# 1964 Volvo 1800S EV conversion



## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

That's a nice looking car you got. For 25k, you can have a awesome conversion. 
How much does it cost for you to build your own 20kwHr pack?

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## eboosted (May 10, 2017)

67BGTEV said:


> That's a nice looking car you got. For 25k, you can have a awesome conversion.
> How much does it cost for you to build your own 20kwHr pack?
> 
> Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk


These are my calculations for 20kwHr battery pack

On 18650 Samsung 25R cells, I'll need 2162 cells US$ 9800
On 18650 Samsung 30Q cells, I'll need 1801 cells US$ 7500

Adding materials, labor, BMS it could raise it $ 2000-3000 more

How many miles of range could I get with 20KwHr?


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## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

Usable but under 18kwHr. You should be able to get 72 miles at 60mph. 

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## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

eboosted said:


> These are my calculations for 20kwHr battery pack
> 
> On 18650 Samsung 25R cells, I'll need 2162 cells US$ 9800
> On 18650 Samsung 30Q cells, I'll need 1801 cells US$ 7500
> ...


Reason I asked is wrecked leaf or volt batteries can be had for half the cost. 

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## eboosted (May 10, 2017)

Do you guys usually build your own packs? or buy off-the shelf packs at a lower pricepoint?


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

Cool!
I am doing a Volvo Amazon wagon and have decided to keep the gearbox.
Actually I am upgrading to a stronger M400 gearbox from a Volvo 164 instead of the M40 that was originally in. In your case I would suggest to move to M40 or M400 (little more effort) instead of the M41 that was originally fitted. You won't need the overdrive.
The other P1800 conversions I have seen also kept the original drivetrain.

I am using the Siemens 1PV5135 AC motor with 134 HP and 300 Nm of peak torque. So my Amazon wagon will be faster than it originally was.

Looking forward to see how your project evolves.


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

eboosted said:


> Do you guys usually build your own packs?


In the past, long time ago, yes (2013, 2014  ).
Now there is super well build battery pack at the scrap yard waiting for you. They come from chevy Volt, Tesla, Bolt, Leaf, etc...
Example, a 16 kWh Volt battery cost less than 2k$.

To get a least 120 km at highway speed, you will need more than 16 kWh.


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## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

That is a beautiful car, and for your budget you can have an awesome conversion!

You absolutely should forget about using anything other than packs from wrecked Volts or Leafs. Forget about 18650s entirely.

Take the final weight of the car in pounds, divide by 10 and that's your rough Wh/mile. You want a range of 73 miles. Divide the result by 0.7 or 0.8 because you don't want the pack empty when you get there- that's hard on the cells. That will give you the pack size you need.

A Leaf pack is 24 kWh, and a Volt is about 16 kWh. Both can be re-packaged, with effort, into parallel groups of cells to give you the capacity you need at a voltage your controller can tolerate.

The HPEVS AC50/51 systems are very easy to work with and give you a low maintenance, fairly reliable AC motor. I have an AC50 in my E-Fire Triumph Spitfire and love it. But if you go with an AC50, you need to keep the transmission. The clutch is optional but easy enough to keep as well, and it gives you fast shifting.

If you're not going the route of salvaging a forklift motor and building your own controller from a kit, a DC motor and controller cost about the same as the AC50. It will give you more torque, so more EV grin, and possibly the option to eliminate the transmission- but you will give up on either off-the-line wheel-squealing fun or top speed. The motors do need some maintenance, and the threads here are littered with people who have torn up commutators or otherwise damaged these motors. But they definitely do give you much more power and torque for the same investment.

Re-purposing OEM drive systems is also possible. Two basic approaches. One is an in-vivo transplant of a crashed but driveable Leaf into the donor car. This gives you all the features (BMS, charger, motor and controller) of the Leaf, in return for quite a bit of fuss and bother dealing with a vehicle control system which is freaked out because half of the original car just isn't there any more- so far, we haven't seen one of these completed yet. 

The other option is the Universal Motor Controller- a product developed by someone here, which allows you to lobotomize the inverter of the OEM vehicle, re-using only the high power expensive drive components. That would allow you to use other OEM motors and inverters which might suit your geometry better. Regrettably that leaves you to find your own BMS etc.

Best of luck- ask lots of questions and do lots of reading here- there are plenty of people willing and able to help.


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## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

...and the AC50 option gives you regenerative braking- a 10-15% range gain plus basically free power brakes. Regen takes the enjoyability factor of my conversion considerably higher than if I was still relying on the old hydraulic brakes.


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## eboosted (May 10, 2017)

Guys I appreciate a lot all these recomendations.

I'm going to find a Leaf pack on a savage yard.

@Moltenmetal
Is there a DC motor a little bit more powerful than the HPEVS AC50/51, I definitely will keep the transmition and clutch, this seems to be the better option for a clean conversion and would give me nice power from a dead stop.

Would you shar how fast is the acceleration on your E-Fire Triumph Spitfire, how much does your car weights?

