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Any idea on pricing, anyone? We need more of these 'drop in' style conversion kits. If only to keep classic cars on the road. I can't see BigCar Co. being hap

Any idea on pricing, anyone? We need more of these 'drop in' style conversion kits. If only to keep classic cars on the road. I can't see BigCar Co. being happy though, they are having enough trouble selling new cars as it is, and even worse luck trying to sell [overly expensive] new EV cars, without people converting their favorite small cars to electric.

maxeddy 6y ago
I'm interested to know as well
lukevp 6y ago
The pricing is in the post - 8850 gbp + vat. That’s not including the batteries, esc, charger, or dc/dc converter, just the motor and mount kit.
- Jaruzel 6y ago
  I re-read the PDF. Pricing is right there. Doh!
- natch 6y ago
  One small part also left out of the pricing: the car, which was not necessarily acquired for free.
masonhensley 6y ago
More details here with option: https://webshop.swindonpowertrain.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=322 https://webshop.swindonpowertrain.com/index.php?route=produc...
gambiting 6y ago
I can't imagine classic cars will ever be banned, just like we have never banned horse carriages off our roads. The environmental impact of someone driving their ICE classic once in a blue moon is absolute zero. Hell, some places(UK!) still sell leaded(!!!) petrol specifically for use in classic unmodified vehicles. It never got completely banned because the impact of someone taking a 100 year old carriage for a drive and burning couple litres of leaded petrol is absolutely not worth worrying about. Last I checked there were still 3 companies in UK authorized to sell it.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  Politicians ban irrelevant things all the time because the number of people pissed off is small compared to the number of virtue points scored.
  - smogcutter 6y ago
    Hard for something to score “virtue points” if it isn’t, at least in some respect, virtuous.
- michaelt 6y ago
  You can also buy lead replacement fuel additives [1] designed to run leaded-fuel cars on (widely available) unleaded fuel. [1] https://www.holtsauto.com/redex/products/lead-replacement-multidose/ https://www.holtsauto.com/redex/products/lead-replacement-mu...
  - gambiting 6y ago
    I do remember reading that those don't work these super old engines though, they require either actual leaded fuel or a modification to the ignition system. But yes, for more modern cars you can just get the anti-knock additive. Edit: Yep, I had to look it up - certain metals used in old engines make them incompatible with common additives. You can however, buy an additive( Tetraboost (Tetra-ethyl lead)) that contains lead, effectively making any unleaded petrol equivalent to leaded petrol: https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels There seems to be a total of 13 garages in the UK authorized to continue stocking actual, real leaded petrol.
    - chipsa 6y ago
      Tetra ethyl lead is what makes leaded gas leaded.
- barrkel 6y ago
  It's gradually getting to the point that petrol vehicles with lower mileage are becoming less practical because petrol stations are being torn down, so that refuelling requires larger detours. It's one thing pleasure-driving and keeping a can of fuel around to keep it going. Needing to spend 20% of your fuel on getting fuel - and then being forced to queue either inside the shop to pay, or outside on the forecourt - is what kills a vehicle for commuting.
Scoundreller 6y ago
I wish there was a drop-in kit that could turn any car into a micro-hybrid by running all electric loads off a li-ion until dead, then switching to the lead-acid system. Electric loads are like 10% of a car’s use, and here I am burning gas extremely inefficiently to kill my alternator to generate it. And more stuff is becoming electric instead of belt drive (e.g. cooling pumps and power steering pump). If my average trip is 50 miles, being able to shunt all electric loads to a supplemental li-ion battery does just as much good as having a hybrid plug-in drivetrain that can do 5 miles engine-off. Not quite, but I think we’re missing a huge opportunity to turn entire fleets into 5%-10% electrics. Would be cool if my alternator could be used for some regen, (new automatics are doing engine-braking!) but that’s probably outside of the scope of a drop-in kit.
- barrkel 6y ago
  I think a battery sufficient to realistically replace alternator output would be too large and expensive. Car alternator output is on the order of 1 to 2kW. A battery [1] which can do ~1kWh - 100A at 12V - is about $300 and weighs 12kg. It's also big - 40x20x25cm - stick it in your boot and you'll notice the space reduction. That would just do 1 hour, at the lowest level of alternator output. If you need more power or more range, double it; more of both, double it again. The next question to ask is do you trust keeping a $300 Chinese battery in your car without it blowing up? You probably want a reseller who'll stand behind their products, ensure the supply chain maintains quality, has sufficient safeguards, etc. The price is going to go up even more. [1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1KWH-Deep-Cycle-LiFePO4-12V-100Ah_60250913806.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1KWH-Deep-Cycle-LiFeP...
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    Most cars are commuter driven and 1-occupant (if my highway commuter experience is to be believed). This wouldn’t physically replace the alternator, just let it free-spin until drained. The economics are already confirmed (or not?) by the presence of plug-in electrics, it’s just that they go engine-off for some miles, while this idea goes engine 90% for 10x the distance. It’s perhaps even more efficient to make electric loads fully electric instead of building an electric drive-train onto an ICE one.
dubya 6y ago
Chevy is doing something along these lines, so maybe not too worried. https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/oct/1029-sema360.html https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detai...

maxeddy 6y ago

I'm interested to know as well

lukevp 6y ago

The pricing is in the post - 8850 gbp + vat. That’s not including the batteries, esc, charger, or dc/dc converter, just the motor and mount kit.

