Do you want an electric A2?

philward said:
I think this is where most of our A2s will end up. Good to bring them up to date and keep them running.
Click to expand...
Good point. As engines reach the end of their lives how will we keep A2s on the road? Is it possible now to buy new replacement 1.4 and 1.6fsi engines? Will it be possible 5-10 years from now?
 
55Stars said:
Just gone quite slow because of the day job! No more difficult or expensive than before. Have actually been back on it quite recently and currently have 18 out of 24 batteries properly mounted - just figuring out exactly where last 6 are going. Interestingly the car isn't sitting low at all with all batteries inside the car and the motor mounted. The interior is stripped out but it can't be that heavy?!

Batteries under the back seats where the fuel tank was... (seats back in and working as they should.)View attachment 87295
Click to expand...
Looks like someone could become self-employed as an A2 electric converter.
 
spike said:
Taking reverse engineering to extremes, when BMW i3's get a bit older and are scrapped off due to uneconomical battery replacement costs...........
I wonder if someone will do a petrol engine conversion.

Cheers Spike
Click to expand...
This is interesting even in just a theoretical sense. The REX version already had a motor in the rear subframe. The pure electric version just has a big gap in the subframe where the REX motor actually mounts. Although battery prices are falling there are only so many children available to dig out the cobalt with their hands, so technology / legislation will change to make this type of battery redundant, so we'll be dependant on 3rd parties to produce new tech replacements as BMW won't reverse engineer as they would rather you buy a whole new car ?
 
Thought re converted cars in general, whats the position looking like re MOT? I know the rules re working on electric cars are quite tight as there are serious voltages so the tech needs to know what they are doing. Also though, how will a tech feel about testing/maintaining someone else's conversion? Hopefully with time the non-manufacturer service and repair market will open up, but for now there may well be a lot of uncertainty.
 
mrbroons said:
I've tried an i3 and it doesn't even get close to being an A2 replacement. It is too small and too impractical. Lovely car but test drive one first.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
.....and the i3's skinny little tyres don't inspire confidence, unlike a good set of 195/50/15s
 
Olerype said:
Hydrogen-cars are a dead-end IMO. Way too inefficient.
Click to expand...
In comparison with using renewable electricity for charging a battery against using it to generate hydrogen, the latter is 6 to 8x less efficient. Just the energy required to compress and cool the hydrogen for an average car would be sufficient to drive a BEV about 200km! The alternative would be to use hydrogen in a diesel engine but you would still have a NOx problem.

RAB
 
The first company is Electric Classic Cars. The second company offers Landrover conversions from £35,000! You could buy a decent EV for the same money. Note that both companies only convert pre-CAN bus vehicles.

RAB
 
vkx245l said:
This is interesting even in just a theoretical sense. The REX version already had a motor in the rear subframe. The pure electric version just has a big gap in the subframe where the REX motor actually mounts. Although battery prices are falling there are only so many children available to dig out the cobalt with their hands, so technology / legislation will change to make this type of battery redundant, so we'll be dependant on 3rd parties to produce new tech replacements as BMW won't reverse engineer as they would rather you buy a whole new car ?
Click to expand...
I hope some of you watched the programme on Al Jazeera England, Freeview 235, a few weeks ago.
It was titled if I remember, How Clean Is Your Green Energy.
It wasn't political, but purely factual in my opinion.
I've been saying all the points raised in the programme for at least 10 years.
The statistics regarding copper were extraordinary.
The programme is worth hunting out.
 
Another A2 EV conversion has finished, not without trials and tribulations getting it approved.

Guy called Johannes Hübner in Germany. I get the impression he has done a number of none A2 conversions and was asked by a Swede (who has 4 A2s) if he could convert an A2 for him. I think Johannes is more of a software and electrical engineer as he has written the software to connect the A2 instruments and controls from the CanBus to the EV inverter/battery controller.

