[Andy.Baloo]

hello

l have spent a couple of weeks reading through the posts on here learning what l can but thought it was time l posted up my ideas or lack of them lol,
l fancy an electric drive project but dont quite know what to build

l think l have to rule out a road car thats a daily driver for work due to the long distances l have to travel some days, so that really leaves the options of a toy, buggy etc or the other option would be to make some thing for the nightly run up to the stables, l have a small patch of land that is 4 miles away from where l live where l have some stables and a barn, l visit there most nights just to check everything is ok, its all country road with no hills and no requirement to do over 40 mph,

so that is, it an electric powered buggy for offroad use only or something small and light that is road legal and will carry 2 passengers and 2 dogs
l cant see any other excuse /need/reason to build something

l did start of thinking a buggy was the way to go as the quietness really appealed to me and very probably my neighbours too
however the infrequent use would probably mean it wasent very good value for money per mile travelled
so l have been pondering making some thing that would take me me to the stables and back daily, at the stables is a large barn that l have the use of for storing stuff ( junk mainly ) now this sounds a good thing but its not l assure you there is some law of physics that means you just collect crap when you have space to put it nature abours a vacuum might be one of then laws ? anyway all this means over the years l have collected stuff that no one else wants or was trying to get rid of lol,
amongst my collection of tat l have one of these



chineese copy of a smart car, it was electric drive when it came into the country but the previous owner realised he was never going to get it passed an sva test and hence on to the road in the uk, so he removed the batteries the motor and controller and installed them in a aixim car instead, that left me with a little red smart car look alike thats er ideal for an electric conversion, it has a seperate chassis and space for batteries







maybe a good candidate maybe not l would have the same issue getting it regestered for use on the road as the previous owner and the dogs would have to sit in a trailer , but the getting it regestered bit is holding me back on this one,

then l spotted a john deere gator on ebay and thought thats what l need a road regestered one of those, a bit basic perhaps but l only have to to 4 miles in it before having a rest , downside is l havent got one and l cant find a cheap one, this being as near to cheap as l can find lol
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1809636123...84.m1423.l2649

then just to give me another avenue to think about l saw a suzuki sj pickup drive by a few days ago and thought it might make a good base vehicle, like this one


well that appeals to me except l am 6'4" and dont think l will squeese into the cab but burried in the back of the barn somewhere l have a swb rag top sj like this one


well this seems to tick all the boxes, its small and light, l can move the seats back to get in the thing, its already road regestered so wont need an sva test, l can remove the front axle engine, gear box and transfer box shedding quite a bit of weight of an already light vehicle, as l only plan on traveling 4 miles at a time l guess l can put up with the cart spring suspension

what are you guys in the uk doing with regard to insurance ? do you just tell them what you have done and they accept it ?
dose it need an engineers report ?
are there specialist insurers

Andy

[EVSource Mikey]

At least here in the states, it's not too difficult to register a kit car that has never been crash tested before. When I went to the DMV with my "Unknown" car, they just shrugged and asked for my money, they really had no concern for standardization, or safety. For kicks, you may want to see how far you could get with the chinese smart car.

As far as vehicle aptitude, the Suzuki and the Deere are pretty close. They both have a small bed that would be great for holding the battery weight (carefully observe balance during the build). I would go with the Suzuki, only because I could see the Deere encountering road registration obstacles just like the smart car.

[Woodsmith]

If you go with the Suzuki, try to keep it as standard as possible. No holes or cutting the chassis, no major changes to the body work, fit components to existing bolt holes, etc.

Done that way it will be just a case of changing the fuel to electric and maybe someone at the licencing office having a look to see that it is standard and doesn't still have the ICE hidden away anywhere.

If you change the structure of the vehicle then you could have to IVA test it. There is no consistency with the IVA, some inspectors will say it is needed, some not. Likewise DVLA could make you Q plate it and get a new chassis number but if the inspector disagrees you get stalemate and nether side backs down, nor talks to each other.
Your vehicle is then scrap as you cannot get it road legal.


When it is road legal you can lighten it by removing stuff you don't need like excess drive train, and tidy up battery boxes and other stuff but do tell the insurance.

For insurance there are companies like Footman James and Adrian Flux who do specialist/modified vehicles. Some companies are ok, some won't entertain the idea. Some will insure you as electric but still insist on knowing your 'fuel type' and engine capacity so they can fill in the form!
It would be worth asking on the Battery Vehicle Society Forum as they are pretty much all UK and have real time knowledge of insurance pros and cons. The forum is a little slow though so you may need to wait a few days/weeks for a useful reply.
I am on there as 'Night Train'.

Have a look at Simon Rafferty's build. His range need is very similar to yours and he used a Land Rover Freelander and a lucky scrap find of an AC drive system.



Have fun with it, the 'back of your barn' sounds like a great place to have a rummage!

[Woodsmith]

Oh, I would avoid the Chinese 'Smart'. Even if you got it road legal would you want to be in a crash in it?

If you want one then get a real Smart and do a conversion like Yabert's Smart car.

The Gator could be good but start with a road legal one and convert with the same caution as with the Suzuki. Our local Council has one that zips about doing ground works. Looks fun but the Suzuki would be easier to get parts for and modify I think.

