Electric vehicles-Conversions

[mickthemaverick]

And I always thought old leafs were only good for compost!

[white exec]

That looks and sounds to be a slick piece of engineering.
Some slightly scary American mains electrics, and rather modest little bridge rec!
Wonder what such a scrap motor lump would cost in UK?

[CitroJim]

I would love to do this with my Xantia.
The extra weight of the batteries would make the Xantia ideal.

I agree Chris.... The ideal vehicle, especially an estate...

[ksanturion10]

Here we have a very unpopular song, that sings..."...blind lips are fed with rotting leafs..." - and it's not even funny

[c.morewood]

Thanks Jim, I just have to find the £20-30 and drive it down to Wales I wonder if they'd fit cruise control?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Thanks Jim, I just have to find the £20-30 and drive it down to Wales I wonder if they'd fit cruise control?

This is one from the scrapheap challenge phase of electric conversions lead acid batteries and fork lift truck motors etc which never quite get finished.



Regards Neil

[CitroJim]

Thanks Jim, I just have to find the £20-30 and drive it down to Wales I wonder if they'd fit cruise control?

This is one from the scrapheap challenge phase of electric conversions lead acid batteries and fork lift truck motors etc which never quite get finished.



Regards Neil

Shame it never got finished... They must have worked hard to make the adaptor to enable the original gearbox to be retained...

And how they've retained one original engine mount!

That exhaust is going to rattle badly unless they remove it

[xantia_v6]

I would quite like to do and electric conversion on our 308 CC, but I don't have the time or equipment to do the job to the standard I would want. I keep hoping that someone will come up with a reasonably priced kit for a high quality conversion of FWD cars, but I have not seen anything yet.

[ksanturion10]

When I was thinkering with my Kadett E (Estate), at one time I was thinking to put motorized electric hubs at the rear axle - they were just put into sale for everyone who wants . But being more to the mechanical side, I couldn't imagine how they should be syncronized with the front axle driven by the ICE...

[Wookey]

Wonder what such a scrap motor lump would cost in UK?

Ebay suggests 'a bit under a grand'. I see them for between £800 and £1200 (and one for £3500 which seems excessive). Probably mostly varies on how many extra bits you get (cables etc) and mileage/condition.

Old, unfinished conversions can let you get some really cheap parts. netgain motors which cost well over a grand new can be had for a couple of hundred quid. Similarly for older controllers. Not the most efficient parts but if you don't have thousands to spend there is something to be said for this approach. Good 'ol Rich did a mini conversion this way: https://insideevs.com/news/449757/rich- ... i-into-ev/

[NewcastleFalcon]

Good 'ol Rich did a mini conversion this way: https://insideevs.com/news/449757/rich- ... i-into-ev/

I'll give that a decent watch, with an interest in the on a budget bit, and what battery solution they plump for. The price of them tends to kill a decent conversion market. Keep posting stuff up as you find it Wookey

here is the vid Wookey linked to.


Regards Neil

[Wookey]

That conversion used Chevvy Volt batteries (which took up most of the boot). Available quite cheap in the US. The whole conversion was under $3500 including buying a dead mini for $1500. BTW if you are not familiar with Mr Benoit's style it's very heavy on the joshing and sarcasm so don't take everything at face value There is a whole series. This is the summary:

I note that that Thunderstruck controller for the Leaf inverter featured a few posts back is $500, and another $380 for ancilliaries like the contactor. Bit more expensive than one would like, but I guess that's low-volume niche stuff for you.

Another resource you should all know about (It's probably already back there in the 100 pages of this thread) is Damien McGuire's excellent work on reverse-engineering controllers and making openinverter work with various motors, for cheap conversions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8sR7I ... S_oz3JH3qw He sells a leaf VCU too complete with FLOSS software so you can hack it yourself:
https://evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-websh ... ted-boards
Top chap.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Hats off to anyone who ploughs through the process of an EV conversion. Quite a lot of the vids on the playlist here seem a bit wordy ie most of the time is occupied with the guy talking to camera. Looks like he has taken a scrap leaf and has taken the various components out of the Leaf to convert an MX8 into an EV, with appropriate wrestling to make things work along the way. At the end of the process no doubt he will have to answer the question "have you made any modifications to this vehicle" and watch insurers walk away or require an eye-watering premium to drive the thing

Not sure if it has a conclusion but here's the channel and playlists https://www.youtube.com/user/horndoggie999/playlists

and here's the MAZDA RX-8-LEAF on a test drive on a private road.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yes some DIY conversions can drag on for months /years/ problem after problem, yap yap yap on youtube .

So are they just making a complete meal of the process, or is 24 hours more than ample to convert an ICE into an EV.

Lets try this only takes 13 minutes of you tube footage. Excellent film, plenty visual, nice bit of Welsh scenery on the drive at the end.



Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

More from Vintage Voltage conversions currently available on Discovery plus.

https://www.discoveryplus.co.uk/show/vi ... seCode=212

Seeing as it was Lancia Fulvia day for me, just watched the episode on the Blue one. Not cheap of course, budget of £40,000 for the work.

Regards Neil