Well, that's a two-way thing. Most of the time I just do short local trips of a few miles. I have alternative vehicles for other longer trips which are both very economical. So if the A2 was converted to electric but with only a nominal range (even as low as 50 miles), then that would be fit for purpose. The benefit to me would be no gear-changes, silent running, ease of re-charging and novelty. ( I'm not sure about road-fund and insurance cost, though). The other alternative is a more ambitious conversion that resulted in a much increased range. Here I'm talking about well in excess of 200 miles. Possible even as much as 250 miles. I would hope that the end result would then be something very special and obviously it would need a hefty level of financial investment. I can handle that and would think that £20, 000 might be realistic. (most new electric vehicles are well in excess of that amount) I'd probably then be thinking of the disposal of my every-day car, the Dacia Sandero Bi-fuel. I's noteworthy for its astonishing fuel economy and its ability to travel over 800 miles on its combined fuel tanks. I am delighted with it and it's hard to fault it.
The very best outcome of a project of this nature would be if it provided a reliable blueprint for the conversion of A2's to electric with the best components and pitfalls to be avoided. 👍
David
Well I think a simple conversion with a realistic range of up to 100 miles should be possible. The way I would go about it would be to use an off the shelf AC induction motor rather than something from an existing EV. I would use the existing gearbox and mate a motor to it with an adaptor plate, something like the HPEVS AC-50. You wouldn't need the clutch, it could be coupled directly to the gearbox either with a solid or semi rigid coupling. This would allow you to either still use the gearbox as a manual, or work out what would be the best gear for your driving aim and lock the gearbox in that gear, reverse would be handled by running the motor backwards.
You could use a permanent magnet DC motor, simpler but you loose regen braking. If you wanted to keep it as a manual and shift gears, you might need to find a way to disable regeneration during the shift.
Check out this link for example prices for motors and controllers, curtis controllers seem to be the norm with the HPEV motors:
Motor package includes the AC-50 (AC 50-26.25) Motor, Controller, Wiring harness and display.
falconelectric.co.uk
The AC50 could give upto 90-odd horsepower with enough batteries (144v pack)
For batteries, there are many options, I had a poke about my A2 earlier and it looks like there could be a decent amount of space in the boot under the false floor if everything else is removed, so a split pack with some in the boot and some under the bonnet might work OK.
There are loads of different battery packs from various EVs that could be used, just depends on what you can find in budget. I would be tempted to use LiFePo4 packs or cells however, they are not as... explodey as Li-ion! Slightly less energy dense but safer for a DIY EV. Battery management system is pretty much mandatory, Orion BMS is the one that has been catching my eye for my conversion but they can be pricey, but they can also talk CAN to chargers and motor controller etc. There are many different options.
Again, you could find a drive from another ev, tesla perhaps, but by far the easiest would be to keep as much of the A2 as standard as you can, so coupling a motor to the existing gearbox would be the way to go I think. Avoids having to mess about with mountings, suspension, driveshafts etc
I am happy to help as much as I can via the Internet but I am a bit too far away and busy with work to help in person!
