Introduction to Weight Reduction
Weight reduction works double time for an EV conversion, on one hand you are improving the handling, efficiency and speed of your conversion and on the other hand it is useful in making room under the GVWR for batteries and passengers. A lighter car takes less force to accelerate, has lower Rolling Resistance, is easier to stop in emergencies, handles better, has more potential for batteries and reduces the need for suspension and brake upgrades. Luckily the performance and racing driving sector provides plenty of tips and mods for ways to reduce weight in your conversion. Each converter will need to decide on whether or not each mod is suitable for their situation; A specialised one seater commuter will have different priorities from a family car. Some of these mods would be very expensive and/or difficult, it aims to be an inclusive list not a recommended list.

Possible Ways to Reduce Vehicle Mass:

• Removing any unnecessary items from the car; rubbish, drink bottles, even floor mats or car seat covers, anything that is not essential for driving.
• Remove all unnecessary remnants of the ICE system e.g. wiring, sensors etc.
• Removing the spare tyre and using run-flat tyres or Roadside Assistance in case of a puncture.
• Remove sound deadening material.
• Installing light weight racing seats/removing seats which aren't used (and their seatbelts and seatbelt mounts).
• Removal of the glass windows and replacement with Perspex
• Using lightweight alloy (magnesium or aluminium) wheels.
• Removing of non driving/safety components such as head-liners, Air conditioning, Radio etc.
• Replacement of body panels with aluminium, fibreglass or Carbon Fibre
• Drilling out holes from structures/components when it will not compromise its integrity (see Autospeed Article).

Sources:
torquecars.com
hondaclub.com

[Brendonbosy]

Some of these tips seem a little outlandish:

Removing seats? The passenger seat weighs maybe 25 lbs at most, unless you got power seats

Carbon fiber? That sh*t isn't cheap at all. If you want panelling with decent quality, you'll be looking at about $600+ per panel. CF also has many drawbacks. You often need to add backings with extra mounts and pins to support them at highway speeds. If not, you're hood will fly open into your windshield. Also, CF performs VERY poorly and dangerously in accidents. It has a tendency to shatter like glass in an accident rather than crumple.

Magnesium wheels? There's a reason why the UK banned these. Nevermind the extrodinary cost, mag wheels are very dangerous and highly flammable if they overheat. The most common problem is a tire blowout. They are also notoriously difficult to put out once they do catch fire.


Weight reduction is a good idea, but it has its limits when you're talking about a practical, daily driven car, not an Indy 500 or a Carrera GT supercar.

[mattW]

Yeah they were supposed to go from reasonable and easy to ridiculous and expensive, i was sort of joking about the crazy stuff but i thought i would let other people decide what was reasonable...

Each converter will need to decide on whether or not each mod is suitable for their situation; A specialised one seater commuter will have different priorities from a family car. Some of these mods would be very expensive and/or difficult, it aims to be an inclusive list not a recommended list.

Who knows, we might get some rich environmentalist on the site who wants to build a carbon fibre specialist commuter. Who are we to say its not reasonable . You can change it if you like, that's what the wiki is for

[JRoque]

Hi. This is a very old, and probably tried and true, post but I'd say you get the most bang for your buck if you change to thinner and low friction tires with the right air PSI in them. Unless you're driving a sail boat, tires will likely contribute most of your drag. A thinner tire also helps steer easier requiring less power steering assistance.

Cheers,
JR