Jaruzel 6y ago
I re-read the PDF. Pricing is right there. Doh!
natch 6y ago
One small part also left out of the pricing: the car, which was not necessarily acquired for free.

masonhensley 6y ago

More details here with option: https://webshop.swindonpowertrain.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=322 https://webshop.swindonpowertrain.com/index.php?route=produc...

gambiting 6y ago

I can't imagine classic cars will ever be banned, just like we have never banned horse carriages off our roads. The environmental impact of someone driving their ICE classic once in a blue moon is absolute zero. Hell, some places(UK!) still sell leaded(!!!) petrol specifically for use in classic unmodified vehicles. It never got completely banned because the impact of someone taking a 100 year old carriage for a drive and burning couple litres of leaded petrol is absolutely not worth worrying about. Last I checked there were still 3 companies in UK authorized to sell it.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
Politicians ban irrelevant things all the time because the number of people pissed off is small compared to the number of virtue points scored.
- smogcutter 6y ago
  Hard for something to score “virtue points” if it isn’t, at least in some respect, virtuous.
michaelt 6y ago
You can also buy lead replacement fuel additives [1] designed to run leaded-fuel cars on (widely available) unleaded fuel. [1] https://www.holtsauto.com/redex/products/lead-replacement-multidose/ https://www.holtsauto.com/redex/products/lead-replacement-mu...
- gambiting 6y ago
  I do remember reading that those don't work these super old engines though, they require either actual leaded fuel or a modification to the ignition system. But yes, for more modern cars you can just get the anti-knock additive. Edit: Yep, I had to look it up - certain metals used in old engines make them incompatible with common additives. You can however, buy an additive( Tetraboost (Tetra-ethyl lead)) that contains lead, effectively making any unleaded petrol equivalent to leaded petrol: https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels There seems to be a total of 13 garages in the UK authorized to continue stocking actual, real leaded petrol.
  - chipsa 6y ago
    Tetra ethyl lead is what makes leaded gas leaded.
barrkel 6y ago
It's gradually getting to the point that petrol vehicles with lower mileage are becoming less practical because petrol stations are being torn down, so that refuelling requires larger detours. It's one thing pleasure-driving and keeping a can of fuel around to keep it going. Needing to spend 20% of your fuel on getting fuel - and then being forced to queue either inside the shop to pay, or outside on the forecourt - is what kills a vehicle for commuting.

Scoundreller 6y ago

I wish there was a drop-in kit that could turn any car into a micro-hybrid by running all electric loads off a li-ion until dead, then switching to the lead-acid system. Electric loads are like 10% of a car’s use, and here I am burning gas extremely inefficiently to kill my alternator to generate it. And more stuff is becoming electric instead of belt drive (e.g. cooling pumps and power steering pump). If my average trip is 50 miles, being able to shunt all electric loads to a supplemental li-ion battery does just as much good as having a hybrid plug-in drivetrain that can do 5 miles engine-off. Not quite, but I think we’re missing a huge opportunity to turn entire fleets into 5%-10% electrics. Would be cool if my alternator could be used for some regen, (new automatics are doing engine-braking!) but that’s probably outside of the scope of a drop-in kit.

barrkel 6y ago
I think a battery sufficient to realistically replace alternator output would be too large and expensive. Car alternator output is on the order of 1 to 2kW. A battery [1] which can do ~1kWh - 100A at 12V - is about $300 and weighs 12kg. It's also big - 40x20x25cm - stick it in your boot and you'll notice the space reduction. That would just do 1 hour, at the lowest level of alternator output. If you need more power or more range, double it; more of both, double it again. The next question to ask is do you trust keeping a $300 Chinese battery in your car without it blowing up? You probably want a reseller who'll stand behind their products, ensure the supply chain maintains quality, has sufficient safeguards, etc. The price is going to go up even more. [1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1KWH-Deep-Cycle-LiFePO4-12V-100Ah_60250913806.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1KWH-Deep-Cycle-LiFeP...
- Scoundreller 6y ago
  Most cars are commuter driven and 1-occupant (if my highway commuter experience is to be believed). This wouldn’t physically replace the alternator, just let it free-spin until drained. The economics are already confirmed (or not?) by the presence of plug-in electrics, it’s just that they go engine-off for some miles, while this idea goes engine 90% for 10x the distance. It’s perhaps even more efficient to make electric loads fully electric instead of building an electric drive-train onto an ICE one.

dubya 6y ago

Chevy is doing something along these lines, so maybe not too worried. https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/oct/1029-sema360.html https://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/home.detai...