rustymon

Well, after loving my first two months of ownership, I finally have to face the fact that I purchased my car ('99 cabriolet) with one real goal in mind - to try and create a no-excuses ELECTRIC daily driver that didn't cost over $100K like the Tesla Roadster. Heck, ask my wife and simply having 4 seats is more than enough to make the car better than a roadster, but I digress...

My goals are to build the car so it performs as good or better in most acceleration categories than the stock vehicle and that we maintain a similar weight distribution. Ideally, I want to keep or improve handling - we'll see about this one. Range will be in excess of 70miles, however, should I want to spend more $, we might push range up further.

I'll be working with a very experienced EV technician (Kirk @ shiftev.com) and so far, I'm pretty excited about the attention to detail and quality workmanship from his previous projects. He hasn't done a 996 before, so we are beginning with an initial discovery phase to determine how to best locate all the required components. If you have any ideas about hidden places where we might be able to bolt things in, I want to hear them!

So far, it looks like the only areas to place equipment will be in the frunk and engine bay. Initially, the motor could be placed in the center of the engine bay, with two banks of batteries on either side. More batteries and any controllers etc could be placed in the frunk. Unfortunately, this ends up putting most of the weight toward the front and rear of the car. I believe handling will be improved if we can keep more weight toward the center of the vehicle, thus less mass has to be turned on the perimeter. We may look into solutions that would place equipment/batteries in the area of the gas tank. Of course, this wouldn't be entirely accessible.

I think this will be a fun project, and hopefully a rewarding one. We already own a Nissan Leaf and have been very impressed with it. We'll be keeping a bio-diesel quad-cab for the long road trips. Man, if I still had hair, I'm sure I'd have a pony-tail with some sort of multi-colored hippie do-rag.

Have suggestions? Ideas as to how I might make this vehicle more "electrifying"? I'll keep this post updated with the progress, decisions and equipment that we chose to install... just in case anyone else out there is tired of buying gas as well!

Kris79

wow good luck, im going to subscribe to this thread

targa996

There was a place in Colorado doing replica 356 speedster electrics .. dukes garage I think if you google it. Might be interesting to talk to them about the prohect. P)robably best place to put battery for weight distribution is where rear seats are ... but if you need 4 seats not an option.

What battery will you use? As much as it is a crime to chop up a good 996 .. if I had engine blow .. I might consider this as a commuter .. what about heat and a/c ? Can you sell your Eng and trans to cover much of the conversion cost or did you buy high mileage car with this specifically in mind?

speed rII

Maybe you have seen this before? Electric 911

Good luck with the build.

I have been thinking about converting some cheaper car to EV for commuting.
But not my 996

82_930

You may want to look into Lithium Ion batteries, specifacally the A123 cells... very light and small. You can solder them into custom shapes so that your mounting locations option is broadened. These are the cells that the Tesla uses. Also, look into brushless electric motors.

You will not be needing a transmission in the car as electric motors themselves (which rotate at about 30,000rpm) double as transmissions. Plus the gear box would probably blow apart with an electric motor spinning that fast.

rustymon

We will definitely be going for a first-rate job here - Lithium Ion batteries = definitely. Not sure who the supplier will be. There are always "newer" ones that advertise great specs, but often they don't live up to their claim or they may not be as reliable as others. Exploring options here. Kirk has a supplier he likes - and he is also working to see if we can make this car charge fully in 2 hrs, so it would be easier to take a road trip - stop for lunch and go!

No transmission... maybe. There are pros and cons to this and having a clutch that can slip may save other components in the system if too much torque is introduced. Also, you can burn up a motor if improperly holding the car on an incline without use of the clutch/brakes. We're considering all options and the motor choice may also determine if we do direct drive or not. That's one thing I didn't really anticipate - sure we can strap in more power or torque, but will the rest of the drive-train survive if/when we do?

Speed rII - thanks for the link, can't say I've read that thread before. I've seen lots out there for folks turning older cars electric, but not much on the 996. I understand there are some, just haven't found them. That's the thing - most folks look for older vehicles. I thought about it, but most cars I found that were rollers etc would have taken so much money to refurb it was worth it to me to get a more modern car. I get ABS, airbags, a stronger chassis, and hopefully, a car much safer and enjoyable as a daily driver. We'll see!

