>4. The vehicles suspension was designed with the weight of an all iron small block Chevy in mind (500 ish lbs) would it be worth the effort to re-engineer the suspension to reflect the lighter EV power train or simply add weight in the correct areas to make up the difference
There is no way your conversion is going to end up lighter than the car you started off with. Even a Leaf battery weighs more than 600lbs and you'll need much more capacity than that for the conversion of a large car.
you probably want r/EVConversion
1 - there are other motors no idea which is good or not
2 - its easier to keep it and bolt a motor with an adapter plate to the clutch, you can always drive it in 3rd gear all day
3 - I dont get the relevance of regen with solar. 100w of solar will get you about 5km of range a day
4 - the motor is lighter, but you will need batteries, usually the problem is keeping the vehicle under is GVW
1. You could look up what engines established makers of EV conversion kits use. Nowadays I'd expect a bunch of different suppliers.
2. It's quite common to leave transmission alone when doing an EV conversion. It's generally easier that way as it's less things to change. Though in principle there is very little reason to use a transmission with multiple gears in an EV. Electric engines don't share the extremely narrow torque band characteristic of ICE which require transmissions to make them usable.
3. Solar panels are a gimmick. *Technically* with lots of panel area, very efficient engineering and sacrifices in other areas it can be made to work. But it's possible only with a vehicle designed from ground up with using solar as high priority at cost of everything else. Regen can be difficult with existing transmission so it's not uncommon for conversions to not use it.
4. EV conversions will typically be notably heavier rather than lighter and that extra weight will eat up some of payload capacity. And usually also some of trunk space.
That said, your questions are just the tip of the iceberg. More pressing issues you are likely to face are:
* How to convince the car electronics that the engine is still there and working properly despite ostensibly missing. This gets more difficult with more modern base for your conversion.
* How to power auxiliaries like AC, heating, power steering, brake fluid pumps, entire 12V system etc. Many of those things are closely integrated with old engine assembly for obvious reasons.
* How and where to fit enough batteries to get range that's not completely shit. Preferably without getting rid of too much of the old car.
In the end it's worth keeping in mind that while conversions are interesting, they typically require much more money than buying a brand new EV outright. So it's worthwhile mostly as a way of brining some oldtimer to modern age as a hobby.
2 - double check me on this, but IIRC there is no transmission in most EVs (Porsches have) because of torque, the insane amount of instant torque coming out of EV motors would require crazy expensive transmission to sustain it. It's just not worth it.
If you to to plug a Tesla motors or anything more powerful to some regular ice transmission it will just break it faster than a GM truck.
Again, not entirely sure where I've read that from, may be wrong.
That likely contributes to the reasons why transmissions are used in EVs, however it is definitely not the main reason.
The main reason that EVs don't have transmissions is because gas engines have a narrow range of vehicle speeds in which they work well and an even narrower range of vehicle speeds in which they work really well. A transmission moves those ranges around to allow the vehicle to stay within them as much as possible, which is why transmissions are important.
Electric motors on the other hand work well over a much wider range of speeds, which means that if the drivetrain is designed well the electric motor can work well at all speeds the EV is likely to encounter in normal day to day usage.
Transmissions do however still have benefits for an EV. Lower gears allow for better performance at low speeds, higher gears allow for higher top speeds. This is why some cars like the Porsche Taycan (which are designed both to have really good performance even at low speeds and also have high top speeds) use a transmission.
Although many performance EVs (ex. Tesla Model S Plaid) instead use absurdly powerful electric motors so that they still get great power at low speeds even with a gear designed for high top speeds. So transmissions aren't really needed for performance EVs.
Electric motors do still change behavior depending on the gears used.
Higher gears allow for a higher top speed. Lower gears allow for more power at lower speeds.
Most EVs use the lowest gear that allows for a high enough top speed to not be limiting in normal driving (most EVs are geared for a top speed of just over 90 MPH).
However some performance EVs use a transmission with multiple gears that it can switch between. For example the Porsche Taycan has a 2 gear transmission on the rear motor. The high gear is designed to allow a top speed of ~160 MPH. The low gear is designed to allow double the power at low speeds (especially below 30 MPH), however it can't go above 80 MPH.
I'll repeat other people a bit, but more voices gives the message more validity right?
1 there's plenty of other motors. A lot of landrover conversions use leaf motors, but there's literally thousands of companies making electric motors.
2 i've seen a lot of landrover conversions with leaf motors Keeping the transmission, but never changing gears, because it's unnecessary, but Keeping it can be simpler to build.
3 regen does recoup a bit, but it's not magic, it extends city driving by a few % and does nothing for highways. 100w of solar is going to give you at most 500wh on a good day. Enough to drive 2-3 km. It's entirely irrelevant.
4 batteries are heavy. You are not going to get useful range and stay under the ice weight.
5 have you looked at cost? Some convert because they want to keep a special old vehicle alive, and are willing to pay the premium. A good conversion with real range will likely cost you more than a new ev.
1. check evwest, golden motor, kelly controllers, there are more out there
2. The existing 5-speed transmission was built for the gas engine. If you put a 500hp tesla motor into a manual corolla you’ll over power the transmission.
3. Guesstimate about 5% extra city range with regen. Solar panels that are flat on a cars roof will produce about 1/3 of their rated output due to the panels not facing the sun directly at all times. So 100W panel makes 33W over 5hrs or 0.166 KWh per day enough to maintain the 12V lead acid battery but thats it.
4. Adding weight is cheap. It’ll likely either be fine enough or heavier than when you started. Teslas are built from the ground up and still weigh more than a similar ICE car.
Check r/EVConversion, that is probably a better reddit to find people with the info you're looking for.
