Citroen PDF Print E-mail

If you want the comforts your used to but want to be green as well try our pale green car

 

This was our concept, a modern small 5 door, 4 seat hatchback with all the comforts you expect.  Airbags, radio/CD player, electric windows, central locking and boot space too.  Under the boot we would install a battery pack supplying half our power and under the rrear seats we could install the battery chargers.  Under the bonnet we would install two separate wheel motors.  Each motor drives at low speed and high torque so no gearbox or differential is necessary.  The second battery pack would also be under the bonnet together with the motor controllers.  So this is what we used for our base car. A Citroen C3, but did we manage to pack in all the electrical and electronics we wanted?

The road from concept to reality has been far longer than envisaged.  Here's why.

The wheel motors were excellent in principle but unfortunately didn't work in practice.  The electronics could never match the motors and electronic failure could mean one of the two dring wheels locking solid.  A potential disaster if travelling at speed.  </p> <p>   The tried and tested Siemens motor together with a gearbox and differential replaced the wheel motors.  The motor is controlled by the Siemovert inverter, shown here with the case open.  This also includes  a DC-DC converter to supply the conventional car electrics.  In place of the spare wheel a battery box is fitted so that no roomis taken from the boot.   The battery box contains a Zebra battery complete with management system.  For details see the Technical Section.  A second battery is fitted under the bonnet above the motor and gearbox.

 

So  - does it all work?

The good news is that it does work and can give the envisaged performance to match the Jester.

The bad news is that the first set of Zebra batteries, renowned for their reliability and longevity, failed and had to be returned to the manufacturer.

 

 
[ Back ]