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Want a crazy positive response to your car?

8K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  obinolson 
#1 ·
Pull up to your local hobby shop, and get out and tell them "Hey wana come see my lithium car" ? They will blow you off till you say "Hey, no it's not the latest (insert whatever new radio control car they are racing or high performance helicopter they are flying) It's a real car, you can drive "IN" it"

watch out, you will be MOBBED and will need to take EVERYONE in the shop for a ride.

(For folks that don't know, the Radio Control model industry has been completely transformed for years from lithium battery tech, they know more about cell tech then just about anyone, a good fast, high discharge cell to them is better then crack to an addict"

you will be "the man" on the block, trust me. :)
 
#2 ·
#3 ·
#8 · (Edited)
Side point: We use LiPo batteries in R/C instead of Lithium Ion, so that crowd knows a lot about battery fires. LiPo batteries are lighter and more powerful than the chemistry used in the Volt, but they do have a tendancy to blow up and burn your house down if you are not careful when storing and charging them. They sell special fire bags for storing the batteries so that doesn't happen.

This is what I am currently flying -- Mig 29 with twin electric ducted fan with 2 huge LiPo battery packs:

Aircraft Vehicle Airplane Fighter aircraft Military aircraft
 
#10 ·
RC car enthusiast here. It also got me thinking about the future Volt in 2008 and reading this forum.

My son and I don't race much anymore (he is 16 and finds girls and socializing more interesting now). Got a room full of various scale cars and stuff in my home-office.

The Volt has a Lithium-Ion Polymer pack with various additives such as manganese spinel. Still the same old 3.7V nomical cells more or less except they are 15Ah and not 5Ah as are common in today's RC packs. Spark EV will have 20Ah A123 3.3V nominal LiFePo4 cells. Back in 2008, I was really pulling for A123 to get the Volt contract in 2009 to make the car more "American Made". But today's result is still quite good.

I may go and find a good starter plane this year to change it up a little bit and fly in the backyard. I don't have the eyes/hands to do 3D helicopter stuff.
 
#13 ·
I have that one too. It's a perfect combination of stability/agility for someone like me who just wants to dabble. As a kid, I spent quite a bit of time learning to properly hover/transition to forward flight with a Hirobo Shuttle before deciding it was failing the fun/effort test for me. That Blade 120 weighs about as much as the gyro did in the Shuttle.
 
#14 ·
I knew with A lipo car I could draw out some drivers and fliers around here...:)

fun stuff. My VOLT mechanic at Jeff Gordon Chevy is also a heli pilot and flies some bigger models with nitro. fun !

Just went in and had them take care of a small issue with my charger (for the volt not model) and we spoke of C draw.


What on earth does the car draw down and max torque request anyway? what is the "c" draw down on the pack and what is the pack rated for C wise? (Capacity discharge, like a "20c" model pack is a rating of how fast you can draw it down before it will fail/melt/overheat/shorten lifespan)

Cause if this thing is a 3 c draw I am OUT OF HERE.......LOL!!!! I need atleast 80c!!!!!
 
#16 · (Edited)
C draw? About 10C max.

here's the deal: Volt is 96S3P (pete foss shared this recently here)
Cells are 15Ah. 3.7V = 55.5Wh = 1C = 55.5W
Recent ChevroletVoltage.com chat said that max draw is about 155KW during hard acceleration so that means...

288 cells * 1C = 288 * 55.5W = 15984W or 16KW
If max draw is 155KW - then that's about 9.7C

"I was layin' down some 10C from a stop light and dusted that Camaro from zero to 40 - should have seen the guy"

If Volt was drawing 80C during acceleration, you'd be replacing packs after maybe 50,000 miles :)
 
#17 ·
And if you really want to see some jaws drop, show them some RC type gees out of this thing. Get some room in the lot, take it to around 10 mph, turn to left lock, and put the hammer down and show off the anti-skid...

"Don't try this at home, professional driver on a closed course".
 
#18 ·
You can also see some speed on Youtube with electric drag racing (1:1 scale). Search "Killacycle" and other stuff.
 
#19 ·
"I was layin' down some 10C from a stop light and dusted that Camaro from zero to 40 - should have seen the guy"

HAHAHAH ROTFLOL "layin' down some c" OMG rotflol!!! that is just priceless.

If Volt was drawing 80C during acceleration, you'd be replacing packs after maybe 50,000 miles :)[/QUOTE]

I was JOKING! 10c is Peeerrfffect..means my lipos will last a really long time.

Thanks SO much for the cell and pack specs on this bad boy, been dyin' to know 'em!!! :)
 
#20 ·
It has started to strike me as strange, I am always talkin C and 4s2p and NOBODY has a clue yet they will all soon be driving around using the same EXACT setup I have been using and flying for years. Yet they will not have a clue for a while I bet.

The R/C hobby has me much more aware of my Volt then anyone else I know just because I "understand" the inner workings pretty well. funny. need not learn, just cross apply knowledge of hobby. :)

15ah eh? I fly 4 5000mah 4s packs in my ultra large quad copter for filming:

http://vimeo.com/21414110

and version 1 of the rig:

http://vimeo.com/9435221
 
#21 ·
Same here, almost. 4S1P 5.0 Ah for 1:8 scale buggy racing. Using Castle Creations Mamba Max and 1800 motor. Then we use 2S1P for 1:10 scale stuff. What's been amazing is the price of LiPo packs over the last 2-3 years. From $120+ for a moderate 2S1P down to maybe $20 if you buy from Hong Kong (hobbycity.com). Is MaxAmps still in business? Their "sell" was they built packs "fresh" with "new" cells to-order and charged 1.5-2x the price :) SPX would do fine buying them out.
 
#23 ·
Once the guys know they can drive Lipo cars they will be wanting one. Sure have a bunch at my local shop, including the shop owner who I saw today and give him the details on what this "pack" I am driving around on really is.

He LOVED it. I think he will buy a Volt now.
 
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