D3100 vs XP3000 in a 120v electric vehicle (price considered)

[tarsman013]

Hi guys, this is my first post, but i have been on here a lot through Facebook. My brother and I are building an electric vehicle. It will feature a WarP 9 motor and a Soliton1 controller. This combination can deliver 1000amps continuous up through 300v. We will not be taking it that high haha. We plan on running 10 batteries in series for a total of 120v. This leaves a lot of room for upgrading when we want it faster and helps keep costs down. We have looked into Lithium already and feel that with our budget (as low as possible!) it is not a viable option. It also has to do with our confidence with on road charging of lithium on a cross country ride we are doing to help benefit Breast Cancer research (more on that at the end).

The controller will be water cooled, thus it can do 1000amps continuous, granted we will never see it for more than about 30 seconds for hard accelerations and speed runs. The vehicle will weigh under 2000lbs so it should haul some serious ass. Math says 180hp and about 200-300ftlbs of torque but that's for another thread haha.

The main question here is would the XP3000 battery work in place of a D3100 and be able to put up with everything? It says on the site max discharge of 3000 amps so we are not close to that. It weighs less and has a higher capacity (both pretty negligible) but the biggest point is the price! They would significantly reduce the cost of the battery pack. Plus we are running them for the 12v aux system anyway (2 of them... got to have a good stereo). If anyone has any experience with these bad boys could you please chime in because we really don't want to make a bad decision... Opinions are welcome too.

On the topic of the Breast Cancer, this vehicle will be dedicated to help finding a cure. Our mother was diagnosed about a year ago and can happily say she is a survivor. It was caught SUPER early and she went through radiation (not chemo) and is now doing better. She is on meds for the next couple of years and has to go get regular checkups to make sure everything is ok. Needless to say, it took a HUGE tole on our family and we would do it all again in a heartbeat if we had to. My brother and I want to see a world one day that doesn't have anyone who has been hurt by Breast Cancer (or any cancer for the matter). We are driving the vehicle from Tampa, FL to Grand Rapids, MN where it will be shown at The Geek Group (non profit organization, www.thegeekgroup.org). Lithium has its issues with continuously being fed current and still isn't safe enough for us to fully trust. Lead is tried and true and its easy to work on, and is VERY forgiving. On this ride we are going to stop though many major cities and hold events to help raise money and EVERY CENT RAISED WILL BE DONATED. We are OK with eating the cost of the trip (requires gas for the EV to run the recharge generator, hotels, food, and for our chase truck... just in case). The panels will be painted black with a pink ribbon raised off of the panels. Anyone is welcome to sign the black areas, and donors are allowed to sign the ribbons, all in permanent marker, which will then be clear coated locking in the signatures forever. Multiple panels will be made so they can be swapped out when they get full. I would LOVE to see six figures at the end of this trip, all going to charity (it will all be documented by the books of course), I know it is a lofty number at best, but we both have shown that you can do ANYTHING if you put your mind to it. It's like this massive inspirational story that I don't want to get into right now haha.

The vehicle is a custom built 4seat tube chassis that uses a VW front and rear end. 1965 Beetle up front and a 1970/72 bus in the rear. It is built to NHRA specs for a roll cage and will protect anyone who is inside in the event of a rollover or crash. 5 point harnesses and Corbeau racing seats at for all 4 people, safety was kind of a big deal. It has a 3rib bus transaxle and should top out a around 100 due to gearing (the bus was geared LOW due to low hp). It should easily smoke the tires (or the clutch haha) in 1-3 with 4th for cruising. Nothing like all of your power and torque at 1rpm!

Sorry for the long post, the really important stuff is in bold for an easier read.

Thanks for the help in advance!

Tarsman013

Edited December 17, 2011 by tarsman013

[6berry]

This is awesome! I can't wait to see some pictures of this

[CJ18]

My understanding is that the XP series batteries have more reserve capacity and should be better fit for your application. If you need instant power then the D3100 would be the better choice.

[tarsman013]

Pictures are not available as of just yet... want to keep everything under wraps looks wise for now ;-).

As for instant power, we wont need anything over 1500 amps ever in this setup. The controller can be fully flashed to produce 1400amps continuous (again for just acceleration purposes and more hp with same voltage). For what it's worth, to find hp from watts just divide by 746 :-). Thanks for the replies so far guys keep it up!

EDIT: I'm not saying we don't have pictures yet, just PR stuff we have to keep them private for now. There are videos and such that have been filmed but none of the vehicle itself (that are public), they can be found on our youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/p2designtechnologies

Tarsman013

Edited December 17, 2011 by tarsman013

[knowledge]

im tuned

[tarsman013]

Thanks for the opinions so far guys, keep it up

[tarsman013]

Small update: so far, the polls are tipping in favor of the XP3000.

We have decided to run dual runs of 2/0 and crimp the ends. This is mainly because when doing small runs to interconnect batteries, solder makes the wire pretty hard and at times, brittle. We also do not want to run the possible risk of resistance because of the solder or it possibly melting. There is just too much that could go wrong when 1000amps are running through it and we do not want to take that risk. Also, 2/0 is about the biggest we can crimp without using a hammer crimp and i want this to look as good as possible.

If anyone has info on the XP3000 PLEASE weigh in on this discussion. The batteries will not be experiencing any more heat than that of a car on a hot day as they are configured to be like pods around the vehicle, away from anything too hot, vents will also be integrated, but we have decided to stay away from forced cooling unless absolutely necessary.

Since I last posted, the vehicle has been relocated to a new shop (same welder) and some more work on the steel diamond plate floor has been done. I can say this thing is RIGID!!! It is also very light for its size (3 normal guys could probably pick it up) It may make a sick SPL vehicle in the far future, as this project will stay in its current form as an EV for now. Gets me thinking of how easy it would be to seal up and any flex could easily be remedied haha (though a blown v8 sounds nice too after this project has ran its course... only time will tell)

[siccostyle]

With the group buy that is gonna take place you will be able to get the XP's for a really good price.

[tarsman013]

With the group buy that is gonna take place you will be able to get the XP's for a really good price.

Ya I know, it makes them such a great deal. Plus FREE shipping, when you are talking 12 batteries, the shipping can be dauntingly expensive. I already feel bad for my university's mail people, though they have been warned about packages from us, you should have seen their faces when 4 5ft tall boxes show up that weigh 45lbs each... they ended up being the seats, I can't wait to see what they think about 12 77lb smaller boxes haha!

[tarsman013]

I called XS today, either of the batteries will work in our application, but each has their up and down sides. The D series has a 3 year warranty and the XP series only has a 2 year. The D series can easily pump the amps we need instantaneously while the XP may struggle a little but will keep up after the initial draw. I know droop will be a factor, but for our small budget, it is something we will have to live with.

Also if anyone knows a company who can make 100% custom alternators to charge our system, we need 144v charging at as high amps as we can (running multiple alts is more than fine, they will be ran off of an integrated gasoline motor).