# Converting a 2013 Mazda CX-5



## Roderick (Dec 8, 2013)

I'm sorry to tell you this, but here is my opinion.
No mechanical skill would most likely end up with dead project or injury with high voltage.
Rage is impossible with your budget (100mile car battery will cost more than 10k USD)
Performance wise, it's again not achievable with that much weight of batteries. 

Overall, your problem is unrealistic budget, not knowing how car will act without ICE.

I'd suggest you to look up more build threads or take a look at evalbum.


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## Moltenmetal (Mar 20, 2014)

Agreed. Your plans don't match what is practical.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

GodRaine said:


> - *Mechanical Skill:* None. I can add oil and do some process of elimination stuff, but the engine bay of a car isn't something I'm overly familiar with. That said - it doesn't scare me and I'm perfectly happy tinkering and learning as I go.


If your project was something like a 60's VW I would say go for it. But there are not going to be any kits you can just buy and bolt together for this. You get to make it all up as you go. Converting a car is a HUGE task in this situation. It will take many months and the car will not be usable during this time.



GodRaine said:


> - *Range:* Ideally 200 miles. I still want to use this car for road trips. Right now a full tank of gas (about 14.5 gallons) gets us ~350 miles.


Lets see. A CX-5 at 60 mph would probably get around 300 wh/mile. So to get a drop dead 200 mile range you will need a 60 kwh pack. This would be three Nissan Leaf packs (72 kwh). Having a 72 kwh pack will give you the buffer you need so the pack will last many years. Going faster will lower your range, slower will increase it. This would be a lot of batteries and most likely near the limit of what the vehicle should carry. Charging a 60 kwh battery is not a trivial thing. From a 110 VAC outlet it would take about 50 hours. If you put in a 40 amp 240 vac outlet and a 10 kw charger it will still take more than 6 hours. And for road trips today the only way to go is with Tesla superchargers which you cannot use. If someone built out a network of Chademo stations along your route you could recharge in a little over 2 hours.



GodRaine said:


> - *Performance:* I'd like to have similar or slightly better performance than the car has now. It's a bit slow to accelerate as the engine for this class of vehicle is a little underwhelming, but it suits our needs just fine. I doubt I'll notice the performance _dropping_ if I convert it to electric, but I suppose that depends on the decisions I make.


With three Leaf packs in parallel you could put enough motor in the car to do 240 kw peak (321 HP). And lots more torque. But it will be at a price. EV's that can do highway speeds generally don't feel slow when you are accelerating away from a light.



GodRaine said:


> - *Budget:* This part I'm not so sure about - I feel as though if I can get this to come in at under $10K parts & labour (assuming all the labour is done by me) it would be very much worth our time.


I would guess that if you cut corners you might make $20k but $30k is a more reasonable number.



GodRaine said:


> What do you folks think? Is my plan realistic, and where would you suggest I start (when I'm ready to start)?


Sell the car when it is paid off and look for a used Tesla Model X. For all the reasons I mention I don't believe your plan is realistic. As soon as you convert the vehicle it will lose all of its value. That may not be the case in 10 or 15 years but it is today.

Best Wishes!


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