EVFEST Electric Vehicle Show Sunday Oct.23/2011

EV Fest 2011 Electric Car Show

Toronto's Premier Electric Vehicle Fall Festival Opens the Door Wider to OEM's by Offering Neutral Ground for 2011!

Sunday,
October 23, 2011
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Guests Register: $5
550 Bayview Avenue

See: Electric Vehicles, including Cars, Trucks, Motorbikes, Hybrids, Plug-in Hybrids, eBikes, Electric Scooters, Trikes, and More!

New for EV Fest 2011: Ride & Drive Events;
Longer Show Hours, More OEM EV's on site!

Tell your Friends, Business Associates, Suppliers, Customers, and Neighbors!

Site Location:
Holcim Gallery, Evergreen Brickworks,
550 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario

On Site Parking - Shuttle Drop Off

EV Fest continues it's Goal to be the Best Electric Vehicle Show in Canada, and has responded with the selection and choosing of the 2011 site: Evergreen Brickworks,Toronto's Largest Outdoor Farmers Market, and the home of Better Place and a site for AutoShares new Electric Vehicles.

EV Fest invites you to tell all your friends on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and all your favourite Blogs and Forums about EV Fest 2011, Toronto's Premier Electric Vehicle Fall Festival!

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Register Now:EV Fest Guests Register Here;
(Also Families and EV Fest Volunteers)

Bringing a Show Vehicle or other Important Electric Vehicle Items?
EV Fest Exhibitors Register Here.

Getting Here: (Bus, Car, Bike, and on Foot Instructions)

By Bus:

-Shuttle: There is a Free Shuttle Bus Departs from the parkette on Erindale Ave east of Broadview Ave (just north of Broadview subway station).

Shuttle bus pickup location on Google Maps The shuttle bus is wheelchair accessible.
Pets are not permitted on the shuttle bus, but service animals such as guide dogs are permitted.

- By TTC: Take the 28A bus from Davisville subway station. Sundays between 8:30am and 6pm. Service every 30 minutes. Departs from Davisville on the :00 and :30 and from Evergreen Brick Works on the :15 and :45.



By Car:

- View the Map At the Right and zoom as needed, or Open this Map Link:

From the Don Valley Parkway: Take the exit for Bloor Street/Bayview Avenue and exit right to head north on Bayview for 300 metres until you come to Evergreen Brick Works.

From Downtown: It is easiest to access Bayview Avenue from River Street, which runs north from King Street and joins Bayview just north of Gerrard Street.

From East York: The easiest way to approach Bayview Avenue from the east is via Pottery Road, which runs between Broadview Avenue (north of Bloor) and Bayview Avenue. Travel 700 metres south on Bayview until you come to Evergreen Brick Works on your right.

Our on-site parking is managed by the Toronto Parking Authority, and paid parking is in effect. Parking is not permitted on Bayview Avenue. Parking on Bayview is very unsafe, and is signed “No Parking.” City staff are obligated to issue parking tickets in this area.

Evergreen Brick Works has pay-per-use parking spots for up to 300+ vehicles but other user activities may reduce the number of parking spots available.

Evergreen promotes a ‘no idling’ policy for all areas onsite.

Parking is Currently -
Maximum $6.00 Per Day. Also $1.00 Per Half Hour.

If you must come by car, please consider reducing the environmental impact by sharing your ride.

For additional tips on sharing see the Evergreen Brickworks Carpool Zone information here.

By Bike - Instructions Here, and by Foot, Instructions here.

If you made it to here - You are ready to join us!

Free Solar Hot Air Collector

I hate throwing anything out untill I have exhausted my mind, searched the web or visited Instructables for other potential uses. I have not found a hot air collectors made from light fixtures so here you go.

Electric Car Conversion;
http://goeving.blogspot.com/

YouTube Solar Hot Air Collectors;
http://www.youtube.com/user/EcoGreenGroup

Making a solar hot air collector out of free used 2 x 4 metal light fixtures, free old glass and free black paint to reduce our carbon body tape outline, reduce our untility bills and save money. We are building and installing 14 of these hot air collectors on our south wall of our 140 year old house in Ontario, Canada. During sunny days in the winter these will completely heat our house for about 6 hours. After we make these, we will join them together venting the cold air from the bottom of the rooms and exhaust the top vents to the top of rooms. The fans will help increase the air flow to these rooms. The next collectors that we make will also be insulated and have a metal baffle inside to help concentrate the heat. The collectors then will be connected to the house and flexable dryer duct inside the house will vent heat to various rooms . Check out our You tube home page for more info. • Free Heat. • No Fuel Needed. • Renewable. • Cost effective. • Green. • Recycled.

