ghetto van conversion

[cheapcookie]

Dear endless sphere, I need a cargo van(think ford E350 or E150) moving at speeds of around 10mph on electric power for less than two miles
(range doesn't matter much here, correct me if i am wrong, it would only need to do two miles twice a week)

weight is around two tons with the combustion motor!

There's a few ways I can approach the problem in my mind. (excuse my ignorance, I literally know nothing about cars, and large EV)

• 
  I can use a car conversion kit, motor adapter, big motor. (out of my budget and or out of my garage mechanic skills)
  
  I can make a 5th wheel, or power the drive shaft with a large reduction, direct drive power the wheels.
  
  I can use a DIY version of this externally

I want to use a +10Kw motor such as the ETEK or a big rc motor or ebike motor or multiple rc motors.

my requirements, are :

• 
  integrated inside the van
  
  I do not mind removing the combustion engine because of weight and space saving.
  
  I do not mind keeping the combustion motor for extra redundancy, but it would most likely go.
  
  any speed, happy with 5mph if its an easy conversion, very very happy with 20mph
  
  it has to be easy and cheap and quick(all contradict each other, but hey yolo)

Let's say my wheels are 16in(40cm) in dia, it would require 300rpm to go 20km/h(12mph)

or a reduction of 20:1 is the enough reduction to get the van to speeds?

weight is around two tons with the combustion motor!!!!

Am I missing out ? I would love to be at the same not wrong and not right! I have so much to learn!

relevant link to pictured E-TUG http://www.canev.com/might_e_tug.php

 

[cheapcookie]

guys I am dead serious about this project.

I have thought more about how stupid my first post is.

What I want is something very similar to the E-TUG.

It would be nice to have it integrated into the van.

Lets initiate a discussion.

Thanks again.

 

[cheapcookie]

only 50 watts to move the car !!!!

[youtube]https://youtu.be/K-FmhPgtLlA[/youtube]

 

[amberwolf]

But how much to get it started from a stop?

My heavy SB Cruiser trike, loaded down with cargo, will take over 3Kw to get started from a stop and keep taking that much power for a large portion of the time to reach my 20MPH cruising speed...but that's still only a few seconds. It only weighs about 1/8th of the 4000lbs+ you're talking about, though.

Also, it uses large heavy DD hubmotors.


Since you only need low speeds you might look around at some of the Burning Man contraption threads, some of which are pretty big/heavy, and see how they did what they did and how well they worked, and scale those up to match your needs (whatever those end up being).



It's not really clear exactly what you're wanting the vehicle to do, so it's hard to give any specifics. At first it sounded like you just needed a low-speed low-range transportation, and happened to have a van you were going to convert regardless of it's applicability to the situation. Later it sounds like you want to tow something with it, and the actual vehicle might be really small / light but need to be able to tow a much larger/heavier thing at low speeds for a short distance. I'm not sure which, if either, of those is correct.

If you provide exact details of your requirements and what exactly the project must do and what it is for, it'd help people help you figure it all out.

 

[fechter]

Do you need it to still work with the original gas engine?

I have seen a setup with a toothed belt sprocket attached to the U-joint on the transmission end of the drive shaft. In this application, it was a hybrid drive so the electric motor was always engaged. If you don't need the gas engine to work, you could use a fairly small electric motor with lots of gear reduction to the drive shaft or directly to the rear differential. I know the starter motor on an engine is definitely enough to make a car move (but not for long). Something like an old Etek motor or a Motenergy http://motenergy.com/ Would be a good size. The gear reduction will be the hard part.