The Electro-Willys Crew

Lots of people have given Mike a hand, but just 3 will be going with him on the AC'12 adventure. Joining him for the trip will be Greg, Nate, and Owen.

Owen, Mike, Nate, and Greg

Mike is retired Army. His love of old jeeps started in high school when he bought a surplus 1952 M38 and rebuilt it. We still have that jeep, and call it the Blue Mule. Electro-Willys shares the garage with the Blue Mule, Kate's Karriage, and a pile of parts that may someday be Green Jeanne. We also have another jeep in there that we are storing for a young man on duty in Afghanistan.

Greg is retired Navy, and lives about 2 hours east of us. We met him when he had some questions about an old jeep he had acquired. Mike and Greg hit it off very well, and discovered that they had many interests and stuff in common. We both have dark green Ford pickups of about the same vintage. One time when they went on a winter adventure, they discovered they even have the same snowshoes! Greg will the the "chase" vehicle driver, and will pull The Cave from camp to camp.

Nate is Greg's grandson from Washington state. He's still in high school, but has a great sense of adventure. When Greg and him have come over to help with the construction of the Juice Box, Nate has shown himself to be a great hand. I've heard he even might be cooking for the team?

Owen is retired Air Force. He was looking for a seat in the convoy and posted to the Facebook page, saying something to the affect of "I'll probably end up sitting on the batteries of that electric jeep". Well, of course, Mike had to contact him after that. The rest is history. Lucky for Owen, he won't have to sit on the battery pack. Owen and his wife came down for a visit a couple of weeks ago to met us all. Owen is the relief driver for the "chase" vehicle, or will rotate in and out of the passenger seat in E-W.

Tonight, the crew converges on our place to pack up Electro-Willys and the Juice Box into The Cave. I know E-W and the Juice Box will fit, but I hope all the other stuff will too! It's T-1 and the hours are ticking by.  First gear from The Thirsty Dirt Ranch will be in the morning.

- Ellen

An Electric Willys?

Installing the
WarP 11 motor

So, what is Electro-Willys all about? E-W is a 1952 M38 Willys jeep that we converted to all-electric. The details of the conversion process can be followed in a photo album at The Electro-Willys.

The gas engine was replaced with a 11-inch DC WarP 11 motor made by NetGain. An adapter plate was custom made to connect this motor with the bell housing of the Willys jeep. This allowed us to keep the rest of the E-W as original as possible.

Blue lithium batteries
next to
old lead-acid battery

Power is supplied by 46 3.5-volt lithium batteries. Initially we used lead-acid batteries, but they weighed a lot and had some severe limitations. The lithium battery pack stores 42 kilowatts of power, and operates at 144-160 volts and 600 amps.

A Soliton Jr controller by Evnetics sits underneath the driver's seat. This device controls the flow of energy to and from the batteries and the motor.

Soliton Jr controller

E-W can scoot right along at over 70 mph. At more reasonable speeds, the average distance between charges is about 60 miles. This is more than sufficient to get Mike to work and back, although the preference is to plug E-W in while at work. Mike can run errands around town if necessary before heading home.

With the current cost of electricity, Mike estimates E-W uses about $5 dollars worth of energy a week to recharge. That is a huge savings over the cost of diesel for our F-250.

- Ellen

You got a LONG extension cord with that?

After a couple of rebuilds ('cuz the guys in Salida had no clue what they were doing), and a recent battery upgrade, Mike has finally been able to use Electro-Willys for commuting. He can get about 60 miles per charge. With a 25-mile communte, that means he can run errands around town with no problem.

Mike is able to plug in to the business next door so that he has a full charge to come home on. One day E-W didn't get plugged right, and he worried about coming home. Had me on "tow-alert" just in case. Come to find out, he got home and still had plenty of charge left.



When people find out he is going to take E-W on the Alaska Highway, they usually respond with some smart-alicky quip like: "You got a Long extension cord with that?" or "Hope you can find enough current bushes!" Yes, he does have a long extension cord, but NOT that long.

- Ellen

In the Beginning...

The day E-W arrived

Back in 2008, when diesel prices sky-rocketed to $5/gal, Mike decided to build an electric jeep for commuting. He found this 1952 Willys M38. It looks kinda rough in the picture above, but actually wasn't in too bad a shape.

He traded the engine out for a winter cab, then set about getting the frame and body ready for conversion. Under this pale blue, Mike found the original paint was Air Force blue. The history of where this M38 was used in the service has been lost, but perhaps it had been at Lowry AFB in Denver.

- Ellen