Driving Tips
The Hyper Milage folks have some great driving tips to help reduce fuel consumption. These tips will also help maximize range for an EV.
I don't recommend some of their more aggressive techniques, such as drafting trucks, or taking curves at dangerously high speeds. But the basic tips will help anyone, gas or electric.
For more info see their website.
Bob Bath provided the following info:
"The other issue is how to not over-rev your motor. It's going to be much easier than you perceive:
If you're trying to accelerate, and the motor isn't giving you more speed in first or second, you're too high on the RPM curve to get much back. You _will_ start smelling enamel from the motor windings. It won't _kill_ the motor (yet), unless you keep driving it that way.
Rely on others who have done the Civic conversion. Start off in 2nd, and don't take it past 40 mph w/o shifting to 3rd.
Don't _ever_ downshift to help you slow down. This will _certainly_ destroy your motor, depending on the speed at which you do so.
Don't use first gear unless you're on a steep, short hill, and keep it under 25. The corollary to that is, don't show off how first gear burns rubber very often... (;-p bwah ha hah!!! The sedan DX comes w/o a tach, and I've got 12K miles saying you can live without it. "
Notes from CivicWithACord that need to be incorporated:
Driving CivicWithACord:
You'll use the clutch. 1st gear will take you from 0-25 or so, but since there's so much torque with it just use 2nd from 0-45 mph. These are roughly 6000 RPM, so safe for both motor and controller. 3rd past that. When you come to a stop, you can leave the car in gear, making the flywheel come to a stop also, or take it out of gear, and leave the clutch depressed. If you jerk it up, the flywheel may still be spinning, making the car jerk. So I prefer braking to a stop with the car _in gear_.
To prolong the life of the batteries, keep the voltage above 126. The reason for this is that a battery cell gets reversed if its' voltage drops below 1.75. If you figure that there are 72 cells in our 18 battery pack, that's 126V. Usually the voltage only drops that low if you're gunning the juice up a hill. This activity requires more current, which causes more resistance in the batteries, which causes the voltage to sag. Best to ease off the accelerator, and go slower, higher RPMs up the hill. A related issue is that if you are crawling home, due to low batteries, it's best to pull over, let the batteries recover for awhile, then do the rest of the trek. Or better yet, grab an "opportunity charge" while you're stopped.
Since there is no parking gear, and no resistance on the motor, it is CRITICAL that you SET THE CAR's EMERGENCY BRAKE when you have finished driving.
Keep in mind that your range will drop a certain percentage for every 10 degrees farenheit. At zero celsius, you can count on about 65% of your normal charge. You should have at least 35 mi. going about 55 mph at 60F unloaded.
CivicWithACord owner’s manual
v.2.0, Nov. 19, 2007
Driving: Turn the key and the dash light for the battery will turn on. If the circuit breaker is in the forward/on position (see under the handbrake), and the car is in the proper gear, simply depress the accelerator and you'll move.
If the car is not in the proper gear, depress the clutch, shift, release the clutch, depress the accelerator.
a) The car can be driven from either first, or second gear. I only use 2nd gear, but if you use first, shift to 2nd by 25 mph, and from 2nd by 60 mph. This will avoid unnecessary motor and transmission wear.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL DOWNSHIFTING HELP TO BRING THE CAR TO A STOP. TO THE CONTRARY, DOWNSHIFTING AT A SPEED ABOVE WHAT IS INDICATED ABOVE WILL DAMAGE THE WINDINGS OF THE MOTOR.
b) When you come to a stop, you may leave the car in gear. The car will not "stall", as with a combustion vehicle. On the other hand, IF you take it out of gear as you come to a stop, the motor and flywheel will still be moving. As a result, you will want to engage the clutch slowly to avoid a jerky start.
c) When you accelerate up a hill, there may be a "rattling" type of sound. This is due to extra torque on the motor causing a small shift in the position on the motor mounts, and has occurred since the car was converted. It is nothing to be concerned about.
d) Don't ever accelerate so fast that your amp draw goes high enough to make the voltage on the e-meter indicate lower than 126 volts. This will cause irrepairable battery damage. Similarly, don't let the pack voltage drop lower than this on normal commutes, or up hills, when amp draw increases.
Driving Distance: The car is loaded at maximum gross vehicle weight rating. Ie, the brakes will work fine, but to protect your investment, leave plenty of stopping distance, especially if on a wet road.
Pedestrians: In a parking lot, they will not be able to hear you. Either keep the stereo playing fairly loud, or be extra cautious of conditions around you.
Parking: Make sure the emergency brake is engaged. The gears and electric motor simply will not provide any additional inertia for the vehicle, such as if it is parked on a slope.
Using the heater: Press the "re-circulate" button. You'll get a warmer temperature by heating air from the inside, than the outside! Crack the front window(s) just 1/2 cm to remove moist air. Turn it on. It will add roughly 27-40 amperes to the load of the high voltage pack, depending on the blower speed.
Licensed under the TAPR Open Hardware License (www.tapr.org/OHL)
Copyright 2008 Tim Kutscha