# Land Rover series III Conversion



## cocas (Feb 4, 2014)

Hi Forum,

First of all I would like to congratulate the whole forum. I'm a new bye from Portugal. Sorry for any mistake in my english.

I own a Land Rover Series III, which I'm would like to convert it to electric. It would be my first conversion, so I would like to keep it simple and low cost as possible. This land rover weights about 1500 KG and it is a pickup. 

I found a series wound DC motor from a 1 ton nissan fork lift with 8KW power for 300€ and Sepex D.C. Motor controler Curtis PMC model 1244-5402 for 450 € which I think the y will fit together since the motor and controller voltage is 36-48v and controller max amps is 400. 

My questions to the forum is:

Is this motor capable to drive the land rover, since it is a kind of heavy veihicle? 

Which things I must take care regarding the controller, when buying it as used part?

Thank you and Best Regards 

João Nora


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

cocas said:


> I found a series wound DC motor from a 1 ton nissan fork lift with 8KW power for 300€ and Sepex D.C. Motor controler Curtis PMC model 1244-5402 for 450 € which I think the y will fit together since the motor and controller voltage is 36-48v and controller max amps is 400.
> 
> My questions to the forum is:
> 
> ...


Hi João,

The motor might be suitable. We need a nameplate and photos. But a Curtis 1244 SepEx will never do  You'll need a decent controller for series motor and higher voltage with ideally a higher current limit.

Regards,

major


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## madderscience (Jun 28, 2008)

It would also be helpful to know what sort of speed, range, driving environment and load carrying you are planning on doing. Is your SIII an 88" or 109"? All of these variables will be a big factor in determining how much battery, controller, and motor you need. 

Series land rovers are not known for being lightweight or aerodynamically efficient, so if you want to drive much faster than 40mph (60km/h) you are going to need a lot of battery to go very far. At lower speeds you will just be dealing with all the weight and drivetrain friction.

I've got a 1962 IIA so I know what you are dealing with. There have been a couple of series trucks converted to electric. Mine is gas but I might convert to diesel at some point in the distant future.

Good luck.


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## cgalpin (Dec 5, 2012)

Nice to see this project!

I'm in the middle of converting my 63 IIA 109" to electric, but I'm going AC (siemens 1PV5135) and 100 x 110Ah LiFePO4 batteries which makes it a rather expensive proposition.

I should probably start a build thread but I'm still doing a bunch of non-EV stuff (basically a restoration).


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## jejo (Mar 21, 2014)

João, I would like to see your advances with the land rover, actually I have a Series III 109, 1850kg diesel that I want to convert to electric. And I live 35 km away from the border with portugal.

It's a vehicle that I need for my work as a beekeper, because I have to move hives from one apiary to the other, usually through muddy roads. I don't mind low speeds, and usually drive less than 25km a day. But need to carry 500kg of honey when necessary.

Keeping a low budget, what do you recommend?

Sergio


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## smithco1 (Sep 15, 2008)

Hi everyone. I too am looking at converting a series truck to electric but am only in the design and dream phase. If anyone has found any blogs or pages from others who have done this then I for one would love to see it posted here.

I hope I'm not hyjacking this thread. Good luck with your build João! Let us know how it goes.


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## cgalpin (Dec 5, 2012)

The best one I have seen hasn't been updated in years and I am not sure of it's status, but covers most of his build:

http://adventure-ev.com

I haven't done a whole lot on the EV side yet but and I haven't been blogging about it (although probably will when I get into the "putting it all together" phase) but have been putting yup pictures here:

http://galpin.phanfare.com/Series2AHybrid/5848770


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