[DRIVING] The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis! [FINISHED]
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2022 4:41 pm
by janosch
Hi,
I thought I might as well add a thread for our conversions (finally):
Features:
40kWh Leaf battery & Leaf BMS
ChaDeMo enabled
OpenInverter controlled Leaf motor & 2nd gen Inverter
Tesla Gen 2 charger 7kW
Tesla DCDC Converter
VCU custom built and based on stm32-template firmware, plugs into existing taxi ECU ports
4x20 I2C display in dashboard showing enough status information for the driver to never having to log in to the web interface
Regen
fully registered in the UK, IVA'd and inspected by various councils
Gearbox adaptation on Leaf to change it from 8:1 to 4:1
Accomplishments:
built multiple identical vehicles to demonstrate repeatability
concluded 10k+ miles of road tests for reliability, including drives to Edinburgh, Co Cork Ireland, Wales, B'ham, Brighton etc.
My business partner Alex and I with our first prototype 2019
Me and Jamie near Rotherham in October '22
Cab01 in Newcastle
Peek under the bonnet in Hertfordshire
Trophy shot with the clever boys (and me).
last week featured in Electric Classic Cars
None of this would have been possible without the contributions to the community, namely Johannes, Damien, BigPie and everybody else who helped me, as well as our investors.
damn it, missed the photo as i was late to the party damn stupid work!
Re: The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis!
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2023 4:11 pm
by Jacobsmess
Details of the gearbox modification would be great, I'm looking to use a leaf gearbox to drive a single RWD propshaft.
Re: The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis!
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:50 pm
by janosch
Jacobsmess wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 4:11 pm
Details of the gearbox modification would be great, I'm looking to use a leaf gearbox to drive a single RWD propshaft.
Our approach: We deleted the differential in the leaf, they cut a new hole in the gearbox housing, made a new cover for it, talked a long time about lubrication slushing around and something something brushes and static and put it together. I was knee deep in firmware land at the time so that's all I know. But we have driven 15k miles now with it in two vehicles.
After a long motorway drive in winter I touched the gearbox and it was a little bit warm, but not hot. So it seems fine?
Photo I took when celebrating 10k miles.
Re: The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis!
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:54 pm
by m.art.y
janosch wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:50 pm
Our approach: We deleted the differential in the leaf, they cut a new hole in the gearbox housing, made a new cover for it, talked a long time about lubrication slushing around and something something brushes and static and put it together.
Hi, sorry do you mean you didn't use the original Leaf reduction box at all and you have used the original gearbox that came with the Cab? Or are you talking about cutting hole in the Leaf reduction box and attaching something to it to drive the propshaft?
Re: The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis!
Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 6:23 am
by janosch
m.art.y wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 1:54 pm
... cutting hole in the Leaf reduction box and attaching something to it to drive the propshaft?
Yes, that's what they did. Deleted the diff in the Leaf gearbox by making a new cog!
Capped off the previous holes, cut a new one, made that extension bottom left in the picture. I am not sure what the extension does to be honest, but I am sure its important.
All in all this converts the Leaf gearbox from 8:1 to 4:1. This is important because we are connecting it to the taxi differential which has 2:1. If we hadn't made that modification the motor would run at 16000 rpm instead of 8000 rpm at motorway speeds, way out of spec!
Interesting, GBP 300.000,- sounds a lot for a working prototype. We built a working prototype EV based on a Daihatsu Rocky 4x4 for less then 1/3 of this, including my time spend developing it. We used only standard Nissan Leaf components without modifications (to the circuit boards etc). We got the computer from Sweden. Plug and play. The only thing we had to do was to make an adapter to match the Leaf motor to the Daihatsu gearbox and split up the Leaf battery pack, which was a challenge but all worked out in the end. The second prototype is driving in a German forest (hunting).
Anyway, great to see this taxi cab project and it makes a lot of sense.
Perhaps it might be a good idea to also look at the Lexus L210 hybrid gearbox, where Damian is working on. It drives the rear and has a 2 speed gearbox integrated .
Re: The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis!
Posted: Tue May 09, 2023 9:38 am
by janosch
PaulHeystee wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:29 pm
Interesting, GBP 300.000,- sounds a lot for a working prototype. We built a working prototype EV based on a Daihatsu Rocky 4x4 for less then 1/3 of this, including my time spend developing it.
I like to compare us to Arrival who raised £400M and weren't able to produce decent vehicles for a long time. If I was 3x or 5x more expensive than you I am still happy as long as we all are 1000x cheaper than the big boys!
Worth of note, we built three and not one.
PaulHeystee wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 2:29 pm
We used only standard Nissan Leaf components without modifications (to the circuit boards etc). We got the computer from Sweden. Plug and play.
ZombieVerter/Sweden ECU wasn't feasible for us at the time, as the motor can't run more than 40mph in reverse and these solutions weren't around when we started.
Re: [DRIVING] The Clipper Cab - Converted London Taxis!
