[WIP-wheel spin and charging] 2009 Peugeot Expert LWB aka 'Half Pint'

[GregFordyce]

Hello all, a quick introduction. I'm based in Galashiels, Scottish Borders and have an independent repair garage that I have operated for the last 20 years. I did my first conversion around 2008 http://www.evalbum.com/1319. My current project is a 2009 Peugeot Expert LWB (L2H2) that was originally sold by Allied Vehicles in Glasgow as an EV. The drivetrain and batteries have been removed to be replaced with a 80kW Leaf stack and 2 Leaf batteries underneath in a custom battery box.

Half Pint looking a bit sad before it's Leaf transplant.

Progress so far. Leaf stack fitted to van. The driveshafts are with a local engineering company, they have a plan but won't give me a guarantee! The next step is radiator and shove a Leaf battery underneath on the floor, wire up the Zombieverter and try and get a motor spin.

Leaf stack fitted.

I have a rough plan for a battery box to house the innards from 2 Leaf packs but I still have to determine how I'm going to get 2 Leaf batteries talking to the Zombieverter. As I see it there are 2 possibilities. First would be a CAN bridge to combine both batteries so the Zombieverter thinks it has a 54kWh Leaf pack. The other option would be to get the Zombieverter to connect to both batteries, one on CAN1 and the other on CAN2. Now I'm not a programmer but my son has just finished his 2nd year of computer science at university and he needs a summer project. I've introduced him to Damien's Zombieverter videos so that he gets an idea of how they work. Anyone have any thoughts on the 2 battery problem?

About the name 'Half Pint'. Our last van was a 2000 Fiat Ducato, former minibus converted to a camper. It's succumbed to Scottish rust so this van is replacing 'Big Red'. It's smaller, white and legally is classed as a milkfloat (commercial EV registered before 2015). Hence the name Half Pint!

Edit - figured out how to post pictures and found the welcome thread so I'll do a introduction post there tonight.

[GregFordyce]

Project update. I've fitted a radiator from a 2008 Peugeot 207 1.4D. The Expert radiator was blocking the charge ports. The new radiator has been moved left to fit the charge ports in. System filled with anti-freeze and bled. I'm using the Allied water pump and a combination of Allied water fittings and Leaf water hoses. It's not pretty but it's functional.

Other progress today was to work out the main harness connector, see post.

[GregFordyce]

I'm going to be working on wiring the ZV this weekend so I updated the table here. I've also added to the diagram but I'm not sure how to add that to the wiki so I'll leave it here for now.

Added battery connector

[GregFordyce]

Edit, duplicate post so deleted and added more build content.

Driveshafts

The driveshafts are back from the engineers. Leaf at the bottom, Peugeot at the top. The Peugeot shafts are hollow so they machined a shrink fit and then welded. I specified a length of 555mm but it should have been a bit shorter, probably 540mm. I'll see how they go once it's driving.

Charge ports

Charge ports fitted by chopping up original Leaf bracket and using some slotted angle brackets fixed to the bumper support and radiator fan support. The angle brackets allow for adjustment. I'm not sure the Chademo connector will fit in the hole, I might need to trim the bumper.

At some point I want to fit CCS but I am considering getting one of the Chinese adapters as we also have a Leaf and a Peugeot iOn.

[GregFordyce]

Project update. I have wheel spin and AC charging after lots of work on wiring the ZV to the Leaf stack and battery. Amazingly the VCU that Allied vehicles custom made for their conversions used the exact same connector as the ZV. It still required de-pinning and re-pinning wires but it's a premade harness. I've also reused Allied's junction box with DIN rail wiring connectors. I had to replace the throttle pedal, Peugeot has 5 wire and 6 wire throttle pedals. The 5 wire pedals won't work with the ZV, I think they need 12 volts. So I got a 6 wire pedal that works perfectly with the ZV. Pedal wiring is as follows.

