An Electric Towdster

Share with others how to make your Tow'd a prince.
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Oatnet
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:27 am

An Electric Towdster

Post by Oatnet »

Hi everyone :D , this is my first post here.

I'm a long time air-cooled VW fan. In the 70's I learned to drive in a bug, which I loved but eventually rolled in a church parking lot, doing what the kids today call drifting. I owned a '74 bay bus/camper for 12 years. I've admired many dune buggies over the decades and always wanted one, although to my great amusement today, I didn't realize there was anything besides Manx's. But none of that is what brought me to a towdster.

I spent several years planning an automobile conversion that played to the strengths of an electric drivetrain. Since an electric motor has 100% of its torque available at zero rpm, it can be much smaller and lighter than its gasoline equivalent. The power train also doesn't need the weight of an exhaust system, a cooling system, an oil system etc. The lighter power train needs less chassis, which in turn needs less suspension, brakes, even contact patch. The result is a light, agile car that consumes less materials to manufacture and needs far less fuel for the same range and performance.

All these benefits are lost when an automaker installs a huge battery to mimic the range of a gas car, making it heavy, slow, and expensive. I can understand not wanting to plunk down $30,000-$40,000 on an electric car if it can only go 80 miles - but what if you could get an EV that would meet your needs for $10,000?

When I discovered that 60% of Americans travel less than 30 miles a day (I exceed that only 3-4 times a year) I was pretty sure that if I built a lightweight car with a small battery, it could not only complete their commute, it would handle like a slot car, have a 0-60 under 5 seconds, cost a penny a mile to operate, be virtually maintenance free - and cost under $10,000. And if I could do that as a one-off, surely the auto industry could mass-produce something better with wholesale materials for the same price.

The towdster was the lightest 4-wheel street-legal car I found to demonstrate my point, and had flair so the message wouldn't get lost in the econobox looks of a typical conversion. The dune buggy format is great for my duty cycle of commuting, errands, and trips to the beach. A 166lb lithium battery by a123 is enough to do all of that for two days, double what I need because I plug an EV in every night like my cell phone. IIRC the conversion added about 40lbs, but moved 100lbs of mass from behind the rear axle to in front of it.

It looks like most folks here use their towdsters and dune buggies off-road for long distances, I am sorry my build is an abject failure from that perspective, it does not have the range. On the other hand, with the power dial turned half way up, it did a dozen rolling burnouts in second gear before the clutch started slipping. If I turn the power dial all the way up, it pulls 200+hp of electricity, and delivers 220+lb/ft of torque right off the line at 0rpm. That is a power-to-weight ratio akin to the 3500lb 2015 Corvette ZO6, not that my towdster could make anywhere near as elegant use of it.

Anyhow, after 2.5 years of converting to electric, rewiring and refreshing a tired build, I made a few vids of it on the road. I still have to build up data to back up my claims, and there is still much tuning and sorting out to be done before it is a daily driver, but the towdster feels promising, dependable and quick. 8)

[youtube]ttluo4MIt0Q[/youtube]
http://youtu.be/ttluo4MIt0Q
Walk around vid - a short walk around of the tow'd while at the beach for a shakedown cruise, shot in 4K. I wasn't planning for a "photo shoot" -note the 2x2 for the GoPro mount bungee-tied to the roll bar, the gorilla mount for a camera on the motor, the laptop for zillaview in the passenger footwell, and the bag of tools/parts/fire extinguisher in the passenger seat.

[youtube]46_EDW2tI98[/youtube]
http://youtu.be/46_EDW2tI98
Beach video - driving along beach in wide view, some local suburbia, and back to the beach road but in narrow view this time.

I also documented the conversion/restoration in a long thread with too many pictures. Google U taught me a lot about beetles and buggies along the way, I tried to share what I thought I had learned with an audience that was more EV than VW, now that real VW folks will see it I hope I didn't get too much wrong.

First page if you want the whole bloody saga:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewt ... 34&t=50717

Last page if you want to cut to the chase:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewt ... &start=150

-JD
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ManxBug
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2015 2:31 pm
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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Re: An Electric Towdster

Post by ManxBug »

That's really cool! If I wear out the motor I have, I plan to convert to electric.
Oatnet
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:27 am

Re: An Electric Towdster

Post by Oatnet »

ManxBug wrote:That's really cool! If I wear out the motor I have, I plan to convert to electric.
Thanks ManxBug! :D Look me up if that time comes, I'd be glad to help out, although I hope your motor has a long and happy life.

-JD
hillmotorsports
Posts: 129
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 6:07 pm

Re: An Electric Towdster

Post by hillmotorsports »

Pushing 2 yrs later...care to offer an update?
Rosemarie and Paul Hill
Morrisburg, Ontario
Canada
613 330 4862
Member #4502
Oatnet
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2015 2:27 am

Re: An Electric Towdster

Post by Oatnet »

Hi hillmotorsports! looks like it has been almost 2 years since your post, sorry so slow. I still have it but haven't needed to make any changes so there isnt much to update. It still runs like a champ, and being electric it's been maintenenace free, so no drama to report either. Good clean beach fun!
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