Edu's WICFTIL Electric Conversion

[mocadnet]

So, I finally decided to start my thread, so far it's title is "Edu's WICFTIL Electric Conversion" WICFTIL stands for "whatever I can find that I like".

After I read Project ForkenSwift thread and Ben Nelson's Metro Build thread plus watching his dvd, I decided to start my own conversion.

Phase 1 was to find a place where I could work, since my wife, my two cats and I were living in a flat we had to move to a bigger place with garage.

Now, I have to decide what should I get first the car or an electric motor.

I've been looking for around 7 months and I couldn't find a place here in Switzerland where I could get a forklift motor, I think that its gonna be the most difficult part, I might need to get it somewhere else and get it send here, maybe if I find something on the UK I could go there for a weekend and get it.

About cars, I'm not sure which one should I go for, I have a few that I like:

smart - it's small, relatively light and there are a few around with a blow engine that goes for $500 CHF ( for swiss price its not that much ). On the down side there is no repair manual available for it.

vauxhall/opel/chevrolet corsa around '98- I like that one very much, I had one before and again it's a light car.

suzuki swift - I think that would be the easier to do because it has been done before and I can find info here about it.

Can you guys give me your opinion, what car do you think I should go for, I've seen a thread in another forum about a smart conversion, but the guy changed a lot of stuff like gear box and so on, though I think a smart would be a nice conversion I don't want to start with a difficult conversion.

thanks.

I'm looking forward to your feedback

[MetroMPG]

Welcome!

Smart is more difficult because there isn't much capacity (space or weight) for batteries. However if you're only looking for a short-range runabout, it's not as much of an issue. Also, is a manual gearbox available in the Smart? Here it's only an automated manual, and that makes doing a conversion more difficult.

Biggest advice: don't get a piece of junk donor car. Even if the price is right, you will just end up with a piece of junk EV.

Ask me how I know this.

[mocadnet]

is a manual gearbox available in the Smart?

thanks for the advice, I check it and there is no clutch, so, smart is out of my list.

Biggest advice: don't get a piece of junk donor car. Even if the price is right, you will just end up with a piece of junk EV.

That is my biggest worry, here snows a lot and they put a lot of salt on the streets I really need to check very carefully to avoid ending up with a rust piece of crap.

Ask me how I know this.

How do you know this?!?!


My initial idea is to have a 72v system, I just want to drive to the train station, supermarket, and around the region.

[MetroMPG]

72v should be fine for a light weight runabout.

48v is only barely adequate in mostly flat terrain if I avoid the "main" roads. Too slow (at least with 400A and ~2000 lbs). Not enough power for steep hills.