Intriguing? I'll say. That would be my dream car.

 

hahah this is creazy!!

 

I'll post a pic and some videos. give me a year or two

 

speaking of charging the batteries,, i read where NORWAY has around 90% electric /hybrid cars nowadays, and most every part of the country has charge stations, everywhere!

ron

 

Expect you EV fans have seen the incredible run by VW to shatter the pikes peak record for any vehicle. This is what EV's are best at - short run, altitude agnostic, amazing torque band and acceleration. NEDRA is worth paying attention to in the US for lower end drag racing too.
A mustang is a good conversion candidate as they are so light and simple, as I said previously Jag saloons less so...

 

lol... Never gonna happen. I spoken to many people who have spent mega bucks converting their cars. Range is often 30 to 40 miles on a warm day with the a/c off. Costs for entry into this limited range anxiety club is often 15 to 30k.
Tesla's have axial motors, alloy structure, slippery aerodynamics, the latest LI battery tech, economies of scale and they still loose money on ever 80k car they build. All these high concept items are out of the reach of the hobbiest at this point.

Bottom line is...all the practical compromises that a hobbiest has to take like retaining a oil bath differential instead of using an axel motors constrains efficiency and therefore range.

At some point in the distant future efficient low cost axle drive motors, electric power steering racks and electric brakes will all be common place for an auto enthusiast.

 

It's happened, I'm using a tesla motor and batteries. check mate
I'm $15k in, should be done for $25, and very much a hobby. I'm a social worker during the day and started the project to learn more about electricity.
Series 1 xj6 weighs like 1700kg, tesla weighs 2200KG, I could leave the original engine in and add the batteries and motor and still be close to under tesla weight. Therefore i would expect a small range improvement over Tesla numbers.

two years ago you were right.I first started planning my build then and when i went to buy parts, i found everything had changed. Larger numbers of OEM batteries have decimated the price of the most expensive part of the build. AC motors are also cheaper and more powerful. The rising number of electric cars has improved availability of the parts youve mentioned, although there was still plenty of variety already. The state of the technology today is a little better than you mentioned, but i dont blame you for that perception. The industry has a PR problem, self induced and also imposed my media.

 

Wow, you know a c3 corvette, preferably a convertible with chrome bumpers removed, has a plastic (lightweight) body and a good frame, and a good bit of room under the hood... Beautiful styling. Wouldn't be as blasphemous as converting an xke...

 

Itchy,
Please indulge me here,
I got rid of my electric golf carts in favor of gas. The electrics required much more maintenance, keeping electrolyte topped up, keeping charge topped up, battery acid spills and fumes (not so much), replacing $800 batteries every 5 years, etc. Biggest thing, if I went a few weeks and didn't use one and if the batteries discharged enough I'd have to disconnect, charge them one at the time to get sufficient charge to turn on the 36v charger. Then there's the resulting sulphation from deep discharging. 12 High current connections and controllers to start with, (I'm in electronics) I got tired of it. With gas, a little X-100 in the tank, fill up once every two months if I use it a lot, and it can sit three months and go instantly when I push the go pedal. Sooo much less hassle.

Of course I'm not comparing this ancient tech to what you're doing, but it's left a bad taste with me for electric. The recent cars have tons of high current connections and lots of expensive control equipment and expensive batteries. How do the lithium batteries not off gas? Even button cells off gas, I've seen some that were bad enough you couldn't use them in a closed watch case or it will corrode the whole movement. I've also seen recently where a company has solved the problem of internal shorts with lithiums causing catastrophic explosion, a very small company, and if I'm not mistaken even less costly. And what's the life span and cost of the batteries? The battery pack in the Factory XKE conversion looks to have a much neater way to connect all the batteries (prob straps), it's all in one solid unit, but still the connections are there, just harder to get to. Idk... just questions in my mind. That said, I LOVE the torque from electric power! Your thoughts would be appreciated. (I do have an Isetta sitting around with nothing to do, needs about 300lbft of torque)
Bill

 

slofut,
Self discharge is just not an issue and Lithium doesnt have the issues of lead acid just dying like that. I havent touched mine in 12months, still all good. like any battery, over discharge is an issue, and requires some fancy electronics to manage that, but just like any battery, follow the rules, take care and you'll be fine. electric cars dont have the fluids/ maintenance/ moving parts of a petrol engine. way less maintenance.

