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Electric car videos, starring the ForkenSwift![]() From almost the beginning of the conversion, I shot a series of videos to document its progress. There are actually still a few unfinished videos in the vault, and a new one yet to be made to show off a modification installed just this week. The videos cover project milestones, from the very first spin-up of the electric motor in the car, to the first electric test drive, to a demo of how to shift gears without a clutch, to a battery pack "hot swap"... and more. Keep an eye on this page as new videos are added. From oldest to newest ... #1) Project ForkenSwift electric car conversion: 1st powerup
First power-up of the freshly installed forklift hydraulic pump motor in our beer budget, low speed, Geo Metro electric vehicle conversion. - - - #2) Project Forkenswift electric car: 1st CONTROLLED powerup
Here's the Forkenswift's motor being spun up (and down, and up, and down) with a used golf cart controller. (Thanks to the EVDL folks for help with connecting the oddball Curtis.)
- - - #3) Project ForkenSwift EV: first electric test drive
Officially, we're only at the battery rack building stage of the project. But while waiting to get a welder to finish the job, Spring Fever struck and against better judgment we piled 6 batteries into the car, hooked everything together and went up & down the street a bunch of times.
- - - #4) Project ForkenSwift electric car conversion: it's legal!
Overdue (but waaaay under budget) the car is now registered as an EV and is legally on the road! This video marks the occasion of its official transition to EV status, showing the car in action. Of course the it's not *completely* finished - there are still lots of small details to take care of. But we're having a blast driving the car - minus the threat of getting busted - while sorting them out. - - - #5) Project ForkenSwift electric car: shifting gears
Since the car has no clutch, people often ask how I change gears. The purpose of this video is to show just that.
- - - #6) Project ForkenSwift electric car: LED battery gauge
One of the challenges of driving an EV with old or mismatched batteries is that you'll murder the weaker ones if you don't keep an eye on their state of charge. This "new to us" LED battery pack gauge will help to ensure we don't send any batteries to their graves ... uh, to the recycler ... prematurely. - - - #7) Project ForkenSwift electric car: battery pack hot swap!
Just for fun...
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