[mattW]

Moved from EV Information Wiki...
Hello,
I am Member 8 of
http://www.geocities.com/trabantusa/
and hope to have an electric Trabant one day.
Here are some stats on the Trabant:
As per http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant_(Pkw) the empty weight is 620- 660 kg (1366.9 – 1455 lb.).
There were two principal variants of the Trabant, the Trabant 500, also known as the Trabant P 50, produced 1957-1963; and the Trabant 601 (or Trabant P 60 series), produced from 1963 to 1991. The engine for both the Trabant 500 and 601 was a small two-stroke engine with two cylinders, giving the vehicle modest performance. At the end of production it delivered 19 kW (25 horsepower) from a 600 cm³displacement. The car took 21 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) and the top speed was 112 km/h (70 mph). There were two main problems with the engine: the smoky exhaust and the pollution it produced. They produce nine times the amount of hydrocarbons and five times the carbon monoxides of the average European car of 2007. The fuel consumption was a modest 7 liters/100 km.[2] (34 mpg (US), 40 mpg (Imperial)). (Source: Wikipedia)
I know that Lynch Motors in Ireland converted a Trabant and a company in Poland, Ohio deals with their motors.
Any direction, suggestions, offers, etc. appreciated.
Eric
(trabant601)

[mattW]

An electric drive train sounds like a perfect replacement for that polluting two stroke. Just a few questions to help us help you. Are you hoping to match or exceed the factory specs for top speed and acceleration? What sort of driving do you expect to do (city/highway) and what sort of range would you like? What is you mechanical/electrical experience and skills?

[xrotaryguy]

That sounds like a fantastic car for a conversion. It's quirky, so it will retain some value due to that fact. Though I realize that the Trabant is not popular like, say for example, a Mini. The car is small yet practical too. My concerns for a car like this would be after-market support and the durability of the body of the car. I don't know whether you're just hoping that it won't break down much, or if you have a line on parts or if you planning on converting the car over to a more common drive train, but from what I know of the Trabant, it is not a popular car, and its after-market is comparatively non-existent (compared to VW's Volvos, or British cars). Also, as I recall, that body is made out of a fiber impregnated resin similar to fiber glass. Only, instead of glass, the resin is impregnated with some sort of organic material. I don't recall if it is wood fiber or straw or animal hair (haha, probably not straw or animal hair) or what, but I do recall that it rots away and basically leaves you without a body. Other than that, super cool car man!

[trabant601]

mW- Thank you for asking those questions. I would love it if I could get close to the factory speed. That would permit me a 50/50 city/highway 40 mile roundtrip goal. I am not very mechanical. I rely heavily on mechanic and machine tool friends. They promise nothing but always have helped me out in a pinch or made me do the work myself while they watched. I can do more than I thought sometimes.
xrotaryguy-Parts supplies are drying up. Technical support lives on with the cult following of the car, Ostalgia. I have a personal cache of spare parts to last me a very long time if I become willing to break (part) one for spares here and there. You are right on with the body parts. I don't know of them rotting though. The material is resin/cotton called duroplast. It is on a unibody steel frame.

[mattW]

I don't think matching those goals will be a problem at all, 19kW peak power is very doable in an electric (160A at 120V), and a 40 mile range is pretty standard for conversions so that isn't difficult either. Do you have any idea what the GVMR is for a trabant? That would let you know how much weight for batteries you can fit in. We've been working on a guide for DIY conversions: Introduction to the EV Wiki, you will probably find that useful especially the page The First Step: Researching your EV. The good thing about an electric conversion is you get all the spare motor parts for your other Trabants or friends in the club. That would be plenty of brownie points to exchange, i.e. i'll give you my engine if you can weld my battery boxes hehehe. This sounds like a really nice conversion.

[Coley]

A friend of mine, that makes wall hangings and sofas, just cut up 2 of these a couple years before I got into EVs.

They looked to me to be good cars at the time.

The two he cut up were complete and he just junked out everything left over.

[trabant601]

C- I sold two Trabants to a guy who cut one down the middle and made a static display with the other. Both are in a museum now. He also made furnature from car parts and such. It could be the same guy. I wish I had the half he threw away. His name was Rick. I have been looking for some of the load stats and some research. I am getting excited about planning a project.

[xrotaryguy]

Haha, all this talk about Trabants. Back when I worked at the parts store, I had a customer who was building a Trabant with a Chevy small block in it. I guess it was a really tight fit. She had to cut out the fire wall and didn't have much room in the driver's or passenger's seats anymore :-P

[mattW]

Just came across these, funny coincidence, i was sure it must have been you but its from 8 months ago...
Electric Trabant test 1
Electric Trabant test 2
Electric Trabant test 3

[trabant601]

Those YouTube clips have me on the trail of the car itself. It is real and I am translating some of the data and will contact the owner in Croatia. In the mean time I also confirmed that indeed a Trabant was converted a while back with a Lynch Electric Motor and is in far north UK. Still working on finding it exactly. I am getting excited about the plan, still just planning though. Thank you