# Tyn245GL's Electric Volvo 240 build



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi, 
It's time to tell you about my conversion. I am converting a 1993 Volvo 240 GL Classic to a 320V AC electric volvo. The project started in September 2009 and is done in my spare time. Currently I am half way the project and I aim to finish by April-May this year.
What have we completed so far:
- car completely stripped to prepare for body restauration (repainting, rust prevention etc.)
- ICE, ECU, exhaust system and all fuel supply components removed
- components purchased (MES-DEA being the main components)
- motor-to-transmission adapter and coupler built and test fitted
- motor suspension frame completed, mounted to original Volvo engine mounts
- front battery boxes built
Next week the body restauration will start.

Details see:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/garage/cars/227

Tyn245GL


----------



## crap (Dec 5, 2009)

That's a huge batterypack if I'm not misreading, 41.6kWh? I love how it's nothing like what people expect an EV to look like. It's just a big, heavy, ordinary, practical volvo. And if you add some LRR tyres, a bellypan, and some flat hub caps you should get a good range aswell.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Yes, it will be a 41kWh pack . Need that to get an acceptable range, and this car has loads of space to store the 100 pcs. of batteries.

Why the Volvo 245? In our country (The Netherlands) many people (including myself) love the Volvo 245 and here it is considered as a true classic car! Many people still drive it and keep it in top condition.
I chose this car because of this admiration, but also for its technical simplicity which makes it easy to work on, and its huge amount of space to fit components.
By converting it to electric and doing the body restoration, I can preserve this fine 1993 car for the future and hopefully give it a very long extended life.

By the way: it's not too heavy: 1400 kilograms is only 100 kilograms more than the Volkswagen Golf Variant which is being converted in a series of 200 cars by a company called Electric Cars Europe, which is located in The Netherlands as well. These cars can drive more than 110 miles!
And it is much less than Brian's AC LIFEPO4 Kia Sorento which weighs more than 1900 kilograms if I'm right.
And note that the Volvo 245 has a cast iron ICE, so it already lost a lot of weight when I removed that! 

Update on the project:
Front battery boxes are almost ready (pictures soon!). 
Tomorrow we will start cutting the rear floor (under the cargo floor, above the area where the rear muffler and fuel tank used to be). After that the rear battery box will be fitted in there.


----------



## crap (Dec 5, 2009)

yeah volvo 240 is a great car, very reliable and practical. I will be watching your progress.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

My build website is now available in English.  
Take a look at: http://www.electricvolvo.com/EN/EN.html. 

I will post the last three articles and future articles here also.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

The stock Volvo B230 / M47 flywheel has been machined down by Mannessen Engines, Soesterberg, The Netherlands. After that the flywheel has been balanced with the pressure plate mounted on.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Last week I have put the front suspension largely back together. The subframe has been powdercoated very nicely and looks like new. First I fitted new tie-rods to the steering rack. Then we greased the stearing gear and refitted the boots with tie-wraps. Then I mounted the steering rack to the subframe. Using the drawings from VADIS it was very easy to find out which parts are different between the power steering rack and the manual steering rack: only a few parts had to be changed. 

After that we fitted brand new PU-bushings to both (also brand new) control arms. We also mounted new ball joints on both sides. 

Meanwhile, Classic & Ko took apart the brake calipers, removed the old brake disks and protection plates from the struts. The brake calipers have been cleaned and renewed, and received new brake pads. The struts will be fitted with new bearings, new protection plates and new brake disks.

Finally I mounted the struts to the lower ball joints and the tie-rod end balljoints. 

The front suspension is now as new and can be mounted back into the car.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Currently Classic & Ko are working hard on the body restoration. The doors, tailgate and engine hood are prepared for the final paint spraying: they have been sanded, and received an epoxy coating. Also some minor dents were removed.

The past and coming week the main body will undergo the same procedure.

After that the whole body will get its beautiful blue metallic color back again and its final coating.


