nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Converting Petrol Car to battery.

donalh087

I have an older 3 litre jeep that is in good condition but I would love to convert it to an electric vehicle. The jeep is perfect but the mpg is just crazy. I would find it very difficult to spend close to 50k on a new car and the only second hand ones are Nissan Leafs (which are just too small for me). My mileage is pretty low - 300km a week.

Is there anybody doing these conversions?

I don't know where to start.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119510227#Comment_119510227

Do you know any auto electricians who would wire the thing up assuming everything was in place?

What I've discovered is there is very little run of the mill commercial expertise in this stuff - it's either companies charging 50K for really high end bumper to bumper conversions with Tesla bits or eccentrics working in their sheds!

blackbox

For a 3 litre petrol Shogun, LPG would be a much more sensible option.

pron

Not a RangeRover .. but this guy's converting a Freelander with a Leaf motor and eGolf battery pack : Ongoing, but now a moving lump : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhFZUZKXlOEvw35vr4P-7g/playlists

unkel

You'll probably have to split the battery pack anyway as it will likely not fit anywhere in the RR as a whole 😁

Good thinking about getting parts from a newer (from very late 2013) Leaf, their battery is a lot less prone to degradation and will give you about 100km real life range in the Leaf, so perhaps 60km in the Range Rover (not at motorway speeds)

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119510026#Comment_119510026

Why go to the UK for a crashed Leaf, prices over there are way higher than here and you can buy a fully working Leaf here from about €5k, no issues with import duty / VRT / VAT etc. Like this:

I haven't turned my back on Ireland at all, and if something good pops up I'll buy it. Just most of my research centred in UK as their is a lot more choice, and I'm hoping for a 2015 leaf with a better battery in the UK! (bearing in mind the aerodynamics and weight of a Range Rover compared to a leaf!)

Wasn't going to worry about if buying a crashed one as would be breaking for parts I need, selling as much as I can of what I don't need, and weighing the rest in.

As for your worry about weight and weight distribution - might not be a problem at all. Leaf motor + inverter is a lot lighter than the old diesel lump plus ancillaries. Stick part of the battery pack in the front and a smaller part in the back, you are getting rid of fuel tank and spare wheel, which saves a lot of weight. I haven't tested it, but I'd be fairly sure my E36 is lighter now as an EV than it was as a diesel.

My worry about weight distribution was because I wanted to keep the original battery pack intact for simplicity. As you say weight distribution not a problem if you split the pack, which it looks like I'll have to do.

unkel

@hometruths - found your link, just past it into a browser and replace the **** with gooboodotayeee 😁

Why go to the UK for a crashed Leaf, prices over there are way higher than here and you can buy a fully working Leaf here from about €5k, no issues with import duty / VRT / VAT etc. Like this:

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2011-nissan-leaf/31908829?campaign=23

Best of luck with your plan, you should start a thread on it here on boards too!

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509942#Comment_119509942

Unfortunately I don't have a spare 30k sterling hence why I am pricking about trying to buy a crashed Nissan leaf!

danoriordan1402

If you had a spare 30k Sterling 🙄, you can covert an old landy with a drop in kit

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/ps28800-kit-turns-your-old-land-rover-defender-ev

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509799#Comment_119509799

It's still very back of the envelope stuff. Haven't bought the donor yet.

I am working off ideally get a complete crashed leaf, probably in the UK, and landing it here for approx 5k. This is based off online ads I have seen in breakers/auctions etc in UK. I have also seen motors stacks advertised for 1500 - 2000. Leaving 3k for a battery pack. At this price range, the batteries vary hugely, and yes I have considered whatever I get will have degraded somewhat, and that will effect the range.

If the best range I can manage in budget is 30 miles, so be it. It's a start and having done the conversion it is relatively simple to upgrade the batteries in the future as time and funds allow.

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509691#Comment_119509691

Nope. Current plan is that I have agreed an arrangement with a family member mechanic who will do the stripping of old bits out eg engine, fuel system, exhaust etc, and mount and mate the motor and battery boxes etc, and other common bits and pieces like power steering pump.

Then I hope to a get an autoelectrician to connect all the wiring and test it.

I have a thread on it in another forum which has more detail if you're interested: https://****/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1654

ETA - I see that other forum is censored. See screenshot:

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509691#Comment_119509691

Obviously not if he is budgeting €5k for labour 😂

@hometruths - have you any breakdown of those figures? Also what Leaf did you buy? Probably an early Leaf which at this stage has a badly degraded battery, you won't even see 30 miles range out of it in a Range Rover I would imagine.

donalh087

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509387#Comment_119509387

Are you doing it yourself??

donalh087

"I'll be sure to bear that in mind."

Ha ha.

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509427#Comment_119509427

What range and charge time are you aiming to get?

Range about 60 miles. Charge time currently unimportant. I will charge overnight at home. If in future I wish to upgrade to fast charging that is a possibility.

Bear in mind that a Range Rover is far bigger, heavier and less aerodynamic than a Leaf, so the driving range will be significantly reduced.

I'll be sure to bear that in mind.

Girl Geraldine

What range and charge time are you aiming to get?

Bear in mind that a Range Rover is far bigger, heavier and less aerodynamic than a Leaf, so the driving range will be significantly reduced.

hometruths

I am hoping to get it done to a Range Rover for sub 10k, using a Nissan Leaf motor and battery pack. Budgeting max 5k for the bits and max 5k for labour. Time will tell if I'm crazy I guess!

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506060#Comment_119506060

That article is from 2020. I believe they are not in Ireland any more. They never offered a service to the public. They will offer courses in Netherlands for mechanics and DIY. The price quoted was theoretical not real. There is no company offering turn key options in Ireland.

