The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast

A weekly show about the trends in the electronic industry.

  • For Us
    • Donate
    • Link Here!
    • Suggest
      • Guest Suggestions
      • Story Suggestions
      • Feature My Workbench!
    • Advertising
  • For You
    • Episode Index
    • Guest Episodes
    • Buy Stuff
  • About
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
You are here: Home / Guest Appearance / #112 – An Interview with Bob Simpson – Ardent Automotive Artisan

#112 – An Interview with Bob Simpson – Ardent Automotive Artisan

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

 

Welcome, Bob Simpson of EV Drive!

 

  • Bob started the new venture once inspired by the Tesla motors story and the white papers they published.
  • Bob converted a BMW 325.
  • There are pictures of the Range Extender (REX) on the e46 page.
  • A proof of concept for the batteries was on a motocross bike, the e-moto-CRF250R
  • EV Drive is now mostly in the business of supplying subassemblies to other manufacturers and enthusiasts.
  • Higher voltage is better for powering these types of motors. Upwards of 700V out of the battery assembly!
  • Bob used standard A123 battery packs and built a Battery Management System (BMS) around each cell (floating).

Got any more questions for Bob? Leave them in the comments!

Comments

  1. Jelle Haandrikman (@jhaand) says

    September 10, 2012 at 8:20 am

    That was an awesome show. It clearly sits in your 10 ten of shows you’ve done up to now.

    • jd says

      September 10, 2012 at 6:38 pm

      Agreed!

  2. robert says

    September 10, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    Quite a passionate guest.

    With the current petrol prices (up to 1.75€/liter) I will certainly not buy a new ‘conventional car’ ever again. I simply can’t afford it anymore. I will keep my old one until it falls to pieces. Fortunately I don’t need it much… Bicycles FTW!

  3. Rasto says

    September 11, 2012 at 12:56 am

    Does anyone has link to original build log to Bob Simpson BMW 325i ?
    I’ve seen it 3-4 years ago and it had a lot of pictures which showed his excellent build a lot more.

  4. Rasto says

    September 11, 2012 at 1:20 am

    nevermind, found welding of battery pack under motorbike posts…
    http://www.evdrive.com/prototypes/2008/02/12/cell-welding-begins/

  5. Orpheus says

    September 11, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    “Your average punter” might keep their retired Li pack as an “quick-charge pack” in their garage for their car, a visiting friend’s — or a stranger’s dying battery, as readily as you’d let them use your phone or help them with a jumpstart. Add a $300 inverter, and you have backup mains power to run a fridge, furnace, circulator pumps, etc in an outage

  6. Tilman Baumann says

    September 12, 2012 at 10:02 am

    Can I see somewhere how the actual cell pack design looks?
    It sounded very three dimensional. But it never formed a tangible picture in my head.

  7. Matt D. says

    September 12, 2012 at 11:05 am

    What an episode, my fave to date! Thanks very much

  8. Jakeypoo says

    September 12, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    Great Show!

    I could listen to Bob talk about this stuff for hours.
    Keep up the techie guests.

Copyright © 2025