Electric conversions of classics

[tooSavvy]

UToob is full of 'nerds' powering go-karts with rewired alternators and the 'off gridders' building hydro with washing machine motors a generators...

 

I was taken with the Bolivian Lithium process (well, the NOT being processed) as the world gears up to shaft the poor [again] for mineral rapage

[Pillock]

In Switzerland, yes. I doubt it could be done here. Our lot are just not that fastidious and, where they are, other things get in to thwart them.

Very true. I think Nottingham has had some luck, they've got a lot of disused railway land around and about the city from when the Great Central packed up and left so it has been easier than you'd expect to bring trams in, as well as converting some of the existing bus P&R sites to electric. The buses don't actually go that far, just enough to not need lots of inner city parking (they've just bulldozed a 500 space multistory and it's not mattered a jot in terms of congestion, it just wasn't being used)

 

If I think about Leicester, then I can't imagine for a second how you'd run trams through the city. And there is a park and ride scheme but the sites are much further out of the city, it's a half hour journey rather than ten minutes in Nottingham so you'd need more buses or faster charging.

[Guest Hooli]

How far do you need to drive the bus?

 

https://insideevs.com/proterra-electric-bus-sets-range-record-at-1100-miles-without-recharging/

 

Interesting, I hadn't heard of that.

 

For buses that sounds a good idea as it would make them a lot nicer places to be. But then you have the issue of getting people to give up the convenience of a car to use the bus. I can safely say that even when I drove buses I never used them except to get to work as the route matched how I'd walk to the garage & then obviously not when I was on an early start. In the 10 years or so since then I've used them once.

[Tayne]

Interesting, I hadn't heard of that.

 

For buses that sounds a good idea as it would make them a lot nicer places to be. But then you have the issue of getting people to give up the convenience of a car to use the bus. I can safely say that even when I drove buses I never used them except to get to work as the route matched how I'd walk to the garage & then obviously not when I was on an early start. In the 10 years or so since then I've used them once.

 

 

 

Well you could either reform the UK's public transport system into coherent, joined up, workable system (for political reasons this will never happen) or make large chunks of it free.

 

http://www.eltis.org/discover/news/one-year-free-public-transport-tallinn-estonia-0

 

Tallin isn't the only place.

[Guest Hooli]

True, can't argue with either of those either.

I'm not sure what would take longer, retraining people or redesigning our systems so the latter is a probably a better idea. Which the way we run things probably has the advantage (for those planning it) that taxes would increase so much to fund the free* system that no one could afford a car anyway.

[Tayne]

If someone with a bit of skilz and knowledge were to do an electric conversion on a sound but low-value 80s or 90s smoll van, say a Honda Acty or whatever, what would be necessary in getting it road-legal, motoring-insurance as a modified car, tax, etc?

 

Can you just 'electrify' it and drive off up the street? (No, I don't think so). Would the 'red tape' involved in getting such a project road legal make it too much of a headache?

 

 

As a general guideline are there MOT requirements which apply specifically to electric vehicles — electrical installation safety, risk of fire, storage of batteries, brakes (no servo), etc.?

 

Edit - after a bit of Googling it would appear that the MOT test is exactly the same for electric cars except for no fuel emissions test. This obviously refers to production models.

 

 

 

Modified car insurance, re-register as EV for zero road tax, mot as normal.

 

There's a lot more home built EVs about than you might think.

 

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

True, can't argue with either of those either.

 

I'm not sure what would take longer, retraining people ....

That takes at least a generation; thirty years or more to develop sufficient mindset. Not sure today's society has the patience for three years, never mind thirty.

[Craig the Princess]

If I think about Leicester, then I can't imagine for a second how you'd run trams through the city. And there is a park and ride scheme but the sites are much further out of the city, it's a half hour journey rather than ten minutes in Nottingham so you'd need more buses or faster charging.

 

Modern trolleybus schemes in Europe have off wire capability, either using diesel or LPG like a hybrid or batteries or super capacitors. Sounds like the perfect solution to run on wires where they can and only use batteries where wires can't be fitted.

[pompei]

There is a company converting classic Fiat 500s to electric power   https://electricclassiccars.net/  Prices start from £23,000.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

There is a company converting classic Fiat 500s to electric power   https://electricclassiccars.net/  Prices start from £23,000.

It's still a rich man's game.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Re sudden demand on the national grid.

 

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but there are already smart chargers available that get around this. You get home in the evening, plug the car in and tell the charger what time you want to leave in the morning. It then charges at a rate that will have it fully charged in time. Better for your batteries and the grid can easily cope with it.

 

They even detect the level of incoming power, so they take more at a time when the grid has less strain on it.

 

Seriously, how often would you need to fast-charge?