----------



## Matthijs (Jun 19, 2009)

Browsing trough your website I noticed that your battery boxes were especially made with holes in them to cool the batteries. Now that we had sub zero temperatures here in Holland, aren't you afraid that your batteries are going to be to cold for charging and will see high voltage sag under load? Reading through other threads I see people trying to insulate and warm their batteries rather then cool them. Very nice components you have there! May I ask where you got them? If you like you can PM me about it. Thanks.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Matthijs said:


> Browsing trough your website I noticed that your battery boxes were especially made with holes in them to cool the batteries. Now that we had sub zero temperatures here in Holland, aren't you afraid that your batteries are going to be to cold for charging and will see high voltage sag under load? Reading through other threads I see people trying to insulate and warm their batteries rather then cool them. Very nice components you have there! May I ask where you got them? If you like you can PM me about it. Thanks.


You are right, especially this Winter the temperatures in The Netherlands have been very low... In the mean time, I have changed my isolation strategy: the holes in the battery boxes will no longer be used for cooling. Originally they were made just for some weight saving, and they look cool, so they still have a meaning . Instead, all walls of the box and the floor will be covered with Armaflex, a very nice isolation material. Cooling will be done from the top by a fan installed in the box cover lid, automatically controlled by the BMS.
Thanks for the remark about the components! I got most of these from Metricmind.com. BMS and batteries have been supplied by EVComponents.com.


----------



## Matthijs (Jun 19, 2009)

Tyn245GL said:


> You are right, especially this Winter the temperatures in The Netherlands have been very low... In the mean time, I have changed my isolation strategy: the holes in the battery boxes will no longer be used for cooling. Originally they were made just for some weight saving, and they look cool, so they still have a meaning . Instead, all walls of the box and the floor will be covered with Armaflex, a very nice isolation material. Cooling will be done from the top by a fan installed in the box cover lid, automatically controlled by the BMS.
> Thanks for the remark about the components! I got most of these from Metricmind.com. BMS and batteries have been supplied by EVComponents.com.


That Armaflex material looks very good. That will be a good combination with active cooling from fans. I will keep following your website and build, very inspiring! A little surpriced that you got the MES-DEA parts from metricmind. I found a website via this forum with an Italian supplier of DES-DEA parts with nice pricing: http://www.electro-vehicles.eu/shop/shop.asp


----------



## Matthijs (Jun 19, 2009)

Knowing you use a Mes-Dea setup in your car I think you will be interested is this rather mildly shocking Friday show of Jack Rickard & Brian Noto. They actually say Mes-Dea is rubbish and you do not want to buy from them and the service of Metric-Mind is really bad. * EVTV's Weekly News Show - March 19, 2010*


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi Matthijs,
I watched EVTV's Friday 19th movie about their MES-DEA motor mounting problem. What they did is bolting the transmission adapter plate to the motor's aluminium cover plate, instead of directly to the motor's cast iron casing. This has caused the problem. The cover plate is not designed to handle the complete force of the drive train, it is just a cover plate.
They are blaming the manufacturer and the US distributor for making a bad product and providing bad service, but this is certainly not related to product quality. I agree that documentation on the motor and mounting instructions are lacking. But the MES-DEA products are indeed of high quality and applied in many Electric Vehicles, including several OEM pilots.
With all respect to EVTV's great builds and high quality website and very informative web TV shows, I think is is a bit unprofessional of them to express their frustration - because that is what I feel this whole episode was about - this way via this web TV show. In fact, a few episodes earlier they were very positive about Metricmind.com, the Evision product they supply, and the customer service they receive on it. So far I only have had good experience with the customer service of Metricmind and MES-DEA, although it is true that they are not always easy to reach (which is I think due to the fact that they mainly supply to OEM's and not so much to private builders).
Hearing about EVTV's experience, I am happy that we bolted the transmission adapter plate directly to the motor's cast iron house, which should in our opinion be a very solid construction. I'll report in several months from now how our motor and its mounting will behave.


----------



## Matthijs (Jun 19, 2009)

Judging from your adapterplate design I wasn't completely sure if you mounted the transmission adapter plate directly to the motor's cast iron housing. You seem to have had the insight to mount it this way. Did you remove the motor's aluminium cover plate completely?


