MIT students are converting a Porsche 914 into an electric vehicle. A professor bought the car on eBay and donated it to research. The students hope to gain insight into the limitations of current battery technology and explore the practicality of advanced EV tech. They expect that the car, once completed, could reach 70 to 100 mph with 50 to 60 horsepower and travel 100 miles before recharging. From the MIT News Office:
The student project took off a year ago when Valence Technology, Inc., agreed to donate 18 high-tech rechargeable batteries valued at $2,030 each, plus a battery-management system. While today's electric cars generally operate on conventional lead-acid batteries, Valence provided its enabling lithium phosphate rechargeable batteries, which are lighter, last longer, charge up faster, have a longer lifetime and don't pose a safety risk…To make the conversion, the students replaced the original engine with an electric motor, 12 of the batteries, the battery-management system, various relays and a controller that makes all the components work together. Things haven't always gone smoothly. "There's been a lot of adapting things that don't work as they're designed," said King. "We had to come up with some creative solutions."
