Any more electric e30 conversions?

[82eye]

Here is an e30 conversion underway using Nissan Leaf batteries. These are cheap and easy because they're aircooled:
https://openinverter.org/forum/viewt...hp?f=11&t=1828

aren't most leaf batteries early gen ? once they lose charging capacity it doesn't come back and the packs need outright replacement with better batteries.
it's a bit like an engine swap to a known crappy motor.

[rjmcdermott81]

Here is an e30 conversion underway using Nissan Leaf batteries. These are cheap and easy because they're aircooled:

https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1828

[e30davie]

I'm not doing an e30 conversion but a 1993 Rx7. I was inspired by the TeslaE30 you're talking about.

Just read your thread, great work. I like the attention to detail.

[rjmcdermott81]

Just buy an i3, it’s basically an EV E30

Dude... that's a pretty dead-on comment. I really like the i3 and it's quick as heck off the line. They are so affordable... 10-15k and they are cool looking.

[2mAn]

Just buy an i3, it’s basically an EV E30

[rjmcdermott81]

I'm not doing an e30 conversion but a 1993 Rx7. I was inspired by the TeslaE30 you're talking about.

I really like the tesla drive unit route because it gets rid of all the dead weight of the transmission and diff and it's an OEM part that comes with OEM reliability (debatable). The real hard part is that if you go Tesla, you need 360v of batteries and you can't fit a full Tesla pack in a car as small as an e30. So you have to go with Volt, Leaf, or LG Chem batteries that are OEM or buy off the shelf batteries, such as those from ElectricGT. On my Rx7 I have 42 kwH which will hopefully be good for 120-150 miles and it stays in the engine/trans areas. I'm into the swap for 20-25k. You could easily fit even more in an e30...the Rx7 is considerably smaller.

It took me months to modify the rear subframe on the Rx7 to fit the Tesla motor. Major cutting. The e30 would be 10x easier with the trailing arm suspension. You could slap together an e30 swap with a Tesla motor and 2x Volt battery packs for cheap and have a ball. Or people are using GS450h transmissions as the power unit or Leaf motors, etc. For even cheaper.

https://www.instagram.com/rjmsgarage/

Here's my build thread. Tons of good EV swap projects on here, including some e30's: https://openinverter.org/forum/viewt...hp?f=11&t=1244

[e30davie]

What're you on about?
You can source motors/batteries from other EVs for a total of under 10k. Sure you'll pay closer to 30k if you want a shop to do all the work, but wrenchers have done their own EV builds at home for 10k. That's with actual EV motors and battery packs (tesla motors/gm packs most common combo i've seen). That'll be good for 100 or so miles.
Ford has even started selling an electric crate motor for under 4k that's good for ~300 hp and ~300 ft/lbs.

The age old quote applies "think of a budget for your project car and triple it"

EV conversions are getting cheaper, but to make something good is going to take hours and hours of work. and its not just welding stuff. lot of technical electronic wizardry required.

The cabri e30 that was mentioned, he has an instagram called "tesla_bimmer". hes always doing lots of tech things, making PCBs, programming arduinos, playing with can bus. these little things are going to be what makes your Ev conversion nice to use as a car. like al conversions. Getting it to drive is probably only 30% of the work.

EV conversion is going to be completely custom everything, so nothing special about the E30 either way. Maybe a 5 series would be a better choice, cheaper and more room.

RWD seems to be the obvious choice as you can just make a replacement rear subframe that has the elec motor and drive shafts etc. All in one.

Probably better off buying any number of new smallish EVs if you really want electric though.

[ZeKahr]

What're you on about?
You can source motors/batteries from other EVs for a total of under 10k. Sure you'll pay closer to 30k if you want a shop to do all the work, but wrenchers have done their own EV builds at home for 10k. That's with actual EV motors and battery packs (tesla motors/gm packs most common combo i've seen). That'll be good for 100 or so miles.
Ford has even started selling an electric crate motor for under 4k that's good for ~300 hp and ~300 ft/lbs.

