Westfalia T3 with Chevy Bolt drivetrain

Yabert said:

Finally, I rebuild the Bolt battery inside.
With all the modules and cooling plate in hand it seem I could probably rework the fifth module and move it by 90° in the middle of the pack (pic-1-2).
This rework can allow me to don't cut some part of the Westfalia Frame.
Anyway, I have to choose between cut the Westfalia frame and don't touch the battery or cut the battery cover and build new support for the fifth module. Of course this second option imply re-routing of the coolant circuit and some wires and busbars.

I still have to remove some wire harness and module inside the Bolt and I will have everything I need to run the motor inside.

Click to expand...

Hey Yabert,
I was wondering if you have some insight into the way the battery is cooled - I know from John Kelly's videos that there's a thermal pad between the cold plate and the battery modules, but I was wondering if the modules consisted of inter-leaved aluminium plates between each cell or group of cells. I find battery thermal management quite the challenge, so it's good to see how the market leaders are working it.
Cheers,
Chris

I can't quite tell from that picture, but if I recall the Weber Auto YouTube videos correctly, the heat exchanger for the battery is supplied refrigerant from the A/C system after the cabin blower. If you plan on adding A/C to your vehicle you might as well use the cooling power to keep the battery happy.

Otherwise, just running coolant to a radiator out the front will no doubt help, but as you've noted - it won't take a fast charge without more powerful cooling.

I'm actually adding a heat exchanger for chilling the coolant in the battery of the Prelude I'm converting at the moment. I think the A/C system will be the last thing which gets installed, but it should make for a long lived battery.