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Ford's $3900 electric crate motor and F-100 concept
- desktopninja 5y agoDare we say it but this is by far a more sustainable/sensible option vs buying a new car. Also liked Toyota's idea to simply convert ICE's to hydrogen powered ones.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoIt's undeniably more materially efficient to re-power serviceable vehicles but people get their the panties in knot over safety so I doubt the "reverse glider" approach will ever gain a big foothold in the light vehicle market. It would likely be targeted by legislation that makes it economically non-viable if that were to happen. Considering that the venn diagram between "people who profess to care a lot about safety" and "people who profess to care a lot about the environment" has a pretty massive overlap I look forward to the inevitable dumpster fire as people are forced to reconcile that the tradeoffs exist. Furthermore, a ton of ancillary stuff has improved so much over the last 20+yr that the cumulative difference is quite noticeable. Few people will drop "new Mitsubishi Mirage" money re-powering an '03 Civic.
- cat199 5y ago> Few people will drop "new Mitsubishi Mirage" money re-powering an '03 Civic. as you hint at re. legislation this is heavily dependant on how any transition is structured - a heavy-handed transition would put alot of upward market pressure on new EV's and downward pressure on old ICV's that could create a market niche for conversions - they might not spend "new Mitsubishi Mirage" money on a civic, but they might opt to save 5-10k vs new/slightly used EV for a '15 converted mercedes ...
- rootusrootus 5y agoThis is targeted at people who mod cars for fun, the kind of people who swap an LS series V8 into whatever. It's not at all intended for DIY conversion by non-experts of regular commuter cars to electric power.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoThis is targeted about two tax brackets above the bulk of the LS crowd but yeah, it's definitely targeted at enthusiasts/hobbyists.
- rootusrootus 5y agoThat's fair. I was thinking of the people who would buy a crate motor -- even a basic GM LS3 runs almost $8000. People who do swaps by finding a used LS1/2/3 in a junkyard are not spending anywhere near that. On average they're probably doing the more interesting swaps, too.
- nradov 5y agoIt's neither sensible or sustainable for mass market use. Installing this motor in most cars would require multiple days of work plus custom fabrication. And then where do you put the batteries? Manufacturers are happy to sell crate motors just to pick up a little extra revenue but it will never be more than a tiny niche market for enthusiasts.
- rootusrootus 5y agoPrice is good, really, people in the market to do swaps are used to paying big bucks for crate motors. This isn't really targeted at everyday consumers. Even so, I do agree that it would be nice to see battery options as well. At least something with a decently modular form factor that is targeted at powering an EV.
- R0b0t1 5y agoPrice could be lower. Cheaper to make motor than an engine. Big issue is lack of inverter. If you get a bigger motor need a bigger inverter. With a lot of parts now if you buy a la carte you spend as much or more than buying them in the vehicle especially at low end. They price them as if you are taking away a car sale. Not a good model in my opinion.
- rootusrootus 5y ago> Price could be lower. Cheaper to make motor than an engine. Sure, they could probably drop the price some. But it's starting out at half the cost of GM's most basic LS3 crate motor, so it's not terribly priced.
- mmmBacon 5y agoHaving known many people who do this kind of a thing as a hobby and semi-professionally I highly doubt there will be much interest from the traditional hot rodding crowd. It’s the mechanical nature of things that they love, the sound of a well tuned motor, and the smell of fuel. Maybe things like this will help seed a new generation of hot rodders but I can’t see the traditional crowd turning in wrenches for a soldering iron.
- SkyPuncher 5y agoAs someone who's on the edge of that community, this is the type of thing that would get me into it. I've lost interest in getting to all of the tight little areas on a conventional engine setup. While an electric engine doesn't remove all of that, it simplifies significant portions of it. ----- I can see this being interesting for people who have a car with a frame/body that's in good condition but have failing engine or exhaust components. Instead of replacing them, put the money towards a conversion.