Out of the closet

Hello Everyone
The Electric Pontiac Fiero will see the public for the first time at a private Canadian Tire Show and Shine on June 12 2011 at the Canadian Tire Family Fun Day. Many employees who heard and saw the project start as an idea come reality with many employees’ comments and ideas helping in the design will have a chance to see, sit touch and learn. We will have handouts, flyers and answer any and all questions. The car is licensed, insured and all legal. It again was made with all recycled parts, most coming from used forklift parts and batteries.
Hope to see you there.
Stephen Smith
A.K.A Eco Steve

Electric Conversion From Gas To Electric Completed

We have just completed our conversion from gas to electric, two weeks ago the Fiero passed it's safety test with no problems. We had the car licensed and plated the following week. We have had a few road tests, trying to find the actual range per charge. We are averaging about 40-50 km's (24.8-31.7 miles) per charge with a charging cost that has averaged about $0.67 and taking about 3 hours to charge from a standard 115 volt ac plug rated at 15 amps. The top speed averages about 80 km per hour (49.71 miles) The range and speed performance is not bad for used UPS (uninterrupted power supply) batteries from a computer back up system. We hope in the near future to purchase lithium batteries which will most definitely increase the range to about 140 km (87 miles), improve the top speed to about 100 km per hour and have a battery life between 5 and 10 years.

A Whole Battery Of Tests

After doing a whole lot of calculations we decided on 18 Deka 45HR2000S batteries for traction and 1 Deka 45HR2000S for the 12 volt ACC DC Loads.



Below is a battery pack and group design.





After configering the battery group arangements, next will be to complete the removable rear battery shelves and finish installing the transmission back in the car.

By the way here is a picture of a naked Fiero

Being a Eco Pro Recycler

Here are a few strict guide lines that I follow to ensure a happy and productive partnership of parts. Remember most companies have to pay to get rid of some surplus.


1.If you don't ask you will not receive, but don't steal!
2.Tell them what you are really doing, don't lie, they may be even more happy to help you if they really dig your project.
3.If they say no because they need it, don't steal, ask if they may know where you may get one.
4.Offer to pick up the part(s) at their convenience night or day and if you are qualified, offer to remove the parts with your own tools and ask what tools you will need when and if you need to come back (mechanics are very sensitive of their tools).
5.If they scrap parts for scrap metal weight or trade them in for a core charge, offer to pay them in cash for that.
6.If you have special skills that they may use, you can also barter your services for their parts.
7.Don't sell the parts for any reason, if the donor company finds out they will cut you off.
8.Clean up after yourself.
9.Don't be a pain in the rump, ask when to call again or if they want to call you.
10.Don't hog things' spread the wealth give things away too, ask if they need it back if you can't use it after all.
11.Don't sort or separate there take it all home, don't be a pest and most important - clean up after yourself.
12.Do be very thankful.
13.Do be educational.
14.Do be humble.
15.Do bring 1 or 2 pictures of you project so they may see your vision and also become inspired.
16.Have fun and wear safety shoes and always have a first aid kits.

Spraying On Your Trunks

Asphalt Undercoating was sprayed to the entire trunk and wheelwell area and at $7 and $10 a pop at Canadian Tire www.canadiantire.ca really cleans things up.

And They Say I Don't Have A Spline

So trying to find the spline that would fit the Crown TSP drive motor donated four weeks ago came up short, but the same fantastic corporation was replacing two drive gear systems in a lift truck and donated them for our project. Each drive system weighs about 200 lbs.

Spline Removal Purpose Video 1


Spline Removal Purpose Video 2


Spline Removal Tool Video

Having A Wheel Well Good Time

Time to repair all the rust outs, this will be my first time working with Bondo fibreglass with hair. As does everyone else in the world embarking on a new project, I have now completed 93 straight hours of YouTube tutorials and now feel qualified and brave enough to crack the first can of Bondo, I received 5 cans of Bondo free so when I make a few mistakes I won't cry to loudly. I have long ago and lots of times used Bondo Body Filler alone, let the fun begin.

Battery shelf rust out.

Right and Left wheel well rusted right through.

Things That Were Never Meant To Go Together

Here is a close up of the two main components but three things that were never meant to go together.

1. On the right - 1984 Pontiac Fiero standard transmission.



2. On the left - 72 Volt 7.6 Kilo-Watt Crown TSP drive motor.



3. Me 39 year old dreamer that can't let anything go to waste.

The 2 drive motor power a 14,000 lb or 7 ton lift truck.

