I would like to try and keep this thread a document of what we have done for people to follow. The detailed information around the fuel cells can only be shared with people who have signed up to manufacture them in their local area, setting up their own Collaborative Manufacturing Enterprise, which we will help with, under a license agreement.

[FairAir]

The attached document is a description of what we plan to do

[FairAir]

We received our Auris/Yaris inverter board from Damien, and Alexandre Lemaire tested it and documented his test procedure (attached file)

[RetroZero]

I better get in contact with you then. I'm in France, trying à similar venture, got my Prius motor and Inverter running in a golf cabriolet and need to get onto batteries...