Lithium batteries dont let off gas so its not an issue. Lithium fires are getting a lot of press. But electric cars still dont catch fire as much as petrol. It would seem like itbecause they get a lot of press but its just not true. batteries will last 10yrs with good care and daily usage, then can be used for stationary storage like for your house where range isnt as much of an issue. Tesla modules sound very similar to the XKE modules, but i havent seen the XKE so cant be sure.

Do the isetta, love it! if not i'll buy it and i will. 300ftlbs lol!

 

my everyday GOLF cart, 36 volt, Trojon batteries, been 5yrs without any problems , wife drives it every where around the BIG Rv park, 250 sites, great for laundry, pick up mail, see her friends YAKKITY YAK. LOL.

most important fro ME is quiet sound ,and NO obnoxiuos fumes , no putt/puttin !.

we love it !

 

But you have seen the articles and videos, right?


https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...owered-e-type/

 

Which EV forums do you recommend as you're deep into this? Always interested to learn from other people's projects

 

Post a video of it running and driving, if not then it didnt happen..and I'm kinda sure it wont. Too many technical hurdles that cost to much for too little range. Axle motors are are just one of the many design efficiencies necessary for some sort of usable range. Now quit your 12 month break and get too it and prove me wrong. That aint gonna happen either.

 

 

300 miles? is that supposed to be a Guiness record? just asking because on a 813 mile trip from Florida to Tennessee I get 545 miles from my two gasoline tanks before I have to refill. Doing 70-80 mpg with a/c on, and on Cruise. So obviously, I will arrive in Nashville hours before the Electric Jag.

 

 

How can can you manage 300 mile from 100kw? I'm skeptical becasue a State of Art Tesla P90 with all sorts of efficiencies manged 285 Miles from 90 KW battery back, So your home brew, high .Cd setup would be more efficient than a Tesla? Am I missing something? Additionaly a 100kw battery package would cost over $20,000 or perhaps much more for just the batteries alone and you wouldn't have any proven safety systems. Driving around with 100kw of home brew, self installed batteries has risks. Driving around with range anxiety and feather pressure on the go pedal and no A/C is not for me either.

Many nice cars can manage 30 mpg these days. Some small cars do much better. So for now...the cost to go 300 miles in one of these around here is $30. Comparatively the cost to go 300 miles at 90kw at 0.24/kw around here is $23. So thats a 7$ savings for every 300 miles. Over 200k miles you'd save $4300 for a 30MPG gasser or 1300$ for a 35MPG gasser. Ouch! At 12,000 miles per year, thats 16 years. Technology moves too fast to make that sort of investment up front. Battery technology and capacity/ LBS has to increase exponentially for electric cars to make sence. The 1915 Detroit electric could mange 80 miles on a charge so basically we've got 3 times the range in 100+ years in a car that costs dearly with a side of range anxiety. Aint looking for good for mass adoption of the Electric car in my life time. The low cost battery revolution has not materialized,

I'm not anti-electic...my daily driver is a Rx400h and I understand the virtues of electrification. I paid a high premium for the hybrid and my back of the envelope calculations suggests no fuel savings over the life of the vehicle despite higher upfront costs. There are some derivative savings, like very few repairs and just 2 brake service jobs over the 203k miles the hybrid has traveled.

As for saving the planet, dont worry about that... there's an asteroid with our name on it somewhere out there. It's just a matter of time.

 

 

I use DIY Electric Car Forums - Electric Vehicle Build and Conversion Community there is also an Australian based one i use less frequently and https://endless-sphere.com/forums/ is another good one.

isamerica, i dont want to decide whether youre being fiesty or encouraging. For now i'll choose encouraging, so thank you. I'll be back.