Signature Series

[Rickb]

There is the lockable Dry Spec Stash Box License Plate Holder option for storing title and proof of insurance certificates:

https://www.twistedthrottle.com/stash-bo...d-throttle

[jimball]

whatabout t-rex headlights?!

(i.e. nothing in the center for a motorcycle, but it does have seats like a car)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campagna_T-Rex

NOTE on their website they say,...

The world’s finest three-wheeled side-by-side vehicles
https://campagnamotors.com


actually have an unrelated head light question to the signature series owners,... since there is no glove box where do you keep the vehicle registration and proof of insurance papers?

The T-Rex, like the Polaris Slingshot, is classified as an autocycle.  It is controlled with a steering wheel like a car and has side by side seating.  Most states have separate requirements for autocycles.

[Buzzard Bait]

AM brought Yellow back to me today with the new headlight configuration, new windshield and a couple of extra tweaks.  I think the amber lights in place of the original headlights make Yellow look BadAss

Just curious....why the new windshield?

[PAX]

We have RED back- really happy about that.   
A little bit on the saga of what has been going on with our Signature FUVs.   First an acknowledgement that our vehicles are pre-production and essentially diamonds in the rough and part of a testing and information gathering process. My wife and I and Steve know this and are willing participants in the process of refining the FUV design. The production version will have a number of changes in them from ours.

Down to what has been going on:
Arcimoto was drawn up a bit with the awareness that they had not quite met all the Federal compliance requirements. Things like the head light spacing (too far apart on the SS fuvs)  the tires were not "motorcycle rated tires" and a number of other things- emissions, braking to name two I know of.   Compliance is now taken care of.

There has also been an issue with the power steering cutting out. Every time my wife drove by this one particular place RED's PS died.  Turned out to be a fault in a part in one of the circuit boards.  The traces were too close together and caused signal jumping across traces under certain circumstances. What caused the issue has been found and they are getting a replacement part soon and will test it and install in our SS FUVs soon. Not a major issue but one that needs to be taken care of.  

Wind shield-  We had somne distortions in RED's wind shield - not head ache type distortion but noticeable when looking at something far away. AM put in a new one and so far I am really pleased with it.

First - some of the things I reall like about the FUV
performance is great- awesome acceleration- too much for this old guy
braking is first rate -really good
steering, swerving and handling is really good except power steering is not on until the vehicle is moving. This will be rectified soon
visibility is awesome
The awesome folks at Arcimoto - very help full and willing to go the extra mile, always helpfull when I talk to them  (a little better communication with the general supporters might be good)

My guesses at how the production version will vary from our SS version- this is my thoughts

A different frame reconfiguration- In order for a better door system to be implemented and to meet the abilities of the robot welders, the body shape will be more square shape. Also- hopefully set up on a more modular type of frame work that will allow different configurations.

The body panels will be roto-molded plastic- less cost and lighter weight than the SS fiberglass body work.

Redesign of head lights to meet Fed motorcycle requirements.

Options for faster charging ( which is not an every day issue but could be on a longer trip)

Miles per charge. A number of changes will increase this upward to what I expect and we all want.  

I hope this is informative.  I feel there is more to say but my brain just froze and dinner is ready.

[Rickb]

2 thumb’s way up on your personal saga. ?? Very informative indeed!

[DanCooper]

Thanks for these uodates. What I would like to know is energy consumption as a function of speed. For example, miles per kilowatthour at two different speeds, city and highway, such as 30 mph and 60 mph. This will help me decide if I need the extended range battery.

Dan Cooper, geek.

[SparkE]

Dan, temperature will definitely have an effect on range. Between 60 and 80, not so much. But if your batteries start your morning drive at (say) 45 degrees, you will have a noticeably shorter range (not 50%, but a loss of over 10%). Also, over time your range will decrease because of battery fade.

