Hello all...110% new to the forum and EV cars in general. SO much good stuff to read on here!
Ive had a lot of experience building several IC cars, but want to dive in head first with an EV conversion. In general my mechanical skill level is good, my electrical level not so much (insert mechanical vs electrical engineer jokes here). I'm considering two options, keeping the standard gearbox or getting rid of it and mating the motor directly to the transfer case.
Ive selected a Defender 90 as a conversion vehicle for a few reasons, the body on frame construction helps a lot in the ease of installation of motor, battery brackets etc. even though aerodynamic and drivetrain efficiency are laughable. A large part of it is practicality from a cargo/hose down point of view.
That being said the range I'm looking for isn't huge. This will be mainly my wife's car to commute 50 miles round trip every day in mixed stop and go and 70 mph traffic. So ideally 100 mile range (excuse my ignorance if this is wildly unrealistic).
Performance wise anything that is an improvement on the standard 122 hp (91 kW) / 221 lb⋅ft (300 N⋅m) diesel engine would be welcome.
This is where things get sticky. I haven't selected any components yet, but have read several of the Wiki articles. The 4 steps in sizing a battery seem to me to be excellent if working with a lot of known variables. But...since the existing diesel power of the vehicle is already known, and this takes the vehicle to top speed and gives a certain acceleration, can this not be used as a basis and work backwards from there to reach a needed battery power and energy?
Naturally at a steady cruise speed not all of the diesels 91kW are being used, only a fraction of that. So if anything, in my mind choosing a 91kW motor would give increased performance, albeit a battery to go with it would be unnecessarily large for 100 miles of range. Or just plain not fit in the available packaging space of a Defender 90.
In the end is that a good starting point or not even close?
Ive had a lot of experience building several IC cars, but want to dive in head first with an EV conversion. In general my mechanical skill level is good, my electrical level not so much (insert mechanical vs electrical engineer jokes here). I'm considering two options, keeping the standard gearbox or getting rid of it and mating the motor directly to the transfer case.
Ive selected a Defender 90 as a conversion vehicle for a few reasons, the body on frame construction helps a lot in the ease of installation of motor, battery brackets etc. even though aerodynamic and drivetrain efficiency are laughable. A large part of it is practicality from a cargo/hose down point of view.
That being said the range I'm looking for isn't huge. This will be mainly my wife's car to commute 50 miles round trip every day in mixed stop and go and 70 mph traffic. So ideally 100 mile range (excuse my ignorance if this is wildly unrealistic).
Performance wise anything that is an improvement on the standard 122 hp (91 kW) / 221 lb⋅ft (300 N⋅m) diesel engine would be welcome.
This is where things get sticky. I haven't selected any components yet, but have read several of the Wiki articles. The 4 steps in sizing a battery seem to me to be excellent if working with a lot of known variables. But...since the existing diesel power of the vehicle is already known, and this takes the vehicle to top speed and gives a certain acceleration, can this not be used as a basis and work backwards from there to reach a needed battery power and energy?
Naturally at a steady cruise speed not all of the diesels 91kW are being used, only a fraction of that. So if anything, in my mind choosing a 91kW motor would give increased performance, albeit a battery to go with it would be unnecessarily large for 100 miles of range. Or just plain not fit in the available packaging space of a Defender 90.
In the end is that a good starting point or not even close?