 

My wife drives to work and her car is at home for fourteen hours each night. With the current level of technological progress, I reckon her next car will be a plug-in hybrid (as she has to do long road trips as part of her job) and the one after that could well be still electric.

 

Back on topic, the cost of converting older cars will fall in time. Maybe in 15 or 20 years I'll have an electric classic, or some sort of converted shite.

[Talbot]

The issue I have here is that converting isn't a good idea. Building an electric car in the first place is a far more sensible idea.. that way the car can be designed around the requirements of the drivetrain, and overall you make a better car. Converting from one fuel source to another will always be a compromise. It's like 1970's range-rovers that were diesel converted: the vast majority of these were shit, and that was just changing one ICE for another and changing a few pipes and mountings.

 

When you're talking about a much more radical change like ICE to Electric motor, the compromises are even greater. A 5-speed gearbox in an electric car? Pointless. Electric motor but a fossil-fueled heater? Pointless. Batteries stacked up in what was luggage space? Pointless.

 

Given the absurd rate at which vehicles are scrapped, and the potential for just building battery electric vehicles instead of ICE vehicles, it would just make sense to allow for natural wastage of ICE vehicles. Leave existing ICE vehicles alone: they will be rare enough as it is soon enough.

 

 

That's all allowing for the assumption that we will all have cars. To be completely honest, the concept of individual personal mobility is utterly flawed and completely unsustainable anyway. The fractinal difference as to whether it's powered by dead liquid dinosaur or by captured solar rays is complete bollocks. The act of manufacturing a vehicle is way more of a concern than the fuel it uses.

[Craig the Princess]

 

 

That's all allowing for the assumption that we will all have cars. To be completely honest, the concept of individual personal mobility is utterly flawed and completely unsustainable anyway. The fractinal difference as to whether it's powered by dead liquid dinosaur or by captured solar rays is complete bollocks. The act of manufacturing a vehicle is way more of a concern than the fuel it uses.

Maybe in the cites it is, how will 10 million people be able to fit cars into central London?

 

But in market towns and rural areas where buses are few and finish by 7pm individual transport is the only answer.

[Talbot]

Individual transport seems like the only option in rural areas because the advent of personal transport has killed every other option off.

 

Given that individual personal mobility has only really been possible post WW2, and that people lived in rural areas for a fair while* before then, I'm fairly sure that if you removed the vast majority of cars, alternatives would become available.

 

I'm a big believer that the driving test should be *much* harder than it is now, and drivers should be re-tested very regularly.  Also, anyone convicted of Drink driving / Dangerous driving or similar should have their license removed permanently  If you removed 80% of all driving licenses, the demand for public transport would be huge, and hence it would be commercially viable.  Roads would be much quieter, RTAs would be extremely rare, Police/Ambulance/NHS/Fire service capacity would be freed up, new roads would not need to be built and life would be generally much more pleasant.

 

But it will never happen as the Government makes too much money from Fuel Duty.  It won't be long before they realise how much duty they are missing out on from electric vehicles, and Electricity for Vehicular use will be taxed.  How, I don't know, but it will happen.

 

 

[Tayne]

Some driving impressions from PissedInSheds.

 

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-driven/jaguar-e-type-zero-driven/38697

[Pillock]

Electricity for Vehicular use will be taxed.  How, I don't know, but it will happen.

 

Perhaps through some sort of pay per mile?  I would hope they don't just tax electricity higher, but I don't believe the current or next generation of Smart Meters can charge differently for different circuits, eg they couldn't charge more for the electric going to your external car socket.

 

But yes, someone somewhere has a spreadsheet showing how big a hole there will be in the country's finances if we all ditched petrol and diesel overnight.

[uk_senator]

Another thing, with more & more people getting cheap or zero road tax, ultra-low/zero emissions cars, reducing the fuel duty & toad tax incomes, plus the reintroduction of the rolling 40 year tax exemption, the governments returns are going to get very low indeed, so the question is, who will they target to get that income coming back in?
 

But it will never happen as the Government makes too much money from Fuel Duty.  It won't be long before they realise how much duty they are missing out on from electric vehicles, and Electricity for Vehicular use will be taxed.  How, I don't know, but it will happen.

 

politics.jpg

[Asimo]

Shit wheels apart, this is ace.

Those wheels would have to go, but I'd roll this.

https://carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1130036

[Three Speed]

On 8/24/2018 at 3:28 PM, Matt said:

 

This!

 

An E-Type, nah, those are for driving pleasure and the internal combustion engine is part of the theater. An XJ saloon? Absolutely, especially as the range gets better and better. What better drive train could there be for a luxury car than one that makes little noise and no vibration (especially in traffic)?

 

An EV Mini Moke would an ace little town run around.

A hotel in Honfleur uses this electric Moke as a shuttle.