Ireland
In Ireland Damien Maguire and Fiachra Cooke have developed a highly efficient procedure for putting electric car conversions on the road quickly and cheaply.
Note that during the conversion process two golden rules are followed, no cutting the chassis or any other structural components, and strictly adhering to axle weight limits as published on the cars rating plate or manufacturers documentation.
Here's the procedure;
- Get in touch with a local accredited Automotive Engineer and have them look at your build when you are at a point before you are ready to go cut and weld parts to the chassis. This will enable him/her to discuss and review the placement of key components, integrity of structural components (motor mounts, battery boxes, etc), and weight distribution. Ideally, try and get the use of corner scales before and after the build.
- The engineer will primarily be interested in answering the question of whether the vehicle is safe to put on the road. If the Engineer is unhappy with any aspects of the build, they will request modifications and another inspection will be required to verify action has been taken.
- If the advice is followed however and the Engineer is happy on the second visit at completion, they will complete a final engineers report signing off the build. Request they complete Section 5 of the RF111 Change of Particulars form https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/pdf/RF111_en.pdf complete with date of motor change, motor serial number and finally, signed and stamped by the accredited engineer.
- Worth asking for an RSA Modifications Report also for when the time comes for the NCT https://rsa.ie/Documents/VS_Information_Notes/Special_Permits/Modifications%20Report%20-%20June%202015.pdf
- Written report by Automotive Engineer is received in ~7 days.
- Documents to send to your local motor tax office
- Automotive Engineers report - signed and stamped
- Completed RF111 Change of Particulars form - Section 5 - signed and stamped
- Vehicle Registration Certificate (VRC)
- Cover letter outlining you and your project, the how, why, where, etc.
- Change of taxation class to electric is delivered, usually in around 7 days.
- Tax vehicle (currently €120)
- Insure Vehicle - This was actually possible once you had the completed engineer's report
- Test vehicle (NCT) - Bring all documentation submitted to local motor tax office as well as the RSA Modifications Report
- Drive off into the electrified sunset...
A few more things to note. In the example of Fiachra submitting to Wicklow, it took a month and you may find a similar timescale in some counties where an ev comversion has never come across their desks or they are leaning on stricter new rules in the last 5 years. There is a chance they will look for a main dealer stamp. This is obviously an impossibility as no main dealer is going to sign off on a non own OEM part being installed.
Reach out to a main dealer of the main vehicle and simply ask them to, in writing, confirm that they will not certify non OEM parts fitted to their vehicles and that is what an independent accredited automotive engineer is for. It has been found that found the main dealers to be very helpful and have supplied a letter outlining the facts.
It's all just to make it as easy as possible for the officials who see will likely never see something like this appear in the inbox and to remove any suspicion it's something else untoward similar to the engine size reclassification scam that occured circa 2010. This is the reason you may find more questions than normal from the local motor tax office but do reference the conversions carried out in Wicklow and Wexford so far. in the very recent past.