[galderdi]

Hi EcoCivic,

The outcome you describe sounds good. But I think the path you describe is overly challenging (but not impossible).

You have a few options:

A) install a hub motor on each rear wheel. This is the least invasive to your existing rear suspension. But it is still a significant undertaking and would limit the power to around 10Kw per side. Plus if they ever became out of sync you risk being spun around.

B) replace your rear hubs with front hubs and attempt to install some sort of diff between them with driveshafts (that happen to be exactly the right length) then drive the diff with a reasonable size motor. With all of the structure that would be currently between your rear wheels I don't think this is practical.

C) Remove absolutely every component under the rear of the car (I really mean EVERYTHING). Replace it with the rear end from a rear wheel drive car including the diff. Then again drive the diff with a reasonable size motor. This would likely involve the removal of your fuel tank. So where would your ICE fuel go?

I wouldn't try to talk you out of an EV conversion but I wouldn't recommend the approach you've described. It would be far easier to tackle an ICE replacement rather than the Hybrid you've described. Having said all that, it is great to see all sorts of different approaches. So if you think you have ideas to get around these challenges I would be very supportive to see you do it. I just don't want you to start without knowing the challenges.

 

[galderdi]

Brian,
I think we are on the same wave length.
I did use front hubs from a FWD on all 4 corners of my latest project and moved the drive unit to the rear. But this is in a custom built chassis designed specifically with this outcome in mind. I didn't try to shoe horn all the suspension and drive unit into the rear of an existing chassis.

Purely from a hub perspective there is a fair chance the front hubs will bolt onto the rear struts. But the lower control arms, radius bars, anti-roll bars, brakes, e brake would all be challenges. Then there is the potential structures in the way like fuel tank and existing chassis structure.

I agree, trying to achieve this outcome in a production FWD car is impractical. But so long as EcoCivic realises the challenges and if still keen to do something very different I would be interested to see how it progresses. It would be an impressive achievement.

But if they are just interested in a conversion there are much easier, cost effective paths with better potential outcomes.

Hopefully this will give them plenty to think about. Hopefully they will not be embarrassed to change direction towards a more achievable outcome.