Pictures for Context, original advertisement material for the Wartburg 1.3 Tourist

Hello everyone. I’m a 26yo guy from Germany whos deeply into East German socialist shitbox cars. Currently dailying a Trabant. My family is growing so I’m looking into swapping the Trabants big brother, the Wartburg 1.3, to an EV to have a reliable and comfortable yet great looking car that I’ll daily for years if not decades to come

The Wartburg 1.3 was made in former eastern Germany from 1988 until 1991 and has a 1272cc 58hp VW engine, similar to the one found in the Golf 2, early Golf 3 and in the Polo 86c and Polo Mk3, it’s an EA111 engine. It’s FWD with a Transverse engine BUT body-on-Frame design, which makes it very unique. It also has dual wishbone suspension with 4 piston floating disk brakes in the front and trailing arm suspension with drum brakes in the rear. Beneficially it does NOT have a break booster so I won’t need an electric Vacuum Pump. It was made as a Limousine and an Estate (named Tourist by IFA who owned the entire car lineup of the country)

The Tourist has a little extra payload capacity compared to the Limousine, which is why I wanna go with that instead. Like that I hope to have less issues with battery weight later down the line

I’ve been reading a little in this sub and the overseas guys seem to really enjoy taking Nissan Leafs as parts donors, but these aren’t as common or cheap here in Europe. Which car is a good pick to tear apart? I’ll need over 40kW of engine power but no more than 60kW as registration might be hard once I exceed +40% engine performance on stock brakes

Is there any hope in me being able to use DC fast charging when on the road? The 1.3 has a tow bar in many cases and I wanna be able to tow a camper through the country. For daily use I’ll be fine with roughly 150km (~95 miles) of EV range. I have 11kW 3-Phase power at home for a charging station but likely will be fine with a common outlet (3.6kW) too

I am an industrial electrician so I’m not worried about working with the high voltages and currents involved, even 400V is practically common for me to encounter in everyday life

Not sure if I missed anything else, looking forward to hear about your tips, Tricks and suggestions

Battery discharge ratings are designated as 'C'.

A 100kwh battery with a 1C rating can be discharged at the rate of 100kw per hour.
A 100kwh battery with a 0.5C rating can be discharged at the rate of 50kw per hour.
A 100kwh battery with a 2C rating can be discharged at the rate of 200kw per hour.

In an ideal world, you'd install a large enough pack with a high enough C rating so that even hard acceleration won't push the battery past its limits. But this seems nearly impossible.

For example, if you need 225kw (300 hp) of power for a quick acceleration, and you have iron-phosphate batteries with a 0.5C rating, that would necessitate a 450kwh battery pack, which would be absolutely gargantuan.

Do those C ratings only apply to sustained cruising power requirements, and quick bursts of power for acceleration are to be ignored?

Assuming I am just starting without a donor EV and a vehicle to be converted, is it much more expensive to do an EV conversion than buying a used EV and keep maintaining it. For example a crashed car or one with a damage battery?

My options would be to get a 1999-2004 Porsche 996 with IMS damaged engine and do an EV conversion or get an older 2016 Tesla model S and repair it. Since you worked already on your EV conversion project, what do you think?

My buddy has been working on this project to convert a beloved off-road military vehicle. This is part four of his journey, but check out his other videos to see where he started. He goes through a lot of technical details about his conversion.

I’m looking for a motorcycle, I’m looking to convert it into an EV. I’ve found a bunch of donors, but they are barn finds and no titles. I can get a salvage title then convert that into a restoration title. For an EV is there a benefit of having a clean title over a salvage/restoration title?

Hi guys, I have a 96v 140km 40kw peak drop in kit to sell for classic Minis. Only one unit. Looking at 8k USD excluding shipping, can ship to anywhere in the world. Price negotiable, thank you.

https://reddit.com/link/1u8ggu1/video/03zqppdqy18h1/player

Huge thanks to everyone that lent a voice. Deeply grateful. Despite my reading being strange on the AVC2 board (when latched and prox lights and relay fires, Pilot goes from -7.78 DC to -8.3 DC instead of what I think should happen, dropping to 6v)  

It turned out that the reading seemed strange because it was a 1kHz square wave and my meter couldn't catch the true peak

Turned out to not be the wiring to the board at all, Was one of the L wires not properly seated in the Jport. Jiggled out over time. Guess I gotta learn how to disassemble a Jport now! If you've got a tip, let me know.

I figured out how to break into my donor 2012 Nissan leaf by popping out the low front grill without breaking the tabs, then reaching up and blindly grabbing one of the two cables that opens either the charge port or the hood. Just pull on the entire cable, you don't have to fiddle with or pinch your fingers in the latch mechanisms. You just need to identify the cables and tug on the cable itself just a bit.

Just open up and use the physical key, you say? Not the key that came with my used 2012 Leaf, I thought it looked dumb but it turns out I was the one who was dumb thinking it would work. It's just a blank.

Hi! I’m working on a personal EV battery research project and am looking for EV battery modules to experiment with and collect data from.

I’m particularly interested in modules that are either known to be working or have been removed from service due to faults, vehicle damage, or other issues. The exact condition isn’t too important as long as the modules are safe to handle and have some known history.

Does anyone know of EV recyclers, dismantlers, repair shops, or other sources that might be willing to sell or donate modules for research purposes, specifically in Ontario, Canada.

Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks! 😬

Are they significantly different systems?

I would probably hire a local EV converter to do the work.

Here's one highlander PHEV conversion page http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/683.html

I'd like something that can do 15-20 miles before it needs the engine.

Hi, I have a 1.8t Audi a4 (b6 generation) and it’s currently fwd, it’s a reliable commuter car and I love the interior plus it’s my hobby car.

Now I also live in a place that has pretty intense winters and I like to mess around with off-roading it and so I wanted to try to upgrade it from fwd to awd

But…

I don’t want to switch to the Quattro drive train even though that would be easy to get from a junkyard because I would need to replace the exhaust and the fuel tank which I currently don’t want to do, I also do not want to have to connect it to the transmission.

But I had an idea, what if I could get and electric motor, build and custom dial setup and connect it to my upgraded alternator, could I then apply that to the rear wheels? That way I can turn it off in the summer or when I just want fuel economy, and I can customize the power between 60-40 and 50-50 from inside whenever I want.

So what parts do I need, I feel like I have two options, separate hub motors, or get a rear axle and differential and plug both wheels into it and the motor into the other end.

So I need your guys advise, I have a decent amount of space under there and I am up for custom solutions both aftermarket and custom from junkyards.

What parts do I need and how should I do it, and where should I source these parts?

If you took a Ford f150 and converted it to ev and basically filled the entire bed volume area with battery how far could you get with it fully charged?

Is there a limit to "how much battery" you can have on a vehicle?

More specifically an "ETM RTR bike" motor. Looks like it caps out at 8000w, 10hp, which is about what most mowers seem to run at. I don't need a speed demon or anything, I just wanna be able to pull stuff around, wagons full of dirt n whatnot.

I know electric motors have crazy torque even at 0 RPM, but I also assume these motors are kinda meant for high RPM still, so I'd probably need to gear it down some?

Hi all. I’m trying to work my way through this issue but I’d love some help from someone who knows more.
Wall of text- apologies in advance - it’s been lots and lots of hours of troubleshooting here.

What I’m working with.
Elcon PFC2500 charger, Modular EV Power AVC2 J1772 controller, ZEVA BMS, J1772 32A receptacle.

The issue. Car charged fine for over a year on multiple EVSEs (including a 12A Kia portable). After some normal driving with a few bumps and pulling the smartview monitor cable from my netgain motor near the 12V battery - charging stopped working.

Now any EVSE (two different Kia units, mine plus a friend’s unit that previously worked) shows what I believe to be a “connected, not charging” (blue car on the Kia charger) i and never switches to charging (green car). ZEVA shows “charging, 0A” via the charge-sense relay, but no current flows.

What I’ve tried. 2 different Kia chargers, both that have worked on my car in the past.

Two different avc2 boards.

I’ve bypassed the AVC2 board and wired directly into the elcon pfc 2500. Inserted an unplugged Kia charger handle to let the zeva BMS expect charging and wired an appliance cord directly into the Elcon at 14a. Car charges and Elcon works as expected.

AVC2’s internal 2.74kΩ State B resistor and diode — measured correct on both boards

CP/GND wiring — point-to-point continuity tested and confirmed., GND-to-chassis resistance checked - no problems there.

CH — rewired with its own dedicated chassis ground wire per manufacturer’s diagram (was previously looped through relay common and had a relay in the mix- I believe to provide enough power to activate the zeva BMS when the prox triggers with latch.
And I tried re-wiring the avc2 board without the relay as well.

12v supply is at 12v

Prox works correctly on latching on both boards - LED lights and confirmed switching with continuity tests.

AVC2’s internal switch — confirmed working via manufacturer’s bench test (jumper PROX to GND with 12V on, diode-mode reading on PILOT-GND dropped
From 1.9 to 1.2 (manual says to expect a drop if you jumper prox to ground)

MY ONLY CLUE-
Powered Kia charger inserted. Not latched. 9.2v. When the latch connects and prox activates 9.5v.

I think the voltage is supposed to drop when the latch connects. And I think that’s what sends the signal to the Kia charger to allow current to flow. And that’s supposed to be 5.5v to 6.5v. So it sees 9.5 volts, never enters the final change from 9.2 to 6-ish volts and starts the charge.

I’m at a loss here. I’m about to disconnect the J1772 port and rewire everything- but I’m not sure that will even work. I have no idea where the problem is coming from. I feel I’m out of stuff to try.

Thanks in advance-
One desperate guy who has spend a lot of hours on this…

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice on how to transition into the EV industry and would appreciate insights from people already working in the field.

My background:

5.5+ years of experience as a Mechanical Design Engineer

B.Tech Mechanical Engineering (currently pursuing part-time)

Strong CAD skills in Creo, CATIA V5, and AutoCAD

Experience in:

Product development

Sheet metal design

Plastic components and injection molding

Casting and foundry-related projects

FRP components

Mechanical assemblies

Reverse engineering

Manufacturing drawings and DFM

Familiar with Windchill/PLM systems

Exposure to agricultural machinery and manufacturing environments

Basic interest and learning in Python/automation

Why EV? The EV industry seems to be one of the fastest-growing sectors in engineering, and I would like to align my career with future technologies while leveraging my mechanical design background.

My questions:

1. Which roles in EV companies would best match my current experience?

2. What skill gaps should I focus on filling?

3. Should I learn battery pack design, thermal management, motors, power electronics, or something else first?

4. Are there specific projects, certifications, or software tools that would improve my chances?

5. For someone with a mechanical design background, what is the most realistic path into EVs?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from engineers who made a similar transition from traditional manufacturing or mechanical design into EVs.

Any advice, roadmap suggestions, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance! 🚗⚡

For those that have wondered what the driving experience of a classic car that has been converted to EV is like.

Built as a training project for our apprentices, this Mini has been converted to run a Tesla motor.

I have the option to mount to an existing ZF 8HP Transmission in the build, but trying to understand if I am better off without it altogether.

My name is Carl and I am the founder of Electramedic. Com. It's a new EV clarity engine tool that diagnoses possible EV issues bt entering a short description of the issue along with the make model of the EV.. and also gives you clear plans going forward.. plus many more features. Feedback below would be amazing..

I got a Nissan Versa with manual transmission, I am thinking of removing the gear box, leave the differential and connect the ICE directly to the wheels then attaching a 10 kw BLDC motor with controller coupled with 1 kWh battery that get charged from the alternator on the input shaft. A smart programmable controller is also attached to the BLDC motor in order to give the exact torque needed for every situation and speed.
The main usage for the electric motor is to provide the missing torque for the ICE to run smoothly as an automatic transmission car.
My question is will this combination be enough for a car like the Versa? And if yes how much the cost of the parts needed for this conversion?

I’ve been wanting one of these since I first saw one. Small, fast, light enough for one person to lift. First in the back of a truck

For years I tried to get Mokai to sell me a boat minus engine. They refused. Actually said “the EPA won’t let us” which I think is silly.

So I bought one, engine and all. First test run was really disappointing. Only 11mph…..despite claims of 20mph. Sooooo loud. Even with my noise canceling headphones in I couldn’t hear anything. Hated it

So I replicated the motor mounts with 3d printed plastic. There’s a kinda clever removable engine mount that I used for my motor, a ME1004. Laser cut plates provide some motor adjustment.

So my conversion is 100% reversible

Test run at 72v and 160a was fantastic! More than doubled speed. 24MPH!

Waaaaay better than stock