Wire Wire In The Wall

Now comes the time to find a shorted ground wire in the frame tunneling, body frame or light socket that is for the tail, licence plate and side marker lights. The stop, turn, hazzard and brake lights work.

1. 1st. You need this.

2ND. You will need this.

3rd. You may need 13 of these.

Mounting Battery Rails

Mounting the battery bank rails made out of used aluminum transport trailer roof rails. that were donated to the project. Remember people ask if you can have it, everything for the project was donated.









Son riveting battery rails in place. How many kids are building Electric Cars these days, I know of only one. Despite the sad look on his face he is actually having fun.

















Load testing the battery grouping with a little jump.







Video jumping.







Battery configuration, trying to maximize space and balance the weight of all the pack. Each pack weighs 20 lbs, so just in the front there is 360 lbs.

After the battery placement has been finalized then we will add both fibreglass and rigid insulation to enclose the boxes to maintain the heat for the winter time. We will add vents and controls for the summer time.

These rails were cut down to bridge the gap across the front void where the spare tire (center) and the radiator (right) use to be.

These rails were also riveted in place by our son, he also calculated the correct Ah capacity that the car would need to travel 150 km.

Every One Need A Little Fibre

A fantastic person donated a whole pail of fibreglass cloth towards the project. I was going to slow down on the project and try to save and budget to buy more cloth to enclose the battery pack areas for the winter time but a great Guy happened along.

Hey You With The Tractor!!

When you have great neighbours great things happen.

So Kris just happened to go by in his car seeing if his younger brother needed his help finishing up a few contracts (Kris has his own landscaping business) and said he would pop by in about a half hour, he was back in 13 minutes with his Grand Parents tractor (better than pizza delivery).

Drop What Your Doing!!!

So it was a clear fresh day about 23 degrees, classic rock playing on the radio, bird chirping in the trees.

Time to pull out the air compressor and vacate the entire engine, transmission, suspension and exhaust, what the hay I had twenty three minutes to kill before we had to go "THAT WEDDING".

So my wife said that that the newly weds would not, could not even in a boat, with a goat and even a poke needed or use a 1984 Pontiac Fiero 2.5 litre engine (rebuilt) as a wedding gift. I don't think she knows Dave the way I do, I think the two of them would have cried.

Actual time to drop motor 5 hours now comes the task of cleaning the entire engine compartment.

So Electric Cars Could Never Suit Your Life Style!

Some of the excuses that I get daily as to why an electric car could never suit peoples life style.

1. "I need a car that could go 300km at a time."

• Average daily round trip is less than 64.37 km (40 miles)
• Most electric cars can handle a 100km trip on a single charge.

2. "Electric cars cost to much to convert a car to electric"

• You can convert a car with off the shelf parts from $5,000.00 to $10,000.00
• Convert your next car to electric instead of buying another "Dino Drinker".

3. "My hydro bill will go through the roof charging a electric car"

• Charging a electric car costs $0.026 per km (0.016 miles)
• Oven 58 kilowatts per hour $0.638 per hour

Example

I have a commute of 133 km (82.64 miles) x $.026 per km is will cost us $3.46 per day, 4 days per week $13.84 per week, 4 weeks per month $55.36, full year $664.32

Presently I spend $60 per week on "Dino Juice" x 52 weeks = $3120.00 - $664.32 = $2464.88 saved each year.

So if a car cost $10,000.00 to convert will have a payback date in just over 4 years but your normal "Dino Drinker" would have no payback time. Our car will cost just over $2000.00 to convert having a targeted payback of just under a year.

4. "Electric cars are to slow"

• Words just can't tell it better than White Zombie (fastest electric car) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fmy4tWvr8c
• Or going faster than a Ferrari http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqqtJpfZElQ

5. "I don't know how to fix a electric car, what if it breaks down? it sounds scary"

• You probably don't know how to fix a normal gas car either.
• Instead you just call a electrician or replace a fuse.

6. "What if I need to go on a longer trip"

• With all that money you saved that you were going to spend anyway, rent a nice car, swap with a "good" friend or family member, I don't think that they will mind saving money and looking cool.

Pontiac Fiero Body Panels - Who, What, Where and Why

BODY PANELS by http://fierosails.com/index.html

The body panels are unique to the Fiero and were not used on any other cars. Outer '84 door panels attach differently and do not interchange with other year Fieros. All other body panels will swap, although the deck lid in '84 is a different style from other years.

