[Duncan]

Any conversion is a labour of love
NOT ECONOMICS!

A conversion will always cost more and work worse than a second hand production EV

So the IMPORTANT PART - do you WANT the finished product

A Range Rover's "essence" is luxury - and your conversion will be slightly seedy

A Land Rover's "essence" is being BASIC - and that is much easier to maintain

 

[Tremelune]

The Land Rover might have a clutch pedal, which will make it a much easier candidate for conversion. The lovely 0mph torque of an electric motor will be nice to have for rock crawling, if you're into that.

The conversion parts might cost more than the value of either car, if you're looking for a range in the neighborhood of 50-100mi.

 

[TheLifeHacker]

I believe you made a great choice. Check out what these guys are doing with Land Rovers: https://thedriven.io/2019/04/12/jaunt-australia-new-life-old-landrovers/

 

[brian_]

I believe you made a great choice. Check out what these guys are doing with Land Rovers: https://thedriven.io/2019/04/12/jaunt-australia-new-life-old-landrovers/

Wow, so much text in that article with so little information. It's not clear that these people have converted even one vehicle - it might all just be grand plans.

 

[Benjaminpalma]

Wow, so much text in that article with so little information. It's not clear that these people have converted even one vehicle - it might all just be grand plans.

Very much the real deal: https://www.facebook.com/jauntmotors/

 

[brian_]

Very much the real deal: https://www.facebook.com/jauntmotors/

I scrolled down a few posts on the Facebook page, and found that in July these people posted

Hand building electric vehicles across Victoria since July 2019.

Yeah, that's some record all right. How many do you think they have built in the three months that they have existed?

Their Facebook page had a link to their Indiegogo campaign, which raised 39% of its goal, or enough to buy perhaps the battery modules for one car. Perhaps that's because their status included

The project team has not yet produced a working demo for their concept.

... although they claimed

Q. What vehicles do you have?
A. At this stage only one vehicle, Juniper. A 100% electric 1971 Series 1 Land Rover (short wheel base)

Their 2019 Aug 29 Indiegogo update said

The disassembly, rebuild and electric conversion of Juniper has taken longer than anticipated and unfortunately she won’t be road-worthy in time for the first bookings in September.

We now plan to be on the road at the end of November.
...
Initially we’d planned to do only a small amount of restoration on Juniper, with the focus on completing a simple EV conversion for testing. During inspection and disassembly we realised she required substantially more work to meet safety, engineering and quality standards.

So what they're doing is still reworking their first conversion (which was of a junk vehicle, apparently) and working on a second, with zero conversions complete. They started work in May of this year, according to earlier updates.

Judging from multiple Facebook, Indiegogo, and website comments from Jaunt, they are depending on Evolution Australia for technical expertise including electrical engineering, although that company only does charging station installations, not vehicles.

The company website is Jaunt Motors. Understandably it contains little information, but does include two facts

• NetGain Hyper9 motor
• Tesla battery modules

I wish these people all the best, but I don't buy the marketing fluff about a conversion "system", and don't see an established practice to copy.

But yes, this is another demonstration that it is possible to convert an old Land Rover, and their website explains why they think that this is a good vehicle to convert.

 

[Overlander23]

I converted my 1971 SIIA 88" ten years ago... Still going today. Though I haven't updated my web page in nine years .

Things that happened since my last post entry:

• Sorted the bad wire in the motor and got it on the road again.
• Added liquid cooling to the Soliton which works much better than air cooling.
• Swapped the Chennic DC-DC converter for a Honda Insight DC-DC converter which works much better.
• Rewired most of the 12V system due to voltage losses. I think it was mostly losses in the ignition switch which after 48 years might be expected. Switched that out for relays.
• Replaced two dead cells about three years ago.
• Added a ZEVA BMS recently which helped diagnose another weak cell (but not dead, just high IR) which I have a replacement for.

It's a fantastic platform and makes the old Landy much more suited for modern American roads.


Now I desperately want a Defender 130 to convert.


I also have a 2010 L322 Range Rover Autobiography. I have zero desire to convert that.

 

[Benjaminpalma]

I converted my 1971 SIIA 88" ten years ago... Still going today. Though I haven't updated my web page in nine years .

This website? http://adventure-ev.com/ ...? Awesome site with great vids.

Please, please update it! It would be great to hear your reflections, things you'd do differently now, etc.

Thanks.

Edit - just seen the website address in your footer - duh!...

 

[outdoorbrit]

Any conversion is a labour of love
NOT ECONOMICS!

A conversion will always cost more and work worse than a second hand production EV

So the IMPORTANT PART - do you WANT the finished product

A Range Rover's "essence" is luxury - and your conversion will be slightly seedy

A Land Rover's "essence" is being BASIC - and that is much easier to maintain

Thanks for the response. I have been thinking about this, and I want the ruggedness of the Landrover. I had one as my first vehicle many years ago. I like the ability of being to do the work myself on a more basic machine.

Today, I had to wire in a new backup camera on the Range Rover and it's pretty fiddly! I wouldn't have that problem on the LR!

 

[outdoorbrit]

The Land Rover might have a clutch pedal, which will make it a much easier candidate for conversion. The lovely 0mph torque of an electric motor will be nice to have for rock crawling, if you're into that.

The conversion parts might cost more than the value of either car, if you're looking for a range in the neighborhood of 50-100mi.

The conversion cost would be a small fortune, I'm sure, plus the vehicle restore. I lucked out on getting quite a few bits and pieces and the motor from a failed conversion. I'd think this would be a long term project so I'd have time to look for other needed parts.

 

[outdoorbrit]

I believe you made a great choice. Check out what these guys are doing with Land Rovers: https://thedriven.io/2019/04/12/jaunt-australia-new-life-old-landrovers/

I've been following them since they had their initial launch and I'm hoping they would have done a few more how-to videos with more detail. I hope their business idea takes off.

 

[outdoorbrit]

I converted my 1971 SIIA 88" ten years ago... Still going today. Though I haven't updated my web page in nine years .

Things that happened since my last post entry:

• Sorted the bad wire in the motor and got it on the road again.
• Added liquid cooling to the Soliton which works much better than air cooling.
• Swapped the Chennic DC-DC converter for a Honda Insight DC-DC converter which works much better.
• Rewired most of the 12V system due to voltage losses. I think it was mostly losses in the ignition switch which after 48 years might be expected. Switched that out for relays.
• Replaced two dead cells about three years ago.
• Added a ZEVA BMS recently which helped diagnose another weak cell (but not dead, just high IR) which I have a replacement for.

It's a fantastic platform and makes the old Landy much more suited for modern American roads.


Now I desperately want a Defender 130 to convert.


I also have a 2010 L322 Range Rover Autobiography. I have zero desire to convert that.

This is great, info. Thanks! I've just bookmarked your blog, too. Your Landy looks great. Nice job. I don't drive the Range Rover as much now as I converted a Sprinter to a camper van, but took it out the other night. Such a beautiful drive, but it's too easy. Also, selling it would give me a few extra dollars to put towards the reno costs, too.

I like the idea of writing a blog!