www.sfweekly.com
What about Thunderstruck just up the 101 in Santa Rosa. Have you been to an EAA meeting in Santa Rosa?
Or less than half of that for a Nissan, Chevrolet, Hyundai, or Kia.
A large part of the problem is that this description is very far from the reality of converting a car to be an EV. Aside from the several major components not mentioned, the term "install" suggests just unbolting some old component (such as an engine or fuel tank) and bolting a new one (motor or battery) into the same place, and it just doesn't work that way. There is substantial design and fabrication involved.
Servicing a production EV isn't a big problem (unless you have a Tesla), because the manufacturer's dealers offer service and the manufacturer offers technical documentation and parts to any professional shop who sees enough potential business to take on that particular model. Tesla is a special case because that manufacturer intentionally blocks anyone other than their authorized service centres from being able to effectively to any significant work on them... and yet Tesla owners seem to be generally able to keep their vehicles running.
And now we get to the core of the problem: you want an older car with a technically very different powertrain. That's similar to wanting modern engine and transmission in a old car, and it is an expensive luxury if you are not willing and able to do the work yourself. Custom car builders charge tens of thousands of dollars to swap a new engine into an old car - in addition to the cost of the parts - and an EV conversion shouldn't be expected to be much different. Since not many people are willing to pay for that, few shops offer it.
They are either willing to pay stiff prices for new parts directly from Tesla (and have a mechanic who is qualified?) or are trolling thru local junkyards for Tesla parts. I understand that any time a scrap-value Tesla car shows up in the recycling channel, mobs of people descend on it. Battery packs and motor assemblies are the hottest items.
Remember that EV West sells conversion kits specific for air-cooled VWs and Porsches--and not much else. But even those "bolt in" kits require some skill and effort. I'm actually surprised to not see very many total-from-scratch builds on this forum. Either way it's a big job.
He can certainly ask them. I've been there and had the impression they were badly backed up with repairs and custom installations. Thunderstruck Motors Home
Moment Motors
This is for a car which appears to have a dual HPEVS motor and Curtis controller setup in all of their examples, but they say that they offer "single, in-line dual, and stacked dual motor configurations with motors from multiple manufacturers such as Netgain, HPEVS, and Parker." They use salvaged Tesla Model S/X battery modules.
Those kits are essentially nothing but an incomplete set of components, with a bracket to mount the controller to the motor. The battery (including housing and mountings) isn't even included. They are very short of a conversion kit, and it seems like these "kit" suppliers do the easy part (listing the major components) and leave all the real work to the builder.
Really? Not many people use kits, although recently they tend to use complete salvaged drive units, with a controller modification by an aftermarket vendor. But I agree that whatever the components and their sources, it's a big job.
Have you had some bad experiences with a Chinese BMS? If so, what manufacturers or suppliers?
Personally I haven't had anything catastrophic, just "doesn't work as expected" with some Chargery products. Now for real fun stuff you can find a bunch posts on the endless-sphere - plenty of burned BMS there, stemming from poor design, overrated specs, and outright random parts in product assemblies. Now the other thing is you said "what manufacturers" - who really knows ? Most of that stuff is copied by several shops and not clearly identifiable or traceable to one particular place.
Contact this person. He is up in Redding. He does good work but Im not sure of his work load.
