Eee Gee

Tell us about the project you do with the open inverter
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inaglasshouse
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Eee Gee

Post by inaglasshouse »

Hello all.
I'm new around here, but already enjoying the information and inspiration.

Please allow me to introduce my project car. The Eee Gee:

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It's a 1992 W463 G Wagen. Currently a 3L turbodiesel, fully functional, roadworthy and MoTd. Hmmm, I'm already not sure this is a good idea... in fairness to the mad EV conversion plan, the diesel has done 200K miles +, and is quite oil leaky and smokey. Also it has a 96L fuel tank, which is indicative of its prodigious thirst.

Broad plan:
- Reversible. No cutting, bodging or other butchery. For peace of mind until proven, I want to be able to revert.
- Leaf motor + inverter + charger stack. Recent (160kW) variant.
- Battery pack from a nearly new DS e-tense. So the 45kWh CATL pack, as also found in Citroens and Opel / Vauxhalls I think.

More to come...

Cheers, Richard.

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Re: Eee Gee

Post by johu »

Very nice. So ZombieVerter for the Leaf then?

I reckon the batteries might fit into the volume of that enormous fuel tank if that is as square as the rest of the car
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inaglasshouse
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Re: Eee Gee

Post by inaglasshouse »

johu wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:37 am Very nice. So ZombieVerter for the Leaf then?
No. Home brewed code! Plug and play generic microcontroller(s) and other hardware.
Yes, I know, masochism, but bear with me.
The back story is: I used to be a proper software engineer (robotic systems) but for the past 20 years have been sucked into the business side of that business. This is "getting back to coding" therapy for me. I'm enjoying it so far.
Of course I might admit defeat at some point...
The BMS will be a different sort of challenge, since I plan to make use of the in-pack BMS chips in the CATL packs. One of Clanarn's MAX17841 comms boards (see https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=43397) is on its way to me. Thanks Clanarn!
Should be fun.
johu wrote: I reckon the batteries might fit into the volume of that enormous fuel tank if that is as square as the rest of the car
Yes, I think you are right. Lots of space. Also the engine is HUGE. Not to mention the space between the chassis rails in various places.
More on packaging soon...

Cheers
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inaglasshouse
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Re: Eee Gee

Post by inaglasshouse »

The very high level design is something like this....
Here's a naked G Wagen. Not mine - my projects don't move that fast - but representative of mine.

Image

As mentioned, the engine is HUGE. As also mentioned, that's a 96L fuel tank, so nearly 100kg right there, when full.
My battery pack weighs about 250kg?
It would not completely surprise me if the total weight turns out to be lower post-conversion...

Plan is: engine and gearbox are not required.
In version 1 the transfer box remains, as do the propshafts from the xfer box to the front and rear diffs, the diffs and axles themselves, etc.
So the motor will attach to the xfer box via the little propshaft you can see in the picture.
Version 2 might be twin motor, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The transfer box offers hi-lo ratios, of course, and has synchromesh (thanks Mercedes!)
The current diesel has approx the same torque as the Leaf (although not from 0rpm...) so I have made some rudimentary checks on whether the gearing will be OK. 4th is 1:1, so the rudimentary driving around experiment has been:
- only use 4th gear on the main box
- shift Lo-Hi as needed
with a little bit of clutch slipping to get off the line, so the diesel is offering at least a modicum of torque, this works fine. So I am reasonably comfortable that the motor->transfer box direct scheme is going to be usable.

The motor will fit between the chassis rails, pretty-much where the gearbox is now. Leaving the entire engine bay, plus the space where the fuel tank sits, for batteries, inverter, charger (plus vacuum pump, new power steering pump, etc).

It would also be possible to put a few battery modules lower down - I think 3 or 4 each side where the exhaust silencers currently sit would be easy, for example, but for simplicity I'm not going to do that initially.
Probably just one battery enclosure for now, having 16 cells, all in the engine bay (as far back and low down as possible). I've done some measurements and mock ups and think it will fit.
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Re: Eee Gee

Post by Igor »

Very nice. Will be watching this one!

Have you caught up with what Bratitude (on this board) is doing?

With the right replacement gears you could replace the entire drivetrain with the Nissan unit, sitting where the transfer case is now.

https://bratindustries.net/product/niss ... t-gearset/

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Re: Eee Gee

Post by inaglasshouse »

Hi Igor,
Interesting re (lack of) transfer case. That might prove the right way to go. I will do some more research...
In my mind (dreams!) version 2 is twin motor, one driving each axle diff (hence motors would definitely require some reduction gearing), with a second battery pack also added. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
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Re: Eee Gee

Post by inaglasshouse »

At the moment we are still paddling in the shallow end.

But I do have the charger awake and talking via CAN. We seem to be doing enough to keep it alive and happy, reporting status of external type2 connector, and indeed charging the pack. AC slow only. DC is later. Much later.

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inaglasshouse
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Re: Eee Gee

Post by inaglasshouse »

Battery pack is here, BTW. CATL 6S2P modules from a Stellantis product. Very neat and tidy.

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For the record - at no point will the engine in the light blue car be replaced with a Nissan Leaf motor. There is a time and place for such things.
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Re: Eee Gee

Post by EdvartsW4E »

Cool project, hope you are getting closer to finishing it!

Maybe you have a CATL6s2p datasheet to share?
Best regards,
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