- ufhghfggf 5y agoTesla's opposition to Right to Repair has chilled the brand to many frugal car buyers who drive their daily beater 20+ years and 300,000+ miles. Being able to buy an affordable electric crate motor will open up the world of electric to those who like to keep their technology for the long haul.
- dTal 5y agoIt seems to be a trend in electric vehicles. I just bought an electric scooter which came with literature warning that my warranty would be voided if I so much as undid a single bolt. It's rather jarring, coming from the world of cycling, where stripping your vehicle down to atoms and reassembling it is considered normal maintenance. Incidentally, the same literature claimed my warranty would also be voided if I failed to maintain the scooter properly. I'm not sure where to go from there...
- bserge 5y agoI have always opened up shit with the understanding that my warranty is then gone. Imo, it's a minor issue compared to them making the thing unopenable, using clips/safety bolts that break, siliconing all the electronics, etc.
- dd36 5y agoPretty sure voiding warranty for opening isn’t legal.
- dTal 5y agoIf only that were globally true.
- jacquesm 5y agoYou're free to ignore such warnings. And in many cases the warnings are there because the law comes down hard on manufacturers that enable bypassing the (mandatory) governor systems which limit the speed (and sometimes the torque) at which the vehicles can operate.
- KZerda 5y agoThe first question that comes to mind here is if Ford's going to offer a crate battery pack too. A crate motor in and of itself is huge, but an electric crate powertrain that's equivalent to GM's Connect and Cruise, would be huge for people looking for a mostly drop-in electric conversion.
- jdhn 5y agoIf this happens (and it should), I would expect them to target the Mustang crowd first, simply because so many have been made and the Mustang performance mod scene is very strong.
- rbanffy 5y agoIdeally the base battery pack would fit where fuel tanks are with additional packs connected to a power management unit for extra range. On the Mustang case, more carefully design would be needed to make sure the weight distribution doesn’t make it worse. While driving in straight lines seem to be a popular sport, one would expect their car to be able to corner as well.
- viburnum 5y agoWhere would the battery go? I have a soft spot for old trucks and would love to have an electrified one someday.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoThere's a ton of space on an old truck or van, most body on frame vehicles for that matter. It's really a non-issue.
- nine_k 5y agoRoom is a non-issue. Having a ready-made, mountable, right-sized battery pack(s) for retrofitting is an issue, and may be a lucrative niche.
- jdhn 5y agoFord has really been hitting the PR circuit while firing on all cylinders. The lead engineer of the F-150 Lightning was on the cover of Time, and now this.
- dTal 5y ago>firing on all cylinders This'll have to go. "Fluxing on all windings"?
- MisterTea 5y ago"Gate drivers firing in all quadrants"
- mixmastamyk 5y agoOn all capacitors.
- cat199 5y agounsurprising considering how radical their product line revamp has been of late - a ford that doesn't make sedans and an electric SUV "mustang" are pretty big changes for a fairly conservative customer base
- datavirtue 5y agoBeen waiting for this for decades.
- culopatin 5y agoThere are some companies out there that sell power plants from other brands too. Tesla motors, generics, Leaf, etc. They also sell the peripherals you need to control these things and they've been around for a while. Might want to check it out!
- arprocter 5y agoLooking forward to seeing this in an old Mini or a Fiero Shame there aren't photos of the inside of the bed or the rear axle - from the shots under the hood it seems like it would be difficult to fit without losing cargo space I'd assume most engine swappers would be more interested in something that mounts longitudinally
- tclancy 5y agoIn a Fiero? Might as well add wings while you’re at it to take advantage of the lift issues they had.
- arprocter 5y agoIt was the first 'mid-engined car you could probably find in a junkyard' that came to mind, and I know people have managed to fit Chevy LS motors Cheap MR2s will normally be rust buckets. That said, I did see someone driving an X1/9 on the GCP a few months ago - there can't be many of those still around
- jacquesm 5y agoProject e-Binky... it's going to take some years but likely will be worth waiting for.