In regards to heat and AC - yes, the goal is to keep them. Also want to keep the power steering etc. Anyone know where the power steering pump is? Is it electric and in the front of the car, or is it powered by the engine somehow? If something has an electric motor/pump we can keep it without issue. If items are turned by the motor, we'll have to figure out how to keep them running. Heat leaves something to be desired in my Nissan Leaf. I don't know how/if we'll keep it here. Kirk basically said we could keep everything - it would just be a matter of complexity or expense. Not sure how much I'll want to put into this. Maybe I'll just install some electric seat heaters. Fortunately I also have the hardtop that I can put on in the winter.

Of course, this does mean that I'll have lots of parts that will be for sale - including the engine. Yes, I purchased a higher mileage car with this in mind. I would have preferred a roller, but didn't find one that I wanted at the right price. The car has 120K miles on it. Unfortunately, I don't have any maintenance history as I purchased it from a dealer that bought it at auction. It drives great now. Hope I don't screw it up!

pete95zhn

PS pump is on top of the engine. 996 Cup (or was it RSR's) run electric PS pumps located in the frunk. Use search to find pics of it. A-class Merc's electric PS pump should do the job too, at least it costs a fraction of Cup's pump.

rustymon

great advice pete - thanks!

Barn996

Do you have a project cost for the conversion, and anticipated weight?

rustymon

Well, the project cost at this point could vary widely depending on exactly what and how we do things. I'm guessing a low of $20K to a high of $35K if I get crazy about things, want 100+ mile range etc. Weight should end up 100-300 pounds heavier than stock, again, dependent upon batteries and range desired. I will probably work to reduce that some - may try to purchase lighter wheels and find other weight savings elsewhere. Again, both these costs and weight estimates are purely theoretical at this time... research first, price everything out, then decide where I want to be on the price/performance/range spectrum. Basically you can choose two of the three for a build. As I only drive approx 40 miles a day, I may give up range to save weight and cost while I strive for performance. We may also try to set up the system to allow an additional battery pack if/when I want one. If we are able to keep the price down, I'll have an electric Porsche for about the cost of a Nissan Leaf (but won't get the government incentives). If we go to the high end, I'll probably end up with a ridiculous performing vehicle for less than 1/2 of a Tesla Roadster. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Capt. Obvious

This is going to be awesome! Definitely going to keep my eyes on this.

Whether people (read: car enthusiasts) want to admit it or not, the combustion engine as we know it is slowly but surely going to be phased out as other types of engines and energy sources advance.

rustymon

So, we're getting closer and closer to the project, which should commence in September. Right now, we've made the decision to try and increase torque/acceleration over stock, so we're going to need to upgrade the clutch. Any recommendations?

Also, are there other items in the car that anyone thinks might get over stressed with more power? What is typically done to a 996 when a more powerful motor is added? What needs to be beefed up?

We're also starting to look at battery management system interfaces - hopefully we can come up with one that has a good video output that can be piped into a double din receiver.

txhokie4life

I've seen a 996 setup where they used the OEM accessories off the drive shaft by mimicing the pulley system of the 996 and driving off the crankshaft.

I would go with the clutch system. Unless you go AC -- you won't have enough RPMs to be gearless -- and then you will struggle with down shifting.

A buddy of mine built his jeep and ended up retrofitting a clutch back into the system.

Are you going AC or DC. Soloton is getting good reviews for DC.

There is an outfit in San Antonio that has built a 996EV.

mike

Byprodriver

991 & 981 have electric powered steering rack with motor mounted on the rack.

rustymon

We are going DC. We looked briefly at AC and it seemed that we could get more range for less expense with DC. Although we could do regenerative braking with AC, the overall cost of the system would have been much more than just buying additional batteries for a DC setup.

Interesting thought about the crank shaft running the accessories... will consider that. Thanks for the idea.

I found the San Antonio conversion here: http://www.zwheelz.com/Vehicles.html#anchor_138 (scroll down) and it looks pretty cool. It was helpful seeing where they chose to mount some batteries under the car. I was surprised that they went lead-acid.