Cost effective relative to what? A used Leaf can be had for about $8k, and would likely have better range and performance than a home-built conversion. I can certainly understand wanting to spend a little more for something cool and unique like a classic car that runs on electrons, but an old Rabbit or S10 doesn’t do it for me, personally.
Relative to buying gasoline. An S10 with a blown out motor can be had for well under $400, and has the load carrying capacity to hold a great many batteries for decent range (potentially much better than a Leaf, if you don’t want to reserve some carrying capacity and you are willing to use more expensive batteries). A tranny plate, pot box, 9" motor, Curtis controller, and you’re on the road.
Yeah, the way the bottom has dropped out of Leaf prices has changed the market. Make sure you don’t bother with any Leaf that does not have the 240VAC charging option, though - only two of the multiple model lines do - this is very important. 15 hours to recharge for 80 mile range is not viable for most people, but that’s what you get with 120VAC charging.
Me neither, but those are the platforms that have (in the past) recovered their investment cost though fuel savings, because of extreme ease of conversion. The S10 in particular.
(Back when I seriously researched this stuff, I discovered that the trailing arm torsion bar suspensions of air-cooled VWs get killed by the difference in weight and weight distribution in an EV. Perhaps that has changed in the intervening years, but I don’t see how it could.)
Modern tyres would make a hell of a difference too. Or just tub it out. I’d happily rock a Nash with fender flares and fat slot-mags (slot mags make everything look better, says my inner ten year old).
1 Like
Have you ever had the pleasure of doing donuts in a snow-filled parking lot at night when there’s nobody around? It is definitely fun.
JK, I know, context matters.
1 Like
Only one thing left to do …
3 Likes
AFAIK, all modern commercially-built EVs use lithium-ion cells. Only golf carts still use lead-acid batteries, and even those are starting to disappear. And with the recent improvements to Li-Ion, NiMH is no longer a contender, really.
The Tesla drivetrain including batteries is still heavier than an ICE drivetrain – but the Model S and X are fanatic about reducing weight elsewhere to make up the difference. The bodies, fr’ex, are the same lightweight lithium-aluminum alloy that the Falcon 9 rocket uses: expensive and costly to repair, but way lighter than steel. (The Model 3 is mostly steel to reduce cost.)
And since so much of the car’s mass (~1000 lbs) is in the battery pack, which is essentially the floor pan, you can pull some ungodly G’s going around tight curves, and the car still sticks to the road like glue.
I really want to get a Model S on a real, well-soaped skid pan and see just how far it can be pushed.
I’m not sure you can roll it at all.
The cool thing about that conversion is that it’s made by Jaguar, so the conversion is still 100% genuine Jag. Plus they designed it as a fully reversible, bolt-in kit (no metal cutting required), so you can always keep the ICE drivetrain, and convert back if you want to sell it as a mint classic.
Jaguar E-type Zero: “The Most Beautiful Electric Car in the World”
(And since it’s essentially a drop-in replacement for the Jaguar XK6 motor, it could be used in some other odd classics as well. Me, I’m keeping an eye out for a Panther J72 barn find.)
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
