# Planning VW Golf conversion"



## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

What are your goals? I can't say I know much about the market in Ireland, but here in the States you can get a used EV that'll clear 100km for about USD$6k. I'm no expert, but it seems really hard to beat that for any highway-capable conversion.

I don't mean to discourage you, but there are no EV "kits" available for much less than that, so there's some custom fabrication that someone would have to do...

If you're looking for a project, there are a lot of ways to skin this cat if you trim your specs down, but if you're just looking for any electric transport, it's very hard to beat a used OEM offering.


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## mk4gti (May 6, 2011)

Tremelune said:


> What are your goals? I can't say I know much about the market in Ireland, but here in the States you can get a used EV that'll clear 100km for about USD$6k. I'm no expert, but it seems really hard to beat that for any highway-capable conversion.



I totally agree. I gave up my EV Golf project (after running it 4 years) because production EVs have gone down to the point it made no sense continue owning the "project EV". Plus most production EVs have more confort built in like A/C, thermo-regulated battery pack, regen, etc

Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome project. But not sure if it's worth it


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## DonCrisDon (Nov 24, 2019)

For me it’s mostly about learning, I like the tech and the process is fascinating. Hence why I didn’t want to spend too much money.


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## Tremelune (Dec 8, 2009)

Cheapest way in is to buy a wrecked-but-driving factory EV (such as a Nissan Leaf) and use every component by transplanting it into the Golf. It's straightforward, but not fool-proof. If you miss one thing, there's a good chance that nothing will work due to the proprietary nature of the Leaf's CAN bus communication protocol that controls all the interesting EV bits.

https://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199847

Cheaper than that and you might be looking at lead acid batteries, much less range, much less torque...


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## DonCrisDon (Nov 24, 2019)

So quick update on progress.

Regarding getting my hands on the components of a wrecked leaf - I contacted a wrecker that had a crashed 2018 Leaf in their lot. When I enquirer how much the motor stack would cost he said around 4K euro. I felt it was a touch high so I said I would take it off him for a few hundred euros. He told me to go buy a PlayStation instead, which I thought was quite funny.

I suspect that going the wrecked Leaf route may entail too steep a learning curve for this first run around the houses. So I have decided to let that thread rest for now at least.

In other news I located a forklift reseller near Dublin who has tons of motors. Now the challenge is to identify which ones might be worth working with. They have many 48 volt motors and one 72 volt, that we found. 

Any advice on how to proceed with these bad boys would be much appreciated.


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

There is a long thread on that in the Motors section

The very short guide is 
9 inches in diameter or more
65 kg or more
8 brushes
A shaft drive - NOT an internal drive
Series not Sepex -------- The windings for the field coils should be as thick as the windings on the rotor - as in more like bent bar than wire 

If one of them has a parking brake - grab it as it will have an internal splines thingy to match the drive shaft

the motor I am using is 11 inches in diameter and is 102 Kg


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