# 1987 Toyota Van Conversion



## sardonic (Jul 18, 2011)

Oh, I have the factory service manual for it too; which has helped me immensely to figure things out on it. There is also a website dedicated to this model which has been helpful: http://www.yotavans.org/community/tips/tips.html


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## madderscience (Jun 28, 2008)

Welcome.

Your van will certainly work for a conversion. It won't be as light or aerodynamic as a small car, but without knowing your range expectations (or what you plan to use the vehicle for) nobody can say if it will be an issue or make different chassis recommendations. Vanagons and VW buses are fairly common conversions and I think I have actually seen a conversion of a toyota van like yours locally. When figuring efficiency / range these conversions are probably your closest comparison.

A warp 9" is plenty of motor for your van, presuming you don't have outlandish performance expectations. As for the controller, A solition 1, zilla 1K or similar capability is the best choice. A curtis 1231 will work but won't have nearly as much power or flexibilty.

You should _seriously_ consider lithium instead of lead acid. 144V at 160AH of lithium would give 1.5x to 2x the usable battery capacity, and weigh 1/2 as much as the lead, and should be easy to fit in the van. A 100AH lithium battery would be fine too and would have the same to maybe 20% more usable range as the lead pack you are considering. You could also go with higher voltage, lower AH (same usable capacity) with either the zilla or soliton controller mentioned above if this were advantageous for any reason. (for example, you could start with 144v at 100AH, and add more cells later to spread the cost) 

The up front cost of lithium will be more than lead acid, but it WILL pay back over time if the system is properly engineered (a good BMS, proper battery boxes, proper charging, clean environment, etc) and in the meantime, you will have a much better performing car. 

I would strongly recommend conversion to a manual tranny. The extra work and engineering you will need to do to make the EV conversion work with the automatic is just as much work if not more than bolting in an appropriate manual transmission, and the conversion will be substantially more efficient with the manual. If you plan to go clutchless, you won't even need to install the clutch pedal and linkage, simplifying things further. This might be pretty feasible with a 1000A controller. Unless you live in a very hilly area (is Sioux falls mountains or plains??), you could probably leave it in 3rd gear for almost all driving. You could play with the rear axle gear ratio to optimize your overall gear ratios to minimize the need for shifting, possibly to the point where the only time you shift is when you plan to go onto or off of the freeway.

Heater is easy: You can install an electric heater element (I used a toaster, many people use the element out of ceramic core heaters) pretty much anywhere in the car. Wires are easier to run than heater hoses are. As long as the heater element rated voltage is somewhere near your pack voltage and there is active ventilation (a fan), no problem. You will want about 1000 to 1500 watts per element and to have them individually switchable for power conservation reasons.

A/C slightly harder, but not much. 2 possible options: If your warp 9 motor has a tailshaft, you can drive the compressor via a belt. Downside is no A/C when the car isn't moving (since there is no idling in an EV) and a small amount of extra driveline friction from the belt. Advantage of this scheme is you can play games like having a form of regen via a mode where the A/C clutch only engages when the brake lights are on or if you are off throttle. 

The other A/C option is a dedicated drive motor for the compressor. Some hybrid cars are built this way stock I think so you could concievably get the compressor out of one of those. Advantage is no extra driveline friction and it will run when the car is at a stop. There will be some kind of separate controller or DC/DC to run the drive motor off the traction pack. 

I have also heard stories about people adapting refrigeration or small home air conditioning systems for their EV, but that seems like a lot of work to me.

The one other thing I will throw out that you will have to do if you plan year round driving is insulate the batteries. Lead acid, and to a lesser degree lithium, does not like operating at cold temperatures. You can lose a substantial portion of your usable energy with lead acid in cold weather (up to a third or so) if the batteries are not insulated. Extra loads (road friction, lights, heater, wipers, etc) during winter driving will further decrease range over ideal conditions.

Insulating batteries is cheap and easy to do if planned for in advance, and a pain to retrofit, so plan ahead for it. 

Good luck.


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