In practical terms unless you want a pet project it may only make financial sense for rare or classic cars. Prices seem to be 20k to 50k excluding donor car. For other cars it probably makes more sense to buy a real EV than try get a non EV to become EV.

If done right you can get NCT, cheap tax, but there may be insurance premium.

Bovakinn

I know a Humvee is in a different league than a Jeep but this is an interesting playlist showing the conversion process from start to finish.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0vZL9uwyfOFezIOiBjkdW3TTdn0Q_AKL

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506371#Comment_119506371

I don't know the details, I obviously didn't do the conversion myself and I don't think those systems were addressed in particular in the series. The car did however pass the NCT, so I presume that everything that is supposed to be working, was working.

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506352#Comment_119506352

That is interesting and he did some good inventive work. But a jeep is a much heavier duty vehicle. Steering would always be hydraulic in those. It could be reconficured with an electrically driven hydraulic pump, but the re-engineering of a system to do that would be costly.

Out of interest, was he able to retain functionality of the ABS/VSP and airbag systems? How did he manage the car's body control systems when divorced from the original power train?

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506308#Comment_119506308

Go for it OP. I’m researching exactly same idea currently on a 1989 Range Rover, and am planning on going ahead.

Kind of surprised just how anti the idea some posters are, but I’d say a lot of people who will tell people now how crazy they are to even contemplate it, will be thankful in a few years that a small number of crazies went ahead and did it, demonstrating demand and a market, ensuring it becomes affordable for others in the future.

best of luck with it.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506332#Comment_119506332

Yes very practical for daily use, why not? The average car in Ireland does about 40-50km per day. Obviously it has limitations and it wouldn't be for everybody. And it most certainly wouldn't be suitable as the only family car for a family with kids. But it is fine for someone like me who only occasionally needs to use a second car.

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506308#Comment_119506308

I am just being realistic with you. You are not going to get a quality conversion suitable for day-in day-out driving with performance comparable with a regular EV for less than the price of a second hand leaf.

I am not trying to be insulting. I am just trying to show you that you are massively underestimating the complexity, specialist engineering and cost of what you are hoping to do.

I mean, if it was a genuine classic car of some note that you were doing up as a showpiece project, fair enough, but a 00 reg jeep just because you think it is too good to leave blocking a gap in the ditch, honestly, it just doesn't make sense.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506320#Comment_119506320

You really should watch or at least skip through the series. Yes power steering in an ICE car comes from the engine. So yes, you will need a separate power steering system. My car does have it, Maguire used electronic power steering from a scrapped Opel Zafira B. It works very well, I think it cost him about €50 in parts and the setup is very straight forward. There is an episode dedicated to it.

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506312#Comment_119506312

I see. Not very practical for daily use. Much a curiosity and pet project.

Girl Geraldine

I notice that the cars you refer to has having relatively cheap conversions are all old, small and fairly light weight.

Now I'll ad this into the mix....

A jeep, of any sort is going to be heavy enough and need power steering. Even getting the power steering system to work effectively and reliably in a conversion would, in itself, be something that would require a substantial effort be-spoke engineering at a significant cost.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506179#Comment_119506179

Pretty much all those questions are answered in the first episode of the series he did on them. Yes, he put the car through the NCT and it passed, yes can be driven daily. Motor tax is €120 like any other EV. It can do motorway speed and it has a practical range of about 65km (no fast charging). I have it fully comp insured as a classic car directly with one of the biggest insurers in Ireland for just over €200. It's pretty robust and reliable but the charger died on me and no, you can't just ring Damien Maguire (or pretty much anyone else in the country) to come fix it, even if you paid them 😁

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkg8Rk-aP4U&list=PLPHK4T9kKEyYxfC-4Jk70D6IfFSwsJQlh&index=2

He got some parts cheaper than market value really and he left the relatively expensive charger in it, so €1000 didn't quite do it, but you get the picture. Also it was a car that was about to be scrapped 4 years ago. Now it is still driving around with zero emissions and almost exclusively charged from the sun.

donalh087

Geraldine, I am not a complete cretin. I have done some research but am looking for some advice here. You are jumping to a million conclusions about what I want and the idiotic traps I will fall into. I'm only asking questions. Relax a small bit.

unkel

Yep, can't argue with any of that @Girl Geraldine.

There is a company in Wales that have converted several Irish reg cars too, but even a basic low range, no fast charging conversion of a very simple car, like a FIAT 500, would likely cost GBP20-30k (they are quite shy about pricing). They do deliver top class results though. They have also started selling complete conversion kits to the trade for some suitable classic cars like the original Mini.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ElectricClassicCars

There are companies in France who offer conversions for about €7-8k for a few basic old small cars, the government adds a subsidy so the cost to the end user is in the order of €4-5k. We just need a lot more companies to do this sort of stuff for the pricing to come down.

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506209#Comment_119506209

You are not going to get a practical, daily driveable conversion for less than the price of a second hand Nissan Leaf. That much I can tell you for certain.

Battery pack probably €5k for the most basic of units with limited range. I see listings of €5.5k for a 24 kwhr leaf battery. Whatever range that would give in a leaf, in a clunky jeep with a heavy chassis, you can probably cut the range in half.

Charger unit €750 for a cheapo one + at least €1000 for electrician to install

Power electronics & motor you are probably looking at €8000 for something of any decent type of spec that would be practical to drive.

So there straight away you are at near €15,000 for the major components. That is before you include for any of the other myriad of smaller ancillary components, let alone all the labour and time of some highly skilled technicians. Labour cost may well be more than the cost of parts and materials.

If you want components to allow the jeep to function as an actual jeep, ie with 4WD etc, capability to tow a trailer, you could expect the uprated and additional components to come at a very, very substantial price tag and the time and cost of the specialist engineering services required to balloon.