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 30/10/2007 2:04 PM
 

I can't tell you how excited I am that someone is converting a charade to electric.

I've had three G100/G102 daihatsu charades now (One 3cyl and Two 4cyl models), and more recently a daihatsu feroza. Great cars, and the charades are rather fun to drive.

I'd love to convert a 3cyl charade into electric (3cyl simply because the 3-door models weigh less), and I'll be watching your progress along the way.

I have a few questions so far...

What are the laws regarding EV conversions in victoria, and where do i find more info re: engineering and rego?

Assuming i had a car already, can tell me roughly how much this conversion is going to cost?

We drive around town mostly, but every week (give or take), we travel 120km from Bendigo to Ballarat. There is opportunity to charge at either town, but its that range inbetween that I query. Given that its a know distance, would it be possible to build a 'cost effective' EV car to travel this distance on a single charge?

 

Cheers --Tzi

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 30/10/2007 7:37 PM
 
Hi Tzi,
 Great to see someone else looking at a Charade. They make a great car to do a conversion on, light, easy to work on and a good amount of room for a small car. My conversion should cost $9000 - $10000 including the car. That’s with about $3200 of lead acid batteries with an expected max range of 80 – 100km and a required range of just over 50km. To get 120km of range through you are going to either need to look at lithium ion’s or use some form of hybrid power, Maybe a trailer carrying a generator for the longer trips. My lead acid batteries are about 550kg which is really pushing the max the car is going to be able to handle. Lithium batteries will set you back somewhere between $10000 and $20000. The problem you get is that even if you have a max range of 120km you can’t really use that because if you discharge your batteries beyond 80% your severely shorten their life span, particularly with lead acids.
 
I suggest giving Dr Michael Simons at EVMotors a call, he has done a Charade and I’m basing mine of his. Also if you’re in Sydney try checking out the EV day out (details on our front home page), you should be able to see one of Dr Michaels conversions there. If you’re based in Perth then check out the WAEVA website (www.waeva.asn.au) and also let me know as I’m in WA
The EVMotors web page is www.evmotors.com.au
 
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