- This do-it-yourself electrical race automotive is significantly fast round an autocross course.
- It weighs simply 1,700 kilos.
- The Apex Cricket EV is powered by a Nissan Leaf motor and a Chrysler Pacifica battery.
Motorsport is loopy costly, however it doesn’t must be that manner. If in case you have some fundamental mechanical expertise, you could possibly benefit from the thrill of racing on a price range. And that’s precisely what a father-son duo from Northern California did just a few years in the past, utilizing available components and a little bit of elbow grease.
The Ariel Atom-like inexperienced machine within the video under known as the Apex Cricket EV, a battery-powered race automotive that got here to life proper when Covid hit. After lower than a yr of tinkering within the storage, it was able to make a reputation for itself on the autocross course.
There’s a Gen3 Nissan Leaf motor on the rear that maxes out at 214 horsepower (160 kilowatts), which is loads for a automobile that weighs simply 1,700 kilos (771 kilograms). The primary iteration of the Cricket had the Leaf’s authentic one-speed transmission and open differential sending energy to the rear wheels, however that was an issue. As a result of the entire automotive is so light-weight, the only motor would smoke one of many tires at speeds of as much as 70 miles per hour. That’s enjoyable, but in addition fairly scary.
So the usual Leaf transmission was swapped for a six-speed gearbox with an built-in limited-slip differential lifted straight from a Nissan Maxima. A do-it-yourself adapter plate mates the electrical motor to the transmission and not using a clutch in the best way. The difficulty right here is that the driving force can’t shift gears whereas driving, however that’s not wanted on quick autocross runs. As an alternative, a single gear is used all through the dash.
The suspension, steering and brakes are from a C5 Chevrolet Corvette, whereas the battery pack is created from a number of 60-volt modules sourced from the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan. In whole, the pack has 16 kilowatt-hours of power, sufficient for roughly 100 miles of vary on the road. And it may be pushed anyplace, as a result of it’s avenue authorized.
Apart from the tubular chassis, which was welded by an area store, the whole lot was completed at residence, within the storage. When it was all stated and completed, the ultimate price was round $20,000, which is taken into account low cost on the earth of racing. What’s extra, within the three years because the automotive was completed, it is wanted no upkeep apart from altering tires and charging the batteries. At first, just a few points with the facility supply popped up often, however they had been finally sorted out after fidgeting with the customized motor controller.
So an inexpensive home-brew EV is feasible. It simply takes some work.
