openinverter forum

Hello all.

I've been considering a conversion on our Landrover Defender 110 for a while, had hoped to join one of Damien's courses last year but work / home schooling / dealing with delays on our passivhaus build took over.

Its unlikely to be a quick project and I'm still very much in the research and planning stage. Our Defender is not an every day vehicle, we use it at weekends, in bad weather or for picking up materials. I occasionally use it to commute to work in Belfast (about 70 mile round trip) or to the airport. We would however like to use it for camping trips likely around Ireland.

I've seen various conversions and while a high power Tesla motor conversion is attractive, I think I'm looking for a more cost effective solution using a Nissan leaf motor as this has been done before and seems to work. I've heard that some companies are working on kits which might be an option but I suspect they'll also be quite expensive.

I don't have a fixed budget in mind but the aim is to do it as cost effectively as possible.

We would like to retain the 4WD capability and while I'd like to drop the gearbox to reduce weight if retaining it makes the install easier I'll hang on to it.

Looking at our proposed use on a weekly basis a range of circa 50 miles would likely be enough but our camping use would benefit from a range of circa 150 miles which would give us coverage of NI, into Donegal, down to north Dublin. Given that's 3 hours drive its probably about as much as you'd want to do before getting out for a coffee or a wander and it can charge while we do that.

The Landy is a 1996 300tdi, with all of the noise and oil leaks that comes with that. The previous owner has sorted out the chassis, now galvanised, most of the mechanicals are sound, the body work is sound but the interior needs attention as well as door seals, door alignment etc and some other cosmetic stuff.

So this is the start of the journey, I'll post what I find and do along the way and I'd appreciate any pointers anyone can give. I'm sure I'll have loads of questions when I get into it.

Awesome project. My dad is making some suggestions about converting his 110 high capacity once I finish the MG, and if that doesn't happen I will do my own 110 in time.

I'm also thinking of the Leaf motor route. It has a similar power output to the 300TDI. As nice as a 450hp tesla drive sound it's a bit unnecessary I think, like those people who insist on putting LS3 V8 engines into Defenders. I think keeping the gearbox will make the whole thing allot easier. Otherwise you will need some kind of reduction from the Leaf motor to the transfer box.

As for range, from what I have heard from Electric Classic Cars on the range and battery pack of their Tesla conversions, it looks like they get around 500Wh/mile. So that's a rough number to help with battery size estimates.

That Wh/mile figure is very useful, given that is a Tesla conversion with presumably more power would you expect a leaf to have a lower Wh/mile or is it more to do with the weight of the vehicle.

Using that figure then my options are 25kW ish for the weekly 50 mile range or 75kW for the 150 mile range to support that occasional camping use.

I think that will likely focus my mind towards the former for most of its use and accept when we go camping we factor in a charge and look at the fastest charging we can achieve.

simonbell wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:04 pm That Wh/mile figure is very useful, given that is a Tesla conversion with presumably more power would you expect a leaf to have a lower Wh/mile or is it more to do with the weight of the vehicle.

A leaf might be slightly more efficient, but in general motor is motor; assuming identical chassis, you arelimited by weight and the rest of the drivetrain. Though weight really isn't that important unless you add 1000lbs.
The Tesla conversion may have a simpler drivetrain (skipping the transmission?) which could improve efficiency; I've heard that a transmission causes ~4-5% loss.

I think the Defender transmission will be on the higher end of efficiency losses, the gearbox and transfer box are clunky old bits of engineering.

It will probably be a case of getting the biggest capacity battery you can afford at the time. In 5-10 years time you can always upgrade. At least space isn't an issue on the Defender.

What part of NI, sounds close to where I am! Currently working on a RR 4x4 conversion. Using a GS450H transmission and first test will be to couple to transfer case with V8 and gearbox removed to see how it performs.

I'm in Broughshane.

the GS450H is on my list to research so I'd be interested to hear how you get on.

ICE is starting to come out so will set up a project thread shortly.

This is a really interesting project, if you haven't already check out Vintage Voltage on Quest as they did one.
I'm in the process of converting a Freelander and so far have the engine out and motor half in. Just working on the drivers side engine/motor mount.
You can see my progress here viewtopic.php?f=11&t=971
and here



This is the first of 15 (so far) videos on the project.