Electric conversion of a ’72 VW Bus T2b.
auf öffentlichen Strassen Thanks to the “yellow” plate, I can do test drives for a limited time legally and fully insured. So my first ride was to the local mechanic to check the VW frame and general condition. Well, for one, the 15km ride was smooth and I easily reached 80km/h. The condition of the…
Sick – krank Man, I caught the flu. I feel so sick. The first friends are picking on me because the van is still not running. On top of all this, I ordered the wrong gauge wire 🙁 Au Mann, ich hab mir ne Grippe eingefangen. Ausserdem frotzeln die ersten Freunde, ob denn der Bus…
Motor Support Johannes welded the motor support for me today. Thanks, man! I marked the holes and I will drill and mount it on Sunday. The kids will be at a party, so I can tinker a bit. I also received the motor coupler yesterday. After heating it, it would slip nicely onto the motor…
Die Motorstütze This is how it has to look. The first iteration will be very simple, made from a 35mm x 2mm square tube, bolted onto the old ICE motor mounts. It will need to be cut and welded to get a very slight V shape to accommodate for the electric motor which is 30mm…
Die Motorschablone After hauling the almost 80kg of iron and copper around a few times, I decided it would be much easier to use a lightweight plywood template. It took half an hour to design and laser cut. I should have done that much sooner! If you are planning a conversion, creating templates for the heavy…
Wir bauen einen Fahrtregler Over the weekend, I started assembling the controller. My son loved the challange and helped me to assemble the controller stage. He’s five and had a great time learing two-digit numbers, while I explained capacitors and resistors. I’ll explain Atmel programming to him next week 😉 . Am Wochenende habe ich…
Adapter Plate Mock Up – Modell der Motorplatte The first adapter plate will be made from six layers of 9mm plywood. This should be sturdy enough to support the motor for basic testing. The plate has to align the motor and take all the torque. The motor weight is mostly taken by the support bar…
Fitting the Motor – Passt der Motor? Testing the motor position in the engine bay. Yes, it’s short enough, but it needs an adapter plate that is more than 50mm thick. Ja, er passt. Er ist kurz genug, so dass er ohne Blecharbeiten in den Motorraum passt. Die Adapterplatte muss wohl so 50mm dick werden.…
Fooling around – Rumspielen When the motor arrived, I immediately had to hook it up to a battery. It reved up surprisingly slow (well, 12V, what did I expect), but also started rolling with more force than expected. Awesome 😉 Als der Motor kam, habe ich den natürlich sofor an eine Batterie geklemmt. Er drehte…
Germany has extremely strict rules about modifying cars. As a result, there are not many suppliers for EV parts at all. Even within the EU, EV supplies are somewhat hard to get. All parts are available from the U.S., but U.S. prices must be converted to Euro, shipping is added, then we need to wait.…
