1996 Land Cruiser EV Conversion - EVJ80 Project (2 Viewers)

[Broski]

Nice work, excellent ingenuity and determination.

I well be at Cruise Moab and look forward to seeing your Cruiser and meeting the man that made it happen.

Are you going to run trails ?

I well be arriving on Sunday the 24, if your there and would like to run trails before the event I would be happy to tag-along and offer assistance if necessary.

 

[J1000]

Yeah I will be running the Gamiviti Sponsored trail Wipe Out Hill on Friday in my electric Land Cruiser at Cruise Moab! Really looking forward to it. Will be giving rides around the arena in it also during the week.

I am not sure when I will arrive yet, actually. I plan on running most days in my 100 since I want to enjoy CM but I have a small team and our priority is getting through WoH with no issues but if we're feeling confident we may try to do some more.

 

[davidp14]

500 watts. Nissan Leafs can generally get 5-6 miles per KWh if driven carefully. I'm guessing my LC will be more like 1-2 Mi/Kwh

I was guessing 4 or 5 hundred

 

[LandLocked93]

Normally it's incredibly impractical to charge an EV by solar...

source

Right. Which is why I asked.
Grid-only regen is not very practical (nay, possible) in the middle of nowhere either...

 

[J1000]

Today I took the EV 80 back to the same scales that I weighed it on before I started. Everyone wants to know the weight, well here it is: 5180 lbs. Remember, when it was stock it weight 5080 lbs. So that means currently it is sitting 100 lbs heavier. This is with the addition of my 17" wheels and Nitto tires, steel bumpers front and rear, and a Warn 10k winch on the front. I would say apples to apples it is 100-200 lbs lighter than it was stock if the armor and mods aren't part of the equation. Really cool! I said I wasn't going to post any more photos before Moab but I lied I guess.

Stock:

 

[clx16]

Synthetic cable on that winch might make you even. Do you remember if you had a full tank of gas in there? I doubt you did just because it's hard to keep the tank full.

 

[J1000]

One week until Cruise Moab!

 

[Outsane]

So excited

 

[elripster]

How did I just find this thread! Those batteries look very familiar. I helped found the company (TransPower) that designed the re-power system that you see in these trucks and have a bit of experience with those cells. I'll be at Cruise Moab so hope to see your truck Peterbilt Model 579EV Conquers Pikes Peak | Peterbilt - https://www.peterbilt.com/about/news-events/news-releases/peterbilt-model-579EV-conquers-pikes-peak

Frank

 

[Kernal]

So when is someone going to produce a turn-key EV retrofit for an 80 series??

 

[elripster]

The next generation of solid state cells will make things like retrofits much more viable. One will be able to store enough energy on a chassis not intended to be an EV due to the much higher energy density.

Otherwise, this can be done, it's just in low volume the cost is extremely high.

Frank

 

[mingles]

So when is someone going to produce a turn-key EV retrofit for an 80 series??

I’m ready and willing to put down the coin. At 350K, even though my engine runs fine, it is tired. Rather than throw money at a new IC engine, I would prefer to extend the life of my LX indefinitely as an EV.

 

[elripster]

I hear ya. The challenge is that presently, vehicles with enough energy storage to be useful, have 300+ miles of range in something like our 80's, are 6 figure vehicles in volume. Think the Hummer EV which has 6000 lb of batteries in it even though GM has amongst the highest energy density in the business today. Even if you parse out just the systems required to repower the vehicle, due low volume, you would probably still be looking at or near a 6 figure proposition at least until volumes are high enough. Keep in mind there is a big difference between what we do for ourselves as hobbyists vs. putting a commercial kit out there. A kit with warranty has all new parts, been durability tested, supports a business with all of the functions behind it to fund, salaries, benefits, rent, etc... There's an ROI in that price... you get it.

The good news is that in the next few years battery energy density will see a 2.5X improvement. That Hummer EV's 6000lb battery will drop to a much more manageable 2,400 lb for the same 200kWh of energy storage. My cloudy crystal ball says by the end of the decade EV systems will be so prevalent and energy densities so high that kits for applications like ours will be in reach.

Frank

 

[alphaeighteen]

So when is someone going to produce a turn-key EV retrofit for an 80 series??

Also interested as well, haha.

 

[MoJ]

I hear ya. The challenge is that presently, vehicles with enough energy storage to be useful, have 300+ miles of range in something like our 80's, are 6 figure vehicles in volume. Think the Hummer EV which has 6000 lb of batteries in it even though GM has amongst the highest energy density in the business today. Even if you parse out just the systems required to repower the vehicle, due low volume, you would probably still be looking at or near a 6 figure proposition at least until volumes are high enough. Keep in mind there is a big difference between what we do for ourselves as hobbyists vs. putting a commercial kit out there. A kit with warranty has all new parts, been durability tested, supports a business with all of the functions behind it to fund, salaries, benefits, rent, etc... There's an ROI in that price... you get it.

The good news is that in the next few years battery energy density will see a 2.5X improvement. That Hummer EV's 6000lb battery will drop to a much more manageable 2,400 lb for the same 200kWh of energy storage. My cloudy crystal ball says by the end of the decade EV systems will be so prevalent and energy densities so high that kits for applications like ours will be in reach.

Frank

What will be the equivalent of a Jerry can, i.e. some extra fuel for an unusually long journey? Something beyond what 99.99% of the population would need.

 

[elripster]

1 gal of gasoline is about 33.7 kWh or less if an ethanol blend. A Bolt EV contains about 2 gallons of gasoline worth of energy on board. It, however, does a much better job of converting that energy to useful work so goes significantly farther on that amount of energy.

Let's say your built 80 is getting 12 mpg. That's 12 miles / 33.7 kWh of energy. That equates to .36 miles / kWh of energy. EV's use 3-5X less energy than their gasoline or diesel counterparts. The more stop/go, the greater the difference. So, the 80, and this is in quick napkin calc values, is going to get around 1 - 1.5 miles/kWh. For comparison, my Bolt gets a little over 3 miles / kWh with my wife's mostly highway commute with all of the kids aboard. If the Bolt were and ICE car, it would probably use 3-4X less fuel than an 80 so that estimation aligns with expectations.

So, a 5 gallon jerry can's worth of electrical energy would be 169 kWh of energy, almost that of the 200kWh Hummer EV. It's amazing when one realizes how energy dense liquid fuels are. If there jerry can could hold that much electrical energy, that 80 would drive say 120-150 miles on that much energy.

If that gasoline powered a generator to extend the 80's range, after losses in the engine and generator, maybe 20% - 25% of that energy would end up on the DC bus for use by the propulsion system so about 33.8-42.5 kWh or about 1 gallon's worth. That would be good for about 30-40 miles of driving. Since it took 5 gallons of gas to do that, that's about 7-8 mpg, so quite bad. Serial hybrids have always had a hard time making sense due to the losses. It's better to put energy into an engine and go straight to the geartrain then to the engine, then to a generator, then to another motor, and finally through the gear train to the wheels.

Frank

 

[J1000]

On the road to Moab!

 

[Broski]

Safe travels, see ya when you get here.

 

[J1000]

Made it to town. Plugged in charging next to a Prius lol

 

[J1000]