[mizlplix]

This gets my vote:

I used to own a 1989 Samurai. It was a cool little vehicle. They are high dollar now, here in Arizona. They are small enough to drive through anything.

If your roads are tarmac, then getting rid of the gearboxes and front drive axle is a good deal.

BUT, If it rains you might need a little extra traction occasionally, think about keeping the front axle AND transfer case (which also has a LOW range. Very handy at times...) 2wh high/2wh low and 4wh low- if I remember right.

With the AC50 you get a decent RPM, with the transfer case you get a GREAT gear reduction. A low weight vehicle. Flat terrain. Short mileage needs.

With some careful figuring, you might have a good combination for direct drive to the transfer case and electrical reverse (already in the Curtis controller).

Miz

[PStechPaul]

The Jeep seems like the best option. But if you will be using it only back and forth to/from your barn on a seldom-traveled country road, you might be able to get away with electrifying a tractor or utility vehicle like a Gator and hanging out the appropriate signage and lights for a farm vehicle.

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/about/whi..._equipment.pdf (for US)

This is a sign for Canada:


Couldn't find as much for the UK:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring...sses/DG_069649

http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/topics/transport.htm

[Andy.Baloo]

Originally Posted by EVSource Mikey

At least here in the states, it's not too difficult to register a kit car that has never been crash tested before. When I went to the DMV with my "Unknown" car, they just shrugged and asked for my money, they really had no concern for standardization, or safety. For kicks, you may want to see how far you could get with the chinese smart car.

As far as vehicle aptitude, the Suzuki and the Deere are pretty close. They both have a small bed that would be great for holding the battery weight (carefully observe balance during the build). I would go with the Suzuki, only because I could see the Deere encountering road registration obstacles just like the smart car.

hi

things are a lot tougher over here to get on the road we have a test called the iva or individual vehicle assesment they look at, measure and test everything, l have put 2 vehicles through its predecessor the sva test, they measure things like how much pressure was needed on the pedal to apply the brakes to set levels all the way up to how much and at what velocity the air was coming out of the vents for the windscreen demist
the chineese smart has far to much wrong with it to ever make it through, like the seats are bolted to a wafer thin fiber glass floor, a quick dab of the brakes and you would be through the windscreen seats an all
the smart copy can be kept for its original purpose which was to convert into a lawn mower

the deere l quite like the look of and most over here are already regestered for the road which takles away the some of the hassel, it would appear some are already electric drive so it would be tax free and ready to go even the insurance might work out easy to get since it was made as electric drive
but alas l dont have one and carrying the dogs might be tricky so the suzuki is looking favorite

Andy

[Andy.Baloo]

Originally Posted by mizlplix

This gets my vote:

I used to own a 1989 Samurai. It was a cool little vehicle. They are high dollar now, here in Arizona. They are small enough to drive through anything.

If your roads are tarmac, then getting rid of the gearboxes and front drive axle is a good deal.

BUT, If it rains you might need a little extra traction occasionally, think about keeping the front axle AND transfer case (which also has a LOW range. Very handy at times...) 2wh high/2wh low and 4wh low- if I remember right.

With the AC50 you get a decent RPM, with the transfer case you get a GREAT gear reduction. A low weight vehicle. Flat terrain. Short mileage needs.

With some careful figuring, you might have a good combination for direct drive to the transfer case and electrical reverse (already in the Curtis controller).

Miz

hi

the price of sj's seems to be on the rise here too but l have a couple tucked away for future projects lol,
heres the one l was thinking of using, a low mileage rust free example


the idea of a vehicle with a seperate chassis appeals to me, as its only 950 kg to start with and l can loose a lot of the drive train l should end up with a very light weight vehicle ?
l would envisage building it all up on the chassis with out the body on and getting that driving first and then dropping the body on afterwards which would mean the batteries would have to be under the rear tub and in the engine bay and not in the load space ?

l need to know more about whether you would direct drive into the back axle or whether you would go through the transfer box ? low range being 2 to 1 could l not just use lower gears in the diff and remove the transfer box , normal sammy diff would be around 3.8 to 1 with an offset diff since its fed from the transfer box, l was thinking of fitting a vitara/sidekick back axle as its much stronger than the sj one, it has the diff in the middle which would make direct drive easier, it has 5.125 gears as standard and it has a hand brake mech fitted that the 413 sj dosent as its on the transfer box out put
all in all l think a vitara axle with direct conection would be easier to couple up but l know zip about how many batteries and what size motor l need for this to function at a reasonable level, ie 45 mph max speed and 20 mile range ?

[Andy.Baloo]

Originally Posted by Woodsmith

Have fun with it, the 'back of your barn' sounds like a great place to have a rummage!

ha ha you can come and have a rummage if you want, you will have a field day lol

under this 6 wheel drive truck


is the transit axle l mentioned


if its any good for your tractor you can have it free, clearly l dont want to give it away for some one else just to weigh in but if you want to use it on your project no problem you can have it,
those are range rover side frames leaning against the truck wheels to give some sort of scale to the truck wheels

there is all sorts of other crap er stock l mean too











pm sent




Andy

[Ziggythewiz]

When DIY EVers die I hope they end up in your barn.