[Mesuge]

By accident and as former (well this is eternal) SAAB lover I've found this vintage and very RARE TV footage depicting 1970s coupe Sonett conversion, incl. a debate on all related aspects of the EV technology. Some of the TV hosts even mentioned the forthcomming GM EV1 (this is from *1992 before Al Gore took office and helped the hybrid-EV business/gov. grants a bit)..

To start (Also Saab 96 and 900-Saabrina conversions):
http://www.saabhistory.com/2007/12/1...ctric-vehicle/

Video1-2:http://www.saabhistory.com/2006/12/0...-electric-car/

Video3:http://www.saabhistory.com/2006/12/1...tric-car-cont/

Video4:http://www.saabhistory.com/2006/12/1...ic-car-cont-2/

Video5:http://www.saabhistory.com/2006/12/1...ic-car-cont-3/


enjoy!


PS this is also a great "timemachine" how we wasted almost *20 yrs in retrospect..

[BenNelson]

Cool videos!

I had never heard of a Saab Sonett until a few weeks ago.

Somebody contacted me about the forklift I was selling. (The one I bought to steal the electric motors and controls from)

When I told him what I was doing for an electric vehicle conversion, he said he might have a car for me - a '73 Saab Sonett!

I didn't think much of it at first (he sounded kinda crazy on the phone...) but I looked up some info on the car. Very cool looking and very light! Perfect for an EV.

This guy did tell me that his is stored in a pole barn, and part of the roof fell in on it. I have no idea where I would get a new windshield for a Sonett.

I have settled on a Geo Metro for my first car EV conversion, but I think I will have that Sonett in the back of my mind for a while.

-Ben

PS: I am watching the longest of those videos right now. At 33 minutes 45 seconds into the video - the one guy says "converting that into dollars, it gets 300 MPG."
That's the same way I have been calculating a MPG equivelant for my motorcycle - and I also got 300 MPG!

[demolay rules]

On the tesla roadster site (www.teslamotors.com) it states that the car is 120 mpg equivalent, but I don't think they do it by cost. I always thought they used the energy densities of electricity/lb and gas/lb and compared them.

[Wirecutter]

When I was a kid, someone in my neighborhood had one of those Saabs. IIRC, it's a great candidate for an EV conversion for another reason...

Early Saabs had 2-stroke engines! Filthy! Remember the blue smoke from those old outboard motors? Not to mention chain saws and weed whackers. Yuck.

I don't know if that particular car was old enough to be one of the real stinkers, but it's possible.

-Mark

[saab96]

Originally Posted by Wirecutter

When I was a kid, someone in my neighborhood had one of those Saabs. IIRC, it's a great candidate for an EV conversion for another reason...

Early Saabs had 2-stroke engines! Filthy! Remember the blue smoke from those old outboard motors? Not to mention chain saws and weed whackers. Yuck.

I don't know if that particular car was old enough to be one of the real stinkers, but it's possible.

-Mark

They were definitely off of the 2-stroke engines by the 70s. They were using the oddball V4s (ironically also used for forklifts like EV motors). I intend to convert a silver model 96 that looks almost like this one:

http://www.saabhistory.com/2007/12/1...ctric-vehicle/