Just went to this site and saw that they sold quite a few Beetles that were converted to electric power. I would like to hear feedback from the owners.
thanks, One out of many daves
I would love to do one of these. But I lack a few items which would be a necessity for a project like this. 1) The budget. 2) A garage to work in. 3) The skills required.
Also - I would have to start with a new Bug body. I wouldn't have the heart to remove a recently rebuilt motor in perfect running condition!
I am surprised I didn't see any VW rabbits on the list. I hear they are good project cars due to the low weight, and ease of conversion.
-Steve Ballantyne
68' BugThanks Steve, Their kit looks easy to install into a Beetle since you only need to bolt the electric motor onto the transmission and then deal with wiring things up. It is not like you have to fabricate some motor mounting brackets like I would have to do for another vehicle. That takes off at least one BIG step of doing the conversion. A Rabbit could be done also but again it would need to have those brackets. Rabbits here rust out and they are usually not worthwhile to restore, but a Beetle is at least worth it.
I would have thought that someone here either owns one or has seen one. I was hoping at least.
I have a '70 Beetle in waiting for another 4 years so at least I have the "time" to do this, but I would have to include it into the budget. lol AND by that time battery technology along with their costs should continue to improve so that maybe the range can be extended over hundreds of miles. Hey I can hope! lol
The only aspect of the kit that I did not like is the talk of having to cut down the transaxle input shaft to get the electric motor flush with the transaxle case. I don't know about you, but for me...doing that would basically keep me from being able to go back to the stock gasoline engine setup unless you take the transaxle apart and replace the rear section of the input shaft. I'd rather see the kit space the electric motor back from the transaxle and leave the input shaft unmodified. If I was going to go down this route I'd prefer to do it in such a way that I could return to the factory style powertrain without a great deal of effort should I decide to do so.
No, but you do have to fabricate brackets to install a bunch of lead- acid batteries, and the consequences of not securing them properly are pretty steep. I don't see how you could do the conversion without some welding, at the very least welding up a frame to support the batteries, and then utilizing existing bolt positions for things like the rear seat and such to support the frame.
And the entry-level kits I've seen are only good to about 40 mph which in part of the country isn't enough to keep you out of harms way. I get run-over badly enough with the stock engine ...
Chris
Good points! The cutting of the mainshaft of the transmission would make it tricky to put everything back stock with that modified transmission but these are not difficult to change or have a spare one. :-) I would assume with a slight modification of the installing bracket, put on spacers, then the input shaft would not need to be trimmed down. I do wonder why they designed it that way????
I can see a carpenter setting up wooden boxes to hold those Optimum batteries that can be installed at almost any angle.
I was hoping to see someone use other style batteries like the new tesla car.
Now check this video out where they installed newer style batteries in an electric car
That is one serious electric car. I wonder what its normal range is though?
Neil
For drag racing I think he recharges after every 1/4 mile run. I guess if he "moderately" uses the batteries, he can probably travel 40+ miles. Even up to 200 miles if he adds more of those compact batteries. I am only guessing here so mileage may vary! It seems like he was driving around the city like it was a normal vehicle. I usually drive locally and don't go over 20 miles a day so it would be a great summer vehicle for me. I need heat in the winter time! ;-)
If I do build one, I WILL take it to the drag strip along with a portable generator to recharge it!
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