- Thread starter bigoldboy
- Start date
This is something I am doing at the moment.
If you plan to do it yourself then you could possibly get away with £10-15k depending on range and motor type - you will need to undertake some pretty heavy duty hacking and re-programming if you intend to use a motor recovered from a production car.
I have 26kwh of batteries, which I hope will give me 80-100 miles of range. My parts cost is likely to hit £15k before I have finished, although I have complicated things slightly by having one of the battery packs removeable.
Hard to know how much you would be charged by someone else. It will be hours based and if they haven't done one before that is a lot of hours. I don't think any of the UK companies have done a R4 before but I think there is a Dutch company that offers a conversion.
For a company starting from scratch I would say at least £30k.
You may have a problem if you are in Spain - I was talking to a Spanish mechanic about my conversion a while back and he said it was not possible to do in Spain because of legislation.
If you plan to do it yourself then you could possibly get away with £10-15k depending on range and motor type - you will need to undertake some pretty heavy duty hacking and re-programming if you intend to use a motor recovered from a production car.
I have 26kwh of batteries, which I hope will give me 80-100 miles of range. My parts cost is likely to hit £15k before I have finished, although I have complicated things slightly by having one of the battery packs removeable.
Hard to know how much you would be charged by someone else. It will be hours based and if they haven't done one before that is a lot of hours. I don't think any of the UK companies have done a R4 before but I think there is a Dutch company that offers a conversion.
For a company starting from scratch I would say at least £30k.
You may have a problem if you are in Spain - I was talking to a Spanish mechanic about my conversion a while back and he said it was not possible to do in Spain because of legislation.
JdeW
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In my opinion there is only one way for electric driving and that is the hydrogen powered fuel cell engine.
Everything else the so called "Clean" battery powered solution is a waste of effort and resources and generates only more and more pollution on the production of those batteries.
Don't get me wrong I am in favour for electric driving but only when the wright clean technology is used and not the polluting one which is now mass introduced
Mr. Musk get's richer and richer on mass polluting the world with his battery powered toys and keeps continuing shooting his most polluting rockets
Everything else the so called "Clean" battery powered solution is a waste of effort and resources and generates only more and more pollution on the production of those batteries.
Don't get me wrong I am in favour for electric driving but only when the wright clean technology is used and not the polluting one which is now mass introduced
Mr. Musk get's richer and richer on mass polluting the world with his battery powered toys and keeps continuing shooting his most polluting rockets
John Edmonds
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Future-proofing the R4 as an EV for £15k?
I really like the concept, but is the primary objective to reduce your carbon footprint or to save on fuel costs?
Capital costs aside (particularly return on investment), are the any R4 out there converted to LPG? As this gas is a waste by-product of the petrol-chemical refinement process and less than half the current unleaded pump prices, might this be considered (at £1k-£2k conversion) as a simple, cost-effective and sustainable compromise?
Looking at the long-term life-cycle manufacturing costs, all our 30-60 year-old cars will have written-off their materials and construction impacts long ago, so their ongoing carbon footprint is limited to servicing, consumables and repair costs, plus a small proportion of fossil fuel consumption at 40mpg.
It's a complicated equation with so many variables, but the ongoing R4 ethos has always been supreme simplicity... Less is more!
I really like the concept, but is the primary objective to reduce your carbon footprint or to save on fuel costs?
Capital costs aside (particularly return on investment), are the any R4 out there converted to LPG? As this gas is a waste by-product of the petrol-chemical refinement process and less than half the current unleaded pump prices, might this be considered (at £1k-£2k conversion) as a simple, cost-effective and sustainable compromise?
Looking at the long-term life-cycle manufacturing costs, all our 30-60 year-old cars will have written-off their materials and construction impacts long ago, so their ongoing carbon footprint is limited to servicing, consumables and repair costs, plus a small proportion of fossil fuel consumption at 40mpg.
It's a complicated equation with so many variables, but the ongoing R4 ethos has always been supreme simplicity... Less is more!
angel
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And very often repairs are done by recycling material from other cars. This material would otherwise need energy to be de-composed and recycled.
Carbon footprint of any classic car, viewed during its entire lifespan, is much lower than we are led to believe. Of course nobody wants us to know this because it comes in contrast to the trend of "consuming to save the planet" that has been introduced by both the governments and automobile manufacturers.
malcolm
& Clementine the Cat
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If saving the environment is the idea then upgrading an old car to electric will probably not be the best thing. Keep it going, repair it, and don't scrap it. The idea of saving the planet through massively increased consumerism seems to be funded by the people who are selling things and there might be some conflict of interest there.
But there are other benefits of an electric R4. It would be a fun project. Performance will almost certainly get faster. It's a good platform to experiment with - nice flat floor and lots of space underneath.
We don't get enough posts about electric conversions on here. It would be interesting to see progress.
But there are other benefits of an electric R4. It would be a fun project. Performance will almost certainly get faster. It's a good platform to experiment with - nice flat floor and lots of space underneath.
We don't get enough posts about electric conversions on here. It would be interesting to see progress.
John Edmonds
Enthusiast
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- York
Interesting (relatively) low-cost EV conversion kits being developed in France (€4k-€5k), aimed initially at Clio/Polo/Fiat 500. Replace engine, retain gearbox/drive train, limited range but adequate city performance. Appropriate for R4?