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Certain cars will benefit from this more than others. Try to find a working drivetrain for an old MG or Jaguar! A EV swap is an easy way to bring those beauties

Certain cars will benefit from this more than others. Try to find a working drivetrain for an old MG or Jaguar! A EV swap is an easy way to bring those beauties to life. On the other hand, those poor old 911s. Renowned for their fine balance, it's not going to be the same car at all with an extra 3000lbs of batteries. I'd be kind of "meh" about the environmental benefits. To be registered as "classic" cars, most governments have strict annual mileage limits. That is if you even put many miles on a sports car in a year to begin with. It's probably better use of time and money to electrify boring commuter cars than garage queens.

Retric 3y ago
A 100kWh battery weighs 1,300 pounds. The engine in a 911 from the 1970’s weighs roughly 450 lb + 100 lb for the transaxle etc. So you could maintain the same weight and weight distribution and with a ~50kWh battery depending on how well the conversion is done.
smileysteve 3y ago
The best way around the weight gain is a thin battery pack underneath the body, it lowers the ground clearance slightly, but you can distribute it evenly and it will be lowest for center of gravity.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  That will not work. A 911 is super close to the ground already and the first bit of debris on the highway will kill your battery (and possibly kill you in the fire that will surely develop). You want a nice barrier between your batteries and road debris, and you want to make sure there is absolutely no way that your battery box will get scraped if you cross a traffic obstacle.
_yb2s 3y ago
I drive an older Porsche and am considering an EV conversion. I would opt to do it myself, and keep the weight and weight location (balance) exactly identical to stock. To do this, it would require using a relatively small battery with less range to keep the weight low. A Tesla Model Y has a 1700lb battery, and 300 mile range. So as a rough approximation, I could get 70 miles of range with a 400lb battery in place of the 400lb engine. That would be more than enough for me. Realistically, I could probably go even further than 70 miles with that size battery since the Porsche is a much smaller car, that weighs only 60% what a model Y weighs. I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure. Rebuilding a porsche engine properly is crazy expensive, more than the parts for an EV conversion. Here's the thing... if you're going to do all of the work and expense of an EV conversion (maybe $100k for a pro job, or $10-20k in parts plus a lot of work), you want something unique and fun to drive. Nothing is really as fun to drive as a Porsche...
- jacquesm 3y ago
  You should definitely also put a bunch of batteries where the gas tank is and maybe even the front trunk (it's tiny anyway). That way you get much better balance. > I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure. Don't get me started ;)
  - manual89 3y ago
    While you would get a nice static balance that way, hanging heavy weights far from the center of a sports car would likely destroy its charm.
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      That's why the fuel tank is in the front to begin with: to counterbalance the weight of the engine a bit. The engine is about as far off-center as it is possible to go on a Porsche, it's hanging over behind the rear axle.
      - _yb2s 3y ago
        Porsche has been trying to transition to mid-engined sports cars ever since they started for better handling... the first 356 prototype was even mid-engined. But consumers keep wanting to buy rear-engined 911s so they keep selling them. Porsche's factory race cars have been mostly mid-engined all along, and the 914, Boxster, Cayman, and 918 Spyder are mass produced mid-engined models. Mid-engined Porsches IMO are ideally suited for EV conversion because they have no back seat, but instead have room for a battery right in the middle of the car, where the impact on handling is reduced.
        jacquesm 3y ago
        The Cayman and Boxster are amazing to drive but even less practical than a 911. It's pretty tricky how Porsche purposefully underpowers them compared to the 911 so they keep selling their big ticket items. Also those two little jump seats make it a more or less usable family car for people with small kids.
presidentender 3y ago
Isn't the 911 notorious for breaking traction?
- rgmerk 3y ago
  Yes. The 911 retained the basic layout and rear suspension design of the VW Beetle, and consequently its major flaw - a tendency to slide its tail out if you lifted off the throttle mid-corner. My cousin bought a Beetle convertible as her first car, and wrote it off within a few weeks because of this (luckily she had no major injuries). The difference was, of course, Porsches had increasing amounts of power and grip and the corner speeds at which inexperienced Porsche drivers discovered this about their new toys was much higher than a Beetle. The early 911 Turbos must have been very scary vehicles to drive fast. By the early 1990s Porsche had introduced a new suspension design that greatly reduced this tendency. Modern 911s of course have a plethora of suspension and electronics tweaks that all but eliminate this tendency in street driving, The more track-oriented versions even have systems that let you configure the suspension and power delivery to control how the car behaves on the limit if you’re skilled enough to use it.

