Where are all of those electric Beetles?

Just went to this site and saw that they sold quite a few Beetles that were
converted to electric power.
I would like to hear feedback from the owners.
http://www.preparedness1.com/electric_vehicles.htm
http://e-volks.com/electric_car_conversions.html

Anyone here have one or seen one? Curious about them!

thanks,
One out of many daves

On Dec 8, 7:11*am, "dave AKA vwdoc1" >
wrote:
> Just went to this site and saw that they sold quite a few Beetles that were
> converted to electric power.
> I would like to hear feedback from the owners.http://www.preparedness1.com/electri...nversions.html
>
> Anyone here have one or seen one? *Curious about them!
>
> thanks,
> One out of many daves

I would love to do one of these. But I lack a few items which would
be a necessity for a project like this. 1) The budget. 2) A garage
to work in. 3) The skills required.

Also - I would have to start with a new Bug body. I wouldn't have the
heart to remove a recently rebuilt motor in perfect running condition!

I am surprised I didn't see any VW rabbits on the list. I hear they
are good project cars due to the low weight, and ease of conversion.

-Steve Ballantyne
68' Bug

Thanks Steve,
Their kit looks easy to install into a Beetle since you only need to bolt
the electric motor onto the transmission and then deal with wiring things
up.
It is not like you have to fabricate some motor mounting brackets like I
would have to do for another vehicle. That takes off at least one BIG step
of doing the conversion.
A Rabbit could be done also but again it would need to have those brackets.
Rabbits here rust out and they are usually not worthwhile to restore, but a
Beetle is at least worth it.

I would have thought that someone here either owns one or has seen one. I
was hoping at least. <g>

I have a '70 Beetle in waiting for another 4 years so at least I have the
"time" to do this, but I would have to include it into the budget. lol
AND by that time battery technology along with their costs should continue
to improve so that maybe the range can be extended over hundreds of miles.
Hey I can hope! lol
--
later,
(One out of many daves)

" > wrote in
message
...
On Dec 8, 7:11 am, "dave AKA vwdoc1" >
wrote:
> Just went to this site and saw that they sold quite a few Beetles that
> were
> converted to electric power.
> I would like to hear feedback from the
> owners.http://www.preparedness1.com/electri...nversions.html
>
> Anyone here have one or seen one? Curious about them!
>
> thanks,
> One out of many daves

I would love to do one of these. But I lack a few items which would
be a necessity for a project like this. 1) The budget. 2) A garage
to work in. 3) The skills required.

Also - I would have to start with a new Bug body. I wouldn't have the
heart to remove a recently rebuilt motor in perfect running condition!

I am surprised I didn't see any VW rabbits on the list. I hear they
are good project cars due to the low weight, and ease of conversion.

-Steve Ballantyne
68' Bug

> Their kit looks easy to install into a Beetle since you only need to bolt
> the electric motor onto the transmission and then deal with wiring things
> up.

The only aspect of the kit that I did not like is the talk of having
to cut down the transaxle input shaft to get the electric motor flush
with the transaxle case. I don't know about you, but for me...doing
that would basically keep me from being able to go back to the stock
gasoline engine setup unless you take the transaxle apart and replace
the rear section of the input shaft. I'd rather see the kit space the
electric motor back from the transaxle and leave the input shaft
unmodified. If I was going to go down this route I'd prefer to do it
in such a way that I could return to the factory style powertrain
without a great deal of effort should I decide to do so.

> It is not like you have to fabricate some motor mounting brackets like I
> would have to do for another vehicle. That takes off at least one BIG step
> of doing the conversion.

No, but you do have to fabricate brackets to install a bunch of lead-
acid batteries, and the consequences of not securing them properly are
pretty steep. I don't see how you could do the conversion without some
welding, at the very least welding up a frame to support the
batteries, and then utilizing existing bolt positions for things like
the rear seat and such to support the frame.

And the entry-level kits I've seen are only good to about 40 mph which
in part of the country isn't enough to keep you out of harms way. I
get run-over badly enough with the stock engine ...

Chris

Good points!
The cutting of the mainshaft of the transmission would make it tricky to put
everything back stock with that modified transmission but these are not
difficult to change or have a spare one. :-)
I would assume with a slight modification of the installing bracket, put on
spacers, then the input shaft would not need to be trimmed down. I do
wonder why they designed it that way????

I can see a carpenter setting up wooden boxes to hold those Optimum
batteries that can be installed at almost any angle.

