Another Kei truck thread
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2025 7:43 pm
There are a few Kei truck builds discussed on the forum, I started one on a Cushman Kei truck I was going to acquire locally, but fell through. I now have a Subaru Sambar truck that I have the long term goal of doing a conversion on, but for now, the gas engine is running fine.
Sambar Kei trucks are unique because they have a rear engine with independent suspension while most of the other Kei trucks have the engine under the cab or mid bed like the Honda Acty.
My dream is to design a drop in cradle that houses an electric traction motor/differential that can be a direct replacement for the ICE motor/transmission. My truck is a 2wd automatic, so a motor swap is not an option anyway.
the engine is about 35kw(46hp) and I would like to find a candidate that is about the same output or slightly more.
My first thought was the I-Miev, but there are not a lot of them around the USA and their doesnt seem to be a lot documentation for using them in conversion.
another option is the Outlander PHEV differential, but they are a bit hard to come by as well.
the cheapest option seems to be the Prius transaxle, but I do not see a lot of conversions with it either and I have not seen one in person, so i am unsure about motor mount options.
the Nissan leaf seems to have the most diy support, but its a bit bigger than i need, same goes for the Tesla small front drive unit.
I am a machinist and i work at an engineering collage where i have worked with the SAE team. So welding, machining and fabrication are not an issue. Mainly, I would like advice to steer me in a direction that will be the least headache on the electrical side of things. Is there good resources for which equipment works well together (ie, what traction motors play well with which inverters, chargers, etc?).
Sambar Kei trucks are unique because they have a rear engine with independent suspension while most of the other Kei trucks have the engine under the cab or mid bed like the Honda Acty.
My dream is to design a drop in cradle that houses an electric traction motor/differential that can be a direct replacement for the ICE motor/transmission. My truck is a 2wd automatic, so a motor swap is not an option anyway.
the engine is about 35kw(46hp) and I would like to find a candidate that is about the same output or slightly more.
My first thought was the I-Miev, but there are not a lot of them around the USA and their doesnt seem to be a lot documentation for using them in conversion.
another option is the Outlander PHEV differential, but they are a bit hard to come by as well.
the cheapest option seems to be the Prius transaxle, but I do not see a lot of conversions with it either and I have not seen one in person, so i am unsure about motor mount options.
the Nissan leaf seems to have the most diy support, but its a bit bigger than i need, same goes for the Tesla small front drive unit.
I am a machinist and i work at an engineering collage where i have worked with the SAE team. So welding, machining and fabrication are not an issue. Mainly, I would like advice to steer me in a direction that will be the least headache on the electrical side of things. Is there good resources for which equipment works well together (ie, what traction motors play well with which inverters, chargers, etc?).