- tyingq 5y agoThis appears to be the crate motor: https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE
- exhilaration 5y agoUnlike the other motors, they've only posted a rendering. Can we safely call it vaporware for now?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jacquesm 5y agohttps://performanceparts.ford.com/images/part/full/M-9000-MACHE_V6.JPG https://performanceparts.ford.com/images/part/full/M-9000-MA... does not look like a rendering to me
- orangepurple 5y agoUntil we can order it it's vaporware
- chrisjc 5y agoAgreed. After, this is the motor and drive systems from the F-150 Lightning and/or Mach-E that really exist, right? Whether they'll sell it individually, esp in this time of shortages is what is possibly vaporware.
- mywittyname 5y agoThis is not a new undertaking for Ford. Ford sells a ton crate motors. This is already available on the Ford Performance website. https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE There has never been an FP part that was given a part number, but never made available. They have offered pretty exotic engines, and even the components to convert lesser Mustangs into special edition ones. It is highly unlikely Ford will renege on this.
- DoingIsLearning 5y agoI am in no way a mechanics/chassis expert but I have been involved in EV projects in the past and there is a substantial amount of design that goes into protecting EV batteries from impact or perfuration. I agree that it would be much more sustainable to convert our old fleet of cars into EV but unless someone brings forward a big leap in battery protection for these conversions, to me it still feels relatively unsafe when compared with a vehicle designed from the ground up as an EV.
- jacquesm 5y agoAgreed. A typical EV has thousands of cells and the way these are placed in the chassis and how the interconnects are done is a major safety aspect. You can't just toss a bunch of cells into an enclosure and call it a day, I suspect that for each and every car model you'd want to design a custom enclosure if you want do do this safely. I'm in the process of increasing the capacity of the battery of my e-bike more than fourfold and even that is not a simple job.
- zrail 5y agoI sort of suspect what will happen is small time manufacturers will come out with sealed battery packs designed for specific applications. I.e. I want to electrify my Supra, I'm gonna buy it from a shop that makes them specifically for my generation of Supra.
- ehnto 5y agoI'm imagining the same thing, and I imagine we'll eventually have battery cell inter-operability standards for cars that make that even easier. In the past we didn't make it mandatory to have engines be easily swapped to other models of vehicle, but I think we're more conscious of re-usability and the long term lifecycle of vehicles and part of making sure that's efficient I feel is making sure I can take a battery pack from a crashed 2025 E-Supra nd put it in my 2032 E-Skyline.
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoOld vehicles are really unsafe before you even consider switching them to EV. Overall, I'm not sure what the outcome would be, could go either way depending on specific factors, but presumably for old cars, long distance travel is not the point of the exercise.
- 1970-01-01 5y agoWhat everyone is forgetting is the crash. . I've yet to see data on how well that old truck protects you in a front-end collision when the engine block absorbing the energy is in a junkyard.
- tata71 5y agoOld trucks don't have crumple, so the truck will survive, and you'll look alright. But your organs and shit might be compromised.
- hcurtiss 5y agoHaving owned a 1970 F-100, I think you may be overestimating the crash protection they had in the first instance. This takes it from approximately terrible to . . . also terrible.
- onychomys 5y agoAt least by then they had seatbelts. I restored a 1954 F-250, and the very first thing I had to do was install aftermarket belts. Now that I'm grown with kids, I'm not at all sure I'd let them drive the same thing, crumple zones and airbags and whatnot are all just too good to pass up.
- criddell 5y agoI don't think it's really an old truck though, is it? I thought it was a new truck styled to look like a 1978 model.
- dukeofdoom 5y agoFord trucks from 1950 are beautiful. Would be awesome to see more of these rescued and kept around. https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/422001427562869039/ https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/422001427562869039/
- varjag 5y agoShouldn't it be 'crate e-motor' rather than 'e-crate motor'?
