Topic: A Duff Beer Odyssey: Driving the electric car to CMP
I wanted to do a test of Sparky, our electric race car, in its new hybrid format, so I figured what better way than send the rest of the team to the race at CMP in the RV and their normal cars, while I make the trip in the electric car. This is a brief (hopefully) chronicle of the 166 mile trip. If I don't show up to CMP, then look for my body somewhere along US1 between Raleigh and Camden.
Looking very sporty, I get a lot of people slowing down to stare at it. They are all men in sedans. No women or guys in cool cars want to be anywhere near this thing:
The generator is loud. It runs while I'm driving and throws off a lot of noise and heat. I have become used to the cool peaceful silence of the electric race car; now it's hot and noisy like all of the other Duff Beer cars:
I had to reduce the battery capacity to fit the generator in there, so it's good for maybe 20 miles on battery:
The big EV charger that runs it all. This arrived yesterday and I stayed up last night wiring it in and programming it. Hopefully I did everything right:
I have no fuel gauge on the generator, so I took a backup fuel supply:
Problem #1, my main pack voltage gauge was way off. I didn't even start the charger until the pack was much lower than it should ever get. A quick roadside check showed that I hadn't FUBARd any batteries, so about an hour in the Sky Mart parking lot and I should be good to go. 33 miles down, 133 to go. The Indian gentleman who runs the store just informed me that My parked car is too loud and that I must leave. I'll update at the next stop: