lp2k
Had a couple of drinks.. saw a couple of things
seriously cool
1996 Land Cruiser EV Conversion - EVJ80 Project
- Thread starter J1000
- Start date
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- Tags
- conversion electric swap
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MoJ
Moderator
This is absolutely awesome. Whoever figures out and scales conversion kits for collectible vehicles is going to do well.
Is this enough of a proof-of-concept/prototype effort that I shouldn’t OCD about not priming and painting the fab work? Ignore me and carry on with an awesome build!
Is this enough of a proof-of-concept/prototype effort that I shouldn’t OCD about not priming and painting the fab work? Ignore me and carry on with an awesome build!
Keep it up Jimmy! Looking forward to seeing it move!
Enjoyed this thread. My friend Eric H has been doing this for awhile now, since 2013 or so. He's grown it into a really cool company, electricGT. Here's one of his FJ40 projects.
electricgt.com
Last time we talked, he was looking at doing an 80. He drove one for years as a daily driver around San Diego.
Electric FJ-40 - Electric GT
This “E”J-40 Project utilizes an early eGT-253 System that is the forerunner to the eGT 313 & 413 Systems. The new eGT313 is being developed for the FJ40
electricgt.com
Last time we talked, he was looking at doing an 80. He drove one for years as a daily driver around San Diego.
Outsane
Supporting Vendor
Podcast interview coming out this week...
alia176
SILVER Star
@J1000
Sorry if these questions have been answered already but I'm a newb and this is an awesome out of the box thinking. Since there's an inverter, which means the motor is an A/C motor, not a D/C motor. In which case, is this a 480v 3phase motor or a single phase A/C motor? I'm guessing this is a PWM motor since I can hear the humm of the carrier freq in one of your videos. This tends to make me think that this is at least a 240vac single phase A/C motor.
What's the reason you opted to eliminate the transmission and not take advantage of the torque converter and gear multiplication vs purchasing the black box? I realize that an auto tranny is a very inefficient but a manual tranny could've been used for the gear multiplication aspect.
The last question is that an 80 series needs at least 300hp (IMHO) at the wheels to get out of its own way and your Leaf motor is rated at 100hp. I know this particular Leaf was a wrecked car and being used for an experiment and a larger HP motor means more battery storage. So, do you foresee upgrading your motor/elect system once this POC is proven out?
Again, super cool project for an EE nerd such as myself and I'm learning a lot from this thread. Please keep up with the great documentation and vids.
Sorry if these questions have been answered already but I'm a newb and this is an awesome out of the box thinking. Since there's an inverter, which means the motor is an A/C motor, not a D/C motor. In which case, is this a 480v 3phase motor or a single phase A/C motor? I'm guessing this is a PWM motor since I can hear the humm of the carrier freq in one of your videos. This tends to make me think that this is at least a 240vac single phase A/C motor.
What's the reason you opted to eliminate the transmission and not take advantage of the torque converter and gear multiplication vs purchasing the black box? I realize that an auto tranny is a very inefficient but a manual tranny could've been used for the gear multiplication aspect.
The last question is that an 80 series needs at least 300hp (IMHO) at the wheels to get out of its own way and your Leaf motor is rated at 100hp. I know this particular Leaf was a wrecked car and being used for an experiment and a larger HP motor means more battery storage. So, do you foresee upgrading your motor/elect system once this POC is proven out?
Again, super cool project for an EE nerd such as myself and I'm learning a lot from this thread. Please keep up with the great documentation and vids.
- Thread starter
- #109
Yep of course I've seen ElectricGT and his Cruisers. Was some of the inspiration and part of the reason I chose an 80 (because he hasn't done it yetEnjoyed this thread. My friend Eric H has been doing this for awhile now, since 2013 or so. He's grown it into a really cool company, electricGT. Here's one of his FJ40 projects.
Electric FJ-40 - Electric GT
This “E”J-40 Project utilizes an early eGT-253 System that is the forerunner to the eGT 313 & 413 Systems. The new eGT313 is being developed for the FJ40
Last time we talked, he was looking at doing an 80. He drove one for years as a daily driver around San Diego.
).My first podcast interview haha! Looking forward to seeing how it's received.
It is indeed an AC motor but it works a little different than grid-powered AC motors. The battery voltage is 360-400 and that is the voltage range that goes through to the motor. The carrier frequency is variable from 0-700Hz.@J1000
Sorry if these questions have been answered already but I'm a newb and this is an awesome out of the box thinking. Since there's an inverter, which means the motor is an A/C motor, not a D/C motor. In which case, is this a 480v 3phase motor or a single phase A/C motor? I'm guessing this is a PWM motor since I can hear the humm of the carrier freq in one of your videos. This tends to make me think that this is at least a 240vac single phase A/C motor.
What's the reason you opted to eliminate the transmission and not take advantage of the torque converter and gear multiplication vs purchasing the black box? I realize that an auto tranny is a very inefficient but a manual tranny could've been used for the gear multiplication aspect.
