Getting Serious on Electric Cars?

[Steve Demuth]

You could convert a Ford fairlane with dual attennas to be electric and drive under the trolley bus wires. Just make those antennas a bit longer so they can work as trolley poles.
Bill D.

https://buy.motorious.com/articles/n...eks-new-suitor
Bill D.

This forum so needs a "like" button.

[Ronald Blue]

Art I take it you are an automotive engineer? Since you presume you know more than I about this. You may well indeed. But you totally ignored the rest of my post. The part that this might only be a small part of the pie looking ahead. There certainly is great potential for the market I mentioned. Companies that operate large fleets of service vehicles would be prime candidates for conversions. Only a fool would think they expect to make millions from this.

[Bill Dufour]

I would like to see someone else do a conversion of a modern electric motor set and battery to a Baker Electric car. The kind with cut crystal flower vases inside. Not sure if they have a wheel or tiller for steering. A BMW Isetta would be a good candidate as well.
I can see a family resemblance between the BMW Isetta and the modern BMW smart car
Bill D.

[Bill Dufour]

ford 400hp electric tractor and the worlds oldest light bulb still in use. Has not been turned off since 1901.
Bil lD

[Chris Padilla]

There are more than a handful of companies all going autonomous--notice that all of them are pure electric.
I just secured a recent job with Nuro: nuro.ai A fully electric (robotic) and autonomous electric delivery cart.

[Kev Williams]

Electric conversion ain't that hard. Just ask this guy

truck.jpg

https://www.ksl.com/article/46753013...t-dont-race-it

[Todd Trebuna]

A couple of thoughts. Wow, is that going to be expensive! It doesn't seem practical when you consider the load based font he accessories. Gasoline motors adapt to the load of accessories, I'm assuming, based on combustion. A controlled explosion isn't really bothered all that much by an A/C and a radio. The Alternator is charging the battery which takes care of some of the electrical accessories, like the aforementioned radio. I don't know much about electric cars, but can they generate power to overcome additional load? I do agree that Battery space is going to be an issue, but see that as a non issue, if the batteries can fit in the space currently occupied by the gas tank.
I have alot of other questions too, just general philosophical questions, like whether we want more nuclear power, fossil fuel and whether or not sustainable resources like Wind and Solar will ever be practical.
I'm trying to think of a car that I've owned that I would like to see as an EV, and I came up with zero. My current ride 2014 Silverado is about the only one on the list, but since it pulls a 26 foot Travel Trailer part of the time, it would have to be able to have some range and refuel options.

[Rick Potter]

Doggone it, My '56 Fairlane only has one antenna....but it is an electric one.


20180118_135741.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Wow, is that going to be expensive! It doesn't seem practical when you consider the load based font he accessories. .

This kind of thing isn't about financial practicality...it's more about the opportunity for a relatively small market to be able to electrify a vehicle (likely vintage) with a competent system because they want to and don't really care about the cost.

[Doug Garson]

A couple of thoughts. Wow, is that going to be expensive! It doesn't seem practical when you consider the load based font he accessories. Gasoline motors adapt to the load of accessories, I'm assuming, based on combustion. A controlled explosion isn't really bothered all that much by an A/C and a radio. The Alternator is charging the battery which takes care of some of the electrical accessories, like the aforementioned radio. I don't know much about electric cars, but can they generate power to overcome additional load? I do agree that Battery space is going to be an issue, but see that as a non issue, if the batteries can fit in the space currently occupied by the gas tank.
I have alot of other questions too, just general philosophical questions, like whether we want more nuclear power, fossil fuel and whether or not sustainable resources like Wind and Solar will ever be practical.
I'm trying to think of a car that I've owned that I would like to see as an EV, and I came up with zero. My current ride 2014 Silverado is about the only one on the list, but since it pulls a 26 foot Travel Trailer part of the time, it would have to be able to have some range and refuel options.

I'm really struggling to understand your post.
What is "load based font he accessories"? Is there a typo or two in there?
How do gasoline engines adapt to accessories? By burning more gasoline to generate the electricity to run the accessories. The alternator doesn't charge the battery for free, it takes more fuel to drive with accessories like air conditioning on.
How do electric cars power accessories? By drawing more current from the battery. So yes battery draw is increased when using accessories like AC.
Re your philosophical question, what makes you think sustainable resources like wind and solar aren't already practical? New electric generating capacity in 2020 will come primarily from wind and solar. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest inventory of electric generators, EIA expects 42 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity additions to start commercial operation in 2020.Jan 14, 2020

[Mike Henderson]

If someone really wants to convert an antique car, probably the lowest cost way would be to purchases a crashed EV where the essential parts were not destroyed and use those to convert your car.

GM is selling parts that would go into a Bolt (car). Find a crashed Bolt and take the parts.

Mike

[The overall problem I see is that a car is designed as a "system". The drive train is matched to the engine, the suspension is matched to the weight and center of gravity, the brakes are matched to the weight and front-to-back balance, etc. When you convert a car, the components may no longer be appropriate to the new "system".]

[andrew whicker]

Super cool. And he's right about the SLC valley... let's try to reduce the emissions.. None of us need lung health issues : )

Maybe I'm becoming a gas guzzling combustion engine hater, but I'm the guy writing down license plate numbers of diesels that smoke (illegal in my county)... so I might be biased.

[Doug Garson]

Just watched a couple of videos in a series, of a guy converting a Mini to an EV using a used forklift motor. His budget for the whole project including the Mini which he bought with a blown engine is $5000. So far he has bolted the forklift motor to the original transmission using a custom made adapter plate and coupling. Not sure if he knows what he is doing or if he will succeed but apparently runs a shop where he repairs EVs and has posted a bunch of videos on related projects. His channel is called Rich Rebuilds, he posts weekly updates on the project. I'll be watching his progress. His video style is so so but the topic is interesting. Here's a link to the first video, you may want to skip thru some parts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykToLuUghhk

[Frank Pratt]

Just watched a couple of videos in a series, of a guy converting a Mini to an EV using a used forklift motor. His budget for the whole project including the Mini which he bought with a blown engine is $5000. So far he has bolted the forklift motor to the original transmission using a custom made adapter plate and coupling. Not sure if he knows what he is doing or if he will succeed but apparently runs a shop where he repairs EVs and has posted a bunch of videos on related projects. His channel is called Rich Rebuilds, he posts weekly updates on the project. I'll be watching his progress. His video style is so so but the topic is interesting. Here's a link to the first video, you may want to skip thru some parts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykToLuUghhk

I've watched quite a few of his videos. He's very entertaining & the work is interesting, but I would not want to be driving something that he had a hand in putting together. He comes across as a complete hack, but that may just be part of his shtick.

[Doug Garson]

I've watched quite a few of his videos. He's very entertaining & the work is interesting, but I would not want to be driving something that he had a hand in putting together. He comes across as a complete hack, but that may just be part of his shtick.

Well said, on the Mini, he had the adapter plate and coupling fabricated before he tested the motor (it worked) then assembled it without checking clearances and ground a bunch of metal off when he tested the motor transmission combo. Not exactly confidence boosting.