I was hoping to see someone use other style batteries
like the new tesla car. http://www.teslamotors.com
OR..the original one...http://waterpoweredcar.com/teslascar.html
(I wonder if this wirelessly powered electric car worked!)

Just thinking out loud!
--
later,
(One out of many daves)

> wrote in message
...
>> Their kit looks easy to install into a Beetle since you only need to bolt
>> the electric motor onto the transmission and then deal with wiring things
>> up.
>
> The only aspect of the kit that I did not like is the talk of having
> to cut down the transaxle input shaft to get the electric motor flush
> with the transaxle case. I don't know about you, but for me...doing
> that would basically keep me from being able to go back to the stock
> gasoline engine setup unless you take the transaxle apart and replace
> the rear section of the input shaft. I'd rather see the kit space the
> electric motor back from the transaxle and leave the input shaft
> unmodified. If I was going to go down this route I'd prefer to do it
> in such a way that I could return to the factory style powertrain
> without a great deal of effort should I decide to do so.
>
>> It is not like you have to fabricate some motor mounting brackets like I
>> would have to do for another vehicle. That takes off at least one BIG
>> step
>> of doing the conversion.
>
> No, but you do have to fabricate brackets to install a bunch of lead-
> acid batteries, and the consequences of not securing them properly are
> pretty steep. I don't see how you could do the conversion without some
> welding, at the very least welding up a frame to support the
> batteries, and then utilizing existing bolt positions for things like
> the rear seat and such to support the frame.
>
> And the entry-level kits I've seen are only good to about 40 mph which
> in part of the country isn't enough to keep you out of harms way. I
> get run-over badly enough with the stock engine ...
>
> Chris

Now check this video out where they installed newer style batteries in an
electric car
http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/vide...ic-Drag-Racing

I was so fascinated by it that I will seriously look into building one fast
Beetle. <g>
--
later,
(One out of many daves)

> wrote in message
...
>> Their kit looks easy to install into a Beetle since you only need to bolt
>> the electric motor onto the transmission and then deal with wiring things
>> up.
>
> The only aspect of the kit that I did not like is the talk of having
> to cut down the transaxle input shaft to get the electric motor flush
> with the transaxle case. I don't know about you, but for me...doing
> that would basically keep me from being able to go back to the stock
> gasoline engine setup unless you take the transaxle apart and replace
> the rear section of the input shaft. I'd rather see the kit space the
> electric motor back from the transaxle and leave the input shaft
> unmodified. If I was going to go down this route I'd prefer to do it
> in such a way that I could return to the factory style powertrain
> without a great deal of effort should I decide to do so.
>
>> It is not like you have to fabricate some motor mounting brackets like I
>> would have to do for another vehicle. That takes off at least one BIG
>> step
>> of doing the conversion.
>
> No, but you do have to fabricate brackets to install a bunch of lead-
> acid batteries, and the consequences of not securing them properly are
> pretty steep. I don't see how you could do the conversion without some
> welding, at the very least welding up a frame to support the
> batteries, and then utilizing existing bolt positions for things like
> the rear seat and such to support the frame.
>
> And the entry-level kits I've seen are only good to about 40 mph which
> in part of the country isn't enough to keep you out of harms way. I
> get run-over badly enough with the stock engine ...
>
> Chris

"dave AKA vwdoc1" > wrote in message
...
> Now check this video out where they installed newer style batteries in an
> electric car
> http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/vide...ic-Drag-Racing
>
> I was so fascinated by it that I will seriously look into building one
> fast Beetle. <g>
> --
> later,
> (One out of many daves)


That is one serious electric car. I wonder what its normal range is though?

Neil

For drag racing I think he recharges after every 1/4 mile run.
I guess if he "moderately" uses the batteries, he can probably travel 40+
miles. Even up to 200 miles if he adds more of those compact batteries. I
am only guessing here so mileage may vary!
It seems like he was driving around the city like it was a normal vehicle.
I usually drive locally and don't go over 20 miles a day so it would be a
great summer vehicle for me. I need heat in the winter time! ;-)

If I do build one, I WILL take it to the drag strip along with a portable
generator to recharge it! <BG>

--
later,
(One out of many daves)


"Neil" > wrote in message
...
>
> "dave AKA vwdoc1" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Now check this video out where they installed newer style batteries in an
>> electric car
>> http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/vide...ic-Drag-Racing
>>
>> I was so fascinated by it that I will seriously look into building one
>> fast Beetle. <g>
>> --
>> later,
>> (One out of many daves)
>
>
> That is one serious electric car. I wonder what its normal range is
> though?
>
> Neil