Re: [EVDL] Motorola EV Corvette (was: [ EV Digest, Vol 119, Issue 8)

[EV List Lackey via EV]

On 20 Sep 2022 at 21:34, Ken McGraw via EV wrote:

> Renaissance Cars company

http://evdl.org/docs/cd_tropica.pdf

David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey

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Re: [EVDL] Motorola EV Corvette (was: [ EV Digest, Vol 119, Issue 8)

[Ken McGraw via EV]

Interesting but Renaissance Cars company, I was on the board of cad/cam an 
entire car from scratch , [image0.jpeg] [image1.png] aluminum space frame and 
plastic body ……I still own #2 and #16….16 is one of my drivers…..full electric 
in 1995…..the bastards shuts us down…..KLM

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 20, 2022, at 4:28 PM, EV List Lackey via EV  wrote:

On 20 Sep 2022 at 17:16, Richard Rowland via EV wrote:

Interesting story from the 70's

Intriguing!

This seems to be the story's origin:

https://www.thedrive.com/culture/we-found-motorolas-secret-chevy-corvette-ev-
prototype-from-the-1990s

or https://v.gd/NbYpwY

The article says that it's a 1987 Corvette purchased used with 64k miles on
it, and converted by Motorola Automotive. Motorola apparently started the
project in 1993.

One wonders why an organization with presumably deep pockets had to start
with a used glider.  The article's author calls this an "EV prototype," but
I suspect that it's more apt to have been a test bed for a prototype EV
*drive system,*  maybe on a limited budget.

Motorola made their name in mobile electronics over the first 2/3 or so of
the 20th century - car radios, transceivers.  I rode in taxicabs in the mid-
1960s, and every one of them had a Motorola radio for dispatching.

So a little possibly irresponsible speculation: maybe Motorola management
looked at GM's 1990 Impact prototype and the Hughes AC "Vector Drive," and
wondered whether Motorola might catch some of the potential EV market.

The article says that

Starting and driving the EV Vette was pretty seamless. The driver
merely had to insert the key and turn it, taking care not to press the
throttle while not in gear, since the motor would turn ... the
documentation recommended using first gear for slow speed driving up
to 30 mph. Otherwise, Motorola suggested drivers cruise around in
second gear, then allow the automatic overdrive function that the
gas-powered Vette already had to take over at higher speeds.

That might suggest that it's a series DC motor.

But then we see:

A paper marked "EV Power" states that at 320 volts and 1,000 amps, the
car, in theory, will output 428 hp

And that sounds more like an AC induction drive of the time.  The Impact,
Hughes, and AC Propulsion drives all ran in the 300-400 volt range, though
not at 1000 amps.

But if the author interpreted the Motorola doc correctly, it doesn't
specifically say that THIS drive was 1000 amps and 400 kW, just that such
was POSSIBLE.

I'm not an engineer, so my speculation there may be off.

the electric heater is made by a company named Russco

That could be more evidence that this was a drive test bed, using as many
standard conversion components as possible to keep cost down.

EVDL old-timers probably remember Russco.  Russ Kaufmann built those liquid
heaters, and other conversion components, including a controller and a range
of chargers, some of them PFC.

Bummer that the article's author wasn't more knowledgeable about EVs.  One
of us might have figured out a LOT more, given the same opportunity to nose
around it.  Does anyone here live close to Gurnee, Illinois?

David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey

To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it.  Use my
offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt

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spell cheque?
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[EVDL] Motorola EV Corvette (was: [ EV Digest, Vol 119, Issue 8)

[EV List Lackey via EV]

On 20 Sep 2022 at 17:16, Richard Rowland via EV wrote:

> Interesting story from the 70's

Intriguing!  

This seems to be the story's origin:

https://www.thedrive.com/culture/we-found-motorolas-secret-chevy-corvette-ev-
prototype-from-the-1990s

or https://v.gd/NbYpwY

The article says that it's a 1987 Corvette purchased used with 64k miles on 
it, and converted by Motorola Automotive. Motorola apparently started the 
project in 1993.  

One wonders why an organization with presumably deep pockets had to start 
with a used glider.  The article's author calls this an "EV prototype," but 
I suspect that it's more apt to have been a test bed for a prototype EV 
*drive system,*  maybe on a limited budget.

Motorola made their name in mobile electronics over the first 2/3 or so of 
the 20th century - car radios, transceivers.  I rode in taxicabs in the mid-
1960s, and every one of them had a Motorola radio for dispatching.

So a little possibly irresponsible speculation: maybe Motorola management 
looked at GM's 1990 Impact prototype and the Hughes AC "Vector Drive," and 
wondered whether Motorola might catch some of the potential EV market.

The article says that

> Starting and driving the EV Vette was pretty seamless. The driver
> merely had to insert the key and turn it, taking care not to press the
> throttle while not in gear, since the motor would turn ... the
> documentation recommended using first gear for slow speed driving up
> to 30 mph. Otherwise, Motorola suggested drivers cruise around in
> second gear, then allow the automatic overdrive function that the
> gas-powered Vette already had to take over at higher speeds. 

That might suggest that it's a series DC motor.  

But then we see:

> A paper marked "EV Power" states that at 320 volts and 1,000 amps, the
> car, in theory, will output 428 hp 

And that sounds more like an AC induction drive of the time.  The Impact, 
Hughes, and AC Propulsion drives all ran in the 300-400 volt range, though 
not at 1000 amps.

But if the author interpreted the Motorola doc correctly, it doesn't 
specifically say that THIS drive was 1000 amps and 400 kW, just that such 
was POSSIBLE.

I'm not an engineer, so my speculation there may be off.

> the electric heater is made by a company named Russco 

That could be more evidence that this was a drive test bed, using as many 
standard conversion components as possible to keep cost down.

EVDL old-timers probably remember Russco.  Russ Kaufmann built those liquid 
heaters, and other conversion components, including a controller and a range 
of chargers, some of them PFC.  

Bummer that the article's author wasn't more knowledgeable about EVs.  One 
of us might have figured out a LOT more, given the same opportunity to nose 
around it.  Does anyone here live close to Gurnee, Illinois?

David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey

To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it.  Use my 
offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 
 How many spells could a spell Czech check, if a spell Czech could 
 spell cheque?
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

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