[MR2] Vague thoughts on an electric MkI

[felix at crowfix.com]

My little '86 has 434K miles on it, still running good, but a
conversation at work got me to remembering that when I bought it, I
thought batteries would be good enough by the time it wore out that I
would have a choice of good electric cars ... 24 years later, that
might still be true :-)

But I was pondering the idea more on a long drive ... wondering this
time about some day converting my MkI to an electric drive.  Some day
batteries will be better and there will even be charging stations
around, enough of them to make it practical for road trips ... so sez
my optimistic self.

I don't have any immediate or even near term plans, but I do wonder
what it would take, how it could be done.  Forget the battery problem
for the time being, or charging stations.

1.  Replace only the engine, keeping the tranny, shifter, etc.

2.  Replace the engine and tranny -- after all, the right electric
    motor wouldn't need gears.

3.  Replace the engine and tranny, but put in a CVTwith stick shift.
    I like the idea of a manually controlled CVT, but I know very
    little about them.

4.  Put electric motors in the wheels, get rid of the differential
    too.  I have heard that it can be close to an even trade in
    unsprung weight, adding motors but losing axles.

Of course, a proper installation would have regenerative braking.

Aside from the fun of plain speculation, I am curious if anyone has
done something like this or heard of any good conversions, and not
limited to MR2s.  I have heard a time or two of backyard conversions,
but never paid much attention, and I imagine they were not very
practical, probably used lead acid batteries and had short range.

-- 
            ... _._. ._ ._. . _._. ._. ___ .__ ._. . .__. ._ .. ._.
     Felix Finch: scarecrow repairman & rocket surgeon / felix at crowfix.com
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