Hi Folks,

I'm not one for screaming for attention but I want to share my (classic?) 1987 Mitsubishi Tredia that I've finally converted to run on electricity. Here's some before, during and after shots:

Here's a shot of the engine bay the day I bought it. That engine was a gonner. "It's dead Jim".
It's taken 8 months and there's still a little tweaking to do here & there but it's finally gas-free. It's a good thing with the price of gas as it is.

That's a shot of the 100HP electric motor in place. Looks a bit bare in there...

Aaaand, that's the "after" shot. Looks like an orange octopus died in there.
So after all that, the performance is the same as the original. In fact it's a little bit peppier than stock under 35mph, then it gets normal after that. The only downside is the low range of about 35 miles per charge up. I could only afford a $2000 battery pack (lead acid batteries) so it's only a city car with that range. If I win the lottery I'd chuck Lithium (laptop/camcorder) batteries in there and get 200+ miles per charge but money's tight.
Still, I worked out it's about $1 US to charge the car up from empty so $1 per 35 miles is still cheaper than the bus.

Everything still works, heater goes well (replaced hot water element with an electric heater element) and I want to fit it out with some decent sounds later on. But I'll need a bigger accessories battery for that.

If you're keen you can see the video of my first test drive here: http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=tFU2EnZZ5vY and I make no apologies for my excited girly giggling as I was pretty damn happy to get the car running after 8 months!

Cheers from downunder everyone!
Gav

 

Congrats on that man! that is one sweet project!

 

Wow that must have been one hell of a project. That's really cool that you did that. Btw what's the price of Gas there in New Zealand? I feel like it's alot more than over here in the U.S.

 

man that is awsome, how ofter you gotta charge it? or does it hold a good charge

 

He said he get 35 miles before he needs to recharge the battery, and it costs him $1 to charge it. That isn't too great, but it is cheaper than buying gas. And if he gets those lithium batteries that would be crazy...200+ miles to the charge!! Thats awesome.

 

hmmm....
someone with a 420A should do this it would definately be an upgrade :P
also going to optima batteries should help...
if someone gets serious about this they should call optima and talk to someone about your project and a bulk discout.
i mean ... how many electric eclipses are running around ???
and manufactures like to "advertise" on unique projects like that !!!
just and idea.. thats all...
how much did it cost you anyway ???

 

Cheers Adrian. I'd like Optimas as batteries. They're a bit pricey though.
All up the project cost about $8500 US ($1500 US of that was just for shipping parts down here). I know there's an electric eclipse in Oklahoma, I'll try and find his page.... got it, here it is: http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1135
I did a bit of driving about yesterday and I think I've underestimated the range. In reality I should get over 40 miles per charge. It's still nothing amazing but it beats walking.
Gas here works out to be about $5 US a gallon. Anything's cheaper than that!

 

god man, nice way to save money!! a bit expensive to do it, but it is all worth it

 

I dont think you are going to save any money at all when you think about it. However, that took *****, dedication, money, time... and im sure a lot more. Mad props dude.

 

how is that not going to save him money??