The vehicle has a 24kWh battery from a Leaf and a Prius motor and inverter. The rear seats have been removed to fit the batteries both below the floor and above in 2 layers. This keeps the centre of gravity forward and simplifies the wiring. Winter energy consumption is an actual 13kWh/100km which I calculate as 185 km / 115 miles but of course a EV is generally used from 90% to 20% so real range is less. It was built to handle a 80km round trip commute.

This first video gives an overview of the conversion and includes a list of things rejected by the certifying authority. This video is in German so switch on the translate captions.


This recent 2nd video takes us through the changes and all the various components in the engine compartment. This shows how much more that batteries and motors are needed. To deliver the vehicle to Sweden he has fitted a temporary CCS charging socket. Normally the vehicle will be home charged.


Both videos have a test drive.
 
Alan_uk said:
Another A2 EV conversion has finished, not without trials and tribulations getting it approved.

Guy called Johannes Hübner in Germany. I get the impression he has done a number of none A2 conversions and was asked by a Swede (who has 4 A2s) if he could convert an A2 for him. I think Johannes is more of a software and electrical engineer as he has written the software to connect the A2 instruments and controls from the CanBus to the EV inverter/battery controller.

The vehicle has a 24kWh battery from a Leaf and a Prius motor and inverter. The rear seats have been removed to fit the batteries both below the floor and above in 2 layers. This keeps the centre of gravity forward and simplifies the wiring. Winter energy consumption is an actual 13kWh/100km which I calculate as 185 km / 115 miles but of course a EV is generally used from 90% to 20% so real range is less. It was built to handle a 80km round trip commute.

This first video gives an overview of the conversion and includes a list of things rejected by the certifying authority. This video is in German so switch on the translate captions.


This recent 2nd video takes us through the changes and all the various components in the engine compartment. This shows how much more that batteries and motors are needed. To deliver the vehicle to Sweden he has fitted a temporary CCS charging socket. Normally the vehicle will be home charged.


Both videos have a test drive.
Click to expand...
It sure ain't pretty
 
Johannes is responsible for creating OpenInverter. Definitely more of a software/electronics engineer. The project thread in the forum has taken a while. There's a couple more on there and likely eventually my A2 now I can focus on it again after getting rid of my 'project' TT, project meaning PITA time and money pit, for a BMW i3. So I've an A2 and i3 on the drive.

My A2 is SORN'd and I want to get MOT'd and running again on its FSI, then convert, but ideally in a reversible way. Looking to fit everything under the bonnet so not much range, 10-12kWh battery so 50 miles would be nice.

The project section on the Open Inverter forum is worth a look through. Lots of different cars in different states of undress for the more mechanically minded who like that sort of thing :)
 
To answer the thread title, I would be interested if the real-world range of the car could exceed 300 miles - my longest trip in one hit where I don't want to stop for more than 10-15 mins is 205 miles - so this requirement takes into account the winter consumption of 65-70mph cruising with heater, lights, wipers etc. all on.

This is why I stopped looking at BMW i3's a while ago, even the REx versions are not really suitable for journeys like this.
 
I would love to make my A2 electric.

I live in Norway, and well over 90 percent of all new cars are currently EVs over here. New service stations have fast loaders for EVs on the front, and you find petrol pumps in the back. As petrol cars is rapidly becoming more and more rare here, I think petrol prices will rise. And the original reason that i went for my first A2 20 years ago was its ecofriendlyness. It would be cool to make it even more green.

I hope that the near future will bring us conversion kits that is relatively easy to install. Thats when I will do the leap.
 
Troender said:
I would love to make my A2 electric.

I live in Norway, and well over 90 percent of all new cars are currently EVs over here. New service stations have fast loaders for EVs on the front, and you find petrol pumps in the back. As petrol cars is rapidly becoming more and more rare here, I think petrol prices will rise. And the original reason that i went for my first A2 20 years ago was its ecofriendlyness. It would be cool to make it even more green.

I hope that the near future will bring us conversion kits that is relatively easy to install. Thats when I will do the leap.
Click to expand...
Sounds good, I look forward to that day, I will upgrade a few of my A2's to electric too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top