Geeks (like me) worry about babying (to a certain extent) the Li-Ion batteries for longer life (the battery WILL lose capacity over time, no matter what you do - the idea is to minimize it). I was never anal about it (well, MY definition of anal at any rate - my wife disagrees ) but the following generally hurt Li-Ion life, no matter the exact composition of the battery:
- extreme heat (especially *charging* when the batteries are hot)
- charging to full (and then leaving battery full for 'a long while' before use)
- the combo of the two above : a full, battery sitting in the heat (say, a full battery parked all day in the sun in 95+ degree weather)

What I tended to do (in general, not always) :
- keep battery between 20% and 80% charge (try to never fully charge or discharge)
- when I needed close to a full range, charge 'at the last moment' (charge to ~85% the night before, then charge the last 10-15%in the AM)
- don't charge when it's hot (over 90) - delay charging until the cooler evening hours
- when I knew it was going too be hot, hot, hot, limit charge to 60-70% if I could
- when I had a vehicle with active (liquid) cooling (instead of useless air cooling), use it to keep battery temp under 90F
- always had vehicle with a battery *heater*, so plug car in about 20-30 minutes before leaving to heat battery when under 45 degrees (and charge a little less than normal the night before, to not 'overfill' the battery) - and to run seat heater and car's air heater/blower

I figured that if I were careful 90% of the time, I would delay the aging of the battery significantly - I never tried for 100% 'conformance' to my rules.

If you are going to use the FUV for commuting, try to get access to a 120V plug at work, so that you can 'top up' the battery to about 80% at work (when it isn't hot). Commercial electricity is darn cheap - a FULL CHARGE (say, 10 kWh) should cost less than a buck. If you can bring your own (cheap) portable 120V EVSE ("charging cable") and padlock it to the FUV so it doesn't "walk off", you can just charge at work. Write me a PM if you want to discuss EVSEs (brands, features, essential capabilities IMO, etc).

OR, if somebody is really interested in discussions about batteries, 'chargers', charging networks, etc. then start a new thread outside of this "Sig Series' thread and I'll contribute to that one. (Y'all may have guessed that I've been driving electric for a while.)

[SparkE]

It seemed to me I'd already ranted a little bit about charging, looked, and found some.

A nice thread on 'charging' : http://fuvowners.com/showthread.php?tid=410

A thread on 'public charging' : http://fuvowners.com/showthread.php?tid=...55#pid2255

[PAX]

Dan -  I have some data on our trip from Eugene to Olympia -470 miles travelling on everything from up hill, down hill,  curvy mountain roads to four lane roads with 60MPH speed limits . Not steady state freeway speeds.   It was a rather disappointing 4.4 miles per KWH. The around town is a bit better but is affected by the issue that the FUV loses around .8 KWH per day just sitting not being used. Our driving is less than 20 miles per day, sometime no driving that day, so that loss throws off the calculation for true miles/KWH. For what ever it means we were at about 4.6 miles/KWH over160 miles in 9 days. I also wonder how much residual drain all the systems like lights and computers put on the batteries.  I might test that some day by fully charging and turn it on and let it sit for several hours (the more the better) and then see what it takes to charge it back up. 
Arcimoto wants to get up to 6 or 7 miles/KWH-  I don't know how but some will be by  trimming a couple of hundred pounds off of it. Ours is hand built and the body is fiberglass and structure is heavier then needed. I also question how the two motor system compares to a single motor system. energy wise. Also high voltage like the Leaf  (360V nominal) versus the 112-120V of the FUV.

Right now our SS FUV  is set for us to only get 60% of the batteries capacity. from 20 to 80% This does cut the range down. 

I am not sure what % of means, voltage wise. Can some one tell me how percentage of charge relates to battery voltage. With a 3.7 nominal cell (4.2 Max) what voltage is 90%, 80%, 20%?

These are Farasis cells, made in China and are suppose to be a high tech design that handles heat better. They are air cooled. AM is assembling the modules at the moment which is labor intensive.

[DanCooper]

I made a spreadsheet a while back to estimate FUV performance. It is based on educated guesses on motor and battery efficiency and rolling resistance, published figures on weight and battery capacity, and a wild-ass guess on aerodynamic drag coefficient. It predicts 6.0 mi/kWh at 30 mph, 4.2 mi/kwh at 40 mph, and 2.2 mi/kwh at 60 mph.

I don't think rolling hills would have a large effect on energy use, unless they were so steep that you spent a lot of time in regenerative braking. I don't think having two motors would have any effect at all. The motor efficiency should be the same over a range of motor sizes.

I hope it comes equipped with a battery heater, powered during charging. If not, it would be easy enough to add one, just heat tape and a thermostat. An electric space heater, on a timer so it would run an hour or so before I plan to leave, should increase comfort on cold days. This assumes that there are doors.

- Dan