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Matthijs said:


> Judging from your adapterplate design I wasn't completely sure if you mounted the transmission adapter plate directly to the motor's cast iron housing. You seem to have had the insight to mount it this way. Did you remove the motor's aluminium cover plate completely?


I have the 200-330W motor which does not have the aluminium cover plate. The MES-DEA 200-330W motor is different from the smaller models and when supplied by MetricMind it comes with a smooth keyed shaft designed by MetricMind Corporation (instead of an involuted spline). This shaft can couple with the transmission using a standard taper lock QD bushing p/n 117393 (Dodge catalog) (But we didn't use that as we were not aware of that, instead we made a our own custom transmission shaft coupler). Also the front flange of the 200-330W motor is made of iron rather than aluminum for the 200-75 through 200-250 models.

See the attached images (c) MMC.


----------



## Guest (Mar 21, 2010)

Tyn245GL said:


> Hi Matthijs,
> I watched EVTV's Friday 19th movie about their MES-DEA motor mounting problem. What they did is bolting the transmission adapter plate to the motor's aluminium cover plate, instead of directly to the motor's cast iron casing. This has caused the problem. The cover plate is not designed to handle the complete force of the drive train, it is just a cover plate.
> They are blaming the manufacturer and the US distributor for making a bad product and providing bad service, but this is certainly not related to product quality. I agree that documentation on the motor and mounting instructions are lacking. But the MES-DEA products are indeed of high quality and applied in many Electric Vehicles, including several OEM pilots.
> With all respect to EVTV's great builds and high quality website and very informative web TV shows, I think is is a bit unprofessional of them to express their frustration - because that is what I feel this whole episode was about - this way via this web TV show. In fact, a few episodes earlier they were very positive about Metricmind.com, the Evision product they supply, and the customer service they receive on it. So far I only have had good experience with the customer service of Metricmind and MES-DEA, although it is true that they are not always easy to reach (which is I think due to the fact that they mainly supply to OEM's and not so much to private builders).
> Hearing about EVTV's experience, I am happy that we bolted the transmission adapter plate directly to the motor's cast iron house, which should in our opinion be a very solid construction. I'll report in several months from now how our motor and its mounting will behave.



I'm sure it will work marvelously and you are quite right, that end plate will NOT bear the weight of the motor. However, the ONLY documentation we received with the motor, a single page, has a photograph showing THEM doing exactly that with their gearbox. 

Further, we have been talking to them for 4 weeks. Their conclusion is that we did not adequately support the OTHER end of the motor, which they have no data on to make that assumption. We provided photos of our adapter plate, the motor, and the motor mounted on the adapter plate and they decided that should have worked.

Finally, the "end plate" as you call it and I totally agree, has 4 M8 threaded holes they refer to as mounting points. The bolts into the frame are only very small M6 bolts. But there are plenty of them.

Your analysis, which I agree with by the way, was NOT the one Victor and MES-DEA came to. They still insist the end plate was perfectly appropriate for mounting and should have worked, but that there must be something we are doing wrong in mounting it. 

Well there is. Using that plate at all. It is COMICALLY thin.

Jack Rickard
http://EVTV.me


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

jrickard said:


> I'm sure it will work marvelously and you are quite right, that end plate will NOT bear the weight of the motor. However, the ONLY documentation we received with the motor, a single page, has a photograph showing THEM doing exactly that with their gearbox.
> 
> Further, we have been talking to them for 4 weeks. Their conclusion is that we did not adequately support the OTHER end of the motor, which they have no data on to make that assumption. We provided photos of our adapter plate, the motor, and the motor mounted on the adapter plate and they decided that should have worked.
> 
> ...


Hi Jack, great to hear from you directly. I love your EVTV shows and the projects you are doing. Especially because for the Mini Cooper EV many components you chose are the same as I am using.

What exactly did they say that you were doing wrong in mounting the transmission adapter to the end plate?


