55Stars
Member
Very recently, I started a project with a couple of friends. Three days in and this is where we are....
I got into A2's only just over a year ago after finding out about its Audi Space Frame through my love of my 2002 Audi S8, which shares the same ASF badge!
I've been into the idea of electric conversions for ages and follow Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged. I went to Fully Charged Live at Silverstone in June 2019 and was fascinated with the electric car conversion area. Seeing the converted cars was inspiring and I immediately thought again of the A2. A week later I bought one - a 1.4tdi 90 with OSS, 5 seats and horrible steel wheels with hubcaps. This is not the Fusion car. It's my current daily driver, but now on coilovers, nice alloys, without an EGR and with a remap. I'll put some photos up in another thread.
A year later, I've bought another four A2's and Fusion is Number 3 (Thanks A2Steve!). Number 4 is now my Mum's car - a one owner 1.4 Petrol SE with low miles and in great condition. Number 5 just arrived and is a keeper - 2001 1.4 Petrol Sport with OSS, rear electric windows, heated seats, winter pack headlamp washers.
Back to Fusion... I was chatting to a family friend, Rhys, about my electric wet dreams and he said he'd love to get involved (I know that sounds disgusting, but it really is about cars). He's done loads of petrol based conversions on VW's in the past and loves a challenge. Another friend, Dan, was also massively interested in the idea and he has all the skills to sort out any complicated electronic hacking. He's also responsible for all the artistic content. At the end of May we met at my office carpark with Fusion and hatched the plan to convert it using a Nissan Leaf motor/drive and battery pack.
It took ages to find the right one, but on 13th July I placed a deposit on a 2017 30kWh Nissan Leaf Tekna with 25,000 miles and it was delivered two days later. A fully working car, by the way, just so that we had everything... (as if!)
For anyone that noticed, the car at the beginning of the video is actually Number 4 - my Mum's - but it's the same colour as Fusion and was used for the photo shoot because it actually drove - unlike Fusion. We did the intro in the video shoot at Whitchurch Mental Hospital, Cardiff - quite fitting really, given the plans!
On 30th July, Fusion was delivered to Rhys' workshop and I drove the Leaf there on its last ever journey. Over the next two days, we took out the A2 1.4tdi 90 engine and box (these are now available), exhaust and other bits to make way for the motor. We started stripping the complicated Leaf front end and by the end of day 2, we'd also removed the massive 30kWh battery pack. Holidays stopped any progress until yesterday, when we finally got the motor/drive unit out and very crudely mocked it up in the A2 "engine bay", sorry "motor bay"! Before we signed off for the day, we thought it a good idea to open the battery pack for a look - that's me at the end of the video.
Oh no, what have we started...
Huw
I got into A2's only just over a year ago after finding out about its Audi Space Frame through my love of my 2002 Audi S8, which shares the same ASF badge!
I've been into the idea of electric conversions for ages and follow Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged. I went to Fully Charged Live at Silverstone in June 2019 and was fascinated with the electric car conversion area. Seeing the converted cars was inspiring and I immediately thought again of the A2. A week later I bought one - a 1.4tdi 90 with OSS, 5 seats and horrible steel wheels with hubcaps. This is not the Fusion car. It's my current daily driver, but now on coilovers, nice alloys, without an EGR and with a remap. I'll put some photos up in another thread.
A year later, I've bought another four A2's and Fusion is Number 3 (Thanks A2Steve!). Number 4 is now my Mum's car - a one owner 1.4 Petrol SE with low miles and in great condition. Number 5 just arrived and is a keeper - 2001 1.4 Petrol Sport with OSS, rear electric windows, heated seats, winter pack headlamp washers.
Back to Fusion... I was chatting to a family friend, Rhys, about my electric wet dreams and he said he'd love to get involved (I know that sounds disgusting, but it really is about cars). He's done loads of petrol based conversions on VW's in the past and loves a challenge. Another friend, Dan, was also massively interested in the idea and he has all the skills to sort out any complicated electronic hacking. He's also responsible for all the artistic content. At the end of May we met at my office carpark with Fusion and hatched the plan to convert it using a Nissan Leaf motor/drive and battery pack.
It took ages to find the right one, but on 13th July I placed a deposit on a 2017 30kWh Nissan Leaf Tekna with 25,000 miles and it was delivered two days later. A fully working car, by the way, just so that we had everything... (as if!)
For anyone that noticed, the car at the beginning of the video is actually Number 4 - my Mum's - but it's the same colour as Fusion and was used for the photo shoot because it actually drove - unlike Fusion. We did the intro in the video shoot at Whitchurch Mental Hospital, Cardiff - quite fitting really, given the plans!
On 30th July, Fusion was delivered to Rhys' workshop and I drove the Leaf there on its last ever journey. Over the next two days, we took out the A2 1.4tdi 90 engine and box (these are now available), exhaust and other bits to make way for the motor. We started stripping the complicated Leaf front end and by the end of day 2, we'd also removed the massive 30kWh battery pack. Holidays stopped any progress until yesterday, when we finally got the motor/drive unit out and very crudely mocked it up in the A2 "engine bay", sorry "motor bay"! Before we signed off for the day, we thought it a good idea to open the battery pack for a look - that's me at the end of the video.
Oh no, what have we started...
Huw
