[Duncan]

Hi
If you are going direct drive then you won't need a clutch pedal - with only two pedals you don't need as much space in the footwell - and the passenger never needed that much anyway

I would cut out the transmission tunnel and make a lightweight removable tunnel that the motor would live in

Then you have the whole engine bay for your batteries

 

[Duncan]

Hi Brian - valid point
The easiest way would be to make a new tunnel out of something like 20 mm square tubing to take any loads and to have a bolt on lightweight cover so that you can get to the motor when you want

On my car I closed in the bottom completely - helps the strength and you don't need to let the drips escape - but that does mean that you have to get at the motor from inside the car

 

[Duncan]

Hi Tom
Re-battery heat
Probably very little!
You are most unlikely to want to cool your battery - for max performance you probably want to heat it

I'm using most of a Volt pack - which is water cooled/heated - I'm actually using it as the heat sink for my controller
I circulate water from the controller to the battery - keeps the controller nice and cool - provides a tiny amount of heating for the battery

 

[Duncan]

Hi Tom

It's a small car and you are stripping it down - have you thought about making a "rotisserie" for the shell so that you can weld across and down rather than up

as far as future rust is concerned paints are incredibly good these days - but the most important coat is the first one

Sills/floor panels

Back in the day the process was not to buy a new sill but to bend a bit of welding wire to the required shape and the sheet metal man would then bend the sheet to match your template - I can remember mini "sills" that were so wide we welded them to the centre tunnel

 

[Duncan]

Hi Tom
On this note, it baffles me that car manufacturers still haven’t produced a simple cheap EV (or an electric sports car for that matter). They’re all focusing on electric SUVs that cost the earth and have every gadget imaginable. I’m sure there would be a market for a basic small electric hatchback (in the UK at least) with a decent range at a sensible price (£15k not £30k+). Something like an electric kei car! I’m convinced it must be possible.


The car manufacturers dirty secret is that the fully loaded car with all mod cons COSTS about 10% more than the basic model - but they can charge 100% more

So the incentive is always to sell the top models FIRST - and the base models only after you have satisfied the demand for the expensive ones