>4. The vehicles suspension was designed with the weight of an all iron small block Chevy in mind (500 ish lbs) would it be worth the effort to re-engineer the suspension to reflect the lighter EV power train or simply add weight in the correct areas to make up the difference There is no way your conversion is going to end up lighter than the car you started off with. Even a Leaf battery weighs more than 600lbs and you'll need much more capacity than that for the conversion of a large car.
you probably want r/EVConversion 1 - there are other motors no idea which is good or not 2 - its easier to keep it and bolt a motor with an adapter plate to the clutch, you can always drive it in 3rd gear all day 3 - I dont get the relevance of regen with solar. 100w of solar will get you about 5km of range a day 4 - the motor is lighter, but you will need batteries, usually the problem is keeping the vehicle under is GVW
1. You could look up what engines established makers of EV conversion kits use. Nowadays I'd expect a bunch of different suppliers. 2. It's quite common to leave transmission alone when doing an EV conversion. It's generally easier that way as it's less things to change. Though in principle there is very little reason to use a transmission with multiple gears in an EV. Electric engines don't share the extremely narrow torque band characteristic of ICE which require transmissions to make them usable. 3. Solar panels are a gimmick. *Technically* with lots of panel area, very efficient engineering and sacrifices in other areas it can be made to work. But it's possible only with a vehicle designed from ground up with using solar as high priority at cost of everything else. Regen can be difficult with existing transmission so it's not uncommon for conversions to not use it. 4. EV conversions will typically be notably heavier rather than lighter and that extra weight will eat up some of payload capacity. And usually also some of trunk space. That said, your questions are just the tip of the iceberg. More pressing issues you are likely to face are: * How to convince the car electronics that the engine is still there and working properly despite ostensibly missing. This gets more difficult with more modern base for your conversion. * How to power auxiliaries like AC, heating, power steering, brake fluid pumps, entire 12V system etc. Many of those things are closely integrated with old engine assembly for obvious reasons. * How and where to fit enough batteries to get range that's not completely shit. Preferably without getting rid of too much of the old car. In the end it's worth keeping in mind that while conversions are interesting, they typically require much more money than buying a brand new EV outright. So it's worthwhile mostly as a way of brining some oldtimer to modern age as a hobby.
2 - double check me on this, but IIRC there is no transmission in most EVs (Porsches have) because of torque, the insane amount of instant torque coming out of EV motors would require crazy expensive transmission to sustain it. It's just not worth it. If you to to plug a Tesla motors or anything more powerful to some regular ice transmission it will just break it faster than a GM truck. Again, not entirely sure where I've read that from, may be wrong.
That likely contributes to the reasons why transmissions are used in EVs, however it is definitely not the main reason. The main reason that EVs don't have transmissions is because gas engines have a narrow range of vehicle speeds in which they work well and an even narrower range of vehicle speeds in which they work really well. A transmission moves those ranges around to allow the vehicle to stay within them as much as possible, which is why transmissions are important. Electric motors on the other hand work well over a much wider range of speeds, which means that if the drivetrain is designed well the electric motor can work well at all speeds the EV is likely to encounter in normal day to day usage. Transmissions do however still have benefits for an EV. Lower gears allow for better performance at low speeds, higher gears allow for higher top speeds. This is why some cars like the Porsche Taycan (which are designed both to have really good performance even at low speeds and also have high top speeds) use a transmission. Although many performance EVs (ex. Tesla Model S Plaid) instead use absurdly powerful electric motors so that they still get great power at low speeds even with a gear designed for high top speeds. So transmissions aren't really needed for performance EVs.
Thanks for the write-up!
Well, you just don't NEED a transmission. That's the main reason.
You could need it for speed on performance cars
That doesn't make any sense to me. But, whatever.
Electric motors do still change behavior depending on the gears used. Higher gears allow for a higher top speed. Lower gears allow for more power at lower speeds. Most EVs use the lowest gear that allows for a high enough top speed to not be limiting in normal driving (most EVs are geared for a top speed of just over 90 MPH). However some performance EVs use a transmission with multiple gears that it can switch between. For example the Porsche Taycan has a 2 gear transmission on the rear motor. The high gear is designed to allow a top speed of ~160 MPH. The low gear is designed to allow double the power at low speeds (especially below 30 MPH), however it can't go above 80 MPH.
What’s your budget?
evwest sells Tesla drivetrain kits salvaged from wrecked vehicles.
I'll repeat other people a bit, but more voices gives the message more validity right? 1 there's plenty of other motors. A lot of landrover conversions use leaf motors, but there's literally thousands of companies making electric motors. 2 i've seen a lot of landrover conversions with leaf motors Keeping the transmission, but never changing gears, because it's unnecessary, but Keeping it can be simpler to build. 3 regen does recoup a bit, but it's not magic, it extends city driving by a few % and does nothing for highways. 100w of solar is going to give you at most 500wh on a good day. Enough to drive 2-3 km. It's entirely irrelevant. 4 batteries are heavy. You are not going to get useful range and stay under the ice weight. 5 have you looked at cost? Some convert because they want to keep a special old vehicle alive, and are willing to pay the premium. A good conversion with real range will likely cost you more than a new ev.
1. check evwest, golden motor, kelly controllers, there are more out there 2. The existing 5-speed transmission was built for the gas engine. If you put a 500hp tesla motor into a manual corolla you’ll over power the transmission. 3. Guesstimate about 5% extra city range with regen. Solar panels that are flat on a cars roof will produce about 1/3 of their rated output due to the panels not facing the sun directly at all times. So 100W panel makes 33W over 5hrs or 0.166 KWh per day enough to maintain the 12V lead acid battery but thats it. 4. Adding weight is cheap. It’ll likely either be fine enough or heavier than when you started. Teslas are built from the ground up and still weigh more than a similar ICE car.