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This is an interesting point. I'm totally on-board with people being able to do this in their own garage. I'm fine with a person doing that contracting an engin

This is an interesting point. I'm totally on-board with people being able to do this in their own garage. I'm fine with a person doing that contracting an engineering firm to build components of their conversion. I think even if a company provided the bits in kit form I could live with that. It starts getting a bit iffy to me when you can turn up with a donor and drive away in an electric vehicle and certainly if you can turn up and ask for an electric [insert car] and they source all of the parts and do the conversion. A lot of this has parallels in the world of aviation. For example there are provisions for owner supplied parts on certified airframes. Experimental / homebuilt aircraft have to meet a standard of the amount of work completed by the original builder (usually 50%).

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
If an airplane has multiple, cascading failures, it can fall out of the sky. If an EV fails, it can pull over. Personally, I do think that this poses some risk- I might be hesitant to put my kids on a converted EV school bus, for instance- I think it's probably a better idea for a specialized contractor to outfit a fleet than it is for the fleet's mechanic to do so, especially if it's something that they've never done before.
- neglectful 7y ago
  When it comes to the simple newtonian premise of a vehicular object in motion, you are very nearly 100% correct. But there are multiple factors to consider. Namely: electrical, chemical, and mechanical factors. The mechanical aspects do seem trivial at first sniff, but brakes are a really important component of the vehicle’s operation. With a total overhaul of the power train, many serious moving parts just go away, and you want to make sure essentials receive good attention. If there’s computer controlled braking related to anti-lock and cruise control systems, is a drastic power train modification going to affect the behavior of those systems? Do they go away too? Does the computer get replaced? Are there new inductive braking appliances installed? What’s providing power to the wheels? Is it the usual shaft or something else? Does the brake pedal apply the usual hydraulic brake lines, or are those gone, and a push button magnetic braking system replaces them? Chemical: those batteries are pretty serious slabs of chemical energy. Mostly, it’s an improvement when you think about gasoline, fires and explosions. Then again, batteries do burn vigorously and explode in their own ways, and these batteries are usually very big. Maybe ten times the size of the usual 12 volt car battery that cranks a conventional starter motor. When punctured or crushed in a collision, how bad is the result? What about junk yards? Can they dispose of these power sources? Electrical: how trivial is it for an individual to short out a live circuit on a modified vehicle. Are there breakers built in to trip and prevent electrocution and shocks? What about irregularities introduced by collisions? Is it possible that the breakers might become crushed in such a way that they fail to disconnect power? Would first responder risk grounding an energized power source when prying in to extract accident victims, and get fried during rescue operations? Could a collision discharge electricity at the moment of impact, killing passengers by electric shock? Granted, some of these problems are hypothetical concerns that electric trains have been exposed to for years, but homebrew mods mean you’ve got less disciplined randos trying their hand at hobbyist duct tape exercises. You can’t just trust everyone to do a great job.

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago

If an airplane has multiple, cascading failures, it can fall out of the sky. If an EV fails, it can pull over. Personally, I do think that this poses some risk- I might be hesitant to put my kids on a converted EV school bus, for instance- I think it's probably a better idea for a specialized contractor to outfit a fleet than it is for the fleet's mechanic to do so, especially if it's something that they've never done before.

neglectful 7y ago
When it comes to the simple newtonian premise of a vehicular object in motion, you are very nearly 100% correct. But there are multiple factors to consider. Namely: electrical, chemical, and mechanical factors. The mechanical aspects do seem trivial at first sniff, but brakes are a really important component of the vehicle’s operation. With a total overhaul of the power train, many serious moving parts just go away, and you want to make sure essentials receive good attention. If there’s computer controlled braking related to anti-lock and cruise control systems, is a drastic power train modification going to affect the behavior of those systems? Do they go away too? Does the computer get replaced? Are there new inductive braking appliances installed? What’s providing power to the wheels? Is it the usual shaft or something else? Does the brake pedal apply the usual hydraulic brake lines, or are those gone, and a push button magnetic braking system replaces them? Chemical: those batteries are pretty serious slabs of chemical energy. Mostly, it’s an improvement when you think about gasoline, fires and explosions. Then again, batteries do burn vigorously and explode in their own ways, and these batteries are usually very big. Maybe ten times the size of the usual 12 volt car battery that cranks a conventional starter motor. When punctured or crushed in a collision, how bad is the result? What about junk yards? Can they dispose of these power sources? Electrical: how trivial is it for an individual to short out a live circuit on a modified vehicle. Are there breakers built in to trip and prevent electrocution and shocks? What about irregularities introduced by collisions? Is it possible that the breakers might become crushed in such a way that they fail to disconnect power? Would first responder risk grounding an energized power source when prying in to extract accident victims, and get fried during rescue operations? Could a collision discharge electricity at the moment of impact, killing passengers by electric shock? Granted, some of these problems are hypothetical concerns that electric trains have been exposed to for years, but homebrew mods mean you’ve got less disciplined randos trying their hand at hobbyist duct tape exercises. You can’t just trust everyone to do a great job.