The Revolution is here

onegreenev said:

What sized pack? What motor/controller setup? I am planning my 73 914 conversion and plan to use the new HPEVS AC-75 motor with the 144 volt controller. I am looking at 180ah cells for this build.

Your distance seems rather good for 70mph. I say that because my Leaf can't do 70mph for very long. No chance To get 70 miles at those speeds.

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The pack is 22kwhr, with 108 CALB 60Ah batteries. This produces a voltage of 370v. The motor is a no-name 80kw BLDC from China.

I've been measuring the energy used during freeway drives, which is how I got the 70 at 70 number. The 100 mile range is a guesstimate.

For the 914, you'll probably need to beef up the suspension a bit, and get the bearings cleaned up, and get the wheels properly aligned. All of that will greatly improve your energy burn.

Cheers!

Alright so where do I start as far as research.........I want to keep the integrity of the car as much as possible meaning that I don't want too much modifications but I will not be using the trunk of the car

gunitd said:

Alright so where do I start as far as research.........I want to keep the integrity of the car as much as possible meaning that I don't want too much modifications but I will not be using the trunk of the car

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You've made good progress - top speed (100 mph) and range 150 miles. I guess the next step is to identify the vehicle that will be used. Once you have a very good idea on the vehicle, we can figure out what the power burn will be, and that will size the battery.

Motor will depend on how fast you want to get up to freeway speed. For example, my 80kw motor can get me up to 65 mph in 13 seconds (could do it faster, but my BMS complains).

Start looking at the vendors advertising on this site - they are all Good Guys. You will start to get an idea of the types of motors out there.

As for not using the trunk, that depends on how much space is under the hood. You might have to sacrifice something to get the range you want.

So, decide on car, then we go forward.

What are you looking to read more about?

As far as car is concerned I am not sure on what I want yet its either going to be a VW cc or a jaguar XJ

gunitd said:

As far as car is concerned I am not sure on what I want yet its either going to be a VW cc or a jaguar XJ

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Well, for the VW, there isn't a lot of space in the engine compartment, so either the trunk or the backseat would have to be sacrificed. The Jag *should* have enough space for the batteries, but that's hard to say.

Any idea of the weight of the vehicles?

the Jaguar XJ ways 4000 pounds the weight of the Volkswagen CC we 4299 Pounds.....as far as the engine compartment is for both can I place batteries for both of them

Sorry the weight for the jag is 4045 and the VW cc is 3300

Ok, so the jag has more weight to push, but definitely has more space under the hood. My personal push would be to do the jag, as it would have more style to it (one of the reasons I like the 914).

So, assuming you go for the jaquar, you will need a stronger motor than the AC50 to have decent acceleration. (A friend of mine has a 914 with the AC50 in it, and it does nicely, but could do better. The 914 has a base weight of 2200-2300 pounds).

Do some investigation into the motors that are stronger than the AC50 and see which you can put into the budget.

Cheers!

Ok and also can I still wanna keep all the styles and functions of the jag

You should be able to. Depends on the year Jag. If you are dealing with analog equipment, no problem. If the Jag has CANBus for driving the various gauges, then it is a bit more difficult, but doable.

For example, You can get SOC (state of charge) equipment that can directly drive an existing gas gauge. Tachometers can be driven by most motor controllers. Speedometers are typically driven off of the transmission (and it does help to keep that for a lot of reasons, but others on this forum may not agree with me on that ).

well what I'm trying to do is use current cars and transformed into electric cars so if I use a Jaguar is going to be a 2012 2013 model I was also thinking about doing the Volkswagen CC and also the Hyundai Genesis lastly one more question what if I decide to take a car that's already a hybrid and make it a full on electric car would that be easier for me to do

gunitd said:

well what I'm trying to do is use current cars and transformed into electric cars so if I use a Jaguar is going to be a 2012 2013 model I was also thinking about doing the Volkswagen CC and also the Hyundai Genesis lastly one more question what if I decide to take a car that's already a hybrid and make it a full on electric car would that be easier for me to do

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Ah. Ok, you have a LOT of work to do in this case. You will need to determine what values are being transmitted on the CANBus by the various computers in the car, such as engine speed/temp. This is a non-trivial task, and will have to be done for each model of car you are going to modify. Getting a hold of a CANBus sniffer will go a very long way, but you will still need to verify the IDs. It is possible that someone has already done this for the model you are interested in - or it is also possible that the factory could supply the CANBus IDs for you (unlikely tho).

Cheers!

So basically I am trying to reinvent the wheel by doing new cars......I love the current cars....I hate the bullshit gas prices and such....... But I will do everything I will do so that I can accomplish my dreams....I love cars like everyone else and I wanna show the world that it can be free of gas and stylish

gunitd said:

So basically I am trying to reinvent the wheel by doing new cars......I love the current cars....I hate the bullshit gas prices and such....... But I will do everything I will do so that I can accomplish my dreams....I love cars like everyone else and I wanna show the world that it can be free of gas and stylish

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No, you are not re-inventing everything - you are trying to replace the gas with electric. As with any venture that deals with the automotive world, there is a lot that is hidden from us Mere Mortals. Don't give up yet - search around to see if someone has already discovered the CANBus values. If not, you will have to dig into the car's system to see what is what.

you know what you're absolutely right and I'm not going to give up just because it may be a little more difficult I've never done anything like this before and I want to at least do something to help the environment in any way that I can

Recycling a good donor and making it electric is a noble cause. Go for it. Be sure you load up on solar panels so you can charge from the sun.

yeah something like that would be cool as well..but my ultimate goal is to sell these cars...i want one for me personally and then i want to be able to sell the next ones i do...as far as a donor car is concerned, i am going to use a salvage title so that it will be cheap to do. the reason for a jag or a luxury car is because i will drive it frequently and that i want people to see it and talk about it.....those things excite people. that is why i am still not sure on what car i will do but i do need help. so should i start researching battery tech or car size.

Actually the best way to do that is to build a real cool one then use that to advertise your ability and then convert other peoples cars for them. Building then selling those builds usually does not happen as you may think. Wait till a customer pays you to do their build. That way your guaranteed a sale. You also get to be the master and tell them what would work because you have learned what was needed. You have ways to go but my hats off to anyone that can pull off a business. AC motors are going to be your friend. Ones you can actually buy and have access to help. Orphan Motors and controllers are not going to be your friend.