The last question is that an 80 series needs at least 300hp (IMHO) at the wheels to get out of its own way and your Leaf motor is rated at 100hp. I know this particular Leaf was a wrecked car and being used for an experiment and a larger HP motor means more battery storage. So, do you foresee upgrading your motor/elect system once this POC is proven out?
Again, super cool project for an EE nerd such as myself and I'm learning a lot from this thread. Please keep up with the great documentation and vids.
I talked past it a few times but basically the auto trans is worthless for an EV because they sap so much power and require an idle to keep the pressure up. And they are heavy. A manual is a good option sure, but then the motor itself would be pushed into the engine bay so the batteries would have to go somewhere else. Most people with manuals on their DIY EVs only use 2 of the 5 gears anyway from what I've read and seen. I think this way is the best use of space and should work out gearing wise.
Yes of course the LEAF's 100hp is substantially less than the claimed 215hp of the 1FZ. However, the amount of that 215hp that actually gets to the tires is probably going to be comparable to my 100hp electric direct-drive setup. I have a buddy with a basically identical '96 with the same build and we will do some drag races. For an easy bolt-on upgrade I can use a 2018+ 150hp or 200hp inverter, just bolt it in and set the CAN IDs and go. Lastly, there are people using their own inverters and pushing the exact same LEAF motor past 400hp! Plenty of room to grow with this build. My first objective is getting that first mile under the tires, though.
alia176
SILVER Star
Excellent info, thank you for the reply.
According to Joey's dyno runs on both of his FI 80 landcruisers, looks like the trubo'ed 80 puts out 214awhp, which is what we need to get out of our own way.
So, once you delete the transmission, you're getting rid of a large drag and I'm dying to know what is the ultimate useful electric HP that'll scoot you along nicely. I don't know if these elec motors have a 200% starting torque but I'm sure the starting torque is going to be higher than any petrol or diesel motor can ever achieve at zero rpm.
According to Joey's dyno runs on both of his FI 80 landcruisers, looks like the trubo'ed 80 puts out 214awhp, which is what we need to get out of our own way.
So, once you delete the transmission, you're getting rid of a large drag and I'm dying to know what is the ultimate useful electric HP that'll scoot you along nicely. I don't know if these elec motors have a 200% starting torque but I'm sure the starting torque is going to be higher than any petrol or diesel motor can ever achieve at zero rpm.
Outsane
Supporting Vendor
Podcast is out!
- Thread starter
- #112
So cool! Thanks again for reaching out!
Outsane
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #114
Still working on the battery box! I welded in some brackets and studs to mount the battery stacks to. I also started on a box to hold the contactors (giant high voltage relays) and the main battery connections. Also started on the aluminum side panels. Next time I think I will do cut-send-cut or something similar and design all this in CAD. Doing it the old fashioned way is so much effort.
- Thread starter
- #115
I got my cheap secondhand OME lift installed while the battery box was getting sandblasted. It is OME 2" Medium and it looks just about right! The rear end is high due to the obvious lack of weight back there at the moment. I was putting this off until the last moments because now it's so much harder to work inside the engine bay. Oh well.
Battery box sandblasted. Seam sealing and painting it today.
Battery box sandblasted. Seam sealing and painting it today.
Outsane
Supporting Vendor
Looking good
- Thread starter
- #117
Seam sealer applied on all of the welds plus I got all of the aluminum side panels cut and drilled for rivets. Painting it this weekend then installing the battery for real starting on Monday.
- Thread starter
- #118
Interior paint on.
I admire your patience. I totally would have bodged this and hacked something nasty together with a paperclip and duct tape for a first run ages ago. Which is probably a sign I should keep my electrical endeavours to low voltage circuits. 
Nice work on this build. I would love to see this in person when done some day. Lightning Emotors is right down the road from me and I have really been wanting to stop by to try to get a tour. These guys are killing it and easily have 40+ vehicles getting converted at any time, I think their goal is something like 20K conversions a year... They released a new 22kW motor claiming 291hp/ 823lb-ft and 250 miles of range. I would love to do this to the 80 but the range is the killer for me.
Couple years out on a LT1 likely but this isn't ruled out and if I could find someone to pull off a 3.5 ecoboost or Mercedes diesel these guys have several with dealer stickers on them still at any given time they sell to the public when they yank them.
I will stop in at some point just to see what they would charge for the conversion. They claim to do custom installs if your pockets are deep enough....
Good luck man, love it.
Couple years out on a LT1 likely but this isn't ruled out and if I could find someone to pull off a 3.5 ecoboost or Mercedes diesel these guys have several with dealer stickers on them still at any given time they sell to the public when they yank them.
I will stop in at some point just to see what they would charge for the conversion. They claim to do custom installs if your pockets are deep enough....
Good luck man, love it.
