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EVolve Racing the Tes-Ten tesla powered S10

EVolveRacing

EVolveRacing

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race
Joined
Mar 10, 2023
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6268
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We will start this thread for anyone that wants to build an Ev. Will help as much as we can with our experience in Ev. As this is my first Ev build. This has been my crawler from back in 2002 been through many changes over the years now its a Ultra4 race truck for the Ev class. Im not an engineer and not a liberal 🙄. Just a gear head and farmer thats had everything from civic drag cars way back in the day to diesel pull trucks. We managed to redesign this truck from a crawler to its new Ev state in 10 months. Not going to lie , it was a lot of work in a small time frame. Its still a work in progress but we are racing it and making changes as we learn to make it more efficient. So ask away and I'll try to help as much as we can. But be prepared , its not cheap . Most parts to do the conversion are not off the shelf there one off parts. Looking forward to talking to everyone if you see us on the track come say hi and check out the truck.
 

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Shes a big girl 6055# full race setup. Its 42% front 52% rear. We weren't able to get a full charge on it yet so were still not shur of its total range. It went 68 miles on a charge and a half. Were still playing with gearing but were hoping for 80 miles once we get it fugerd out.
 
This is how I built my main drive. It's now directly mounted to my 2 transfer cases vs the original transaxle from out of the car.
 

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EVolveRacing said:
Shes a big girl 6055# full race setup. Its 42% front 52% rear. We weren't able to get a full charge on it yet so were still not shur of its total range. It went 68 miles on a charge and a half. Were still playing with gearing but were hoping for 80 miles once we get it fugerd out.
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48 front?

I applaud you for the efforts and it’s been cool to watch the journey, I have been following you on IG.
 
First off, thanks for starting the build thread! I think your experience will help serve to inspire the rest of us

EVolveRacing said:
This is how I built my main drive. It's now directly mounted to my 2 transfer cases vs the original transaxle from out of the car.
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Could you explain the conversion of Tesla motor unit a bit more? It looks like your welded adapter bolts right to where the motor controller deal used to be mounted, first off that is slick, but did you relocate the Tesla unit or use an aftermarket option?

And then I see you dropped most of the guts out of the cases and cut/welded new bottom plates on to provide the sealing necessary. Is the motor a direct 1:1 now that just uses the helical gear shaft as a coupler to the transfer case via that splined shaft? Or is the helical gear just an example, and those custom shafts are the couplers? Or are there other moving parts inside the case still?
 
We relocated the inverter/controller up into the firewall and had a cover made to connect the cooling on it. Yes the motor is directly connected as like a transmission would be the shaft on the left is the original one the outher two are the ones I had mad to replace it ones my spare. We welded a 1/2in plate to where the inverter was to mount the transfer case then sealed up where the part of the transaxle used to be to keep oil for the ine bearing on the main shaft out of the motor. Were a 2.78:1 or 1.96:1 and can double the together so like a 3 speed transmission behind it.
 
Sweet info all around. I feel like I’ve heard those Tesla motors can spin up around 20k rpms, do you run it in one of the deeper low ranges most of the time just to make keep the useable rpm range similar to what we see with internal combustion stuff? How’s the torque in double low?
 
Yes we run it always in the 2.78:1 run it about 12000 rpm max. We just got the throttle mapping right haven't tried it in the rocks sence then been doing maintenance and a couple of small repairs after hammers
 
Interesting, great interview you did on WWW podcast. I'm not sure electric is the future as the bottom is going to fall out on the government subsidized funding.

On the other hand I can appreciate the tech.

The whole subsidised electric thing by Dave Cole KOH hasn't seemed to spark much interest.

If this tech was going into a 4400 car it could "spark" some real interest.
 
Winchested said:
Interesting, great interview you did on WWW podcast. I'm not sure electric is the future as the bottom is going to fall out on the government subsidized funding.

On the other hand I can appreciate the tech.

The whole subsidised electric thing by Dave Cole KOH hasn't seemed to spark much interest.

If this tech was going into a 4400 car it could "spark" some real interest.
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Don't think it will go away like we all thought it would when it first came out. For what were doing thew battery tech for the demand that we need is not there yet. Give it another 5 years we might see it. As for putting a 4400 car together it will happen one day. Hammers is a hard race sence its so long for an EV it is a challenge but I think short course its going to be a hand full since its all torque right out off the hole. Will find out how it dose this year racing the Nor Cal races soon.
 
This is so cool, most people are scared to take apart the Tesla drive unit like that. But with your custom t-cases and 3-speed you have tons of ratios to choose from. Do you have more of those adapters and custom input shafts for sale?
 
Just listened to the episode of The Next Great Car Era podcast featuring EVolve Racing, it was really cool. The way you described the battery box being removable and your plan to winch it out is awesome! You really have thought of some clever ways around problems.

Your truck has a slight rear-bias in weight distribution, 48% front and 52% rear, is that beneficial for desert racing? Would you prefer it 50-50 or even more weight in the rear?

Looking forward to seeing some of your short course racing soon also!

For others here is a link to the podcast episode: 9 - EVolve Racing with Keith and Melissa Silva - The Next Great Car Era
 
EVolveRacing said:
Shes a big girl 6055# full race setup. Its 42% front 52% rear. We weren't able to get a full charge on it yet so were still not shur of its total range. It went 68 miles on a charge and a half. Were still playing with gearing but were hoping for 80 miles once we get it fugerd out.
Click to expand...

68 miles of putting around or spirited driving?

Roughly how long it’ll take to recharge from dead to full with a typical RV hook up at campgrounds? 0%-100% overnight is possible?
 
I’m noob when it come to EV tech.

Is the 12v battery for power steering and vacuum pumps? I only see 1 battery. how is it kept charged while on trails, and how long it’ll last as a reserve in that scenario?

How big of a pita is it to tow back to the pit if it go dead? Steering, braking and such. The t-case still have neutral you can shift it into to tow/roll easier?



I’d hate to become the evergreen trail tampon. :homer:
 
TrailTamer said:
68 miles of putting around or spirited driving?

Roughly how long it’ll take to recharge from dead to full with a typical RV hook up at campgrounds? 0%-100% overnight is possible?
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From the podcast I think the 68 miles refers to his run at King of the Hammers. He had a buddy in a Dodge tow him with a strap with the motor in reverse in order to charge the battery with regen. Hilarious and awesome.

The 12v is topped off by the main battery when the vehicle is switched on. Needs a 12v in order to close the high voltage relays on the main battery.
 
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Sorry been so busy with family life and work. I'll havrle to scan bsck and answer all questions. We did get some testing in at the Nor Cal rock racing track and testing at my ranch. Finally got it yp to about 90mph and was still climbing. Then we wnet out to Prairie City. It was a good day tell the end. We got it up to seventy on the back stretch of the track and hitting the corners hard and rocks at a good pace. Then the rear got a little out of shape on a corner tried to save it and ended up putting on its side hard. So hopefully this weekend I'll finally start cutting the cab off and installing a new one. Chassis and cage still look great battery box held in place like it was designed to do. It drove back on the trailer like nothing was wrong. Was odd to put it back on all 4s and not having to pump cylinders out.
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Been busy getting the truck ready for KOH. Finally, life is kind of back to normal. KOH was awesome this year. We brought home a trophy and pulled of a first-place finish in EV EMC for the first in history at hammers. It was a feet to pull off with just one battery had to charge for about 3 hrs at rp1. We made it back to hammer town in time and almost out of battery. Next year we hope to have more batteries
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for the race but now it's time to get ready for short course at Nor-Cal season.
 
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