A Letter of Thanks to the PHEV community

Here is a copy of the letter I sent to the PHEV mailing list today. I wanted to publicly thank all the people that helped me build my PHEV.

North Texas EAA Showing

This was the vehicles first stop on Jerry Asher’s Southwest show and tell tour. Pictured from left to right is John Brecher from North Texas EAA, Darren Overby (owner), Doug and Ann Canfield from EVTech, and Jerry Asher.

The Austin Team

Our parting photo opportunity at the end of the Austin Maker Faire event. Pictured from the Left, Jim Philippi (HybridPlugs), Erik Bigelow, Chris Robison (seated), Aaron Choate, Mark Farver (leaning on car) and Tanda Rasco (on ground) from Austin EVA, Darren Overby (owner sitting by bumper), Mike Harvey (Harvey Coachworks), Alfonzo Ranjel (Alamo City EAA), Jerry Asher (seated).

The Maiden Voyage

The conversion is done! Here we are driving around the Travis County Fairgrounds to show the car and give it an initial test.

Drilling for the Plug

We are almost done. The high voltage battery connections were made at the Maker Faire and the tie-in to the OEM battery was also completed. Now amidst many onlookers and media the plug mounting hole is drilled. Some people hav asked why I choose this location for the plug rather than the bumper. I prefer this location because it’s higher and easier to access and is more visable to the public. When Toyota makes a Plug-In Hybrid I’ll accept any location for the plug.

PHEV Presentations

This is Jim Philippi doing a PHEV overview presentation at the Austin Maker Faire. I’m working on uploading the video from this presentation to YouTube. We conducted a number of these presentations over the two day event. It’s amazing to see how interested people are in this conversion. There clearly is a lot of pent up demand for Plug-In Hybrids.

Arriving in Austin

After a three day journey to Austin Texas, the car and I arrive at the Travis County Fairgrounds for the 1st Annual Maker Faire. Being a livestock barn, the accommodations are not as tidy as Silicon Valley hackers are used to. Perhaps the good people at O’Reilly can provide a cleaner venue next year. Anyway, we swept the hay and horse manure aside and got ready for the faire.

Batteries Received

Our batteries were donated by CleanPower Battery Technologies, Inc. This company is currently testing these batteries for the PHEV and other applications. The proprietary design and chemistry is being being referred to currently as “Lead Silicate”. I’m told the energy density is comparable to lead acid batteries of the same size, however because the electrolyte is not acid based the battery is not subject to sulfadation the way standard lead acid batteries are. In addition, the batteries should more readily accept a charge and therefore the charging time is lowered. Thanks to CleanPower Battery Technologies, Inc. I plan to share data with them as the batteries begin to see use. Here the batteries have been loaded into the battery box but are not yet connected. They will be connected in Austin.

Battery Box Wiring

Now the battery box has been removed from the car and for the next few days the battery box wiring will be completed. Having the box out of the car for wiring is much easier on the back. I used this drawing to complete the wiring.

Graphics Applied

In preparation for the Austin Maker Faire event, today we had vehicle graphics applied. A combination of vinyl, non-removable lettering and magnetic signs were used so that we can scale the graphics up or down depending on the event. Milton Jr. at Davis Sign Company in San Rafael California was extremely helpful with this part of the project.