Has anyone been thinking about building an electric car (home-made) for themselvees any time soon? Options

[ClayPerrine]

If I were doing an electric conversion, I would use something like this....

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/images.thecarconnection.com-1143-1417973477.1.jpg) These generate 100HP each, and you don't need the gearbox or halfshafts or any of the other associated stuff.

It would need some controls to make the electric braking work, but it would be a really good solution. Cut the floor out of the rear trunk, and fill the space for the engine and trans with batteries. Use the space for the gas tank for more, and you still have the front trunk for more if you like, or for cargo.

And you could do it as all wheel drive by converting the front struts to use them too.



Or the other alternative is to use the wheel motors, and put a APU from a small airliner in the engine compartment. It runs at a steady speed all the time so it is really fuel efficient. <sarcasm>Oh.. wait you can't turbine a 914!</sarcasm>

[Dave_Darling]

I've seen several 914 EVs in person, and know several more that are in progress. (One of which has been in progress for about a decade, but I digress....) I think the 914 is a good platform for an EV. The chassis can obviously handle a lot more power and weight than it originally came with and the EV does have a few advantages.

I talked to someone at an EV meet that was near my house a few years ago. He built it specifically for his commute across one of our bridges here in the Bay Area. As an EV, his car could go in the commute lane, bypass much of the traffic, and the bridge tolls were free. When he did the conversion, the 914 was just some weird old cheap car--very few people thought of it as a "classic".

Since he only needed ~60 mile range (his commute was ~10 miles), his costs were much less. And he wound up saving money pretty quickly because of the tolls--not to mention the lessened aggravation of bypassing the traffic.

--DD

[Rob-O]

If I were doing an electric conversion, I would use something like this....

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/images.thecarconnection.com-1143-1417973477.1.jpg) These generate 100HP each, and you don't need the gearbox or halfshafts or any of the other associated stuff.

It would need some controls to make the electric braking work, but it would be a really good solution. Cut the floor out of the rear trunk, and fill the space for the engine and trans with batteries. Use the space for the gas tank for more, and you still have the front trunk for more if you like, or for cargo.

And you could do it as all wheel drive by converting the front struts to use them too.



Or the other alternative is to use the wheel motors, and put a APU (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) from a small airliner in the engine compartment. It runs at a steady speed all the time so it is really fuel efficient. <sarcasm>Oh.. wait you can't turbine a 914!</sarcasm>

Those rims and tires look enormous! You'd never get them to fit on a 914! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[carr914]

Here's some info on mine:

http://www.evalbum.com/3439

I've got over 4 years of trouble free driving. I checked on the internet and so far there are over 48 914's converted to electric power in the US.

Jim

I say BS.

I say your range is optimistic at best. Hell,the Nissan Leaf or the BMW I3 can't do more than 100 miles.

You've added 500 pounds of weight in places it was never intended by the original designers. Fun to drive? I doubt it, especially if you add the low resistance, skinny ass, low grip tires.

It cost you $20K (if believable) to degrade the performance of the car with little hope of ever recovering such costs.

Sorry for getting so serious, but to me, sacrificing a classic car to fulfill your whims of being a "greenie" strikes me sacrilegious. There are plenty of shitty Corolla's out there you can play Dr. Frankenstein with.

I rode in Jim's car yesterday and I would definately say it was Fun! I think he told me after he sold off parts off the 914 his conversion was not that expensive.

Gotta ask, do you get on every Suby, -6, Corvair, V-8 Conversion Thread and tell people their cars suck?

[Big Len]

Here's some info on mine:

http://www.evalbum.com/3439

I've got over 4 years of trouble free driving. I checked on the internet and so far there are over 48 914's converted to electric power in the US.

Jim

I say BS.

I say your range is optimistic at best. Hell,the Nissan Leaf or the BMW I3 can't do more than 100 miles.

You've added 500 pounds of weight in places it was never intended by the original designers. Fun to drive? I doubt it, especially if you add the low resistance, skinny ass, low grip tires.

It cost you $20K (if believable) to degrade the performance of the car with little hope of ever recovering such costs.

Sorry for getting so serious, but to me, sacrificing a classic car to fulfill your whims of being a "greenie" strikes me sacrilegious. There are plenty of shitty Corolla's out there you can play Dr. Frankenstein with.

I rode in Jim's car yesterday and I would definately say it was Fun! I think he told me after he sold off parts off the 914 his conversion was not that expensive.

Gotta ask, do you get on every Suby, -6, Corvair, V-8 Conversion Thread and tell people their cars suck?

Never said his car sucked pal.

If you reread what I wrote, I'm not buying his range numbers. Toyota, Honda, MB, BMW EV's, with the best engineers can't achieve those range numbers in the real world. Only Tesla can, but that's a whole different price range.

You said you drove in Jim's car. Did you drive it or were you a passenger? If you drove it, can you honestly say it was as much fun to drive as your own with the added 500 lbs?