Retric 3y ago

A 100kWh battery weighs 1,300 pounds. The engine in a 911 from the 1970’s weighs roughly 450 lb + 100 lb for the transaxle etc. So you could maintain the same weight and weight distribution and with a ~50kWh battery depending on how well the conversion is done.

smileysteve 3y ago

The best way around the weight gain is a thin battery pack underneath the body, it lowers the ground clearance slightly, but you can distribute it evenly and it will be lowest for center of gravity.

jacquesm 3y ago
That will not work. A 911 is super close to the ground already and the first bit of debris on the highway will kill your battery (and possibly kill you in the fire that will surely develop). You want a nice barrier between your batteries and road debris, and you want to make sure there is absolutely no way that your battery box will get scraped if you cross a traffic obstacle.

_yb2s 3y ago

I drive an older Porsche and am considering an EV conversion. I would opt to do it myself, and keep the weight and weight location (balance) exactly identical to stock. To do this, it would require using a relatively small battery with less range to keep the weight low. A Tesla Model Y has a 1700lb battery, and 300 mile range. So as a rough approximation, I could get 70 miles of range with a 400lb battery in place of the 400lb engine. That would be more than enough for me. Realistically, I could probably go even further than 70 miles with that size battery since the Porsche is a much smaller car, that weighs only 60% what a model Y weighs. I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure. Rebuilding a porsche engine properly is crazy expensive, more than the parts for an EV conversion. Here's the thing... if you're going to do all of the work and expense of an EV conversion (maybe $100k for a pro job, or $10-20k in parts plus a lot of work), you want something unique and fun to drive. Nothing is really as fun to drive as a Porsche...

jacquesm 3y ago
You should definitely also put a bunch of batteries where the gas tank is and maybe even the front trunk (it's tiny anyway). That way you get much better balance. > I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure. Don't get me started ;)
- manual89 3y ago
  While you would get a nice static balance that way, hanging heavy weights far from the center of a sports car would likely destroy its charm.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    That's why the fuel tank is in the front to begin with: to counterbalance the weight of the engine a bit. The engine is about as far off-center as it is possible to go on a Porsche, it's hanging over behind the rear axle.
    - _yb2s 3y ago
      Porsche has been trying to transition to mid-engined sports cars ever since they started for better handling... the first 356 prototype was even mid-engined. But consumers keep wanting to buy rear-engined 911s so they keep selling them. Porsche's factory race cars have been mostly mid-engined all along, and the 914, Boxster, Cayman, and 918 Spyder are mass produced mid-engined models. Mid-engined Porsches IMO are ideally suited for EV conversion because they have no back seat, but instead have room for a battery right in the middle of the car, where the impact on handling is reduced.
      - jacquesm 3y ago
        The Cayman and Boxster are amazing to drive but even less practical than a 911. It's pretty tricky how Porsche purposefully underpowers them compared to the 911 so they keep selling their big ticket items. Also those two little jump seats make it a more or less usable family car for people with small kids.

presidentender 3y ago

Isn't the 911 notorious for breaking traction?

rgmerk 3y ago
Yes. The 911 retained the basic layout and rear suspension design of the VW Beetle, and consequently its major flaw - a tendency to slide its tail out if you lifted off the throttle mid-corner. My cousin bought a Beetle convertible as her first car, and wrote it off within a few weeks because of this (luckily she had no major injuries). The difference was, of course, Porsches had increasing amounts of power and grip and the corner speeds at which inexperienced Porsche drivers discovered this about their new toys was much higher than a Beetle. The early 911 Turbos must have been very scary vehicles to drive fast. By the early 1990s Porsche had introduced a new suspension design that greatly reduced this tendency. Modern 911s of course have a plethora of suspension and electronics tweaks that all but eliminate this tendency in street driving, The more track-oriented versions even have systems that let you configure the suspension and power delivery to control how the car behaves on the limit if you’re skilled enough to use it.