Who wants to disassemble a Rav4 EV and put it in a boat?

[SeaMonster]

OK, I know that subject must have gotten your curiosity piqued. (I hope it did.)

Here's the scoop. I friend of mine is running the Educational Tall Ship program here in the SF Bay. They are building a tall sailing ship from scratch and he wants to power it with electric engines. He is very seriously looking at buying a pair of Rav4 EVs and removing the engine, battery, charger and whatever else is needed, and using that to power the ship. (Imagine a pair of Rav4 EV dashboards mounted in a wooden ship's engine room.) I know this sounds fairly insane, but in reality it is workable. They will be doing regenerative charging via a propeller and will also have generators onboard. The ship will be sailed here in the Bay as well as taking some long ocean voyages. But the ship isn't built yet. Construction should start soon. This is an opportunity for someone to get involved and help plan and implement the integration of these motors into the ship. This is not a rush and much of the work could be done offsite. They are looking for someone with time and technical know-how to work with them on this aspect of the ship. This is a great opportunity for someone that wants to really learn a LOT about how these cars work. I'd like to be involved, and I will hopefully help some, but I am just too over-committed to make the time commitment needed.

Mission: The mission of Educational Tall Ship is to construct a historic and sustainable wooden tall ship for the San Francisco Bay Area. The project will provide on the water and shore based experiential education for students of all ages, both during construction and after completion. Programs will focus on marine ecology, sustainability, teamwork, leadership and the rich maritime history of the Bay Area.
http://www.educationaltallship.org

If anyone here is seriously interested, let me know and I will put you in touch and/or help you get more information.

 

[Kohler Controller]

Why not purchase the components you described from AC Propulsion instead? Undoubtedly the ETS program will need some support and ACP would be able to help whereas making the RAV4EV drivetrain do what the ship wants when the ship wants vs what the car system was programmed to do would be very difficult. ACP would be able to adapt the system to the needs of the application. Just a thought.

 

[edmc]

Why not purchase the components you described from AC Propulsion instead?

I would imagine that "parting out" two Rav4 EVs to be somewhat cheaper given the sell-at-a-loss/Fed/State rebate programs underway currently. $60K for two 40+kWh battery/drive systems would seem to be a price hard for AC Propulsion or others to match, no?

 

[ThePoorManTesla]

Would you need to keep the car register for a certain time to have the federal and state rebate? And I am hopping that they will use 2002 Rav4, because I would have a problem with sustainability and dismantling two brand new car.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I think I would be up for this. I agree with thought process and costs using two new Rav4s.

Plus, you can sell the engineless car bodies, or more logically, go to a wrecking yard and get two oil burner Rav4s for drive trains to sell with the car.

I don't really know much about the needs of a big sailing ship like this, but I do have a skipper's license.

I would have to do the tear downs in San Diego and deliver the running drivetrain to the ship. As to design, I can't imagine the process is much different than two diesel marine engines. Keeping the components dry might be a challenge.

I specifically would not be up for piecing together a bunch of off the shelf components (I'm already invoked in that, and it's breathtakingly frustrating).

 

[Bassman]

Ski Nautique has a ski boat powered by two Nissan LEAF Motors.

http://www.nautique.com/videos/index/100-electric-nautique

 

[Brandy]

I would suggest he do some web surfing and use a motor system designed for marine use like:
http://www.ikanostech.com/index.php/marine

***************************
The Ikanos Technologies, Solomon Marine Propulsion Advantage

This will be the biggest power revolution the marine industry has ever seen.
Charles Chiodi, Publisher, Multihulls Magazine

No more choking smoke, annoying vibration or throbbing exhaust – just silent, fume-free torque that turns your prop with greater power and control than you get from a diesel.

What is there about Ikanos Technologies, Solomon Marine electric drive that makes it so revolutionary?
Ikanos Technologies

Clean, quiet operation
Regenerative motor sailing
Better fuel economy and extended range
fuel-efficiency statistics
Fuel-free motoring
Greatly reduced maintenance
Power, safety and exceptional maneuverability
horsepower vs. torque
prop size matters
selected motor replacements
***************************************

They are not the only ones just the first I found.

=D~~Brandy

 

[SeaMonster]

Definitely the cost is more than competitive with the incentives involved. And the desire is to resell the unused portions of the car. Tony, I like your idea of finding a used gas engine at a junk yard. Might be possible. I don't think water is a problem. But a moist, damp environment will be something to consider. Especially with all the salt.

Tony, PM me an email address and/or phone # and I'll put you in touch with these guys. SD might be a possibility. They are in no rush as the backbone isn't even started. But plans are well underway and they should be beginning soon. It would be really great if this ends up working out. I can imagine we'd all benefit greatly from the knowledge learned from ripping one apart. If you do this, I want to come down and visit.

Dave

 

[qwk]

This would be an awesome project, and I hope that it comes to fruition. I imagine it would be much easier to integrate just one Model S Performance drivetrain into something like a boat than two 2012 rav 4 ev drivetrains. The battery capacity/performance would be very close to the same, and the price could be close to the same if the car was bought wrecked/used. Just something to consider.