I will be happy to leave commercial vans and fleet conversions to the pros. I envision a privately-owned electric (formerly ICE) compact car that has a motor system to go, and OEM brakes to stop. A battery management system and charge remaining gauges would be sufficient for the engine electronics, I believe. A GPS speedometer with an odometer and trip meter would complete the instrumentation, which is easily available on Amazon. I can imagine some challenges with cabin heat and window defrosting, but there are stand-alone systems which will cover these needs. I really see no need to retain an OEM computer, or to convince it that there is an ICE aboard. I regard telephone service and Internet functions as Gee-Whiz toys that really have nothing to do with getting down the road. I drove for decades in cars that had NO computers, Internet, or location reporting gear aboard. I would be quite content to do more of that, especially while cruising past the obsolete gas stations.
On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 7:00 PM EV List Lackey via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > I think there's still an argument for conversions in a few cases where > there's no or few modern EV equivalents available, such as truly small > cars > (in the US) and antique vehicles. > > The motor is an interesing idea. I seem to recall a company many years > ago > that offered that kind of driveshaft motor kit for pickups, though it > wasn't > modular. > > Unfortunately fitting the motor isn't so much the tough part. > > The real challenge is where to put the battery. It's somewhat easier now > that batteries are smaller (remember the lead sleds of the 1970s to > 1990s?). > I suppose you could design a tiny LI battery with limited range that would > fit in the back of multiple vehicles. > > But if you want really good range, you'll need a customized solution. > Then > when the vehicle is restyled, the battery kit has to also be redesigned. > > Phil mentions the headaches of convincing a modern ICEV's myriad computers > that an ICE is still under the hood, idling, cruising, accelerating. > > None of this is trivial or cheap, if done right - sometimes even if done > wrong. > > Even for a major automaker with tons of $$$ and engineering on hand, > designing an electric powertrain option (EPTO) for an existing ICEV > platform > is a pretty significant challenge. > > David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey > > To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my > offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > The only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world > of competing nations is to take the profit out of war. > > -- Richard Nixon, "Real Peace"(1983) > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to [email protected] > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20260112/5a722580/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ Address messages to [email protected] No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