----------



## Guest (Mar 22, 2010)

Tyn245GL said:


> What exactly did they say that you were doing wrong in mounting the transmission adapter to the end plate?


Nothing. They looked at all that, asked for a few measurements to make sure we were not bottoming in the boss area, and after 3 or 4 weeks determined that it was "inadequately supported from the other end." 

This made no sense at all. They had very basic information about the other end and really hadn't asked much about it. At one point they asked what amount of the weight was held by the other end. I told them I didn't know, but we simply leveled the motor when determining the mount location on the other end.

They did not mention any exception to how we had it mounted to the adapter plate. If you look at your sheet, they show a smaller motor mounted to their gearbox using the endplate. 

The brackets are a clue. But they arent' the issue. Those are to hoist/handle the motor, not to mount it. 

The plate is comically overdesigned and underweight. You simply cannot manufacture that fine a detail in a cast aluminum part that thinly. If I drop that from table height to the floor it will likely shatter. It is an eggshell. They have a little bit of buildup around the M8 holes. But clearly insufficient.

We're making a new endplate of machined 6061 the thickness of the original assembly. The heat sink of the quite large motor adapter we have should keep the bearing cool. 

Although the M6 screws look very small, there are a lot of them and the holes into the motor frame are quite good. You do want to use some of those with your adapter - do NOT rely solely on the endplate if you use those holes.

We've also added a bearing in our adapter to isolate sideways forces on the shaft, but we're using the flywheel and clutch assembly. I noticed your adapter has no such provisions.

Your Volvo project looks very interesting. I like Volvos. Built like tanks.

Jack Rickard


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

jrickard said:


> Although the M6 screws look very small, there are a lot of them and the holes into the motor frame are quite good. You do want to use some of those with your adapter - do NOT rely solely on the endplate if you use those holes.
> 
> We've also added a bearing in our adapter to isolate sideways forces on the shaft, but we're using the flywheel and clutch assembly. I noticed your adapter has no such provisions.


Thanks. We are indeed using the holes on the motor frame directly, my "330" motor does not have an end plate at all (see my earlier post in this thread).

I am also using the flywheel (machined down) and clutch assembly (as a set they have been fully round balanced). But we did not use a bearing in the adapter plate for isolating sideways forces. Because the flywheel + clutch assembly have been 100% balanced and the clutch is almost always fully engaged, and only disengaged occasionally when shifting to reverse (motor not spinning) or to 3rd gear for highway speeds (motor spinning at reasonnable speed), we don't expect any harmful sideways forces. All builds that I have seen so far do not have the additional bearing that you are creating, but nevertheless I like your concept: your construction seems to be very solid, and will have good additional protection for the motor shaft bearings.

Forgot to add that the transmission shaft has a pilot bearing which is housed in the motor-to-flywheel coupler.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*Batteries have arrived!*























This week a major milestone is achieved: the batteries have arrived! Seven crates weighing 445 kg, well packed and well handled. They were shipped directly from the factory in China. I am happy that I have the SE130Ah model, the successor of the SE120Ah. Each box contains a sheet with the serial numbers of the batteries and each battery’s voltage and internal resistance measurements. When they left the factory two months ago they were all at 3.30 Volts. I measured the voltages myself upon arrival and they are now all equal at 3.28 Volts.
I also did a trial fit of the batteries in the two front battery boxes. Turns out we did a good job in measuring these boxes up: all batteries fit very nicely with equal space around them for the isolation material and allowing room for the end plates and straps that will compress the batteries together.
Yesterday I visited two companies specialised in electric heating systems and isolation materials. I will receive a quote for tailor made heating cables that will be installed on the bottom of the battery boxes. For the isolation material I had the advice to use Armaflex, which is suitable for temperatures between -25 and 105 degrees Celsius. It is a nice material, slightly flexible, that will also absorb the vibrations of the driving vehicle. I think that will be perfect material.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*Stitch welded front subframe*










We have stitch welded the connections between the chassis beams and the front subframe (which used to support the radiator and now will support the 130 kg front battery box).


