Thread: Convert a GP to battery power. Could it be done?

I read an article in Wired magazine about a new company that wants to move to battery powered vehicles.

Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road

Not like a Tesla, or some super efficient car, but regular every day vehicles for people who don't drive a lot during the day. So I started thinking about it for my GP. What would I need to do/replace? This is strictly a theoretical exercise, as I'm pretty sure the cost involved would far out way the payback, unless I got donations of time, parts and labor.

Here's some early thoughts. I don't really need a transmission, just need Park, Forward, and Reverse. I'd be willing to sacrifice A/C, since the time I'd be in the car would be minimal, unless I could find an efficient electric A/C motor instead of belt driven. I probably won't need an alternator, since it's already battery powered. But I'm assuming I'd always be able to plug the car in after 25-30 miles, so I don't need power recovery like current hybrids use. Essentially I want a giant radio controlled car.

The engine bay would mainly be batteries, and I might spread the weight around and put some in the rear. But I'm curious how far I could get on 15-20 fully charged car batteries?

Thoughts? Opinions? Snarky comments?

If you were closer, I'd certainly help out...

After removing the engine, transmission and radiator, you'd need to fab up an electric motor gearbox that interfaces with the hubs. Usually, these are driven by high frequency drives to AC motors. For the best in traction control, one motor per drive wheel. Your bank of batteries would most likely occupy the trunk area. You can put the AC drive up front, close to the motor. You'll have to replace the power steering unit with a manual rack'n'pinion unless you drive the existing PS pump with a motor as well. Vacuum assist brakes could be replaced with the GN's HydroBoost electric braking module, as well as regenerative braking to the front wheels by converting the rotary motion back to electric and recharging the batteries while you coast/brake. Throttle will need to be converted to drive-by-wire. If you plan on recharging off 115vac anywhere, you'll need to carry around your charger unit. You might be able to drive on deep cycle wet marine batteries, but I believe that Lithium Ion batteries will get you more bang for your buck. Switch to HID headlamps and LED corner lights. Remove the DRL controller as well as the BCM. Use as many manual power switches as you can (like a boat console) to take control over your power consumption. Heat and cooling will be an issue, since the hvac motor will pull substantial power, as well as powering an electric heater. Wipers and the rear defroster draw a bit as well. You might be able to heat with some sort of propane Coleman style heater, modified to be a heat exchanger of sorts. (Heat the liquid under the hood, pump it through the heater core in the car.) All in all, you'll want to reduce rolling friction and weight as much as possible. I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten at the moment. It's late. My brain is toast...

my dad has been talking about converting one...... pretty ingenious!!!

There's an article about a police Impala that was converted to all electric. No reason the same thing can't be done to a GP.

I always thought of a small diesel generator and 4 hub motors, lots of torque ...(electric motors have 100% of torque available at 0 rpm )
This could be done in a GP, generator where the trunk is and all the electronics and relays and controllers to feed the 4 motors in the hood area, manual steering, and heat off the generator, drive the Ac off the generator as well.... I could see 60 - 100 MPG with the setup done correctly.....But I don't have the $$ to do what I've wanted to do since sophomore year of high school(I have my drawings out of those notebooks with a little less detail than I have now )

I'll just have to wait until my transmission or engine completely dies, then start buying parts... Now that I've made that commitment, I'll be posting on here next week that my engine has blown.

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Hmmm, an electric GP......interesting!!!

We took our son to an amusement park over the weekend. They have a "ride" that is a collection of antique looking electric cars that loosely ride on a rail. They run ALL day on a single charge at 3-5 mph. I think 40-50 miles would be feasible in a GP, but we'll have to do a lot of weight reduction...

Well considering the Chevy Volt concept is only to run 40 miles on a charge before switching to gas, Id say an impala that can run an 8hr shift before needing to be recharged is quite the achievement. Of course there were no information given if that was continuous run or just how much actual drive time that involved.

I would think to be really successful an all electric car would have to be able to go around 150 miles or so before needing to be recharged. Granted 40 miles the volt proposes is good and would accommodate many drivers, here in the mid west and central plains, much fewer people are that close to work and other points of interest. A good 150 - 200 mile range on a charge would cover probably 75% of the drivers in the US.

Matt Graham's Electric Car: Nissan 240SX "Joule Injected"

The Forklifts I drive at work are 8500+lbs, and run continuous for 9+ hours lifting 300lb - 1800lb pallets and moving them through a 150,000+ square foot warehouse and lifting the pallets as high as 37'(Gets kinda hairy with the 1800lb pallets)........All on one charge...the battery pack could fit in a GP(It just weighs 2k lbs)

Everyday I think to my self, why cant we just use one of these huge lead-acid batteries for hybrid cars.........

Originally Posted by 02BlueGT

Everyday I think to my self, why cant we just use one of these huge lead-acid batteries for hybrid cars.........

Probably because they weigh a ton and are filled with lead acid... It's funny that you have to change the forklift battery by using another forklift....

Originally Posted by WhiteDevil

70-100 miles on a 5 hour charge.............

guy in wheaton has a S-10 thats been converted to all battery, thats the range he gets, his s-10 is alot lighter then our GP's are.

wheaton? as in wheaton, maryland?