Comment by janosch_123 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by janosch_123 | Hacker News Reader

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I built 3 electric cars from 2018 to 2023 and drove them 20k miles. My own firmware and controllers, with an https://openinverter.org motor controller

Now I release my knowledge in bite-sized chunks on my new YouTube channel to help others:

What's a battery management system? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QsMoCrSTYc

What is the C-Rate? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDu1fRtKfsA

What is battery balancing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGYLPOlT45A

etc. etc. I focus really hard on answering exactly one question in a concise and engaging way and trying to keep every video under 5 minutes. Oh, and to make the videos solution independent, so not specific to a product, but convey the underlying knowledge so it has a longer shelf-life.

Full list is here: https://foxev.io/batteries/ I am planning to turn this into a knowledge base with playlists for "learning paths" like "everything to watch about batteries" or "here is what you need to watch to make a motor spin on a bench". I will add interactive functionality like quizzes and widgets to make the knowledge even more sticky.

You are the closest I have found to this, even though it is a digression:

Do you know of any communities with self-built airplanes? (especially novel-esque designs for propulsion or wings?) I realise these have far more regulations, but experimental GA is something that really excites me.

Are you familiar with the Experimental Aircraft Association? EAA.org

They have had a handful of articles of people working on electric propulsion in their magazine. I would imagine you could reach out to some of those featured. I once contacted a person who was building a DIY HUD and he was very friendly and eager to talk about the project. Overall a very good community!

Yep, EAA, and chances are, your local regional airport may already have a local EAA chapter you can visit and/or join. If you're into kit builds, there are dedicated web forums and groups specific to many different manufacturer's kits.

Looks really cool. Thanks

If you are in the US, you probably already know about Mike Patey but I'll share this here anyway. He has a track record of building something custom pretty much every year. I believe he is trying to build a community around a similar idea, but also catering for more mainstream GA too.

He's actually building out an aviation park to promote the community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IenxeMl2nkw

I do not. I know people use https://openinverter.org for boats

Just yesterday I stumbled upon https://vesc-project.com/forum where they are doing something similar with a focus on ebikes and drones.

You are talking full-sized aeroplanes right? I think some of the sail-gliders can be homebuilt, there must be communities for those guys.

Also e-skates and e-mountainboards!

I don't have a direct answer for you, but I would checkout any AirVenture Oshkosh groups online. I know people build planes ahead of the event to fly in.

Self-built EV? No one can tell me otherwise: you're the chosen one. Lisan-al-Ghaib :)

Why would you self-build when you could just lease an Al-Ghaib?

The door is over there :)

Thank you very much, there is a community of a few hundred of us that have succeeded and not died in the process.

Check this forum section here: https://openinverter.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11

I still have my fingers crossed that one day someone will build an electric drivetrain for a very common engine design (akin to how people put bigger engines from bolt compatible vehicles into smaller ones so they go faster), and for iconic vehicles so that we can keep them on the road. There are plenty of collectible cars out there that already lack matching serial numbers. Swapping the engine on those is no great sin against history.

https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40&srsltid=Af...

Cool. I knew someone who was putting a Porsche engine into a VW, because it required very few modifications to get it to work. I suspect it's not an accident how many of the kits here are for Porsche or VW?

Do you do contract work? My dream is to use a classic car kit and turn it into an electric car. Basically the kit in this article. :)

https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/first-drive-gto-engineeri...

Great, do you have a video and/or images of your cars?

Sure, Tom Scott drives it in this (he doesn't talk about it being electric): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmWREtcDVBE

Here is a review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2xWbfSz8Ug

Here is all the media: https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=49051

My video tutorials are linked above.

Very nice. Any video of the cars? I

here is a review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7wRu1xcyQY

Those guys channel is worth checking out by itself, they are making Ferrari Testarossa's electric and reviewed our taxi on the side.

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