AC/DMC - electric powered DeLorean

[mr_maxime]

I've been talking to gotgraham on Instagram for my swap so I can answer some basic stuff and let him elaborate on everything else. He steered me towards a less complicated solution so I'll focus on that. This is the kit I got with accessories. https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/dilithium-vcu.html I had them swap the leaf pedal for their throttle pot.

Leaf onboard charger won't work outside the leaf. He told me he's using the 6.6kw elcon charger. I plan on using the same.

12v gets charged with DC DC converter from Chevy, (volt or bolt can't remember). The thunderstruck controller is programmed to work with it. Gotgraham is using his own controller.

Brake regen is programmable with the controller and I think gotgraham has it in his too. There is zero throttle regen which works when throttle input is 0v, and brake regen which works by splicing into the brake light. When brake light is the controller ignores throttle input.

I got an entire used motor assembly out of a wrecked car on ebay. This included the charger (power delivery module) , inverter, motor and transmission. There are so many wrecked leafs that you can get really good deals.

Using the stock inverter isn't as exciting as this car, but its a less complicated route to take to start off with.

[Drive Stainless]

I enjoyed reading through these free DIY plans for an inverter and also watching his (MPaulHolmes's) videos:

https://www.instructables.com/id/200...-Electric-Car/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FUEo_TXSDg

[mr_maxime]

I enjoyed reading through these free DIY plans for an inverter and also watching his (MPaulHolmes's) videos:

https://www.instructables.com/id/200...-Electric-Car/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FUEo_TXSDg

Here's another one for the leaf motor. I believe he was working on turning it into a kit

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/vi...96a92597f04532

[Bob635]

Absolutely beautiful work!

[gotgraham]

Dang, that is awesome. As an Engineer at Nissan, Leaf Owner and DeLorean owner, this is really awesome and basically something I've been thinking about doing myself. Sorry for the million questions, but this is great!

1. Are you using the BMS from the Battery Pack? Essentially, did you just take apart the pack and moved the modules to fit in the vehicle?
2. Are you using the Leaf Onboard Charger, Vehicle Control Module or any original modules?
3. Have you modified the 12V System much? It seems like you are doing quite a bit of work to it but wondering how much you are changing.
4. Are you adding Power Steering to it? Not sure how much more the battery adds to the weight and over all feel of the car while driving.
5. Since you are using Mechanical Pedal with Pot, does Regen braking still work on it?
6. Have you considered using the Side Pontoon areas to put some of the Battery Modules?
7. Did you buy the Powertrain new, used, donor/scrap car?

That's about all the questions I have for now... Again, that is awesome and some great stuff man. Seeing this is very motivating!

Thank you! No prob!

1 - I'm using the Zeva EVMS v3 for my BMS. I'm using 48 Gen1 Leaf modules - 24 in the rear and two groups of 12 up front.
2 - I'm not using any of the Leaf electronics. For DC-DC I'm using the Chevy Volt unit. Charger is Elcon TC 6.6kW.
3 - When I bought the car, the factory harness was in horrible shape. I removed all of the main harness and replaced it with a rear-engine Painless wiring kit.
4 - No power steering. It feels pretty good. There'a about 200 lbs extra up front. It doesn't seem to change the feel much.
5 - Yep, regen works. My motor drive has 2 throttle inputs. One for regen and one for accel. I can adjust how much regen I have with the 2nd pot. When I back off the accel, the regen phases in. I have it limited to 70 battery amps regen. I guess that would be about 25kW.
6 - I didn't consider it, but it's a good idea. At least for a few modules. I bet you could fit 6-8 modules in the sides. I'm curious how the weight would affect the fiberglass. Not sure how strong it is.
7 - I bought the complete motor assembly from a wrecking yard from a 2016 Leaf.


This is the motor drive / inverter I'm using. I bought the bare boards from Arlin, parts from Digikey, made a reflow oven and assembled the boards. I would not recommend this route unless your electronics background is pretty good. I spent almost 6 months sorting stuff with it. It works great now though! The main issue is that the working component values / revisions to the board don't match his docs - so it was a lot of debugging with a scope to get things right. It's a great design though. Car hauls ass.

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/vi...96a92597f04532

[gotgraham]

Absolutely beautiful work!

Thank you!!

[Timeless]

This is 100% fantastic. I saw the Teslonda at SEMA and snapped some photos. I hope I make it this year to see this in person. Great work!

.... and I was lucky and saw it at SEMA 2019. I'm the one who ran out to snap a couple photos during the Friday afternoon roll-out. He's a shortened video from the roll-out at the rear of the convention center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWDbSvBlt54

[gotgraham]

.... and I was lucky and saw it at SEMA 2019. I'm the one who ran out to snap a couple photos during the Friday afternoon roll-out. He's a shortened video from the roll-out at the rear of the convention center.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWDbSvBlt54

Oh fun! I remember. That was a fun show.