Australia's first electric MX5!

[Transmission]

Wow. About time!

This looks great.

[Okibi]

Great to hear it'll be back up and running soon Hoops. Would be great to see you on some MX-5 club runs.

[zombie]

Looks like it's up and running again - There's photos of it at the "ElectroKhana"

Wish I'd known about that event, I would have loved to have been there to spectate

[Hoops]

Good news, I finally got around to taking this thing over the pits, so it's now officially licensed and you might start seeing it around the streets of Perth - look out for the ZEVA plates!

While I'm writing, any recommendations on a good workshop in Perth to service or upgrade the brakes? They've never been very good on this thing, and now that I'm actually driving it around (and with a view to hit the race track occasionally) I'd like to have them looked at, or possibly get some bigger stoppers put in. I hear the NB brake upgrade is a common one, any other suggestions?

[Sean]

Perth - Call Les @ wheelspin/mx5shop.

He is a member on here I think mx52nv is his username. Knows MX5s pretty well to say the least and has performed brake upgrades more than a few times as far as I know

[Jeo]

Twood be very interesting to see out on the track.

Any chance of completed pics?

[Hoops]

Sean: I thought Wheelspin had closed shop?

Jeo: Sure, will upload some more recent pics soon. These ones are still pretty up-to-date though: http://www.evworks.com.au/vehicles.php?id=1

[Sean]

Sean: I thought Wheelspin had closed shop?

I think you're right, I think he runs MX5Shop now - That's what his profile shows.

[Okibi]

Wheelspin has closed, any good mechanic should be able to service/flush/recondition your brakes.

If need be you can send the callipers or master/slave off to Perth Brake Parts for a rebuild.

[marcusus]

I totally forgot this was in Perth... Is that offer for a test drive still open?

[geofiz]

PM sent re brakes.

[Benny]

Good news, I finally got around to taking this thing over the pits, so it's now officially licensed and you might start seeing it around the streets of Perth - look out for the ZEVA plates!

Seeing as you can get a vehicle converted to run electric power registered, are there any limits imposed by the government as to how powerful the motor(s) can be?
I have read about cars like the electric version of the Mercedes SLS for example, and they are running over 400hp motors.
Would there be a power output limit for electric car conversions to get them road registered?

What racing class would this EV run in?

I believe the fastest drag bike in the world is running electric power, so we could all imagine a 400hp MX-5 which runs almost silently, and with all the torque being developed at idle, it would be a real hoot to drive!

[Hoops]

Hi Benny,

Officially you're meant to replace the petrol engine with an electric motor of equal or lesser power, but the loophole is that usually licensing people don't know anything about electric cars, and the official rating of an electric motor is it's continuous rating (not peak like petrol engines), and we put several times more than continuous rating through them short term e.g under acceleration. So right now you could get away with massive amounts of power in electrics and still get them through licensing.. if you've got the money to build them.

So far we don't really have any properly high performance electric cars in Australia though, with possible exception to the Tesla Roadster which Simon Hackett (Internode, NSW) imported last year. I'd love to see someone build an EV akin to White Zombie (a 10 second electric Datsun from the US) but it takes a fair bit of money and expertise.

[pepejesus]

Thanks Hoops for bringing this beast out to the MX5 Club sprint over the weekend. It's an amazing car and a hell of achievement to put it together and get it road registered.

Now let's see what times it can do on the track!

[marcusus]

Great little surprise seeing it there. Next time I'll have to con you in to taking me for a spin in it.