openinverter forum

Electric Mx5 build - Zero EV

With the Porsche Boxster build complete now is time for the next build to keep us busy. viewtopic.php?f=11&t=292

This little Mazda MX5 Mk2 will serve as a base for our conversion, we hope to document as much of this build as possible on social media, youtube and this forum. Ofcourse the car had to be Electric Yellow to qualify for the conversion.

The build will be used to showcase the products and techniques used by Zero-EV, this will help others understand the workings/process of doing a conversion. Feel free to ask questions on any topics you would want more info on during this build.

A quick overview of the components to be utilised in this build:
-Hyper9 motor and controller
-Zero-EV 1.8:1 reduction
-26kwh LG battery pack consisting of 10 x 2.6kwh modules mounted onto liquid coolant plate
-Orion 36 bms
-6.6kw TC charger
-1,5kw TC dcdc

The idea is to show you a way of doing a conversion where the engine and gearbox are removed and a full electric drive train slips into place

Cool. Well documented projects from actual commercial EV conversion companies are a context we don't often get to see.

Naturally you'll make different decisions than a self-DIYer would.

Of course the car had to be Electric Yellow to qualify for the conversion.

Well of course. Otherwise you'd just have to paint it yellow afterwards and who wants to do that? Starting with a yellow car (so it moves faster) is just common sense. Yellow adds at least 13% horsepower over inferior colors.

MattsAwesomeStuff wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 5:24 pm Well of course. Otherwise you'd just have to paint it yellow afterwards and who wants to do that? Starting with a yellow car (so it moves faster) is just common sense. Yellow adds at least 13% horsepower over inferior colors.

Forgot to mention, this example has leather heated seats, an option that any electric conversion needs really. You want to feel warm more than the cabin actually needs to be warm.

Not one open inverter component, very interesting....

joromy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:31 am Not one open inverter component, very interesting....

So? We will document all that is needed to keep the car working all of that open source. It is more informational than a real guide.

tom91 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 11:17 am

joromy wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 2:31 am Not one open inverter component, very interesting....

So?

This is the open inverter and we probably need a decision on whether purely commercial projects are 'allowed' to be promoted through this forum. I fully appreciate the amazing work that you and Zero EV undertake in supporting open source but maybe this crosses a line? I'll raise the issue with Johannes and Damien and see what they think.

Hm... That motor is heavy.
Hyper9 motor is PM reluctance motor.
Maybe they could at least try to run it with Johannes controler in some DIY inverter? Just to prove it can be done.
And then save parameters here .
Or maybe they could contribute the drawing for the Mazda MX5 transmission plate.

A lot can be made vis a vis...

I didn't know that only Open Inverter projects were allowed.

When a bunch of people migrated over here from the DIYEV forum, I was under the impression that it was allowed to be a home of anyone who wants to talk about EV stuff.

Beyond the founders preferences, which take priority, from a community perspective I don't see what the issue would be with a commercial maker documenting their build here. Maybe they'll benefit from it being advertising, but as long as their project log is genuinely a project log, I'd enjoy it as much as I would anyone else's. We almost never see commercial shops actually documenting their builds.

I agree. Please continue.

MattsAwesomeStuff wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:31 pm Beyond the founders preferences, which take priority, from a community perspective I don't see what the issue would be with a commercial maker documenting their build here. Maybe they'll benefit from it being advertising, but as long as their project log is genuinely a project log, I'd enjoy it as much as I would anyone else's. We almost never see commercial shops actually documenting their builds.

johu wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:33 pm I agree. Please continue.

Thanks for the clarification, the reason behind this build is double sided. So to show to people how easy/the process of doing a build, so the education side of things. And the other side to create a series that can be used as reference for the many questions we get from our customers/the community, so as said any questions along the way please ask and we will try to explain the choices.

Update on some math, the original car should do just under 10s 0-60 mph and with the indicated setup a time under 8 seconds should be do-able.

tom91 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:24 pm Forgot to mention

This was your first post in the thread. Are you the same person who is posting under the "Zeroev" name?

Of course! Now I see the real reason for the Netgain motor, you are doing a pocket rocket.
Will you use transmission or just the driveshaft?

Tnx

A

Will be great to follow another conversion.

Also noteworthy that zeroev/TDB have provided plenty of open source solutions, through this forum, to help DIY'ers such as myself.

xp677 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 10:57 pm

tom91 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 8:24 pm Forgot to mention

This was your first post in the thread. Are you the same person who is posting under the "Zeroev" name?

I should probally clarify, I work for Zero-EV and drafted the entry thread.

arber333 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 06, 2020 6:37 am Of course! Now I see the real reason for the Netgain motor, you are doing a pocket rocket.
Will you use transmission or just the driveshaft?

We wil be using the driveshaft and our own reduction, the top speed sits around 75 mph at the moment. There are some diff options available for the MX5 so we will probally end up doing some testing with various ratios.

johu wrote: ↑Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:33 pm I agree. Please continue.

Thanks for the clarification

Zeroev wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 4:09 pm -26kwh LG battery pack consisting of 10 x 2.6kwh modules mounted onto liquid coolant plate

Are these the 'Pacifica' batteries? How much cooling is necessary?

EDIT Or the I-Pace? https://zero-ev.co.uk/product/i-pace-ba ... le-2-6kwh/

The second packs, not the Pacifica hybrid packs.

As running 10 bricks give you a 30S pack at 26 kWh which is a good amount for a small car.

A new episode is out.

Here we go through all the parts we will be using in out build. Feel free to leave questions under the video or in this topic.



Depending on how much time we get process can be relatively quickly.

Was that Tom I spotted wiggling out the engine?

Jack Bauer wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:05 am Was that Tom I spotted wiggling out the engine?

Yes sometimes I do get out from behind the keyboard to do some manual labour.

On the MX5, she is washed down and now waiting on being scanned next week so we can start doing some CAD designs in Fusion 360.

Great work Chris and Tom

Will interesting to see if the HyPer 9 will cut the mustard in single gear output

Cheers Conrad

Interesting. These ipace modules seem to be the perfect fit for my vw van conversion. Even better than tesla modules. Also somehow the full aluminium enclosure gives me a better feeling from a safety perspective as well.

Do you know if the holes on the side can be used for mounting as well? Are these holes on both sides? And if instead of the bottom of the module the side of the modules can be used as a cooling interface? Probably not most efficient, but in the end its aluminium all around, so heat will be transferred, I guess.

tmotion wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2020 2:38 pm Interesting. These ipace modules seem to be the perfect fit for my vw van conversion. Even better than tesla modules. Also somehow the full aluminium enclosure gives me a better feeling from a safety perspective as well.

Do you know if the holes on the side can be used for mounting as well? Are these holes on both sides? And if instead of the bottom of the module the side of the modules can be used as a cooling interface? Probably not most efficient, but in the end its aluminium all around, so heat will be transferred, I guess.

You can only use the 4 large bolt holes to bolt it down.

The main section is an extrusion, so you can cool any side or more sides.

An update, made some progress but right now its waiting on some parts to prepare the MX5 and fix the underlying car before doing the conversion work.

Another episode out on the MX5