Well I don't have a garage, so this is something I'd personally leave to a shop to do; EV swapping involves a bit of custom work so in my case I'd have a shop handle it. The Ford crate EV motor is a better option if you're going for pure power, but for those who just want an E30 to daily the Hyper9 is sufficient. My question is, is there enough space around the gas tank area to bolt the Ford motor to the differential? That would be my preferred setup as it eliminates the transmission. Given the dimensions of the Hyper9 it should easily fit there, but not sure about the Ford motor.

[ElJimo]

Right now EV-swapped E30s are only in the realm of the rich, at least if you want something that can go 100+ miles on a single charge. So there aren't many of them right now. Affordable EV swaps that get 200+ miles of range are at least 10-15 years away; we need to wait for solid state batteries to become mainstream and affordable. By then you'll see a lot more EV-swapped E30s

A cheap EV swapped E30 would be something like a forklift DC motor and 10-12 lead-acid batteries. This will probably cost $10k-20k just for the swap if you have a shop do it. Such a car would only get 30-40 miles of range at best. A better-equipped swap would be a Hyper9 AC motor with crashed Tesla batteries - total cost for this could be triple the previous option.

What're you on about?
You can source motors/batteries from other EVs for a total of under 10k. Sure you'll pay closer to 30k if you want a shop to do all the work, but wrenchers have done their own EV builds at home for 10k. That's with actual EV motors and battery packs (tesla motors/gm packs most common combo i've seen). That'll be good for 100 or so miles.
Ford has even started selling an electric crate motor for under 4k that's good for ~300 hp and ~300 ft/lbs.

[ZeKahr]

Right now EV-swapped E30s are only in the realm of the rich, at least if you want something that can go 100+ miles on a single charge. So there aren't many of them right now. Affordable EV swaps that get 200+ miles of range are at least 10-15 years away; we need to wait for solid state batteries to become mainstream and affordable. By then you'll see a lot more EV-swapped E30s

A cheap EV swapped E30 would be something like a forklift DC motor and 10-12 lead-acid batteries. This will probably cost $10k-15k just for the swap if you have a shop do it. Such a car would only get 30-40 miles of range at best. A better-equipped swap would be a Hyper9 AC motor with crashed Tesla batteries - total cost for this could be triple the previous option.

[lukeADE335i]

Tino at 300mm.de did a swap and has a Tesla conversion mounts for the e30 available for sale.

https://www.300mm.de/index.php?cPath=103

He converted a touring to EV (eTouring), and has some pretty good documentation on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgGdwF1_SEM&list=PLZCiEJShtE-a8uCFGp0pH1oM_S8RJDh8W

[ElJimo]

Mate Rimac (guy who started the supercar EV company, Rimac), started his first build on an e30. Assuming most people already know this, but I love this car, so here's the link....

[82eye]

there's a student project going on local. they are converting an old volvo wagon. they are sort of approaching it as a resto-mod, keeping key original pieces and restoring a few. the power train changes but they are keeping suspension changes to a minimum. this is just a local engineering / mechanic college thing, but i guess old volvo wagons are kind of a popular choice for conversion. there's a couple places specializing now.

[varg]

You won't likely see a lot of EV E30 swaps. E30s are small cars, so you have to choose between poor range, sacrificing the trunk, or splitting the batteries up between fuel tank, trunk, and under-hood placement which significantly increases the complexity of the build. Batteries are massively inefficient as a store of energy per unit mass or volume when compared to gasoline so as EV conversions get more popular you're inherently going to see less of that in small cars which don't have a lot of free space for big boxy batteries.

Do front wheel drive and make a custom driveshaft tunnel battery. I have been thinking, half-seriously, about a front drive VW TDI conversion on one of my iX cars for MPG/range extension.

Converting any E30 to FWD is an awful idea. Just get a TDI Jetta or Golf.

[packratbimmer]

Do front wheel drive and make a custom driveshaft tunnel battery. I have been thinking, half-seriously, about a front drive VW TDI conversion on one of my iX cars for MPG/range extension.