- jacquesm 5y agoNote that this is just the motor, you'll still need a battery, traction inverter and a control system, none of which are cheap. By the time you are done this system for a regular vehicle with a properly engineered battery enclosure will likely cost way upwards of $15K. Have a look at: https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40 https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40 to see what goes into a typical EV conversion. Batteries are here: https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=4 https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=4
- earthscienceman 5y agoWhich, hilariously, is very much in the realm of a "normal" engine conversion project. There probably aren't many Vanagon owners on HN but the hacker mentality very much applies. The two most popular gas conversions quote out in the 12k-18k range. It's not apples-to-apples with what it would take to integrate this crate motor, but it's not orders of magnitude off. https://smallcar.com/vanagon-2.2-and-2.5-conversions/ https://smallcar.com/vanagon-2.2-and-2.5-conversions/ https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-kits-20-deposit-total-price-7895/ https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k...
- lelanthran 5y ago> The two most popular gas conversions quote out in the 12k-18k range. ... > https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k https://www.bostig.com/bostig-vanagon-conversion-2021-2022-k... That second link says $8k, not $15k.
- earthscienceman 5y agoJust as the other comment said, "that's only the conversion kit". I didn't want to wax poetic about the various input costs to a project like that but let's just say I and several of my friends know how much they can cost on both the upper and lower ends. If you DIY hack it together with junkyard motor and spend nothing on anything you can get away with a self-made conversion for ~5k. If you're buying your parts from a kit like these links and using new crate motors then you will never get under 12k. Not to mention the cost differences of you doing the work vs a mechanic. The cheapest turn-key mechanic-done conversion with a new motor won't be under 15k and will likely push in the 20k+ range.
- vortico 5y agoHow much would it cost in total parts/labor to find someone to buy and restore a 1978-1995 F-150 with new paint job and replacement of rusty parts, and then add this motor and a ridiculous amount of batteries? I'd sign up tomorrow if the opportunity fell out of the sky. Also is the intention here to just leave it in 3rd gear while running, like the Genovation GXE Electric Corvette mod?
- bjourne 5y agoThere's a French startup that does exactly that: https://www.phoenixmobility.co/en/ https://www.phoenixmobility.co/en/ The company has generated a lot of press but the concept hasn't caught on in other countries so I assume it is not very practical.
- TheCondor 5y agoIt's not a turnkey sort of thing. Every 1981 F-150 is going to be a unique snowflake of rust, broken parts, etc.. There will be some amazing barn finds where you could pull the motor out and bolt in batteries and an electric motor on a weekend and then there will be trucks where you basically rebuild the entire truck from scratch. What might be interesting is an electric rolling truck chassis production and then various vintage looking bodies you could attach to them.
- jermaustin1 5y agoI'm waiting for something like this IRL. Ford already sells chassis only trucks, so if they would just make that with the battery pack and motors, I could bolt on the body myself.
- jacquesm 5y ago$25 to $50K or thereabouts for a one-off. Series might get cheaper. Keep in mind that just the electrical bits will be $15 to $20K, and depending on how far the truck is gone you could easily spend that much more on getting it serviceable and pretty. Car restoration rarely is economically viable unless you go for something exotic.
- dsr_ 5y agoPeople talking about converting vehicles are missing the point. Ford wants to convert people. The people who would buy a pickup from them today, and aren't sure about this electric motor business -- they need to see something cool and reasonably aspirational. They'll look at the F-100 at big car shows, and a few years later see e-crate conversions at the local car shows, and then when the price of an electric F-150 has dropped enough, that's what they'll be buying.
- vineyardmike 5y ago> People talking about converting vehicles are missing the point. the point of a crate motor is literally converting vehicles though. That's what they're for. > They'll look at the F-100 at big car shows, and a few years later see e-crate conversions at the local car shows, and then when the price of an electric F-150 has dropped enough, that's what they'll be buying. The cars that people build with crates don't really go very far usually. The people that complain about road trips in an electric car aren't using the car they built. This could be their chance to play with electric to prove its good enough to ditch the ICE F150
- annoyingnoob 5y agoI like classic vehicles. But I don't like that they are gross polluters. I can definitely see a niche market for conversions.
