Electric kit car!!
Hi all
Has anyone looked at the idea of an electric kit car? what is the legal side/IVA/registration etc and what other issues would you come up against? Batteries I'm guessing are one area. As I've been on my kit car build with a petrol engine now for nearly 15 years!! (yes I know time flies) I thought I better start now to be ready for 2040!! ian:bounce: |
Mulled this idea over myself a few times over the years as electric cars can outperform pretty much anything on the road powered by fossil fuels -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apoeGMWF17c Apart from mind-bending acceleration, electric motors are also far simpler than conventional engines, meaning they're theoretically more reliable. About the only downsides would be the same as for current production electric vehicles: range-anxiety, finding a suitable place to recharge mid journey and the length of time it takes to recharge the exhausted batteries. But, for an amateur builder the cost and complexity of the components has to be a factor and it's that that's put me off wanting to actually build one. A decent motor, motor controller and suitable batteries are likely to set you back around £8-10k, and while you can pick up a suitable petrol powered donor for a couple of hundred quid (or less), that makes much more financial sense. As for the range anxiety, I'd toyed with the idea of a hybrid charging system using a small petrol powered generator to kick in at around half charge to top up the batteries on the move, but as I'm no electrical engineer I've really no idea if that's feasible. On the legal side, you can plop an electric drivetrain into an existing car, change the details on the V5 just as if you'd changed to a different conventional engine, and benefit from road tax exemption. The rules for an electric kit car would also be exactly the same as for any other kit car, so IVA if it uses a bespoke or modified chassis and radically altered (rebody) rules if it uses an unmodified classic chassis. Hope that hasn't put you off building one as I'd love to see somebody put one together. BTW, what have you been building for the last 15 years? Given your moniker, could it be a Dino by any chance? |
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Very much a follower of electric vehicles for the last year or so, nearly pulled the trigger on a leaf earlier this year as my daily driver but the range just didn't quite match up with my driving needs.
When the next gen of EVs start hitting the market, sensibly priced and min of 180 mile or so range then I will definitely pull the trigger for a daily driver. With developments in EV a pace then I also hope that reasonably priced equipment will become available for us to play with. A 356 speedster would be a great conversion I feel, Electric Nova or Ultima. Maybe even gutting a Nissan Leaf of its electrickery and dump wholesale in a new kit of some sort. I think it will be next obvious evolution of kit cars. |
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electric kit car
Hi
I believe someone built a vortex kit car? I did hear of one and I'm sure I've seen it. Got me thinking electric dino!! ian:thumb: |
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If it were me I'd run a small petrol engine to run a alternator to continually charge the batteries that way range wouldn't be an issue
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A Chevy LS7 should be able to drive an alternator and have a little left over to help with overtaking, shouldn't it? Wow, how Green would that be? :peep: |
Dragon Electric Vehicles - Sports cars.
make electric kit cars and I think may offer conversions I've seen them at Stoneleigh a few times. |
Before embarking on an electric car project I suggest you sort out insurance issues first. I have a VW Polo 6n2 converted to electric that my son and I were hoping to use for sprints and hillclimbs and was quoted £500 third party fire and theft for 1,000 annual miles. Bearing in mind they sponsor the Flux Capacitor electric Enfield run by Jonny Smith (fifth gear) I thought that a little expensive.
Other companies weren't interested. You can see my Polo if you google TRD electric Polo. |
That does sound expensive unless your son's only 17, in which case it'd be a bit of a bargain. By comparison, I pay 'A Plan' under £100 for 3,000 miles comprehensive cover for my 2 litre straight six powered Spyder.
If it's not your son's age, I'm guessing the issue is either the perceived higher fire risk from the batteries or just the unknown quantity factor of an alternative power source. Out of interest, how much did the electric conversion cost (minus any body/chassis/interior restoration costs)? Nice job, btw, I take it it's this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhWiX8iCX6g That clip does highlight one potential 'issue' with electric cars though - far more torque than traction. I wonder if a Panda 4x4 or (original) Subaru Justy could be converted? Now that would be fun off the line at traffic lights... |
Wasn't 'Woodsmith' doing an electric trike on this forum a while back? There was a lot of very useful information on it. I dropped off for a while and I don't know if he finished it, I know he had health problems.
Remember, there were more electric cars on the road before Henry Ford went for I.C. They were more reliable than I.C. then. If it wasn't for SVA/IVA whatever it would be fun to build a 1910 ish electric similar to the Lycomobile replica which got stopped by a mobile phone company. |
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Read this from one of the guys on my Aprilia forum
It really is a scary thought and I appreciate I am opening myself up for ridicule here but hey ho so beit. I have a confession! For the last 16 months I have been commuting in an electric car, a Nissan Leaf (feels good to have outed myself) Shocked The thing is I commute 90 miles a day, my trusty Alfa was costing me about £320 a month in fuel, a cheap Diesel would have been approx £240, an economical bike (NC750) around £180 and lets not go there regarding the Ape it's £16 a day!!!!!!!! All of the above was when fuel was at 99.9p / litre which it isn't now. Just up the road from work is a Nissan dealer and one lunchtime whilst out for a stroll they were unloading 4 leafs from the transporter which were their demo fleet and all branded as 155 mile range. I said the sales guy taking delivery that "they were dreaming of 155 miles maybe, what's the real range?" He said I could have one for a four day test drive to find out for myself. I wasn't interested really but thought I would save about £60 so took it. The thing cruises at 80 which as quick as my commuting traffic ever goes, is very comfortable and eerily quiet and so far in 21K miles has cost me just over £400 in electricity according to the meter on the charger. I am fortunate in that I can charge at work so my costs would be doubled but even so £800 for 21000 miles is cheap. I use the car for commuting, I have another car (evil diesel) that we use for family stuff but when I have taken the Leaf on business trips I've not had an issue to charge it and complete my jouney, just needs pre-planning that's all. In the current summer conditions it will do 120 miles driven sensibly, in the depths of winter it's 100 miles. There is a new model coming out later this year with a bigger range and I can see me swapping the contract onto a new one. I am convert, would I have an electric bike? I don't know but this is the future for transport and as far as cars are concerned once the packaging and technology for improving the capacity and power management evolves I have no issue with it becoming mainstream. We would love to all be driving round in big V8's and 200 bhp superbikes but life is about compromises and I for one can't afford to run a "sporty" car for my commute. The purpose for which I chose to take the Leaf for I cannot get over just how well it does the job, I think it's great. |
There are a few companies out there which sell kits to convert your petrol powered car to electric. These kits will cost around $6,988 and include everything minus the batteries which are pretty expensive, specially if you go for Tesla units which will give you a long range.
Check out this Porsche 911 targa Electric conversion on Youtube to get a better idea of what can be acomplished. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJLdzRJdKrs |
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No thank you!
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