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Seems only a matter of time until Chinese manufacturers start providing kits for EV conversions. Can they compete on price and convenience with equipment rescue

Seems only a matter of time until Chinese manufacturers start providing kits for EV conversions. Can they compete on price and convenience with equipment rescued from scrapped EVs? Would EV tariffs apply?

sandermvanvliet 2y ago
Check out what https://www.edisonmotors.ca/edison-pickup-kit https://www.edisonmotors.ca/edison-pickup-kit is doing
- spockz 2y ago
  Very nice. I really would like to get a replacement kit of my XC90 battery and electric engine. Especially one that doesn’t cost more than half of the remainder of the economic value of the car. This is my second second hand plug in hybrid that loses battery capacity rapidly and the battery is crazy expensive to replace. Moreover, newer generations have stronger electric motors giving wider range of use and better regen.
- driverdan 2y ago
  I'm rooting for Edison but after watching some recent videos on this kit I don't have high hopes. There are only a few people working on this project.
ggreer 2y ago
It's quite difficult to convert a combustion engine vehicle to an EV. - EVs need significant volume for batteries. The only places available in a combustion vehicle are the engine bay and the gas tank. If you put batteries in the engine bay, you'll mess up the weight distribution. The volume occupied by the gas tank isn't nearly large enough to house a battery for decent range. - The extra weight of the batteries requires changes to the suspension and tires. - EV motors have lots of torque. If you use the original transmission, you'll need to limit torque based on which gear it's in. Any replacement transmission will need to be designed for that car chassis. It's not easily adapted to other models. - Combustion vehicles are designed with an accessory belt in mind. The air conditioning, power steering, and many other components are run off of these belts. An EV motor doesn't spin while idling. These components will need another power source, or they'll have to be replaced with EV-specific components. - Combustion vehicles use waste heat from the engine to heat the cabin. Unless you live in a mild climate, a retrofit will need electric heating coils (or a heat pump for maximum efficiency). And after making all of these modifications, you'll need to deal with regulations around making sure the vehicle is street legal. Those can differ greatly based on the state and the model year of the vehicle you're converting. Considering all that, it's unlikely that you'd save money by converting an existing vehicle. An EV kit car might make more sense, but the market for those is quite small.
- ZeroGravitas 2y ago
  There's already a small market for this in classic cars and they've worked most of these things out even to the point of installing heated seats, writing their own software, making and selling kits for common target cars etc. It's just mostly based on salvaged Tesla motors and batteries as far as I can tell. (I think Jaguar and Ford talked about selling EV crate engines for their older models but I've not heard about that for a while)
  - Qwertious 2y ago
    Classic cars don't make sense, though - if you're driving e.g. a Ford Model T, then you just objectively don't care about performance or cost effectiveness.
    - driverdan 2y ago
      Check out Electric Classic Cars on YT: https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricClassicCars https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricClassicCars Most of their conversions are sports cars but many aren't.
    - piuantiderp 2y ago
      Electric are no bueno for those 2 metrics
      - Qwertious 2y ago
        Electric motors have amazing performance. Better than ICE. (Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2948/ https://xkcd.com/2948/ ) The downsides of electric is cost (due to the battery), limited range (due to the battery), and weight (due to the battery) which is bad for road wear and the safety of anyone you hit.
  - lazide 2y ago
    Classic cars are the perfect example of a hobbiest niche - where practicality is often literally a negative. Frankly, if it’s common in Classic Cars, it’s probably not a good idea to do it in a production vehicle/practical situation.
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
That would be a major operation, basically a rebuild of a car, plus you'd need all the relevant controls etc rewired too. It wouldn't be worth it, not when this same China is investing heavily in affordable EV mass production.
ActorNightly 2y ago
EV conversions aren't gonna catch on due to the complexities of removing everything from a ICE car.

sandermvanvliet 2y ago

Check out what https://www.edisonmotors.ca/edison-pickup-kit https://www.edisonmotors.ca/edison-pickup-kit is doing

spockz 2y ago
Very nice. I really would like to get a replacement kit of my XC90 battery and electric engine. Especially one that doesn’t cost more than half of the remainder of the economic value of the car. This is my second second hand plug in hybrid that loses battery capacity rapidly and the battery is crazy expensive to replace. Moreover, newer generations have stronger electric motors giving wider range of use and better regen.
driverdan 2y ago
I'm rooting for Edison but after watching some recent videos on this kit I don't have high hopes. There are only a few people working on this project.

ggreer 2y ago

It's quite difficult to convert a combustion engine vehicle to an EV. - EVs need significant volume for batteries. The only places available in a combustion vehicle are the engine bay and the gas tank. If you put batteries in the engine bay, you'll mess up the weight distribution. The volume occupied by the gas tank isn't nearly large enough to house a battery for decent range. - The extra weight of the batteries requires changes to the suspension and tires. - EV motors have lots of torque. If you use the original transmission, you'll need to limit torque based on which gear it's in. Any replacement transmission will need to be designed for that car chassis. It's not easily adapted to other models. - Combustion vehicles are designed with an accessory belt in mind. The air conditioning, power steering, and many other components are run off of these belts. An EV motor doesn't spin while idling. These components will need another power source, or they'll have to be replaced with EV-specific components. - Combustion vehicles use waste heat from the engine to heat the cabin. Unless you live in a mild climate, a retrofit will need electric heating coils (or a heat pump for maximum efficiency). And after making all of these modifications, you'll need to deal with regulations around making sure the vehicle is street legal. Those can differ greatly based on the state and the model year of the vehicle you're converting. Considering all that, it's unlikely that you'd save money by converting an existing vehicle. An EV kit car might make more sense, but the market for those is quite small.

ZeroGravitas 2y ago
There's already a small market for this in classic cars and they've worked most of these things out even to the point of installing heated seats, writing their own software, making and selling kits for common target cars etc. It's just mostly based on salvaged Tesla motors and batteries as far as I can tell. (I think Jaguar and Ford talked about selling EV crate engines for their older models but I've not heard about that for a while)
- Qwertious 2y ago
  Classic cars don't make sense, though - if you're driving e.g. a Ford Model T, then you just objectively don't care about performance or cost effectiveness.
  - driverdan 2y ago
    Check out Electric Classic Cars on YT: https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricClassicCars https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricClassicCars Most of their conversions are sports cars but many aren't.
  - piuantiderp 2y ago
    Electric are no bueno for those 2 metrics
    - Qwertious 2y ago
      Electric motors have amazing performance. Better than ICE. (Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2948/ https://xkcd.com/2948/ ) The downsides of electric is cost (due to the battery), limited range (due to the battery), and weight (due to the battery) which is bad for road wear and the safety of anyone you hit.
- lazide 2y ago
  Classic cars are the perfect example of a hobbiest niche - where practicality is often literally a negative. Frankly, if it’s common in Classic Cars, it’s probably not a good idea to do it in a production vehicle/practical situation.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago

That would be a major operation, basically a rebuild of a car, plus you'd need all the relevant controls etc rewired too. It wouldn't be worth it, not when this same China is investing heavily in affordable EV mass production.

ActorNightly 2y ago

EV conversions aren't gonna catch on due to the complexities of removing everything from a ICE car.