Ecky
1 W
Hi all! I registered on here a while back and had a few questions, but for the most part I'm a fresh face, and relatively new to electrics.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about doing an EV conversion with my Insight, or a second Insight, and I've just started doing reading and research on it. I think it makes the most sense to tackle the least complex issues first, and build my understanding as I go along.
The first thing I'm going to inform myself on is in batteries. I assume a battery pulled from a mass-production EV would probably be the easiest and cheapest, but please correct me if I'm way off here.
Looking at the (old) Volt's pack, it appears to weigh about 400lbs and have a capacity of ~18.4kwh (0.046kwh/lb). The 24kwh Leaf pack, best I can tell, is ~650lbs (0.037kwh/lb). The 30kwh Leaf pack is ~700lbs (0.043kwh/lb). The new Bolt's pack is ~60kwh, and ~960lbs (0.063kwh/lb).
Given that these donor vehicles are much larger, heavier and less aerodynamic than an Insight-EV would be, I have only a vague idea how to estimate range, but I don't think I could get by with less than 150 miles of range, and 200 would be better; I regularly do 110+ miles of driving in a day.
Back of the envelope:
The Insight weighs about 1850lbs. With engine, transmission and battery removed, it's down to about 1550lbs. I'm going to assume an electric motor and controller will weigh in the area of 100lbs (please correct me if this is way off). If I were to drop in a Leaf 30kwh pack, rated at 107 miles in the Leaf, I'd be up to around 2350lbs (give or take), which is about a thousand pounds lighter than the Leaf is.
The Leaf has a CdA of 6.94, whereas the Insight has a CdA of 5.00, 28% less. Once the ICE is gone, I can probably almost completely seal up the front of the car, and completely seal the bottom, I can optimistically get that 5.00 down to ~4.00, which is ~42% less drag when compared with the Leaf. With this in mind, getting 150 miles out of a 30kwh pack seems pretty reasonable, especially if I drive with economy in mind.
The old Leaf pack is probably the easiest and cheapest per kwh to acquire but (if the numbers I've found are correct) easily has the worst energy storage per weight. It might or might not give me my desired 150 miles of range. Bolt packs will probably not start showing up for several years, but are far and above the best in terms of kwh per weight.
~
Another factor I need to consider is size. Ideally, I'd like to pull the Insight's fuel tank and bolt an aluminum box under the car where it was, and pack it full of cells, with potentially some spillover into the Insight's cargo box or hatch area, which is approximately 4' x 4' with the existing IMA system removed. It's likely I could fit an existing leaf battery module whole into the hatch of the Insight intact, but that would be very inelegant.
~
All of that is largely mechanical, but simply stuffing a battery into a car chassis an EV does not make. It would be nice if I could simply transplant (mostly intact) all of the electronics and instrumentation from an existing EV (preferably from a complete doner vehicle) into an Insight, but I have no idea how feasible this is. I have little experience or knowledge of 3rd party motor controllers, what the advantages and disadvantages would be, but I'm highly mechanically inclined and have a fair background in programming, and I'm certain I can eventually puzzle it out.
I've come here to get some ideas on how to make an elegant long-range EV out of an Insight, which as a gasoline-powered vehicle, suits my needs very well. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to motor controllers and instrumentation, but ES seemed a good place to start.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about doing an EV conversion with my Insight, or a second Insight, and I've just started doing reading and research on it. I think it makes the most sense to tackle the least complex issues first, and build my understanding as I go along.
The first thing I'm going to inform myself on is in batteries. I assume a battery pulled from a mass-production EV would probably be the easiest and cheapest, but please correct me if I'm way off here.
Looking at the (old) Volt's pack, it appears to weigh about 400lbs and have a capacity of ~18.4kwh (0.046kwh/lb). The 24kwh Leaf pack, best I can tell, is ~650lbs (0.037kwh/lb). The 30kwh Leaf pack is ~700lbs (0.043kwh/lb). The new Bolt's pack is ~60kwh, and ~960lbs (0.063kwh/lb).
Given that these donor vehicles are much larger, heavier and less aerodynamic than an Insight-EV would be, I have only a vague idea how to estimate range, but I don't think I could get by with less than 150 miles of range, and 200 would be better; I regularly do 110+ miles of driving in a day.
Back of the envelope:
The Insight weighs about 1850lbs. With engine, transmission and battery removed, it's down to about 1550lbs. I'm going to assume an electric motor and controller will weigh in the area of 100lbs (please correct me if this is way off). If I were to drop in a Leaf 30kwh pack, rated at 107 miles in the Leaf, I'd be up to around 2350lbs (give or take), which is about a thousand pounds lighter than the Leaf is.
The Leaf has a CdA of 6.94, whereas the Insight has a CdA of 5.00, 28% less. Once the ICE is gone, I can probably almost completely seal up the front of the car, and completely seal the bottom, I can optimistically get that 5.00 down to ~4.00, which is ~42% less drag when compared with the Leaf. With this in mind, getting 150 miles out of a 30kwh pack seems pretty reasonable, especially if I drive with economy in mind.
The old Leaf pack is probably the easiest and cheapest per kwh to acquire but (if the numbers I've found are correct) easily has the worst energy storage per weight. It might or might not give me my desired 150 miles of range. Bolt packs will probably not start showing up for several years, but are far and above the best in terms of kwh per weight.
~
Another factor I need to consider is size. Ideally, I'd like to pull the Insight's fuel tank and bolt an aluminum box under the car where it was, and pack it full of cells, with potentially some spillover into the Insight's cargo box or hatch area, which is approximately 4' x 4' with the existing IMA system removed. It's likely I could fit an existing leaf battery module whole into the hatch of the Insight intact, but that would be very inelegant.

~
All of that is largely mechanical, but simply stuffing a battery into a car chassis an EV does not make. It would be nice if I could simply transplant (mostly intact) all of the electronics and instrumentation from an existing EV (preferably from a complete doner vehicle) into an Insight, but I have no idea how feasible this is. I have little experience or knowledge of 3rd party motor controllers, what the advantages and disadvantages would be, but I'm highly mechanically inclined and have a fair background in programming, and I'm certain I can eventually puzzle it out.
I've come here to get some ideas on how to make an elegant long-range EV out of an Insight, which as a gasoline-powered vehicle, suits my needs very well. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to motor controllers and instrumentation, but ES seemed a good place to start.