climateXchange

Is there anybody in the Canberra region commercially transforming 4WDs to electric?

I want to take a blown up motor out of an old Pajero and make it electric instead. Who does this sort of thing and how much does it cost? Also, is it possible to carry a solar panel or something so that I can be self-sufficient and able to repower myself when I am out bush?

I would greatly appreciate any leads or advice.

cindy said:

Is there anybody in the Canberra region commercially transforming 4WDs to electric?

I want to take a blown up motor out of an old Pajero and make it electric instead. Who does this sort of thing and how much does it cost? Also, is it possible to carry a solar panel or something so that I can be self-sufficient and able to repower myself when I am out bush?

I would greatly appreciate any leads or advice.

In general a home-converted battery electric car is going to be more successful if you chose something reasonably small, light and aerodynamic. I think a Pajero would not be ideal.  I did a Daihatsu charade (with a dead engine but otherwise good condition) and I am happy with the result. However, for a trip into the bush we would take our other car, an early model Subaru Forester. Surprisingly, this car doesn't weigh any more than many current model 'small' cars. Cars keep getting heavier. Sigh….

I did the sums that on the roof and bonnet of my car I could only get about 300W of solar cells. That would not be worth the bother, especially since cars are often in the shade or not at ideal solar angles. It makes more sense to put extra battery in the car and extra panels on my roof at home. [Aside from have PVs on the roof of my house I purchase 100% greenpower for my consumption, the house and car charging.]

The car you could make reasonably for your purpose would be a series hybrid. You could convert to battery electric and have an adequate range for short trips. Then you have a small trailer with a generator that charges your battery during longer trips but most of the time you leave it at home. You won't be able to carry enough solar panels. When you want a longer trip the generator should be large enough to supply your average rate of consumption. If the design is good this can be more efficient than just using the fossil fuel directly because the engine driving the generator can be made to operate at higher efficiency by optimising for a particular load and rpm, more than enough to compensate for losses elsewhere. 

While it is possible to buy a battery electric car with range of 100s of km (say a Tesla Roadster for $225,000) we are not really there yet for long trips into the bush. Better to minimise petrol use around town with a greenpowered battery electric small vehicle and accept that occasional long trips away from the highway will need something fossil-fueled for a while yet. 

For more discussion I recommend coming along to the Canberra EV meetings-see above.