Dr. David Delman's license plates say "E Fluxed." In his
car's back seat, there's a model of a so-called "flux capacitor." Scattered flyers
on the vehicle's floor read, "Save the clock tower."
Unlike Doc
Brown's DeLorean in the movie, Back
to the Future, however, Delman's car doesn't use a nuclear reaction to
produce 1.21 gigawatts (pronounced "jiggawatts" in the movie) of power.
Instead, it employs a much more conventional method for producing a small
fraction of that power: Thirteen 12V lead-acid batteries drive a series-wound
nine-inch DC electric motor that's mated to a five-speed manual transmission.
The motor and manual transmission combine to give the car excellent
acceleration, Delman says.
"It's a
little quicker than a real DeLorean," Delman says, comparing it to the
1980s vehicle that was immortalized in the famous 1985 movie. "I've had this
car over 88 miles per hour."
Delman
showed off the vehicle at Consumer Reports' recent "Future of the Car"
event, at which he appeared as a member of the Electric
Auto Association. Delman, a physician educated as an electrical engineer,
worked with another member of the association, Tom Nieland, to convert the
DeLorean to an electric car.
With
Nieland as chief engineer, the two found a 1981 DeLorean that was appropriate
for their project, and replaced its blown engine with the electric drivetrain. The
two say they are able to charge the lead-acid batteries in about eight hours
off a 110V line, or three hours at 220V.
Delman says his choice of a 1981 DeLorean a vehicle originally built by the
now-defunct DeLorean Motor Co. in Northern Ireland for the American market
has been a head-turner and a good public relations move for the electric car
industry.
"When you
own a DeLorean, everyone notices," Delman says. "They all ask, where's the flux
capacitor? So I finally put a flux capacitor in the back seat to show
them."
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