Chevrolet readies an electric crate assembly for retrofits.

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begreen

begreen

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Nov 18, 2005
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A new package consisting of a Bolt electric drive plus a 60KW battery pack will be coming to the conversion market next year. It's the first step to some interesting conversions. The critique after the article points out some of the flaws, but this is an interesting first step for e-retrofits.

arstechnica.com

Chevrolet readies an electric crate motor for homebuilt EV hotrods

On sale next year, it includes a Bolt EV motor and 60kWh battery pack.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com
 
Color me skeptical. Sure, the drive unit will fit easily in the space previously occupied by an ICE engine, but where do you stash the 900 lb battery which is longer and wider than most cabins? The conversion shown looks like they jacked up the cabin several inches and stuffed it in there?
 
The picture shows they put the battery pack in the bed. That pack shape is not ideal, a flat pack could be mounted under the body. As for the pack weight don't forget that the electric motor weighs much less than a V8 so the weight gain is not as significant. The transmission could also be eliminated with a small gear reduction unit. Also compared to the Tesla units the Bolt drive unit is much bulkier than it needs to be and takes up way too much space up front.

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I suspect they will split up the battery into several seperate blocks for actual sale. Probably using their new battery platform.
 
I'd use a Tesla Model 3 pack, larger capacity but lower profile, the "hump" is smaller, and I think it could be mounted under the vehicle, maybe with a small body lift, and maybe fabricating a small hump in the floor just behind the front seats.
 
I was thinking of the possibility of hanging the battery pack between the frame rails of a pickup once the gas tank and exhaust system are gone.
 
begreen said:
I was thinking of the possibility of hanging the battery pack between the frame rails of a pickup once the gas tank and exhaust system are gone.
Click to expand...
Yeah lots of possibilities especially with the new tech they are using on the Hummer ev
 
The other way to go is to put the pack in the engine bay if you're using a compact power dense electric motor. This guy reconfigured the modules from a Telsa pack to fit in the engine bay of an F450 after the diesel was removed, and the Tesla motor fit into the transmission tunnel, connected to a gear reduction which then connects to the transfer case. Not the way I would have gone but it seems to work.

 
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