Electric car conversions Heating and vent systems?

[Grifflew]

A friend and I are about 95 % complete with converting a Porsche 914 to full electric. Throughout this time I have been pondering on how to have some sort of heating system installed without it sucking the juice right out of the auxiliary battery.

I have also decided to completely redo the fan ventilation system as the stock one is old and antiquated.

Any thoughts or feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Griff

[J-Ri]

What about a propane heater? Goes against the 100% electric, but like you said, electric heat's gonna suck the battery down in no time. Otherwise, depending on range and time driven, you could use a hot water tank and use a small electric water pump to circulate the water through the existing heater core... of course if you're going further than a few blocks, the heat would get used up. There are auxillary DC heaters for cars that use a few hundred watts, they don't get extreemely hot but a few layers of clothes and a heater aimed at every window for defrost might get the job done.

[Grifflew]

Originally Posted by J-Ri

What about a propane heater? Goes against the 100% electric, but like you said, electric heat's gonna suck the battery down in no time. Otherwise, depending on range and time driven, you could use a hot water tank and use a small electric water pump to circulate the water through the existing heater core... of course if you're going further than a few blocks, the heat would get used up. There are auxillary DC heaters for cars that use a few hundred watts, they don't get extreemely hot but a few layers of clothes and a heater aimed at every window for defrost might get the job done.

Hey J-Ri,
thanks for responding
I have thought about a propane heater for the car and I know there are some available on the consumer market. Being a native Californian I have never seen one so I don't know much about the dimensions and what type of propane tank will be required, space is an issue so if it's sort of bulky it may not work.

I'm still working on the ventilation system as well. I want to somehow fit a system in that is comprable to what newer cars now have with variable speed fans etc...

Your feedback is greatly appreciated

G

[J-Ri]

They aren't big, about the size of a small stove burner and 4" deep. They can use any size propane tank, from those disposable 14.1oz for propane torches, up to... well, any size you want to fit in there. You would have to use a heat exchanger so that carbon monoxide isn't a concern. Check around on the internet for run times, but I think they'll run on a 14.1 oz bottle for several hours, depending on the heat output.

Making the fan variable speed shouldn't be hard. All you need is a multi-position switch, some wire, and a resistor. You could probably pick those up at a salvage yard. Just make sure you get the year, make and model of whatever you get them out of incase they ever go bad.