[brian_]

It seems bizarre to take an excellent condition car with a rare engine and convert it to an EV. The more obvious solution would be to just sell it and buy a 190 with an ordinary engine... but of course any 1987 car without rust is hard to find.

I think this project is crying out for a Tesla based solution...

I agree... but before getting in too far, I suggest confirming that the Tesla drive unit will fit between the parts of the 190's multilink rear suspension. This is not the traditional semi-trailing arm suspension of earlier Mercedes and most of the conversions using Tesla drive units.

Quebec is one of the better places in Canada to be looking for salvage Tesla parts, as it is one of only three provinces which subsidize EV purchases and thus has more EVs than elsewhere.

 

[brian_]

What I see is cutting the subframe and fabricating a new side section with shortened upper arms. Doable.

To use any Tesla unit it would be necessary to reconstruct the subframe. If any arm is shortened the suspension geometry will change; fixing that would require changing the lengths and mounting positions of other arms.

With luck, the drive unit will fit with only subframe modification.

 

[brian_]

While the small Tesla unit will develop a lot of power
I'm not that sure that it will allow you to use that much continuously - I would suspect 300 hp "Burst"
And a much lower number - maybe 60 hp continuous?

I agree that the advertised power level is probably for some brief peak, but I don't know if that's problem for a Merc 190.

The larger motors (MG2) in Toyota hybrids and the motors in the pickup truck size of GM Two-Mode hybrid (familiar to members of this forum as the Remy HVH series) are good for over 50 kW (so over 70 hp) continuous power, with liquid cooling. The Leaf motor is rated at 80 kW (108 hp) continuous, again with liquid cooling. Even the small Tesla motor appears to be at least as large, physically, as these motors.