Using his own numbers, it costs $16,500 to convert to EV (plus the car and charging station) to drive a car with very limited range, 6 hours to "refuel", and adding 25% of the car's original weight. And he didn't save it from the junk yard either.

Perhaps I have a bit more reverence for 914's than you do. To me, the car is a rare, classic sports car and it should be respected as such, but that is not to say it can't be improved upon. But I put the 914 in the same category as a Austin Healey 3000, a Triumph TR4, a VW Karmann Ghia or others that I mentioned. Doing an expensive EV conversion to any of these hardly seems like an improvement and in my opinion, does a disservice to the original concept of the car.

[jtg]

[/quote]

Never said his car sucked pal.

If you reread what I wrote, I'm not buying his range numbers. Toyota, Honda, MB, BMW EV's, with the best engineers can't achieve those range numbers in the real world. Only Tesla can, but that's a whole different price range.

You said you drove in Jim's car. Did you drive it or were you a passenger? If you drove it, can you honestly say it was as much fun to drive as your own with the added 500 lbs?

Using his own numbers, it costs $16,500 to convert to EV (plus the car and charging station) to drive a car with very limited range, 6 hours to "refuel", and adding 25% of the car's original weight. And he didn't save it from the junk yard either.

Perhaps I have a bit more reverence for 914's than you do. To me, the car is a rare, classic sports car and it should be respected as such, but that is not to say it can't be improved upon. But I put the 914 in the same category as a Austin Healey 3000, a Triumph TR4, a VW Karmann Ghia or others that I mentioned. Doing an expensive EV conversion to any of these hardly seems like an improvement and in my opinion, does a disservice to the original concept of the car.
[/quote]

I appreciate the comment T.C.

Big Len, I appreciate your view also. Since I really like driving my 914 I would like to express my point of view. I am not a professional race driver or very experienced at performance driving. However over the last four years it's been a hoot to drive my 914 around town. No maintenance to speak of in that time. I regularly drive a 100 mile round trip that has a combination of city and interstate driving. With real conservative driving I got 163 miles once. Why this much versus BMW, Nissan, GM? I spent 9k on batteries. It's not rocket science, just Physics. Light weight car and lots of stored energy. My empty weight is about 2540 lbs. Not that much more over a fully fueled stock 914 and a lot less than a normal 4000# auto. With 200 ft-lb of torque (dyno tested) at zero rpm I do not notice the extra weight. (914 experts might) This car has more torque and more HP than the original 1.8L.

I never waste time at a gas station or spend 6 hours to refuel. Every few days I just plug the car in the evening and in the morning it's got a "full tank". No oil stains on the garage floor. No oil or spark plug changes. Standard tires. Instant heat in the winter. I'm not a "greenie", I could care less. I just wanted a fun car to drive. It is used every day going out to eat, groceries, visiting friends, etc. It's our "daily driver". For around 20K it has been a good vehicle choice for us.

When I bought the car it was rarely used, poor engine, bad transmission, unreliable electrical systems, etc. I did not do the electric conversion with high performance as a goal. That's easy to do and many other have done so with great results.

I'm not going to call your comments "BS". I agree with some of what you say. I just wanted to respectfully give some facts and an alternate view.

Jim

[PThompson509]

Like Jim, I also did it because I wanted to have fun.

I bought a 1975 1.7L soon-to-be-parts car. Fortunately, it was "mostly" rust free, so I only spent the first year doing rustoration.

I can do 70 miles at freeway speed (yes, this is real world data), and I have Sean in a state of semi-permanent grin from the acceleration. (Sean likes to put V8s into 914s).

It's not perfect, nor do I expect it to be - it is a fun car, and it is a commuter car. I have put over 10,000 miles on it so far.

Oh - since I'm using lithium batteries, the weight is basically the same as a stock 914.

Cheers!

[PThompson509]

If I were doing an electric conversion, I would use something like this....

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/images.thecarconnection.com-1143-1417973477.1.jpg) These generate 100HP each, and you don't need the gearbox or halfshafts or any of the other associated stuff.

It would need some controls to make the electric braking work, but it would be a really good solution. Cut the floor out of the rear trunk, and fill the space for the engine and trans with batteries. Use the space for the gas tank for more, and you still have the front trunk for more if you like, or for cargo.

And you could do it as all wheel drive by converting the front struts to use them too.



Or the other alternative is to use the wheel motors, and put a APU from a small airliner in the engine compartment. It runs at a steady speed all the time so it is really fuel efficient. <sarcasm>Oh.. wait you can't turbine a 914!</sarcasm>

Hub motors have a LOT of potential, but they also have a big problem with weight. A lot of EV startup companies try to use hub motors (for all the reasons we like them), but end up using the existing system due to the unsprung weight.

Also, not sure if I would really like to have the high power exposed and flexing as much as would be needed to feed these monsters. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Cheers!