Is anyone doing EV swaps yet?

And do we need a Grassroots Electric Motorsports section?

And also is the name "Grassroots Motorsports" ahead of it's time?    I bet it was.  All planned out years ago.

I need to start watching more of these builds. I have a few cars that would be ripe for it and I would love to do one.

Look at what they did to Popular Hot Rodding's Project X. Its now fully electric.

I would love to do one. 

The cost of entry is still higher than I am willing to pay. 

I can see how an EV section would be appropriate for the forum. 

I want to do one. Either the Cadillac, the old Land Rover or an ND Miata. The last is probably the most likely for professional reasons. 

I know a guy with an electric 914.  Quick like a V-8

Years ago when I was drag racing scooters, I went up against someone who used an industrial motor, a controller, and some LiPo batteries to convert a Yamaha scooter.  The thing ran eights in the eighth mile.  Been thinking about building something similar ever since.

There have been DIY EV conversions for decades. 

For me, it's not so much the propulsion part that is an issue in an EV conversion. That is a fairly well-trodden path.  There are numerous websites and forums dedicated to the subject. The tricky part is actually building a car I'd want to spend a reasonable amount of time in, with "normal" modern features like decent ICE and HVAC systems.  Fortunately, it's definitely getting better/easier. 

I'm hoping to see someone swap a Lead drivetrain into something lightweight and rwd, though I imagine it doesn't stay lightweight after the batteries go in. I assume a wrecked Leaf is still the cheapest way to get everything you need, as the EV swap kits I've seen start around $5k for 100 hp and not much range.

I have a mental build for one, but the price to do it just doesn't justify yet.  First gen Econoline, Mach-E crate motor, full slew of batteries under the floor (plenty of room).  It was just the cost of what the batteries would be that killed it. A set of used Tesla batteries runs $25k+.  Ooof.

-Rob

I want to do something  with a bank of large capacitors.   

EV West has swap kits for air cooled VWs and Porsches as well as the Factory Five 818.

https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40&osCsid=c6dcc1a7fce55de7750162e15453b992

these guys have been doing some cool stuff with EV swaps, but yes, the price of admission is still very steep 

https://amprevolt.com/

I saw someone in the UK was doing EV conversions to the Citroen 2CV but keeping it very minimalist with low horsepower. I kinda like that to be honest. 

dannyp84 said:

I'm hoping to see someone swap a Lead drivetrain into something lightweight and rwd, though I imagine it doesn't stay lightweight after the batteries go in. I assume a wrecked Leaf is still the cheapest way to get everything you need, as the EV swap kits I've seen start around $5k for 100 hp and not much range.

I've been semi-watching for a wrecked leaf. If I could find one for $1500 or less I have a lightweight and RWD challenge car to put it in. 

Link to AmpereEV

There are some former Georgia Tech/Wreck Racing folks doing some pretty cool stuff to try and make this more attainable as well, at AmpereEV.

An EV conversion of an NC MX-5 is on my list of project that I hope to get started on in the next few years.  May be other platforms to look at; I'd like to keep the weight and cost down of the starting platform and a convertible would be great since I don't see how air con works its way into a project like this.

Appleseed said:

Look at what they did to Popular Hot Rodding's Project X. Its now fully electric.

 

I see this as the future of my 54 Belair in 5-7 years. 

Patrick said:

Appleseed said:

Look at what they did to Popular Hot Rodding's Project X. Its now fully electric.

 

I see this as the future of my 54 Belair in 5-7 years. 

Now I want to go back and watch Hollywood Knights again.

taking an older oval truck, swapping an Eluminator in it, and then filling the bed with batteries (because it won't be used, anyways), is something I've thought about doing since the Eluminator came out. 

That being said I think once we see more crate motors come out such as the Eluminator and "crate batteries" we'll see the cost of entry come down. Palatov is already using the Modbatt solution for their D8 https://modbatt.com/, and there's already a few crate motors floating around that are about the same price as a crate engine. 

Weight is always going to be a problem, though, as the energy density of a battery just is not in line with the energy density of fuel. 

I would do an EV swap in a heartbeat if I didn't already have a list a mile long of swaps and builds I want to do.

GM's (supposedly) upcoming Ultium based Connect-and-Cruise E-Crate, and whatever comparable Eluminator setup Ford releases, will go a long way to making this concept more accessible to more people. I know I'm looking forward to it.

It seems the factory control boxes are not easily hackable , 

so you need to buy an aftermarket control box which is $$$$$

Leafs are cheap when the batteries get old ( but still work) , maybe using that as a skate could work for around town cool EV

I agree that GM may unlock a bunch of options, but at the moment they won't sell "crate" kits to individuals or normal shops. You have to go through their special approval and then training process, which means if you're not Hennessey you won't get on the list. Ford is going a different way, they're selling motors (heck, they're in the parts fiches, why not?) and leaving the rest up to the installer. At SEMA show 2021, they had AEM on the stand with them as a component supplier.

https://www.aemev.com is worth checking out. For the DIY crowd, they show more promise than anyone.

I want to cut the top of the body of a Bolt and weld the bottom to the top half of a minivan. I can leave the minivan rear suspension.