[FIRST DRIVE] Mercedes-Benz C180 W202 1996 with Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric drive system

[Ruudi S]

Hello
This is my first car conversion project. I took my old german car wich was already quite rusty and its 1.8 Liter petrol engine was also in a need of a rebuild because of the oil leak and loss of coolant so I asked myself is it worth spending thousands euros and half a year in that engine rebuilt.
Well you see already what I decided, otherwise I wouldn't be writing that story here.
2016 I got from wrecked car auction unrepairable Mitsubishi i-MiEV then it took me a few years to restore the electric system and make it run again. When that was done I decided to install all this mitsubishi electric drive system to the Mercedes. Motor unit was placed to the rear axle where the differential was. Battery is installed in front where the engine use to be. Then it took many years to install all the i-MiEV wiring and control units to the mercedes. Nothing fitted, almost all wiring needed to be lenghtened. I think I chose the right car to convert because in 1996 Mercedes C180 had almost like analog electrical system there's no CAN or even OBD port. Now it has Mitsubishi OBD port. Some Mercedes actuators are driven by hoses vacuum system.

[Ruudi S]

Now a little video about current status of the conversion.

[marcexec]

Awesome, do you have some details on the mechanical mounting and driveshaft adaption?
A lot of cars are based on the same or very similar rear subframe & multi-link suspension.

[Scrappyjoe]

Very cool, Ruudi. The motor seems to provide adequate power for your vehicle. Can I ask what the battery pack specifications of the conversion are (voltage, amp hours, C rate of cells)?

The reason I ask is I am trying to size a battery for a similar motor (Outlander Rear Drive Unit) and I am unsure how low I can go for my voltage and pack size and still move a similar vehicle at reasonable speeds.

[Ruudi S]

Awesome, do you have some details on the mechanical mounting and driveshaft adaption?
A lot of cars are based on the same or very similar rear subframe & multi-link suspension.

Ofcourse I have some details. I by myself fitted the motor there. At first I tried Nissan Leaf motor but it didn't fit between original mercedes C class rear axle subframe. Halfshafts are just simple cut mercedes shaft in half and from the motor side also and turned a sleeve there and then my students TIG welded them together. I haven't tested them with full load and uphill or with treiler yet but I will someday.

[Ruudi S]

Very cool, Ruudi. The motor seems to provide adequate power for your vehicle. Can I ask what the battery pack specifications of the conversion are (voltage, amp hours, C rate of cells)?

The reason I ask is I am trying to size a battery for a similar motor (Outlander Rear Drive Unit) and I am unsure how low I can go for my voltage and pack size and still move a similar vehicle at reasonable speeds.

Thanks I really like it myself too! The power is good enough for first electric car conversion project with low budget but nothing amazing. It's all Mitsubishi i-MiEV original specs. Battery is 88S 360V (fully charged) 50Ah when new there was 14kWh usable energy now it's much less. Motor is 180Nm and 49kW peak power. If I remember correctly then at maximum acceleration the car takes 140A from battery so about 3C. My family second car is Nissan Leaf and it feels like two times faster its 280Nm and 80kW. But with this project I don't care about performance I just tried to do it the right way for me and leave room for improvement like adding extra batteries for more range in the future. There's free space: full cardan tunnel and partly under rear seat area (where fuel tank was) and trunk floor where the spare tire is.
I designed and built the battery box too much to the front I had hard time fitting cooling radiator and AC condencer install is impossible. At the time I had an idea to fit two i-MiEV battery packs. Well not anymore, there are many many to choose from nowadays.
Isn't outlander original battery 80S and 40Ah, newer cells are 46Ah.

[marcexec]

Wow, so you didn't have to modify the spare wheel well at all? I suspect the weight is now similar or even less as you have a relatively small battery and no prop shaft. I would love to see pictures (or is there a write-up somewhere else?) as I have a W201 and am contemplating IS300h vs Outlander RDU with ZombieVerter.
I'm assuming you're using the original VCU, maybe it would accept another 8S module (even different OEM), as the inverter can take it?

[Ruudi S]

Here is a video clip about motor install to rear axle.

[Ruudi S]

I need to figure out some modifications for motor mounting because under the rear seat it's not ok. I have to lower the motor a little bit and remove the original bar with many rubber mounts. Then also I relocate the inverter from luggage compartment to under the seat, where fuel tank used to be. This way I don't have to pass 5 wires thru the car body but the inverter will be under the car outside which is also not good but in the Mitsubishi i-MiEV it worked atleast 12 years and over 100 000km I have seen.