- pie42000 5y agoMore importantly, this niche market will be the people making YouTube videos and attending car shows. These people will have huge influence on more casual Ford pickups fans, and will help sway them to electric
- hinkley 5y agoOne of the things we should be pushing for is standardizing engine mount geometries for the last generations of ICE vehicles, so that every vehicle built after say 2030 can have a COTS electric conversion kit that works for it. What you want is economies of scale. You need to be able to design a drop-in replacement that works for millions of vehicles, not one-offs for 25,000 vehicles. An electric conversion will be made fairly early for the most popular vehicles and everything that uses the same engine (eg, Accord, Camry, Jetta). The Mazda rotary engines will not. They’ll end up being taxed to death, unless someone can make cheap adapters.
- giantg2 5y agoThat looks like a good price, but I'm guessing it doesnt include the battery. The real question is what does the battery cost to power the motor.
- cmrdporcupine 5y agoNo battery, no charger, no DC-DC converter, and the controller/inverter isn't there as well. The latter is probably gonna be more expensive than the motor itself. We're talking about an inverter that can put out 250kW three phase AC. The board components alone are expensive. I find it odd they didn't include the inverter from the Mach E mounted on the motor, because that's how the Mach E is configured. A full tear down of this motor (and its inverter) from the Mach E can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVV52lPyIs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVV52lPyIs Notably this motor is potentially technically inferior to the one that Ford put in the front of the Mach E. Indeed the motor price is competitive. But most of the competition from EV conversion shops is usually packaged along with a matching controller/inverter, so less hassle and also hard to compare price. Most people doing a conversion would be better off just buying a salvaged Tesla drive unit -- which includes the inverter and gear reduction and can attach directly to short axles and has been reverse engineered so can be driven by third party software.
- sjwalter 5y agoThe reason I really like the idea of a crate motor is because one of my pet peeves about new vehicles, and EVs and Teslas in particular, is that they seem to invariably turn your vehicle into an always-connected, auto-updating tablet, with zero privacy. Partly why I like my older truck--it's got no modem, no screens other than a little clock, and nobody in any large corporation knows exactly where I drive it every moment of the day.
- wintermutestwin 5y agoDo you use paper maps to figure out where you are going and stop at payphones to make calls?
- ehnto 5y agoCan you drive from home to work without being hand held by technological pacifiers?
- standardUser 5y agoYou drive in complete silence? Or were you just singling out only specific forms of technology with which to mock a stranger?
- qq4 5y agoI drive in silence. I don't understand why some people feel the need to _always_ be listening to something.
- ehnto 5y agoThey were mocking someone for choosing to do without technology, it was just a snippy retort. Why aren't you jumping down their throat? edit: Turns out I was wrong about the parent's intent. For what it's worth, I do actually drive in silence a lot. There is something about a vehicle in transit that temporarily relieves you of responsibilities outside of the drive, and it's a great time to reflect. I could reflect on this comment thread, for example. Two times in the past few months I've been wrong about someone's intent on HN and met them with a little too much spice than was fair, that's worth reflecting on.
- thrower123 5y agoI wish they would just make the F-100 again, without the electric bits. Manual transmission and a carbed straight-six, original interior. They were very pretty trucks.
- djrogers 5y agoThey'd make it, if it were legal. There are a thousand laws and regulations that a brand new F100 would fall afoul of, from crash safety to emissions...
- crocodiletears 5y agoI wish we had a tiered set of safety requirements for vehicles. In my opinion, occupant safety should be much more negotiable than it is. A good example is the column thickness on modern vehicles. I'd gladly trade some roll-over protection for increased visibility.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- myself248 5y agoWe are the last generation who will understand the onomatopoeia "vroom vroom". Going forward, the term will be a skeuomorphism.