BTW, I'm located in Lima Perú, importing used parts is forbidden by law, so I'd have to get new parts when possible.


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## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

eboosted said:


> Guys I appreciate a lot all these recomendations.
> 
> I'm going to find a Leaf pack on a savage yard.
> 
> ...


I would not consider DC motor at all. The Regen and the no maintenance would beat everything else for me. 

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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

A couple of the "AC" guys have had their say

I'm using a DC Forklift motor and a kit built controller so I will add my tuppenceworth

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forum...dubious-device-44370p15.html?highlight=duncan

The new AC motors that you can buy are OK for bimbling about and may even be more powerful than the original IC motor - but the ability to just GO! that you get with a decent DC motor is addictive

It's stone age technology! but that means I can fix it - 

Saying that if I was starting again now I would be trying to fit modern electric motor - like a Leaf motor - or even a Tesla

You have your Volvo - I would be trying to source a complete crashed Leaf


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## eboosted (May 10, 2017)

Hello guys after some research and speaking with Linda Prettyman.

I'm going to buy an AC-51 motor:

1 AC51-144 Curtis 1239e-8521 AC-51 Motor-144V Single shaft
1 5PRESCALE TBS 5:1 Pre-scaler for Xantrex
1 LINKPRO Xantrex LinkPro Battery Monitor
1 ELC2500 Elcon PFC2500 Charger
1 J1772-R32A-V2 J1772 32A Receptical Socket Only
1 CHILLEVW EV West Curtis 1238-1239 Chill Plate
1 MOUNTEVW EV West Curtis 1238 Controller Mount
1 PRIUSPEDUSED Toyota Prius Used Throttle Pedal w/ Plug
1 PRIUSMOUNTVW Prius Pedal Mount - Volkswagen
1 DC-400W-HV DC Converter 400W 30Amp 108-216 Volts
1 DELTEC600 Deltec 600 Amp 50 mV Shunt
1 HBD41 Gigavac Switch HBD41 1000V 400A
1 COOL-D5 Liquid Cooling Kit w/D5 Pump, Radiator
1 BOX-MED Sealed Contactor Box Medium
1 AVC2 J1772 AVC2 Level 2 Charge Controller
2 SHRINK-2/0-BLK 2/0-4/0 Heat Shrink w/Sealing Glue - Blk
50 CABLE-2/0 2/0 AWG Cable Orange
1 BRAKETRANS Brake Pressure Transducer 1kpsi 1/8NPT

Would you change something on this basic kit?

It seems the only thing I'll need to buy extra is the battery, so I was thinking about picking up a battery from a Nissan Leaf in very god shape.

I've found some batteries at around US$ 3500-5000, however I'll need to measure each of the packs in order to detect bad cells, can you suggest a good source to get them?


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## Adrian L (Jul 5, 2018)

I have a '66 Volvo Amazon sedan and I think it would make a perfect conversion. Just curious, why wouldn't you want to keep the overdrive in an M41 transmission? Wouldn't that give you a bit of extra range on the motorway?


Adrian 

Vancouver


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## oudevolvo (Mar 10, 2015)

Electric motors tend to be more efficient at higher RPMs. For example, this is the graph for the Siemens 1PV5135-4WS28:







With a 4.56 rear axle doing 130 km/h in fourth gear is approx 5000 RPM and in overdrive approx 4000 RPM so assuming drivetrain and motor noise is not significantly more it's better to drive in fourth gear in terms of motor efficieny.


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## eboosted (May 10, 2017)

Hello Guys:
Small update here.

We painted the car in water green color and installed the batteries, ESC, motor, gearbox and all electric wiring, we are using the Orion BMS which is surprisingly nice but it won't balance the packs, it might but will take months to balance.

We use leather on the dashboard:









Batteries were installed:

































Motor and ESC, water pump for the batteries:

















My 1 year old son loves the car:


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## eboosted (May 10, 2017)

Hello just to keep you all guys informed, the project was finished some months ago and the car has been operative and runing very well. A lot of stuff happened and I didn't update this post.

Here is small sneak preview of the video we've been working on, tomorrow at 7:00pm the full video will to be published on WikiGarage YouTube chanel.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0SLHcnFXrT/?igshid=6e0fzw0vgvnw


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## 67BGTEV (Nov 1, 2013)

That's a beautiful work..


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## Gillesautos (Jul 30, 2019)

eboosted said:


> Hello just to keep you all guys informed, the project was finished some months ago and the car has been operative and runing very well. A lot of stuff happened and I didn't update this post.


Hi
Thanks for your story.
I have just discovered that many people have converted their car into electric.
It is much bigger in the US that the UK.
The minimum to convert one here is around $19000-22000 and would give me only 45 miles per charge.

I have a classic car from 1978 and am thinking of converting it. 
In London, they charge you every day you drive a petrol car.

Could you kindly finish your story as it would really help me to see the full picture of doing it with a classic?

Thanks


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