Front and rear fascias vary with models. The '86-88 GT and all other '88s had round trim on the "belt line" and other years had ribbed trim. The trim piece is molded into the front and rear fascias. Use of a round-trim fascia on a ribbed-trim car is feasible but may look odd.

The '84 has an entirely different door skin (cannot be added to later doors) and dew wipe (not available).

Door skin compatibility is the same '85-'88.

Rocker panels interchange among all years although some vary depending on model. For example, one style rocker panel was used on 1984 Indy, 1985 GT/SE, 1987 SE, and the 1986-88 GT. Different rocker panels were used on the Coupes and Formula.

The "aero molding" or "ground effects" panels were used on the Indy, GTs, and '87 SE models. These panels swap among all years and may be installed on cars which were not so equipped from the factory. Mounting holes are required in the body panels to accommodate the ground effects panels.

The wing or spoiler on the Fiero is blow-molded Bexley resin made in two pieces and glued together. Spoiler cracks or breaks should be repaired with flexible epoxies such as those used for RIM or R-RIM (see below). Punctures or gouges should be repaired with epoxy fiberglass resin and glass cloth.

GM called the Fiero body panels "Enduraflex". There is no material known as "Enduraflex". This is a marketing term. Four different types of reinforced composite plastic are used in Fiero body panels:

SMC Sheet Molded Compound was used for the hood, roof, rear upper quarter, and rear decklid.

RRIM Reinforced Reaction Injection Molded urethane was used for fenders, door panels, and lower rear quarters. The rear lowers were later changed to injection molded nylon.

RIM Reaction Injected Molded urethane was used for front and rear fascias.

TPO Thermoplastic Olefin was used for rocker panels.

Bexley Resin Blow-Molded by DuPont This material (not fiberglass) was used for the spoiler or "wing" on all Fieros as far as we know. The supports are made of TPO.

Conventional "Bondo" (polyester resin) should not be used to repair any Fiero body panel. Repair products should specifically state they are compatible with the body panel material. I.e.: "Suitable for SMC repairs."

Any competent body shop can handle repairs to the Fiero body panels. Shops which specialize in body repair for Saturns would be particularly capable since the Saturn uses similar body materials.

Since new body panels rarely turn up on the market, the best source for them is a donor vehicle. Check the "Parts Sources" page for suppliers.

Engine Vents: The deck lid vents on the '84 Fiero were made of magnesium and were spectacular when they caught fire! Subsequent years used aluminum.

For those interested, the body panels of the Fiero were made in the following locations:

Front Fascia - RRIM supplied by GM Canada
Hood - SMC supplied by General Tire and Rubber
Headlamp Doors - SMC supplied by GTR
Front Fenders - RRIM supplied by Oldsmobile
Roof - SMC supplied by Premix
Door Panel - RRIM supplied by Oldsmobile
Rocker Panels - TPO supplied by G.P. Plastics
Panel, front of Rear Wheel - R. RIM supplied by Oldsmobile
Rear Quarter - SMC supplied by BUDD
Rear Deck Lid - SMC supplied by BUDD
Rear Fascia - RRIM supplied by Guide Division
Wing - Bexley Resin blow-molded by DuPont


Thank you Fiero Sails http://www.fierosails.com/

I Almost Feel Bad To Do It

While I was disconnecting wire harnesses and cutting this and poking that I spotted this cars last "White Flag" don't hurt me cry to be left alone zoom onto the oil cap. I guess if you drink "Dino Juice" long enough you begin to like the taste. I acted as if i was illiterate and kept on cutting.

Before striping the electric parts off the car the manual say to release the fuel line pressure buy removing the fuel pump fuse and try to start the car, the car did try to start and did sputter. Then disconnect the negative then positive then go to town.

Who needs to go backwards in Life

Well before ripping out the ICE Dino drinking motor we wanted to make sure all the gears worked good. Well up and down the drive way a few times and we lost reverse. The reverse linkage came off we threw a nylon tie on if and continued testing (linkage in the picture with the tie wrap on it).

Next we placed the Fiero on blocks to test the transmission, bearings and to have documentation of the Fiero's running rebuilt engine in case someone needs a "2.5 litre 4 cylinder engine with no shakes".

Also a 1 minute video of the the engine running. This is the last time this ICE motor will run in this car. Maybe we should keep it as a back up generator for our of grid system?

Next we removed the deck lid and deck electric remote control release plug located at the left hinge under left deck plate. Scribe or paint alignment marks around the edge of both hinges to allow for ease of installation.

