# Possibility of converting a Mercedes Benz A series



## romihs (Jun 7, 2011)

Hello all,

I have a quick question, has anyone converted a Mercedes Benz A170 or A160?

I was looking at a A170 (the longer version) yesterday and noticed that it has a raised floor, so I went and checked what it looks like underneath and saw that it is basically empty (i.e. plenty of room for a nice battery box), once one removes the exhaust and fuel tank. The total amount of height occupied by the tank and exhaust is about 200mm, and the size of the area under there is about 1.2m x 2m square.

My only questions/concerns regarding converting such a car are related to the on-board electronics, should I expect difficulties keeping the electronics working without the engine?


I would be very happy if anyone would point me to someone who has converted such a car. Google search has not brought up anything useful.

BR

Sandi


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Manual or Automatic? Manual is a lot simpler and you might even be able to mostly disconnect the ECU.

You can expect to have some issues with the electronics in any modern car. It kind of depends on exactly what you want to work. You might check out the EVTV videos where they converted the Cadillac Escalade and the things they had to spoof into the factory ECU to trick it into working. These will be the same kinds of issues with tricking any modern car into thinking it has a running engine.

In a nutshell, you probably have to spoof the crank position sensor and the mass air flow sensor signals if you want to have the automatic transmission shift reasonably.

Best wishes and remember that the stuff you take out is a LOT more complicated than the stuff you are putting back in.


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## Shirker (Mar 19, 2012)

Hi Sandi,

This AEVA Forum thread has a good discussion of some of the advantages and challenges of converting an A-class or B-class.

Greg Royal's A-class conversion in NZ didn't quite get there - if I remember the state of his website before it went offline...

Lester Clifford's B-class looks fantastic, but I have not had success in contacting him to get more details. In Australia it's illegal to disable pre-existing electronic stability control as part of an EV conversion, so I'm keen to know how he managed this. Here is a YouTube video of him with his car.

I'm interested!

Cheers,
Matt.


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## pm_dawn (Sep 14, 2009)

Hi !

In Sweden a couple of guys joined forces and converted atleast 4 A-Class Mercedes.
They had space for 96 90ah winston or thunderskys.

Here is one thread on the Swedish EV forum. Google will translate for you. 
http://elbil.forum24.se/elbil-about2390.html

They fitted it with industrial threephase AC motors and also were able to put a 7kw diesel range extender in there in addition to the 27,6kwh battery pack......

Industrial VFD to drive the AC motor and also used as charger as I understood.

Regards
/Per


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