- jnmandal 5y agoThe main draw for me is the smaller size of this car. I'm not sure why car companies have slowly inflated the size of all vehicles to be extremely large.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoWell, it's a pick-up truck, it's kind of to be expected that they can carry a lot. There's still plenty of options for compact cars, and if you want to go even smaller, motorcycles. That said, I don't believe there's many small electric cars. Electric motorcycles and bicycles are definitely a thing though.
- mywittyname 5y ago> That said, I don't believe there's many small electric cars. Most electric car offerings are small cars. Prior to the current generation of EVs, most manufactures offered "compliance cars" which were EV conversions of whatever the cheapest car the manufacture offered in the USA was. These were sold almost exclusively in California or NY and were sold at a loss. So like, Fiat 500e, Ford Focus EV, Chevy Spark EV, VW eGolf, etc.
- davidw 5y ago> they can carry a lot. It's not that. Older pickups that you see on, say, ranches carry plenty, but are not so huge, especially in terms of height, where a small adult barely comes up to the top of the hood if there's even a little bit of a lift. Mr Money Mustache goes into this: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/04/28/what-does-your-work-truck-say-about-you/ https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/04/28/what-does-your-wo...
- jnmandal 5y agoYes but an older pickup is much more manageable and carries just as much in the bed. For some reason now they are jacking these up, making them wider and longer for no apparent reason. And honestly they haven't added very much to the beds. For that reason, as I'd mostly just need a utility vehicle and not a daily driver, I'd likely rather convert a salvaged 90s Chevy or Ford than buy a F150 lightning, cybertruck, or rivian. Another option would be a side by side (street legal with some modifications) or a Japanese mini truck. The former is available off the shelf with electric power train. A few use cases I have simply preclude modern pickups. For example, I sometimes need to drive on smaller forest trails which are cut for ATVs. Anything larger than a subcompact SUV can't even navigate these.
- thrdbndndn 5y agoAs a non-native-English-speaker, TIL the word "crate engine".
- GordonS 5y agoI'm a native English speaker (Scottish), and have never heard of a "crate engine" before either; I guess it's an American thing.
- frosted-flakes 5y agoChevy LS swaps are so common it's become a meme.
- OldHand2018 5y agoWith the strong motorsports traditions in Japan and Great Britain, I would be surprised if this was a uniquely American thing. I've never known anyone that has purchased a crate engine, but doesn't it sound fantastic that such a thing exists? Fresh from the factory, with a warranty, support, parts, etc just by going to your local dealership! Put it into anything you can think of, whether that be an old car or something else entirely - limited only by your imagination and bank balance!
- GordonS 5y agoI meant the phrase "crate engine", not the existence of engines :) We generally call self-build cars "kit cars", because they come as a kit that includes everything you need. AFAIK we don't have a specific word/phrase to specifically describe the engine (other than "engine", obv :)
- tejohnso 5y agoThat interior image is gross. It's like they built the cheapest dash / interior they could, then found a big iPad to incongruously glue onto the middle of the dash and called it a day. I hope it's just prototyping for the concept.
- dylan604 5y agoI've been joking that I was going to find a way to mount my iPad to the handle bars of my eBike since that seems to be a requirement for EVs.
- scop 5y agoSomething I've never considered: electric motors give car companies an excuse to "re-release" their most popular designs from the past
- mywittyname 5y agoThis has been done with a few models. Nissan did this with the Z and Mazda has done this with the Miata. They aren't new cars, but instead they completely restore old cars with brand new parts. It's not cheap though. I think the Miata restoration was something like $40k excluding donor vehicle costs.
- GNOMES 5y agoUnfortunately will never happen due to crash tests.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- bluedino 5y agoA gas motor is about the same price. There's no exhaust system for this, and it's smaller than Ford's monstrous modular V8's, so it seems like it'd be an easy retrofit. But if you were to actually do a conversion: How does the heating/AC work? How does your power steering work? How do the brakes work? Many things in a standard car work off vacuum. There's no vacuum on an electric engine. Other things run off the serpentine belt. These things also make running a newer engine in an older car a pain. Sure, the engine from a newer Mustang you find in the junkyard might only be $4,000 but you're going to spend at least another $10-15,000 getting it to run in your older Mustang or F150.
