i am from the middle of Germany and new to this board. I am a 24yrs old mechanical engineer and build cars together with a friend of mine, who is an electrical engineer. The reason for joining this board is growing interests for electrifing one of my vehicles.
In my working area i have some tools, a lathe, 2 3D-printers, 2 lifts etc...
I am a typical car guy and have a soft spot for older RWD cars, i own a BMW E30 328i, BMW E36 325TDS and a Mercedes W124 250TD
All vehicles are rolling with more or less modified engines, and output between 220 and 400 hp at the crank.
But now i am after something new and exciting. I am fascinated of the simplicity of the mechanical components in an electrical vehicle, you know, no spark plug, no air fuel ratio to note, and no conversion from linear to rotary motion etc.
So, to get started, yesterday i got a call from a man i dont know, who offered me an W201 190E merc for very small amount of money. I seem to be regionally known to host half-wrecked, old cars and give them a second (and faster) life
This was the initial spark to get started, and there begin my plannings and questions.To define the goal:
I want to create a car that is street legally in germany. I already spoke to an TÜV engineer, who is interested to accompany to this project.
I also bought the TÜV-Merkblatt 764
The car would be used in daily driving, but also taken sporadic to small Trackdays(short races like Slalom etc)
So my mate and me defiened some specs we want to reach:
- The car should reach a minimum of 6s/100kmh (or faster, of course)
- The coolant system should be capable of taking some heat, so you can drive some time with high power before something begins to smell..(or the inverter chokes output power)
- We want to reach a 50/50 weight distribution with intelligent placing of the components
- Topspeed is in the first instance not soo necessary, but as we live in germany with our Autobahn, something like 170-200 kmh would be nice
I already red some pages at this forum and was impressed by the amount of knowledge and ethusiasm, which are pooled here and reach unbelievable things. As an amateur, for me with limited knowledge there are only two real options for this car: GS450H Gearbox or Nissan Leaf Motor.
I want to talk about my thoughts of these two options, but i am am newbie, so input or support for this decision is very welcome:
Nissan Leaf Motor+Inverter:
+Capable of at least 220KW (short time)
+Comes with a nice reduction gearset to run directyl to the wheel hubs without differential etc(Saves useless parts and lot of mass)
+You can get used leafs relatively cheap (~5000€ here) and use their battery and all of its components, too
- While looking at the axle, i am confused if the motor with reduciton gear will fit (cutting the cars body, trunk etc is !No! problem), but when cutting something out of the axle and weld something in, Mr. Tüv starts to frown here in Germany
- When puttin the motor in the front and connect it directly with the probshaft, you will most likely be way to long with the reductions gears in the differential
At this point i try to avoid to attach the motor to the conventional gearbox. I know, it would be simple, but i personally dont like it. To much mass, problems and complexity afterwards.
GS450H Gearbox+Inverter:
+ Capable of some serious power (atleast i red it here)
+ 2 speed, which solves the desired highspeed combined with good acceleration
+ Would fit good in place of the actual gearbox, an works nice with the availbe differential gearings( 2.65-4.27 is plenty avaible)
+ I want to run a LSD Diff, this solution would be easier (although there is a NISMO LSD for the leaf you can buy!)
+ No need to modify trunk, rear axle, etc
- Way more expensive. I expect a GS450H build is double the price than a leaf build(with a complete Leaf as a base)? I am mostly afraid of the batteries. Semms that germany is not a good place to source used EV parts
- More mass, but power will compensate it maybe
So, here i am asking for your suggestions what combo would fit to my suits? I literally burn at the moment and would most like to start right now with the project. If the concept is clear, i will make a build thread for sure and hope to contribute something to this board in the future,
Best Regards
Marvin
