EVCCON 2014 Day -1

After waking up at 4 AM due to jet lag and unable to get back to sleep, I got a ride with Larry from the hotel and got to the EVTV.me workshop around 10 AM.  The growing crowd was elbow deep in the Smart car, focusing on completing the bottom balancing of the cells in the battery pack and installation of the motor and gearbox.

I worked on mounting the charger to the back side of the front bumper mount where the original radiator had been.  We also swapped out the incoming AC cable to a longer one that could reach all the way to the J1772 charging port in the back where the gas filler used to be.

We got the motor assembly mounted quite easily, and began test fitting the battery box under the frame.  After chiseling away a few extraneous mounting brackets, we found we had to remove two more brackets that were partially obscured by the motor assembly, so out it came.  The brackets came out and the motor went back in.  The battery box now fits beautifully, and battery team will be ready to install and wire up the batteries into the box and pop the box in tomorrow.

Dinner by consensus was at the Outback Steakhouse, an unusual location for me but hey I'm off the diet for this trip.  I did get a chicken caesar salad so it was almost OK.  The last time I was at an Outback Steakhouse, I had a severe reaction with my onion allergy.  Tonight I made it to the hotel just in time before the volcanic explosions began so I'm now 2 for 2 in 10 years, and that adds up to a big Nope for me and Outback Steakhouse from now on!

I'm managing to stay awake long enough to post this entry, then back to the shop tomorrow for another full day of the Smart car build.  I'm also hoping the GEVCU firmware guys show up soon, because I want to test my GEVCU app, a port of my PakTrakr electric car app, with a real piece of GEVCU hardware.