• 1- pot 2
  2- 5 volt
  3- 5 volt
  4- 0 volt
  5- pot 1
  6- 0 volt

[GregFordyce]

I've started work on the battery box. It's just over 2 meters long by ~800mm wide. In order to fit it under the van the rear brake pipes have to be rerouted along with the ABS wiring to the rear wheel sensors and the parking brake cables. I'm going to route the left parking brake cable along the rear beam axle to come out on the right side, pictures to follow. I've started welding brackets to mount to Allied's original battery mounting points and might add a couple more.

[GregFordyce]

Life has gotten in the way of working on the project but the battery box is coming together. It should be ready to go to the powder coaters on Friday.

Inside of battery box with mountings welded in.

It's currently being welded with some more strengthening to be added along the bottom and in the middle.

Close-up of front of box.

My goal is to do the minimum amount of work in reconfiguring the cells. The long rear cell block will fit in without any modifications including the LBC location on the back of that stack.

24kWh cell stack.

The 2 smaller cell blocks are getting reconfigured by 'folding' the shorter stack under the taller stack.

30kWh cell stack.

[GregFordyce]

A long overdue update on the van. I've had the battery box welded and painted.

Battery box back from powder coating and first stack installed.

Front stacks going in.

All cells installed.

Wiring nearly finished.

Front 30kWh service disconnect.

Rear service disconnect and rear canbus connection.

Both LBCs are powered from the round connector.

Once the cells were installed and all the wiring done I rolled it under the van and connected it all up to check it all works. I connected each canbus on their own for testing.

All sealed up. Parking brake cable bracket at top left in this picture.

Nearly in place. The large hose along the top of the picture is the diesel filler for the heater. It runs from the original filler to a small tank behind the front wheel.

I finished off the weekend by getting the battery box nearly in. I rolled it under the van on my trolley made from part of a door and the finest Chinese casters that Screwfix sells.

Slowly jacked it up while adding a pallet and off cuts from the rest of the door. I've got 2 rear nuts started but 2 of the mounts at the front don't line up and need a bit of work with the die grinder.

Next weekend I'll finish getting it bolted in, make 2 new brake pipes for the rear brakes and route the parking brake cables to their new mounting on the right rear of the battery box.

[GregFordyce]

Major milestone achieved, it drives!!! I took a very short trip to Aldi (next door) after giving it a quick wash. I need to sort out 3 issues before it can be properly driven on the road. First, I need to implement a CAN bridge for both Leaf batteries. Second, I need to fit full undertrays front to back and third I need to find the loose electrical connection that keeps cutting out my lights, wipers and windows intermittently.

[GregFordyce]

Dash mess, time to start putting it all together.

I had (and still have) an electrical fault that randomly kills my ignition feed for lights, windows, wipers, etc. I thought it was a loose connection somewhere, understandable given the state of the wiring, but it turned out that the body computer was getting confused by 14.4 volts from the PDM but no rpm signal so it goes into economy mode sometimes. I've got some CAN logs so I'll be able to provide the necessary signals to sort that issue. Now I'm slowly working on putting it all back together, finding a location under the dash for the ZV and a few other bits and pieces. After Christmas I'll get my son working on the CAN bridge for the 2 Leaf batteries with a goal of having this on the road for the end of January.

[GregFordyce]

1st drive home, 1st March 2026

It's long overdue for an update. I got the van on the road at the beginning of March and has done over 800kms so far (my dash is stuck in km, one of these days I'll figure out how to switch it to miles! ). It still has some electrical gremlins to chase down. The problem with my lights, windows etc., is all down to the body computer not seeing an engine rpm. What I have discovered is that when I get to 2mph the electric power steering kicks in and at 5mph everything else switches on. I can live with that for the moment, I just try and park such that I can drive forward without needing to manoeuvre to much before the steering kicks in.

Another gremlin is a random 12v battery drain overnight. Sometimes it's fine and other times it kills the battery. I think this may have damaged one of the contactors in the battery box, it was failing to precharge at times, so last weekend I dropped out the batteries and replaced the contactor box with my spare.

Battery box out.

Induction heater

Induction heater to very slightly warm the adhesive while running a knife around the lid.

Contactor box

Contactor box replaced. I also took the opportunity to generally inspect the box internals and external mounting points, so far all looking good.

Parking brake cables

Battery box going back in. Next job, tidy my workshop!!!