Battery Vehicle Society

Has anyone had dealings with Miles Electric Vehicles?
I have one to try and sort a few problems with. Its a Chineese copy of a small (Mitsubish/ Daihatsu ?) Tiny MPV, with US sourced electrics. The controller is a Curtis and the motor is AC. 72v Lead acid. This one has been through the UK testing process and has UK registration, but never seen any serious UK miles owing to various problems.

On the curtis front, does anyone have access to a curtis, hand programmer/ diagnostic tool, or the software to run on a PC (I gather Curtis have been trying to get unauthorised copies of this off various websites.)

An interesting vehicle, but seriously hampered by complying with US NEV code, which means its restricted to well under 30mph.

Grumpy-b

I prised open my wallet and bought one from Curtis. Actually very reasonable cost. UK £170 US they sell for $400. They stated it would not work on Vista or WIndows seven and it came with a USB connector. Great I thought since my Laptop has no serial port No it doesent come with a USB only serial. SO adaptor needed.
I am hoping that the Windows 7 issue is one of not working with the 64 bit version which I have seen mentioned on a US forum.
When I get the USB adaptor I will try it out.

This would also connect to G Wiz at least the AC one which uses the same controller as the Miles.

Grumpy-b

Hi Grumpy,
Jack Rickard of EVTV has a Chinese copy of a Daihatsu van imported and converted in the US.
Called the "Vantage Green Van". Also uses Lead, Curtis and 72V.

The sheer weight of the lead batteries quickly wrecked the inner tread of the front tyres. He's now got proper lithium cells in it to lose the lard. It now does 100 miles at.... 25mph and is their regular workhorse to grab those crates of root beer and taking bits to and fro' for machining.

The first video includes when they obtained it.
The Second is more technical and useful for you.
The third video contains a bit of an update on the van.

http://media.ev-tv.me/news052810-1280.mov
http://media2.ev-tv.me/news102210-1280.mov
http://media3.ev-tv.me/news020312-1280.mov

Hope its of some value.
Andy.

Thanks
Thats really interesting, Ive recently got into evtv and its great. I will look at this later on.
As for the Miles, with the Curtis software now running on an older desktop, the Curtis connector uses a serial connection and the USB convertor I have doesnt t work as curtis require it to, the main fault is diagnosed. It has a pressure transducer on the brake line that is giving an incorrect reading, and goes straight to error, cutting the power to a limp mode.
Miles have been very helpful , and are sending a replacement from the US.
Strangely the Curtis controller wont hold any changes to parameters and instantly reverts to previous. Curtis support have been really great. So a quick call to them on Monday should resolve that.
Once we have the Miles running its then time to reset the vehicle speed to get it to go faster than 25. SHould be straightforward, once its stopped defaulting.

Grumpy-b

Ya,
JR's Porshe 356 Speedster "Duex" as he calls it uses the biggest Curtis and suitable motor. To this day, its his fave EV.

Here, it's ready to roll, not "on the road" but gets his mate in the car and goes for a drive in it. This will whet anyone's appetite Obviously you'll have to scroll through a bit. By the end of the video you can see how its affected them.

This is the standard res, fast loading version:
http://media.ev-tv.me/news062510-1280 - iPhone.mov

or 720p HD:
http://media.ev-tv.me/news062510-1280.mov

All the best matey