Now start chopping, well very carefully! Its a good idea to pick up a Haynes Workshop Manual and take your time unplug pretty much everything from the engine including throttle cables and think twice and cut once.

Nothing Wasted, Everthing Gained

Waste not and want not, to fill you house with all the items that are to be added to your final dream that is and oh ya bother your neighbours. My wife is amazingly patient with my, our and her dreams. If you only need a few items off something and the rest can be "thrown out" preferably recycled do so. Having all the pieces apart and ready to add to your puzzle is easier when the time to assembly comes, no child labor here, well our son dissected 2 boxes he thought it was cool to break stuff (example 50 power boxes @ 30 min each = 25 hours). No time is saved just aggravation later, about $2000.00 saved on things needed at a later date, just for asking do you guys need those broken power boxes that Quality Engineering is done with. The battery wires red and black inside these power packs will wire the strings together.

Inside these power packs are also battery discharge indicator (see below) to show the remaining charge left inside the battery, these meters will be used later in the conversion process as battery string monitors (6 strings 12 volts each = 72 volts total system voltage).

Each power pack also has a 250 volt dc fuse, Anderson type battery plug in, heat sink with 12 volt mini fan, shunt connectors, 12 volt work light, 12 volt accessory socket plug in and as a added bonus lots and lots of screws.

Screws for free free, free, free

I will have extra amp meters as seen above for free and can ship you one or two, you pay for postage or I can drop them off to you if you are local. If you need any email me ecosteve@rogers.com

Free All You Can Eat Batteries

So here starts the next chapter removing the batteries out of 50 600 watt "Power Boxes", the kind people use for powering 120 volt items up to 600 watts in remote locations where there is no power or in their home in emergency situations and if your thinking 50 wow!! was he garbage bin jumping? No they were all donated to the project, the 12 volt 28Ah batteries (1400 Ah combined Ah) inside are fine, the power inverter that changes the 12 DC power to 120 AC power are damaged. Our son (age 10) helped removed these batteries and other components and has now learned his dad's art of extended product re incarnation. We also received 9 free Deka 8A22nf 63Ah (567 Ah combined)batteries for a total all batteries 1967 amp hours.Here is a video of the battery inside each of these boxes they measure (in inches) 6.5"x6.5"x5"

You Can't Do That!!! (the day the dreamers "grow up")

Changing our world one kilometer (or mile) at a time.

After people tell me,

"You can't do that for next to no money, made from a recycled
car, recycled batteries, recycled wires and recycled dreams."

It kind makes it hard to just let it go, knowing how easy this converting process is. A couple weeks ago deer hit me on the way to work and destroyed our car, we were going to replace the car with another "beater" as a commuter car but thought this would be a perfect time to realize our dream and convert a car from gas to electric. We started looking more intently for a car which would make a ideal donor car and found Brian.

Below is a picture and video of Brian Sauve the person who donated our first donor car, Brian dream originally was to convert this same car to electric but time does run away. Here he had just drove the car onto the car trailer for us (Uhaul rocks). It was a sad moment for Brian but he was very happy that his car will have the second life in the manner he dreamed of. When this conversion is operational Brian will one of the first and few to drive this reincarnated "Lean Mean Clean machine"

The car now in our drive way after searching for this model and year for over a year and a half now safely in our drive way. The planning and time lines start, six weeks the goal to have the car "operational" may be harder to adhere to as working on the car out side with no garage dancing with mother nature (she always wants to lead). The full range target to work and back is 150 kilometers (93.21 miles), down hill to work and uphill back its like a 12 hour roller coaster, 12 hour slow roller coaster.

Plugging in at work would not only reduce my need for full range from 150 km (93.21 miles) to 100 km (62.14 miles) it would also lighten the vehicle thus placing less stress on bearing, joints, suspension and other mechanical items.

Lightening the car would also allow it to maintain what little cargo space is has and allow "a passenger" other that bobble heads.

Adding solar panels on the roof unfortunately will not add much generating capacity (except maybe to charge the 12 volt operating system. You need a lot of amps to charge batteries and a couple of 100 watt solar panels only generate about 16 amps, I think the car would have to be parked in the sun for about 3 days straight to charge the batteries up to full, but I still learning this whole amps, volt and watts language. But I think a couple of peel and stick solar panels as racing strips up the hood, across the roof and down the tails might be a nice touch.

It does make the mind, body and spirit work harder, to improve and prove that dreamers are the ones most planted firmly, success is in my dreams and reality. Only you have the right to deflate your dreams.