Electric Vehicle conversion for 700/900 ?

[360beast]

It would be amassive amount of effort and you would essentially end up with the same engine and you would have to either convert it to run the V70 ecu etc or go aftermarket to get the mpg and emissions gain.

It would be better to convert your V90 to an aftermarket ecu but then as it is an automatic and the gearbox and ecu talk to each other you would also need to do something about that.

Long story short if ain't broke

[TonyS9]

Originally Posted by derek vivian

I am particularly interested to know if I could replace the engine in my V90 with that from a V70. My next door neighbour has a 2006 V70 and seeing that got me thinking. Could an engine swap be possible if so would that make my 1997 V90 which my wife and I love driving more environmentally friendly? Not bothered about ULEZ, but am concerned about pollution from vehicles. What thoughts??

You are really only tinkering at the edges with combustion engines, unless you are driving a diesel older than Euro 6, but even then the anti pollution measures are temperamental. An older petrol is probably better pollutionwise than a newer one with direct injection. If you do low miles then I wouldn't worry too much about the CO2.

[TonyS9]

I'd be interested soon in an EV conversion, but my car really needs stripped and restored (underside) for rust repairs before spending that sort of money.

As for saving CO2 Tesla and VW both claim carbon neutral production (or near), so the old bulding another car isn't much of an argument anymore, although perhaps the energy saving it still justifyable, they are talking renewable capacity from elsewhere.

I'm in 2 minds to be honest, the car is getting increasingly hard to maintain the rust, new EV will probably be cheaper to buy than a conversion, now and in the future, unless you do it yourself.

E-beams are all the rage, we just need a small one for the live rear axle to preserve the majority of the suspension. You could probably get a custom one. I'd much rather get rid of the gearbox/clutch and propshaft.

This one looks way over powered and is too big, but I've seen smaller ones.

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/16...-pickup-trucks

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

I'd be interested soon in an EV conversion, but my car really needs stripped and restored (underside) for rust repairs before spending that sort of money.

As for saving CO2 Tesla and VW both claim carbon neutral production (or near), so the old bulding another car isn't much of an argument anymore, although perhaps the energy saving it still justifyable, they are talking renewable capacity from elsewhere.

I'm in 2 minds to be honest, the car is getting increasingly hard to maintain the rust, new EV will probably be cheaper to buy than a conversion, now and in the future, unless you do it yourself.

E-beams are all the rage, we just need a small one for the live rear axle to preserve the majority of the suspension. You could probably get a custom one. I'd much rather get rid of the gearbox/clutch and propshaft.

This one looks way over powered and is too big, but I've seen smaller ones.

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/16...-pickup-trucks

I like the idea of the E-beam axle Tony, it would make a very easy conversion for the 7/9xx (except the IRS/multi-link models) series, the engine compartment could become a battery compartment, trans tunnel could house that controller as it appears to be and also the cabling, the charging socket should fit nicely in place of the fuel filler too.

[ukvolvo]

In America some do conversions with the original gearbox left on so it drives with a clutch etc on manual shift

To be honest though unless you have a source of batteries your not doing much to help the planet. These batteries will be the next landfill and environmental disaster in 3rd world countries as they are awful to recycle.

We do not possess the current battery technology to make e cars viable for all. Rich mans gimick for now as the capacitor style battery units etc they promised are not on the market yet.

The French government has a field full of 1000s of zoe cars apparently, as the batteries died and it was cheaper to replace the car

The whole e car market is worrying in my opinion

Converted a 940 to hydrogen Now were talking...

Mick

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by ukvolvo

In America some do conversions with the original gearbox left on so it drives with a clutch etc on manual shift

To be honest though unless you have a source of batteries your not doing much to help the planet. These batteries will be the next landfill and environmental disaster in 3rd world countries as they are awful to recycle.

We do not possess the current battery technology to make e cars viable for all. Rich mans gimick for now as the capacitor style battery units etc they promised are not on the market yet.

The French government has a field full of 1000s of zoe cars apparently, as the batteries died and it was cheaper to replace the car

The whole e car market is worrying in my opinion

Converted a 940 to hydrogen Now were talking...

Mick

That's exactly the scenario i've been predicting for some years now, BEV batteries in landfill because they can't be recycled as easily as is claimed. Also most peoples incomer fuse is only 100A, that gives a total capacity of 24000VA per house. Unless they are charging with chargers that plug into a 13A domestic socket, they're likely to have a bigger charger. If that bigger charger is a 25kW or even 23kW, it will likely cause the incomer fuse to pop or at least trigger the MCB. Then imagine a street of the things, it would trigger the fuses/MCBs in the sub-stations to pop - localised power cuts anybody?

"Sorry boss, i'm late because my alarm didn't go off because we had a power cut!"

"Sorry boss, can't come in today, my cars flat!"

And so it would escalate...................

