Component	Model	Supplier
AC Motor	AC24LS	Azure Dynamics
Batteries - LiFEPO4, 3.2V/ea, Qty: 96	90 Ah	Thundersky
Battery Management System		Elithion
Controller - with Regenerative Braking	DMOC445	Azure Dynamics
Charger	PFC5000	Elcon
DC-DC converter- Isolated, 50 Amp output		Vicor
Heater	RM4 liquid heater	MES-DEA
Air conditioning motor, 1kW		Anaheim Automation
Electric power steering assembly		Toyota
Electric power brake vacuum pump		EV Components

Our EV Honda Civic has a range of up to 50 miles per charge, and the long-range pack will give a range of 75 miles. driven under ordinary road conditions with minimal uphill grades. The top speed is 75 miles per hour.

Our electric car uses the popular Azure Dynamics AC24LS three-phase, air-cooled AC drive motor. This motor is a more powerful descendent of the AC 20 motor currently used in hundreds of Solectria electric cars and pickup trucks. We retain the stock Honda Civic 5-speed transmission. Since AC motors have a wide RPM range and do not stall, the car can be driven with a minimum of shifting. Drivers who are unaccustomed to manual transmissions can drive this car easily as it can be operated in one gear. The remainder of the drive train, such as CV joints, are stock items and are used without modification.

We have chosen the latest battery technology — safe, reliable, and lightweight lithium-ion cells. Thunder-Sky lithium-ion (LiFePO4) cells are used in our electric car. We are using 96 cells, which provide a 307 volt battery pack. This high voltage provides plenty of power to the AC motor and give the electric Civic responsive acceleration. The quantity of 96 cells provides reasonable range at an affordable price. Larger batteries are available at additional cost to provide a longer driving range per charge.

These batteries have a very long life compared with lead-acid batteries, or even earlier types of lithium-ion batteries. Thunder-Sky lithium-ion batteries are rated at 2,000 charging cycles at 80% discharge and 3,000 cycles at 70% discharge, with a life of approximately 6 to 10 years depending on how you drive.

Battery boxes are located in the trunk (under the floor) and in the engine compartment. The batteries weigh about 550 pounds and are evenly distributed between the front and the rear of the car for optimum safety and handling.

A Battery Management System (BMS) is critical for achieving the best performance and battery life from lithium-ion batteries. All batteries in the pack must be charged to the same voltage, or else they can be damaged.

We are using the BMS from eLithion. This system has a small circuit board connected to each lithium-ion cell to provide continuous measurement and monitoring of the voltage and temperature while charging. If one cell becomes fully charged before the others, then the circuit board stops the charging by shunting the current through a resistor.

The BMS is also designed to protect the battery pack from significant damage caused by excessive discharging. When the battery pack is nearly depleted, the BMS will limit acceleration and the voltage draw from the pack. Although, the vehicle can continue to be driven under a "power saving" mode, the batteries should be recharged as soon as possible to prevent permanent battery damage.

The charger we have selected for our EV is a newly designed Elcon PFC5000. It charges the battery pack at 408 volts, the voltage required by the Thunder-Sky batteries. If the batteries are completely discharged, it will take approximately eight hours to charge them fully.

We have chosen a Vicor solid state DC/DC converter. The DC/DC converter converts the 307 volts DC from the high voltage pack to 12 volts DC, for use by the radio, lights and other accessories.

We use an RM4 liquid heater by MES-DEA. This is installed under the hood and attaches to the existing hoses for the stock Honda heater core. This allows us to use the existing system as much as possible while improving the speed of heat return.

The factory air conditioning will be retained though an additional small electric motor is required to run the standard air conditioner compressor.

In order to reduce power requirements and increase range, we use a computerized electric/hydraulic power steering pump. The pump is self-contained with a motor, reservoir and computer, and has a power-saving feature that will activate the power steering pump only when needed, instead of operating it continuously.