- antisthenes 5y ago> But if you were to actually do a conversion: How does the heating/AC work? How does your power steering work? How do the brakes work? Those are the easy parts because all 3 run off of hydraulics and electricity. As long as they get power supplied to them, they all just work. Brakes don't even need power, I believe, and can work purely mechanically. Of course you won't have regenerative braking in a retrofit. > Sure, the engine from a newer Mustang you find in the junkyard might only be $4,000 but you're going to spend at least another $10-15,000 getting it to run in your older Mustang or F150 That's generally an issue with high labor costs and not the car industry in particular.
- bluedino 5y ago>> Those are the easy parts because all 3 run off of hydraulics and electricity. As long as they get power supplied to them, they all just work. Except the heat in your car is transferred from the coolant running through your engine. Which is why the 'heat' in your car doesn't work until you've been driving it for a little bit. >> Brakes don't even need power, I believe, and can work purely mechanically. Brakes definitely need power. Have you even driven an older car without power brakes or steering? There's a reason they used to have much larger steering wheels in cars. And most of your brakes are hydraulic with vacuum assist. Turn your ignition off (in a large parking lot) and try to steer or brake your car! The brakes will work once or twice... You would need to add electric power steering to an older car. You can convert over a Volvo system, get an electric pump, or do it a few other ways. >> That's generally an issue with high labor costs and not the car industry in particular. I'm talking just parts. For example, you need a control pack from Ford which contains the ECU and wiring harness which is nearly two thousand dollars, and aftermarket systems aren't even cheaper. https://www.jegs.com/i/Ford+Performance/397/M-6017A504VB/10002/-1?gclid=CjwKCAjwiY6MBhBqEiwARFSCPlUefVYyyKqP9N61R6cohkjKNyFo_f1PqBCPV5El1cLN-kpLx0FmvhoCGskQAvD_BwE https://www.jegs.com/i/Ford+Performance/397/M-6017A504VB/100...
- davidhyde 5y agoThey just couldn’t resist putting in a giant tablet screen front and centre could they. What a pity.
- btbuildem 5y agoThe one massive caveat I see with the drop-in motor conversions is that it's not just the motor -- you need batteries too. Retrofitting those seems like a much harder challenge. In new designs, they're at the bottom of the chassis, because they're large and heavy. In retro-fits, where would they go? Engine bay? In place of gas tank? It doesn't seem like there is enough room, and the weight distribution considerations are a major concern. I see this as a niche market at best. The ICE engine at the heart of a vehicle is an old design. Nevermind all the secondary systems that piggy-back off it, these can probably be adapted. But the distribution of drivetrain into the wheels simplifies the construction massively. One huge advantage of the new electric cars is the lower maintenance, especially with the drivetrain. Converted vehicles would inherit many of the legacy problems, plus new issues stemming from kit conversions and interfacing old systems with new powerplants.
- jpindar 5y agoThere's a huge amount of room underneath a pickup truck.
- WhompingWindows 5y agoThere's some percentage of cars out there that are vintage vehicles, which owners don't mind spending the money on to keep going, even though they're emitting diesel fumes and are inefficient. There's a love of these machines, a love which is a hobby and a passion for many car-folks. Giving them some electrification options is a great idea, it needs to happen and it'll create some really fun and zippy vintage cars :)
- mythrwy 5y ago"Down in his barn, my uncle preserved for me an old machine!"
- shon 5y agoSo cool! Now I can convert my 86 Lazy Daze RV to electric…
- burlesona 5y agoToo bad they don't have such a truck on the market, I'd love to be able to buy something electric and of reasonable size.
- damon_c 5y agoThe time is almost upon us where I can finally convert my '81 Jeep Scrambler!
- beauzero 5y agohttps://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE