FINISHED!

Have you made or bought a converted vehicle if so this is for you
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geekygrilli
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FINISHED!

Postby geekygrilli » Sat Jun 14, 2008 9:48 pm

Yay - done it.

Waiting for my local DVLA office to get back to me with an appointment.

My little cinquecento is all screwed back together, all my little brackets are painted, batteries, controller and charged all bolted down....

It looks quite neat. Obviously there will be some gremlins when its on the road, but right now I'm quite pleased with myself; and even my brother paid me a compliment (which is unheard of)!

I'm halfway through cleaning and polishing it, and may get that finished tomorrow.


:D

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:06 pm

Well done !!! Image I hope the trip to the DVLA goes well for you just a tip They do like to see vehicles trailored rahter than driven to their centres if you need to get it looked over.

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PHEV
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Postby PHEV » Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:43 am

Aye, congratulations:) Nothing like that "just finished EV" glow :D
*Mazda MX-5, 300KW peak, 300v 20KW/h lipo pack, Soliton 1000A controller. 1100KG.
*Ducati SS twin Agni 80HP peak.
*Aprilia RS motorcycle, 500A controller, Cedric's AgniMotor, 96v 6kw/h LiPo pack, 130kg, 90mph.
www.jozztek.com

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Sun Jun 15, 2008 5:20 pm

Hmmm, I thought an MOT and insurance would be OK and then I could drive it the 7 miles to my DVLA office.

S'pose I'll have to arrange a trailer, then...Anyone in North London got one?!

MalcolmB
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Postby MalcolmB » Sun Jun 15, 2008 6:30 pm

Congratulations! Can we expect some photos soon?
:)

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Sun Jun 15, 2008 8:23 pm

Just took a few snaps

Notes -

1. I've taken off the battery straps to shorten tonight (so it looks like the batteries aren't clamped down at the moment). As you can see; its pretty tight under the bonnet!

2. No instrmentation as yet - the Zapi programmer is under the driver's seat and sits in a cubby hole whilst driving so I can see battery voltage, motor current, etc...

3. In the rear there is a brushless fan that pushes air into the battery box on the left which only comes on when the car is on charge. The air is then ducted out through the boot floor via the vacuum cleaner hose on the right. Charger is sitting on top of the box

4. Controller is under the seat with forced cooling (lid of box not shown). Eventually this'll get moved to the space under the rear seats with even more cooling.

Think thats it...happy viewing!


Image
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qdos
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Postby qdos » Mon Jun 16, 2008 6:05 am

Woooh it looks rather smart and shiny :)

If you would like to write it up I'll put it in Plugged In, though it will be Issue 5 at the earliest.

Re the trailer it's not compulsorary particularly as the car is registered already. Was it SORNed or is the last tax disc still valid? It is though best to be seen to be helpful and compliant with beaurocratic departments, it does make things flow more smoothly. If they see you are demonstrating due care for the law etc then they do tend to be favourable towards your understanding of the system which will quite possibly be more than their's as they don't see EV conversions that often and it may be the first that the member of staff you get has ever seen.

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Mon Jun 16, 2008 2:38 pm

Oh, my, god. What a pain in the bottom the DVLA has turned out to be....long story, if you can be bothered to read....

I called DVLA last week, and they said they would get someone from my local office to call me back, which they did, but I had to go into a meeting, so I had to tell them I would call them back. I am not allowed to call my local office dirtectly, though, doh!

So today I called the DVLA Swansea again, they said local offices do not make outgoing calls! I explained the situation, and the chap said all I need to do is go to my local office and show them all the photos and receipts and they will change the V5. I asked if I need to take the car, he said 'no, no need'.

Luckily the Local Office is 5 miles away, so I popped over and joined the queue. The lady said 'ooo, this is quite interesting, not had to do this before' and took all my info to the supervisor. He said I need to call my local VOSA office and arrange a viewing so I can get a certificate to say its OK. They gave me VOSA's number.
The DVLA lady said that I can tax the car as a petrol and MOT and Insure it and it'll all be fine. I pointed out that the tax class and engine number would be wrong, and if I get stopped by the Police I will be in trouble, she said, 'it'll be OK'. Hmmmm

So I called VOSA and the chap there said all I need to do is go to my local DVLA offfice with pictures and receipts and they will change the V5, then just insure and MOT it. All VOSA care about is if it passes its MOT or not. I said I've done all that and DVLA told me to call him, he said they were wrong.

I don't know what to do, if I have to hold on the DVLA help line any longer I might explode!!! I've been nice and calm so far because I need them to help me...but I don't know if I can hold on to my sanity much longer!!!

Any advice?

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:09 pm

Yep pretty typical it seems IT's ELECTRTIC it's a change of engine / fuel that's all. Not much different to changing a V8 petrol engine in a Range Rover to a Diesel for example, people do it all the time. It should be possible to do it in one easy movement but as per usual it's not in their books see so they can't just tick the box cos that means they have to do something different.

Be patient it's not unusual for them to take ages over anything like this and if they want to see it let them do so, often a friendly amicable chat with the inspector works fine. It's amazing how chatting with someone usually does the trick. If you lighten up thier day with something interesting and are friendly they usually side with you.

Remember the EV Grin :D

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geekygrilli
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Postby geekygrilli » Mon Jun 16, 2008 5:08 pm

Right, second trip to DVLA office got some answers! It took some work, as they got themselves into a stalemate situation for a while, a Catch 22 with no way out in sight! They can't change the V5 if the car is SORN and I can't tax it because they know the V5 is wrong...

I have an appointment/inspection at 1415 next Tuesday - yay! So tonight I will insure it, and get an MOT this week. Luckily there is a guy around teh corner from me who owns a garage/MOT/recovery place, so he can MOT it and hopefully transport it to teh DVLA office for me.

They still want to see a certificate of change, though. I said there is no such thing for EV's, there may well be for LPG conversions though. So I will make my own. :lol:
Last edited by geekygrilli on Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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