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*Steering gear*










The steering gear without power steering now in its final position, mounted to the completely restored main subframe.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*EV Public Parking*










These parking spots for Electric Vehicles can be found in the public parking next to Arnhem central station.
Soon I hope to be parking here!


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*Cargo floor cut out*































The cargo floor has been cut out entirely between the chassis longitudinal beams, from the rear of the car up to just after the rear axle. In this space we will mount a large aluminium battery box. This will be supported by a thick iron frame which we can attach very nicely to the original bolts at the underside of the chassis beams which used to hold the gas tank and the towbar.
The last image shows that the batteries will sink just below the original cargo floor. So we can keep the original huge Volvo 245 cargo area.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*New paint!*
























Today the car has left the paintshop. The new paint is more than beautiful! Not only it is exactly the same color as the original, the extra thick transparent layer gives it an extra deep and more effective mica effect. In the sunlight the color slightly fades in different angles between blue and a bit of purple. It’s gorgeous.


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*Reassembling stage has started*










From now on every step will be a visual progression towards completion of the project. All components that were unmounted from the car for the restoration stage can now be mounted back to their original place.
The toughest job so far has been to reroute the cable harness from the dashboard to the motor compartment. It was completely retracted to the space behind the steering wheel. I had to remove the accellerator pedal to be able to push the cable harness through the small opening in the firewall.
This stage we will also start making the modifications to the original 12V electrical system of the car, and adding the components for the electric propulsion and battery management systems. So now it becomes really interesting for a forum like DIYElectriccar!


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Making good progress, but still a lot of work to do. Most of the time so far has been spent on the restoration of the Volvo 245.
But in the mean time prepared a lot on the EV conversion part of the project.
The front battery boxes are almost ready.










Read the entire build story on:

http://electricvolvo.com/EN/EN.html


----------



## PatricioIN (Jun 13, 2008)

this is a very cool build.. I will be watching intently!


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

A lot of progress made since my last post, sorry I haven't posted since a while... (too busy working on the car, working in my spare hours, so it will take several more months until completion, but we're getting there!).

















Today I installed the charging socket in the former gas filling location. It is a socket conforming to the new European standard, the so called Mennekes plug.

Read all the latest updates on my website: 

www.electricvolvo.com


----------



## crap (Dec 5, 2009)

looking good. A high quality build.


----------



## drivin98 (May 9, 2008)

Indeed, very nice. I must show my Volvo friends.


----------



## corbin (Apr 6, 2010)

Looking great!!


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*It's driving!! Tyn245GL's Electric Volvo 240 build*

YEAH! 
After 2 years restoring an already beautiful 1993 Volvo 245 GL Classic, and converting it to a 100% electric car, today finally the big moment was there: driving my ElectricVolvo for the very first time!!
First step was to Auto-Tune the MES-DEA 200-330W motor on the MES-DEA TIM-600 inverter, which was a very smooth process. The motor ran very smoothly, without any vibrations. After several minutes the Auto-Tune successfully completed and then I stored the new parameters into the TIM-600 memory.
Then it was time to open the garage, drive the car outside, and drive the car for the first time. It is fantastic! It is really great, it drives very smoothly, responds to accelerator and braking commands in a very natural way. A lot of fun to drive. I must say, there is very good software in the MES-DEA system.
During driving I noticed that the batteries didn't sag a lot during acceleration. I think because 300Volts and 130Ah battery is plenty of power without going into the high C's.

ElectricVolvo is driving!
So today I had my first EV-Grin. 

Two issues still to resolve: 
1) the Lithiumate HVFE automatic precharge detection does not work yet so I had to manually switch the contactors via the Force Outputs K1/K2/K3 commands. I think it has to do with the (very) old software version I have in my Lithiumate controller, so I will upgrade it hopefully this week.
2) after 2 miles driving, the Lithiumate lost communication several times with the battery banks. After some analysis with a scope we found out that the 12V power input to the TIM-600 gave a lot of noise on the 12V circuit, which is probably growing bigger and bigger the more the 12V battery is depleted. (I didn't have my DCDC converter enabled yet today, and the vac pump and wipers etc. must have drawn quite some charge from the 12V battery during our 2 miles driving). I'll set up the DCDC converter asap, and we will also install a capacitor on the TIM-600 12V power input, so the HF noise feedback will be absorbed as much as possible.

