Comment on A 2014 Ford electric with dead batteries is only worth 500$, even if you spent 20/30k on it
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years agoThere's regulations around chassis for safety reasons. You can build on top of existing chassis, but otherwise it won't be street legal
That said, DIY car.... its gonna look ugly... and its a crazy amount of work
I would rather buy an existing hybrid which uses a generic battery supplier, so I can replace it myself even if the manufacturer is gone.
otherwise it won’t be street legal
velomobiles, some diy EVs, car kits, I think these things are legal. Also maybe we can change the law. but yeah there are legal limitations to work through.
I like the hybrid idea too or a gas car for long trips (or rent one) and EV for shorter.
Saw it on Top Gear, when they built their own EV car from scratch. They said only existing chassis are highway legal. Not sure what the car kits are, but the rest are probably classified as something else, like e-bikes, carts or something. Highway legal chassis require a lot of paperwork, crash testing and so on.
I also saw this girl on youtube who made a EV Pickup out of her Tesla. It was months of work with a team of technicians... its really hard
Rather than making your own car, it would be more practical to put together a replacement battery pack yourself. You can see Linus Tech Tips video on making packs for cameras... the car packs use the same cells, just in much higher quantities.
I wouldn't do it myself, because its still a lot of work for just 1 replacement pack. I would buy a generic one and adapt it to my car.
yeah I think you're right, the div EVs are conversion kits from gas cars
the gas car kits are just standalone for gas, sounds basically like IKEA but for cars (assembling the parts yourself), I'm sure they're already approved: https://hiconsumption.com/best-complete-kit-cars/
EV Pickup out of her Tesla
from what I read, the diy conversion didn't sound too hard, it's just expensive for a lot of batteries. And you want to pick cars that are lighter which may reduce options. But I may have overlooked the difficulty involved.
https://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/
car packs use the same cells
yeah I was thinking it's probably those 18650 cells, in teh OP story I was wondering if they would be able to use some other battery and just convert the power using some kind of electronic device (?) - sounds possible
Its a 2014 Ford... I don't think they had the DRM shit built in at the time to keep owners from fiddling with the car.
It would be generic batteries with generic charging circuits.
The issue probably is most garages don't have electricians who would be able to set it up for them. Real shame, considering its MUCH easier to get into EV modding like you said than gas engines, due to their simplicity. Its basically a RC car
Oh ! Very interesting. It would be great if there are ones that allow you to keep the gas engine, aka hybrid. EV motors are tiny compared to gas engines. All the weight is batteries.
I would love to buy a reliable older gas truck, add a electric drive for short grocery trips
EV Kits also sound like they would be compatible with generic battery packs
Spotted_Lady@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
I've heard of folks 3D printing cars. That's only the body. The chassis is another matter.
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
Maybe there would be a service where you could print large metal parts , but its a safety risk and a huge amount of work for most people who are not engineers.
It would be more mangeable to convert gas cars with a kit
Spotted_Lady@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
The application for making the body with 3D printing and piecing it together is if you want to duplicate an iconic, custom car.
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
I studied Materials Sc and my roommate worked for Mercedes. Even making something small like the trunk hood requires structural and fabrication analysis.
Depending on fabrication process, a part of the same material - e.g. aluminium or carbon fiber will have different strength characteristics. So, just 3D printing it for "cosmetic" purposes should be fine. There's already "skins" to convert ordinary cars into Lamborghini knockoffs
In case of collisions, rolling over, or wear/tear, it will matter. Most people can't sink millions in R&D to optimize manufacture, like Big Auto