Project Daydream

[marktime]

Like it says on the tin this is still just a scribble on the back of an envelope but before I get too carried away can anyone do a basic sanity check on my idea.

Dream one was that I would get my daughter an EV as her first car but she takes her test this Wednedsay and I have not come close to finding anything suitable .

Anyway I currently have my eye on a nice little Vauxhall Corsa http://www.wgtcars.co.uk/view.asp?ID=46 (if the link breaks it's been sold). This will be a great first car as it is cheap to insure etc. So when she wants to move on to something more refined I would have a stab at converting it to electric. To my way of thinking (could be flawed) the current 1.0l engine only develops 58hp (43Kw) so I know wont need much oopmh to move it around.

I have not yet considered any of the important things like what motor, what batteries or how to do it but is there anything that makes a Corsa a particularly bad candidate for conversion.

Any thoughts anyone?


MarkTime

[aminorjourney]

Actually, I'd say a Corsa would be great. It is front wheel drive, which I wouldn't know much about converting but it is light - and it has electrically assisted power steering

I'm no conversion specialist so I'd not like to venture anything else at this time, but there are people on here who have converted!


Remember that engines are rated in a very small power band - normally top gear at so many thousand revs. The power rating you have there is peak power.

Electric motors as I'm sure you know are rated at continuous rating. They also have maximum torque at standstill, so you'll need less power 'rating' for the same job. Hope I've made sense there... :/


Nikki.

[qdos]

Sounds like a pretty reasonable plan to me. Only negative I can think of (and I'm good at negatives) is that I think the Corsa is one of the most stolen cars out there,,,, although it might be the Belmont now I come to think of it hmmmmm. Surprised me too but there ya go. heard it on the radio a while agoo so it must be true !!

[marktime]

Qdos, I don't think that's a negative I would pay money (or at least set up a web cam) to watch the brain donors trying to hot wire and electric car!!
'I can't hear the starter motor!?!?'
Or siphon petrol out of the tank

Mark

[MalcolmB]

Been having similar daydreams myself, but what puts me off is the thought of all that excess weight you have to lug around. The Corsa is relatively light for an ICE car, but still weighs over 850 kilos. That's an awful lot of metal to shift around for a vehicle that will often be used to carry one person at sub-motorway speeds. Here are the lightest conventional cars I've managed to find so far.

Fiat Cinquecento: 710 kg
Smart Car: 700 kg
Morris Mini: 620 kg

[qdos]

Qdos, I don't think that's a negative I would pay money (or at least set up a web cam) to watch the brain donors trying to hot wire and electric car!!
'I can't hear the starter motor!?!?'
Or siphon petrol out of the tank

Mark

I was kinda thinking the same myself too would be really amusing seeing them try to fill it up when it went flat too

[qdos]

Been having similar daydreams myself, but what puts me off is the thought of all that excess weight you have to lug around. The Corsa is relatively light for an ICE car, but still weighs over 850 kilos. That's an awful lot of metal to shift around for a vehicle that will often be used to carry one person at sub-motorway speeds. Here are the lightest conventional cars I've managed to find so far.

Fiat Cinquecento: 710 kg
Smart Car: 700 kg
Morris Mini: 620 kg

well how about the little yellow one to the left here?
<----- weighs in at only 370kg

pretty good eh?

[geekygrilli]

My I make some comments....

Cinquecento is very small and light, packaging is a nightmare, especially with big lead acid batteries.

My opinion is that a K11 micra (the bubble shape K-reg to 52-reg) would be an ideal candidate. With manual steering, mechanically reliable and nearly rust free - early models had concerns with the rear of the sills. Plus they are pretty cheap to buy and don't look too dated, they're still quite funky. I've been told that they are quite light too.

Hope this helps?

[qdos]

My I make some comments....

Cinquecento is very small and light, packaging is a nightmare, especially with big lead acid batteries.

Hope this helps?

One of our members has already done a Cinquecento. I think he did say it was a bit small to work easily on it but he achieved it

[MalcolmB]

well how about the little yellow one to the left here?

Definitely a contender. Is that 370 kg with or without existing engine? Has anyone converted a Zest to electric yet?
It would be great to see more cars like this that are tailored for the lower stresses and lower speeds of urban commuting, say up to 60 mph. Most cars are massively (in a literal sense) over-engineered for their daily task – back to basics and bring back some fun