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I got into the whole idea of electric conversion a few months ago and came to the conclusion that it's really just not worth the time and money, unless you have

I got into the whole idea of electric conversion a few months ago and came to the conclusion that it's really just not worth the time and money, unless you have a classic car that you really want to make electric just for fun. There's some great videos out there explaining the process and EVWest sells kits for older VWs and Porches (the ones with the simplest motors and drive trains). https://evwest.com/catalog/ https://evwest.com/catalog/ I'd love to swap the engine out of my 2007 Mini Cooper soft-top for an electric motor and zip around town silently with it, but unless I was willing to both spend the equivalent of a new car and do all the work myself, it'll never happen. There really aren't any electric convertibles out there though, so it's tempting.

Animats 7y ago
As a fun project, it makes more sense. It will make even more sense once the battery market gets going. Battery factories bigger than Tesla's are under construction in China and Germany. We'll probably have a battery glut in a few years. It's not really that hard to build a battery factory.
benj111 7y ago
"There really aren't any electric convertibles out there though" https://www.topgear.com/car-news/concept/morgans-cyclops-electric-3-wheeler https://www.topgear.com/car-news/concept/morgans-cyclops-ele...
clouddrover 7y ago
> unless you have a classic car that you really want to make electric just for fun You'll have to do the conversion if you want to keep driving the car as cities and eventually whole countries ban ICE vehicles. Aston Martin has an EV conversion program for that reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PREftlfZuXA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PREftlfZuXA https://media.astonmartin.com/aston-martin-works-create-first-reversible-ev-powertrain-conceptnbsp/ https://media.astonmartin.com/aston-martin-works-create-firs... It'd be best to leave it for as long as possible in order to get the best batteries available at the time. A EV conversion with a solid-state battery pack might offer some practical range.

Animats 7y ago

As a fun project, it makes more sense. It will make even more sense once the battery market gets going. Battery factories bigger than Tesla's are under construction in China and Germany. We'll probably have a battery glut in a few years. It's not really that hard to build a battery factory.

benj111 7y ago

"There really aren't any electric convertibles out there though" https://www.topgear.com/car-news/concept/morgans-cyclops-electric-3-wheeler https://www.topgear.com/car-news/concept/morgans-cyclops-ele...

clouddrover 7y ago

> unless you have a classic car that you really want to make electric just for fun You'll have to do the conversion if you want to keep driving the car as cities and eventually whole countries ban ICE vehicles. Aston Martin has an EV conversion program for that reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PREftlfZuXA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PREftlfZuXA https://media.astonmartin.com/aston-martin-works-create-first-reversible-ev-powertrain-conceptnbsp/ https://media.astonmartin.com/aston-martin-works-create-firs... It'd be best to leave it for as long as possible in order to get the best batteries available at the time. A EV conversion with a solid-state battery pack might offer some practical range.