Research Project - High Power Electric Conversions

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ksxr21

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Hi Guys,

I am a university student doing a project on high voltage electric vehicle powertrains, and having seen the rise in interest in recent years of converting cars to electric power, I have some questions for the MB community!

I am researching the potential of a high power, modular battery pack, which would be installed as part of an entire electric powertrain, converting cars from smoke to sparks. This would be a step above the current offering of electric conversions in the UK, which tend to offer used/off the shelf batteries, and low voltage/low power DC motors and controllers.

It would mainly be aimed at (modern) classics, anything before 1990 where big power gains aren't so easy to achieve without a swap, and daily drivability starts becoming an issue.

The link below is to a google form where I'd like to get some data on what the car communities think of this idea, so anyone who has literally 5 minutes (it's only 10 questions!), I'd really appreciate your feedback!

https://goo.gl/forms/hecvPshY4dZrJ1QN2

Additionally, regardless of whether you've filled the survey - if anyone has any criticisms, feedback, ideas, insults, please throw them my way as I would love to get a feel for what you people think!

Cheers
smile.gif
 
Done, good luck with the project. :thumb:
 
Survey completed.

Great initiative! A small-ish lightweight older car with electric conversion would be a lot of fun, and if pricing could be kept reasonably low would offer enthusiasts a real alternate to consider.

Some tips for the survey - it wasn't clear where to put the response when questions asked for further detail (Would you consider an electric powertrain? Please detail reasons why/why not.) Also, not sure why gender is important, in our politically correct society...? I've no issue with answering the question, just not sure why it is necessary to know.

Also, will your research look at the road tax regime changes possible due to change in emissions? This would help the financial incentive without impacting on the cost of the conversion itself.

I assume someone is looking at crash worthiness and the impact that a different size/weight/weight distribution source of motive power would cause?

Good luck with the project, please keep us updated!

Cheers
 
Survey completed.

Great initiative! A small-ish lightweight older car with electric conversion would be a lot of fun, and if pricing could be kept reasonably low would offer enthusiasts a real alternate to consider.

Some tips for the survey - it wasn't clear where to put the response when questions asked for further detail (Would you consider an electric powertrain? Please detail reasons why/why not.) Also, not sure why gender is important, in our politically correct society...? I've no issue with answering the question, just not sure why it is necessary to know.

Also, will your research look at the road tax regime changes possible due to change in emissions? This would help the financial incentive without impacting on the cost of the conversion itself.

I assume someone is looking at crash worthiness and the impact that a different size/weight/weight distribution source of motive power would cause?

Good luck with the project, please keep us updated!

Cheers

Exactly! That's the kind of thing I've got in mind!

Right thanks for the feedback, I'll review the answer boxes. Regarding questions like your gender and local area, it's all part of building up a customer profile, at the end of my research I would ideally have a "Joe Bloggs" who represents all the demographics of my average consumer. It helps with defining the total accessible market I would be aiming at.

Road tax for electric cars (even converted ones) is completely free as there are zero emissions!

With regards to crashworthiness and weight distribution etc., all that is very vehicle-specific data so will be looked at on a case-by-case basis. However, you are correct that relocating 300 odd kilos to the floorpan or the boot will have massive effects on all these ares including the vehicle dynamics.

As always, thank you very much for your support guys - all ideas are helpful!
 
It would be truly awesome if all the manufacturers came together and agreed on a common battery design. You would then go to a "filling" station and instead of waiting to charge just swap batteries. The filling station would maintain a stock of charged batteries and also rotate these out once they'd done a certain amount of cycles.
 
It would be truly awesome if all the manufacturers came together and agreed on a common battery design. You would then go to a "filling" station and instead of waiting to charge just swap batteries.





Cheers,

Gaz
 
I have a lot of mates who are still uprating old classics (although personally I've been priced out of most of the cars I used to love!!) one of the major advantages of older cars is their lightness. For example, a Mk1 escort with a 300BHP modified YB Cosworth engine, gearbox and a beefed up Atlas axle, along with the brakes and suspension upgrades to cope generally still weighs only around 900-1000kgs.

There will be a lot of people not wanting to add any extra weight when modifying for performance as even if your electric car can accelerate faster it still needs to corner and stop and in lighter cars extra weight is more noticeable than in a more modern already heavy one.

I think that until battery pack and motor weights can get down to something close to engine/box/axle/full tank of fuel kind of levels OR they are forced into it by fuel cost, fuel availability or noise/emissions regs you won't get many converts other than people building for novelty value.
 
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I wonder if the W168 A-Class Mercedes would be ideal?

Sandwich floor was rumoured to have been for a planned electric version, so maybe an easier install/ balancing solutions, without losing any of the current loadspace within the vehicle?

What do you estimate costs per vehicle. You ask us to “guess”, in the survey, which is a bit strange, -if everyone says they’re interested and will pay £500, you may think it will never take off.
However if you say “it will cost £XXXX to do, you may start to get genuine interest.

You’d need to show why/how your systems and solutions would be better than current type conversions.
 
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