Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Chrysler, USA
MOPAR fan converts Plymouth Duster to electric
Click above for more shots of the 1971 Duster EV
If you want an electric car with some serious style, you could either fork over a ton of dough for an electrically-converted DeLorean or you could convert an older muscle car of some sort. We advise the latter. Take the early '70s Chrysler A-Body, like the Plymouth Duster, for example. It's relatively lightweight, has lots of room for batteries and has the easy-to-convert front engine, rear-wheel drive architecture with a full frame. Perfecto! And, you can even see an example of the work done rather nicely in a blog format.
Electricity storage comes by way of 26 six-volt Trojan T-125 batteries wired up to deliver 156 volts to the Netgain Warp 9 DC motor. A Logisysystems controller is capable of sending 550 Amps to the motor, which should make this machine move pretty smartly. The original three-speed manual transmission has had its clutch and flywheel removed and the motor is mated up. Batteries are now being installed. Check out all the progress here.
Gallery: Electric Duster Conversion
[Source: Electric Mopar via CarDomain]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeff 10:55AM (10/03/2008)
Dude! That's a sweet project, but T-125s are 30kg each! That's 1700lbs of batteries! And he's got those all wired up in series, which means all 500 of those amps are going through each of those batteries. I hope he plans on welding those battery terminals! I've seen T-125 terminals melt under much lower current. Personally, I would wire those batteries up in two parallel strings of 13 batteries for a 78V pack. Sure that brings the top speed of your motor down, but you'll be doing the batteries a huge favour. Less risk of melting the terminals, and the batteries will have a much longer life without all that 500amp abuse. Besides he could keep a decent top speed with proper gearing.
The warp 9 is definitely a beast though, although this is gonna be a heavy car with all those batteries. Maybe two warp 9's? One for each rear wheel??
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Woodenbee 11:38AM (10/03/2008)
That's cool, hopefully that's the last time that car dumps a bunch of antifreeze onto the driveway!!!
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Rick 7:48PM (10/03/2008)
Is it chargable via home outlet?
How long to charge?
How much of an increase to the power bill charging a full charge every day?
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Bruce 8:55PM (10/03/2008)
Hey Rick,
Yes it is chargable with either 120v or 240v.
I am expecting it to take 3 -4 hours at 240 volts for a full charge.
A full charge will cost less than $2.
Woodenbee,
LOL, yes that will be the last time.
Jeff,
I won't ever be pulling the full amount of amps. Usually 100-200 amps. I need the high voltage because I want to use it at freeway speeds.
Rick 9:49AM (10/04/2008)
Bruce, So $2 a charge/day, about $60 a month in energy costs for an entire month's worth of driving? I pay $60 a week to fill my car, so that's a $180 monthly savings. Nice.
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Bruce 8:20AM (10/05/2008)
Rick,
Yep, depending upon future gas prices, the conversion will completely pay for itself in about 50,000 miles. However, I am hoping to obtain a state tax incentive which could lower the payback cost/time significantly. Unfortunately there is no Federal incentive whatsoever.
Bruce
mroverlord 9:28AM (10/06/2008)
But why, oh why, a Duster?...and such a clean one, at that?
As much as I would love an EV, I could never do that to my Dart Sport.
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Bruce 4:24PM (10/07/2008)
LOL, I know where you are coming from. I guess you'll have to read my blog to find out why I chose the Duster.
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scott 2:35PM (2/22/2009)
How far do you guestamate you can drive between charges?
When the batteries are not chargeable any longer how and where will you dipose of them
safely where they won't cause any undo damage to the enviornment? with the stock break system on this car (wich was barely addequate for it's time) and so much extra weight
in the ass end not to mention the reduced weight in the nose of the car, how safe do you realy think it's going to be? Sorry but your car, however cool it,s sounds realy doesn,t seam practical.
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