Hi everyone,
Been reading the forum every once in a while and have been thinking about EV conversion for a long while, close to a decade, but haven't had too much time and especially not money to put to it.
However, I have managed to collect several donor vehicles in my garage to wait for the opportune moment.
My vehicles and plans for them:
- Husqvarna Rider lawnmower - We live in an old farm, so there is a lot of grass to cut. Our Husqvarna Rider engine broke down by flywheel hitting the alternator which was then ripped off the block, breaking the casing in the process, so there is no point of repairing it. Doing the lawn now with pushmower, which is a good exercise but a bit too time-consuming. Been considering here a 3kW motor from Golden Motors and DIY li-ion battery pack.
- Suzuki S1 moped - An old enduro-style moped in pieces. Been considering whether using the same motor than above, also with DIY battery pack. 25km range would be just fine.
- Citroën Berlingo 1998 panel van - Got this for free, a head gasket was blown. Been considering putting some simple DC motor straight to gearbox. I might be getting an used forklift motor soon, but don't know the specs for it yet. To cover 90% of my driving, a guaranteed range of 25km in every kind of weather is needed (in Finland one must be ready for -20C - below that is rare and then I can resort to ICE). Since it would be mostly driven in town and village roads, top speed of 60km/h (40mph) is very much enough, but the ability to carry some load would be good.
- Toyota HiAce First Generation (H10 - 1967-77) flatbed truck - Got this beauty for a case of beer. Surprisingly little rust in the cabin, considering that it had been few decades laying on the fieldside. The bed had rusted off but the frame is good. Needs a bit of preparation first and is stacked on the farthermost corner behind everything else. I wouldn't mind if this could be made for the road but the primary usage would be for flatbed in the farmwork. Heaviest load would be carrying firewood from the forest roads. Speed and range is not much of an issue here. Not really considered much implementation details yet, maybe a forklift motor straight to differential.
I am somewhat familiar with electronics, have built a bottom balancer on arduino, some stuff directly on AVR microcontroller and I am a software engineer by trade.
It seems that the world of EV conversions is changing quite rapidly so it is a bit hard to keep up on what is the most cost-effective option of today and not of the yesteryear. Also, it seems that sourcing salvaged EV parts is not that easy in Finland and if there are some, they seem to be dirt expensive.
So feel free to comment on the feasibility of my projects and all the recommendations on how to proceed with them will be greatly appreciated.