[Thalass]

Hey folks. I used to hang around here a few years ago, but life (mortgage and kids, mostly) got in the way and I kinda fell away from the EV scene.

Now things are looking up and I want to finally convert something! Unfortunately it seems my go-to spreadsheets and forum posts have vanished from the internet - and I've forgotten the general rules-of-thumb.


I would like to convert something like a Subaru SVX, and while something like that demands a performance conversion I just want to get on the road. At least to start with. Upgrades are possible in the future!


The SVX has a CoD of 0.29, though my daily commute won't be fast enough for that to be a factor. I'm assuming 300Wh/km. My commute will be a tiny 10km each way, with a decent hill to climb on the way there but coasting downhill on the way home. I bodged up a spreadsheet which informs me that a range of 25km will require a 6kWh pack, 41.6Ah per cell with pack voltage of 144 (80%DoD). LiFePO4, of course. I think the most important thing is keeping up with traffic, for now. In the future I could buy another pack for longer range - ultimately my inlaws live about 150km away, and this is the furtherest I should ever have to go.

I still prefer AC motors on principle, but man they are still expensive! For the initial conversion I'm willing to go with DC, and I would rather like to build a P&S controller myself. I guess I figure if I spread the cost over many years of tinkering my wife won't notice how much I've spent on what should eventually end up as an electric sports car :P


Anyway, have I forgotten anything? Am I being too optimistic? 45 CALB 400Ah cells should cost $2430 before shippping (probably US$, too). By comparison 45 260Ah Voltronix cells would give me enough range to get to my inlaws' house but would cost $15210!

Thanks!