winterturb

What companies are working on building a drop in electric motor kit to existing gas pots?

I started a thread on a Canadian startup company that has developed new brains for electric motors making them more versatile and efficient, it died quick. In working through their information it was discovered that a Very large industrial electric motor company in Mexico is actually working on exactly that. They are developing a fully electric drive train and battery pack that will allow a user to remove their gas engine and replace it with an electric motor. This is interesting tech

is anyone aware of other companies working on this same approach?

and would you buy such a kit to transform your car to fully electric.

sdls

There are crappy inefficient ones like the Warp 9 and such. The best retrofit kits will be the ones that allow you to use a junkyard OEM EV motor and as many OEM EV components as possible. Let the billion dollar companies do the engineering of the power train, adaptation is the easy part.

Toys4RJill

I don't think there will much in this venture. You would likely need the major car manufacturers to develop the swap....that likely won't happen I do know that Toyota is developing their BEV models to have a direct swap to FCEV at a later time for their commercial stuff...so a battery powered bus, when the batteries expire after 5/10 years of service life, the FCEV tanks swap into the system but the rest of the vehicle remains....that is the future and end game.

mmarshall

Retrofitting an ICE-designed vehicle with a BEV powerplant isn't just a matter of swapping power-trains under the hood. Another major issue is where you are going to put the large batter-pack needed to store energy for the motor. These are typically large and bulky, weigh a fair amount, and purpose-intended BEV vehicles are designed and engineered to make room for them.

sdls

retrofits always seem to involve the fabrication of battery modules under the hood, in the trunk, and sometimes in place of a gas tank. It’s inelegant lol

RNM GS3

The market for EVs is minuscule - I doubt swapping ICE for ev in old car will have much demand.

Just get a Model 3 and save the headache.

mmarshall

Unfortunately, you often don't save headaches by getting a Tesla.

sdls

fewer headaches than an ev conversion

winterturb

The company currently working on the tech is significantly sized and in Mexico. We in North America don’t tend to keep cars as long as folks in Other countries and we often prefer form over function where others Europe for example typically prefer function over form. So I see drop in electric motor replacements as being a huge market as the transportation trend moves more to EV. (Function over form)

there are a lot of OEM suppliers that provide parts to all makes and it’s the OEMs who may come up with a unique solution.

potencia in Mexico is one such company working on a drop in. I can see it working well especially on larger delivery trucks in metros.

they have bought a few rolling chassis from
major auto makers to work on figuring it out.

winterturb

a conversion would for sure not be headache free

EZZ

More headache free than any other car I owned. Trips to dealership in last 18 months = 0. I'll have to go to dealership in about 3 years for a brake fluid change.

winterturb

that’s a compelling argument for car owners and likely why Tesla has such a high satisfactory rate. Nothing worse than having to take a care in for service and wait for it.... maybe a dental appointment but not much else

I know many Tesla owners who are all delighted to own them EV’s low maintenance makes them attractive but not everyone can afford a new one. Which is why I think the company who develops a good retrofit kit will do well financially. Many Taxis in Panama City Panama have 700,000 kms on them and are nearing the end of the engine life but the cars are still in good overall condition. I can easily see those guys swapping out an ICE for EV. Same in Quito Bogotá Bruno’s Aires Manaus Santiago Montevideo Guayaquil and many other Metros in SA. Latin mechanics are creative and capable. I’ve spent a good amount of time in Cuba in cars where the engine mounts were broke and the engine held in by a chain, a motorcycle engine that is. What may be a headache to us would be a joy to someone else

it’s sometimes good to expand the mind and think outside of ones sphere of existence and influence

Benoit

We have, in neighbour france, a whole industry born from ICE-EV swap.
It's much cheaper to swap out an old car, than to buy a new one.
This tendency is on the rise.

EZZ

The trouble with these swaps are that you may not be able to use DC fast charging for any type of trips or quick fill ups. I guess for a hobby car its okay but for most, its not a good solution.

Benoit

I can't say. I'm not a technician working on this, just heard it on the news. But the peoples seem happy with it and demand seems on the rise, so it must not be that bad (maybe they have DC fast charging who knows).