[Gaijin88]

New to the site but have been reading articles for the past few months. My daily driver is to large to even attempt this but recently I found a Bradley GT a co worker is looking to trade me. Now the car tips the scales a little over 1500 lbs and has the existing VW beetle transmission, I also have a fiero transmission available. What I am hung up on is what motor I can use to power this car with. Looking for 120 or 240v motor, not looking for speed as much as range. I would like to hit 70 miles on the interstate. As far as weight or any fabrication that will not be an issue on the mechanical side as I have been modding cars since I was 10, working on my uncle's show cars. The electrical part could be a bit hairy but I have done wiring jobs on Semi Tractors/Trailers and some on older vehicles. But anyone have a recomendation as far as motor? Preferably something with lower kw useage...Target is 2.5kw but I can modify my existing plan to be a bit higher, no more than 7.5kw.

 

[frodus]

2.5kW will not move that car, 7.5kW won't move it to highway speeds.

You'll need something more along the lines of 40-60kw peak, and 20-30kw continuous... bare minimum.

 

[Gaijin88]

Well my idea is not a full conversion to electric but more of a hybrid. Diesel generator powering the motor directly. Kind of like VW concept they had a few years ago. I could use belt driven generators connected to a diesel motor of sufficient output to generate 60kw but the cost would be fairly high. Do you think it would be feasible? Belt driven you could adjust pulley sizes to turn the motors at sufficient speed at idle to produce the power you needed from four 10kw gen or even six if it called for it.

 

[frodus]

So you want to use a diesel generator and connect it straight to an electric motor with no other connection from Gas engine to the wheels?

You still need more power to the motor, 2.5kw won't cut it.

 

[TomA]

Get a good motor and controller and batteries and charger and all the associated parts and build a real electric car. Be ready to shell out a bill or two.

Pete

So true, Pete. This thread is a classic that gets started over and over and over here, which is not to say its bad, its just the way it goes:

"I'm new to this community and have great/some/no automotive skills and I have this cool/free/nice glider I want to convert. I have easy/typical/impossible project goals. I'm thinking I can get it all done and be really happy with it for $1500/$5000/$7500, and if that won't work, I can easily Rube Goldberg up something complex and substandard to save money."

A couple of senior members or two will then throw down some numbers, mostly about the $10k-$20k cost to make a nice conversion that delivers what the original poster proposed, there follows a little push-back all around, and then the dust and cobwebs gather on the thread.

The best advice I could give for any conversion is to start with a nice car you really love, or one you really love that you're willing to make really nice before converting it, and then save up $10k to start the conversion, with a working budget up to double that, depending on what you want out of the car.

YMMV. Of course, it can be done cheaper, just not very well...

TomA