In Memory of My Late Brother "David Cloud". This Page is to record and Publish many of His Projects and Accomplishments.
David Cloud Corvair repair shop: In his early years he had a Repair Shop in the White Center area south of Seattle.
Since he loved his Corvair Cars and vans he learned to specialize in the repairs of these vehicles. He rented a little shop and started a business repairing them for Customers.
He would cut, Splice and Shape the bodies as a hobby. He had a Shorty Van that he cut the center out. He had an extended version that added a middle. He made aerodynamic Bodies on the the sedan and several other Conversions.
A few of his designs were later used and shown below. Some converted to Electric.
He even named his first daughter "Corsa" from a model of the Corvair.
Electric Vehicle Conversions: SEVA member Dave Cloud has probably done more EV conversions than anyone else in the State of Washington. A regular EV racer on the NEDRA and other EV racing circuits. The late Dave Cloud (d. 2018) was by far the most prolific converter of gas cars to EV in our association. Dave had a decade and a half of conversion experience as well as many EV racing records (dragsters, electrathon, Bikes and hydroplane)
The Dolphinis the most recent creation from electric vehicle enthusiast Dave Cloud, who has converted over 45 combustion-engine boats and cars to run on electricity. He assembled the Dolphin from a 1997 Geo Metro, a set of used lead batteries, $3,000 and a vision. Dave Cloud has wowed the electric vehicle community with this aerodynamic design; now listen as he sits with Sea Change Radio host Alex Wise to talk about the Dolphin and give us all a primer on electric vehicles.
In the 2 and a half years since he built the thing, Dave Cloud says he can’t be on the highway five or 10 minutes before someone next to him slows down to gawk or take photos of it.
Sometimes, afterward, photos will appear online, speculating what exactly the thing is – with guesses hovering around something like a Geo Metro Limousine.
“Very few people have actually got a hold of me,” Cloud, of Woodinville says. “People just speculate on it.”
And for speculation, they’re damn close: It’s a 2000 Metro, with 8 feet of metal tubing and reinforced Kevlar sheeting in the middle of the vehicle to allow Cloud to haul small electric vehicles called Electrathons.
“We were racing these things all over the country and I was getting 15 miles per gallon in the minivan with a trailer – it was killing me on the gasoline,” Cloud says in explaining why he decided to retrofit the Metro.
Dave Cloud’s Super Aerodynamic Electric Car, the Dolphin
by Benjamin Jones on February 1, 2011
Infrequently do we find a home built car that is well-designed, aesthetically appealing, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive. In Dave Cloud’s Dolphin we find that all our expectations for a home built EV are surpassed. That’s probably because Dave has had his fair share putting together electric cars, having done over 45 conversions.
While the Dolphin may look like nothing you’ve ever seen before, the base vehicle is a 1997 Geo Metro, one of the classical examples of frugal driving. There are plenty of examples of Geo Metros being converted, but none are quite as unique as the Dolphin
The Dolphin was put together for a miserly $3,000, but can do impressive things for the meager amount of money that was used to create it. Running on used batteries, the car managed a 70mph top speed and overall range of upwards of 80 miles, despite the fact that curb weight is well over 3000 pounds. The Dolphin is designed for highway cruising, lacking a transmission and geared to top out at 71 miles an hour. While this does allow for efficient highway cruising, it makes low speed operation and acceleration inefficient, dragging down the vehicle’s overall impressive numbers.
Here’s a quote direct from Dave Cloud on the comprises that were made to keep the project under budget:
"Another thing I would like to clarify is that my goal was to build a vehicle that can go 200 miles on a single charge with a speed of 60-65 mph for 85% of the miles, for under $3,000. I accomplished this goal. Because of my $3,000 limitation I made a lot of compromises in the chassis design hoping that the aerodynamics of the vehicle would make up for those inefficiencies. Inefficiencies such as front wheel bearings that rumble, back tires that are 10 years old and misshapen, single speed dual series motors (that were $100), no re-gen and inexpensive Curtis controllers."
Using the conversion factor listed on Wikipedia (33.4 kWh/gal) and Dave Cloud’s own estimates of power usage, the Dolphin clocks in at an amazing 214MPGe, beating everything on the road (and everything likely to be on the road in the near future). While this is an amazing vehicle, it’s unfortunate it was built for a specific EV distance challenge and will probably not be explored in depth in the future.
Here are the Dolphin’s in depth stats (found on EV album):
Basic Vehicle: 1997 Geo Metro
Motor: Advanced DC 203-09-4001 Series Wound DCÂ 2X “Shorty’ version of typical 8” ADC motor
Drivetrain: 8″ ADC motor on each rear wheel, with independent battery packs and controllers
The American Project Cloud Electric. In 1995 their craft set a two-way
David Cloud on the Left and Steven Cloud on the right
World Fastest Electric Boat at the Time, Is 70.5 mph, set in 1995 by this boat: The boat weighed 250 lbs without the batteries. The Batteries weigh 600 pounds and he used an electric motor mounted atop an outboard motor lower unit.