[ukvolvo]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

That's exactly the scenario i've been predicting for some years now, BEV batteries in landfill because they can't be recycled as easily as is claimed. Also most peoples incomer fuse is only 100A, that gives a total capacity of 24000VA per house. Unless they are charging with chargers that plug into a 13A domestic socket, they're likely to have a bigger charger. If that bigger charger is a 25kW or even 23kW, it will likely cause the incomer fuse to pop or at least trigger the MCB. Then imagine a street of the things, it would trigger the fuses/MCBs in the sub-stations to pop - localised power cuts anybody?

"Sorry boss, i'm late because my alarm didn't go off because we had a power cut!"

"Sorry boss, can't come in today, my cars flat!"

And so it would escalate...................

Completely true,

A new couple in my Mam and Dads street are into cars. He decided to go all electric except for his Porsche.

3 weeks of the full street been dug up and chaos all of a sudden starts and everyone was wondering why.

The wiring was not good enough to supply the car charger on his house so they put a line in for him



I use the more aggressive cousins of lithium batteries, Lipos in RC aircraft and they are very hard to get rid of/ recycle. God forbid half the planet using them on a 100x larger scale each

[TonyS9]

Originally Posted by ukvolvo

To be honest though unless you have a source of batteries your not doing much to help the planet. These batteries will be the next landfill and environmental disaster in 3rd world countries as they are awful to recycle.

We do not possess the current battery technology to make e cars viable for all. Rich mans gimick for now as the capacitor style battery units etc they promised are not on the market yet.

The French government has a field full of 1000s of zoe cars apparently, as the batteries died and it was cheaper to replace the car

The whole e car market is worrying in my opinion

Converted a 940 to hydrogen Now were talking...

Mick

I don't this is the place to have such a discussion and think people should stick to the topic, but I firmly believe this all to be provable false information.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

I don't this is the place to have such a discussion and think people should stick to the topic, but I firmly believe this all to be provable false information.

I'm confused Tony - what part of that post you quoted is off-topic?

The thread is about the possible conversion of a 7/9xx to electric power, therefore any and all options of conversion can be considered.

Recycling used batteries is a perennial nightmare and from what i understand, the allegedly recyclable batteries fitted to BEVs aren't all they seem, taking much more energy and cost to recycle than was originally estimated.

If you recall, you and i have discussed the fact we aren't ready for full uptake of BEVs for many reasons, no need to reiterate those conversations here. Also have you seen the price of gas lately? Much of the reason it is so high is because the renewables failed us this year so instead of having (essentially) free wind and solar power, many countries had to revert to using gas to fuel power stations. High demand creates shortages which in turn create higher prices.
Now factor in increased use of BEVs, most are charged at night when solar power isn't an option. You can see a problem straightaway i'm sure!

As for those fields of Zoes, the OP isn't wrong although the story behind it seems somewhat skewed :

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/el...ndoned-france/

Have a read, draw your own conclusions. I'd suggest the truth lies somewhere in between what the OP suggested and what this report suggests.

I'd certainly agree the whole BEV scenario is worrying, just like the proposed uptake of air-source heat pumps and also ground source heat pumps. Once the temperature drops below a certain point with either of those, they become ineffective at heating and just consume power - more power in fact than if they were transferring heat as they would constantly be trying to achieve heating when there's no heat to be had! Just like a fridge runs continuously when it's low on gas because it can't pull the temperature down inside the fridge.
Oh yeah, guess what? Those heat pumps use electricity to power them! Where is that electricity coming from? Same place as all the BEVs? This year has already proved renewables can't provide, therefore gas was used but hang on a minute - that produces pollution doesn't it?

We're just going round in circles here with the greenie-eco-warriors causing more problems than they're solving and demanding things happen now when we don't have the technology to do it, even if it was affordable.

As for a hydrogen engine conversion, yes it would be an extremely viable proposition if it wasn't for the cost and difficulty of producing and storing hydrogen. It burns cleanly with water/steam being the main exhaust component - not pollution because it's already in the atmosphere. Also water can be used so isn't a pollutant.

[ukvolvo]

I was not trying to cause a off topic meander sorry. These are all valid concerns around electric ownership. We cant all just wander off onto the next thing without having solid understanding of the reality.

I never even read the news story about the zoe affair it was something i was told by a friend i car share with. So any inaccuracies and i can hold my hands up. I am not on social media anymore but have just read the article and it does differ somewhat haha. Reality is still the same regardless battery replacement is a costly concept.

Another story i have not fact checked but heard a few times including from a my father via a nissan staff member (my family live near big Sunderland plant) ,is that the emissions required to produce a Nissan leaf battery surpass the lifetime emissions of a 1.6 car.

These type of things concern me as it means basically middle class people buying electric cars as a status symbol without there been much impact large scale on emissions.

As regards alternatives like hydrogen. I firmly believe they cracked it and patents are sitting on shelves. Ford has one for sure. That's just my opinion however.