Anyway, it was a very exciting day today!


----------



## crap (Dec 5, 2009)

Get some footage! Films and pics.


----------



## corbin (Apr 6, 2010)

*Re: It's driving!! Tyn245GL's Electric Volvo 240 build*

Awesome!! How does the motor feel? Powerful/peppy?

corbin


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

*Re: It's driving!! Tyn245GL's Electric Volvo 240 build*



corbin said:


> Awesome!! How does the motor feel? Powerful/peppy?
> 
> corbin


The motor feels very good, perfectly in balance, smooth, and it seems to be powerful. But I have not pushed it to the limit yet. Also kept the parameters in the inverter very conservative (e.g. max 100% max TNom while 200% TNom is possible). So a lot more power is possible!
Will try all that later. Lots of tuning fun still to be done  , the MESDEA inverter has lots of settings that can be tried and optimized


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

The project is completed! Officially approved and licensed as electric vehicle. Great performance, very happy with the result.

I have created a movie of 9 minutes with a full overview of the Volvo 240 GL Classic Electric, interior, exterior, driving, charging, and vehicle approval, etc.

http://youtu.be/VlDXqgaJ5lQ 

(works only on pc, not on mobiles or tablets)


----------



## Jan (Oct 5, 2009)

Fantastic Tyn! Congrats!

Can you tell more about the approval process?


----------



## RET (Jan 3, 2012)

That is a great job !! well laid out and looks professional . Have fun with it !


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

@Jan, I can tell a lot about the approval process, based on my extensive experience with the Approval Authority.  
What more precisely would you like to know? 
(and how is your conversion project going?)


----------



## Huub3 (Aug 16, 2009)

Hi Martijn,

Friday, coming out of the office (IJ-tower), saw your 245 in front of it at the charging pole. Did completely miss the record attempt, and unfortunately had no time left to attend the event, but looked very impressive! Leaf's, Karma's, Tesla's, some factory BMW's and Volvo's, and then in the middle of it your great car!

Would have loved looking at the technology and components and talking EV's, but understood all of you were inside. 

Now reading up on that record attempt and seeing lot's of great footage.

Huub


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi Huub,

Yes, it was a great day in Amsterdam and we really broke a World Record with 255 electric cars in a single row!

http://www.ppelectricrally.nl

You're welcome to take a look at the Volvo 240 GL Classic Electric. Will you visit the Volvo Klassieker Beurs 13-14 October? I will be there.

I have a customer in IJ-tower, so we could also meet there some time. Do you work there?

Best regards, 
Martijn


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Some updates I did recently on my Volvo 240 GL Classic Electric Wagon :

- The MES TIM600 inverter is now directly linked to the Lithiumate Pro BMS via CAN bus. The BMS can directly command to gradually reduce current, both for DCL (drive at low SOC, discharge current) and for CCL (regen at top SOC, charge current)
- The Evision2 Driver Information System now also receives the vehicle speed pulse, so it now can display to the driver: Watt Hours per kilometer (energy usage) and Distance Till Empty (remaining kilometers on the actual battery charge)
- Upgraded the Lithiumate Pro BMS to software version 2: now a Graphical User Interface can be used to monitor the BMS and to change settings
- Installed remote control for the central door locking system, which now also locks the charging plug at vehicle side


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Charging at home 16A 230V


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Photo shoot by professional photographer Marco Hofsté


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Photo shoot by professional photographer Marco Hofsté


----------



## Tyn245GL (Oct 12, 2009)

Fully charged yesterday at our home charger which is powered directly from our solar panels.

Beautiful day for a drive with wife and daughter: 90 kilometers over country roads, 59% SOC remaining. Nice!


----------

