[MR2] Vague thoughts on an electric MkI

[Racing Strong Motorsports]

The MR2OC has a whole forum devoted to electric MR2s. You will be
impressed with the number of conversions that have been done on both
the MK1 and MK2 chassis. The MR2 is very popular as a conversion due
to the trunk space.
Visit
http://www.mr2oc.com/forumdisplay.php?f=217

---
Bill Strong
Racing Strong Motorsports
The Toyota MR2 Owners Club
Phone (434)996-MR2-1
Arrington, Va USA

http://www.racingstrong.com
http://www.mr2oc.com
http://www.v8mr2.com

RSm was a 2009 24 Hours of LeMons Top 10 in Class Finisher! Twice!
See our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/wdstrongjr




On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 1:27 AM,  <felix at crowfix.com> wrote:
> 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
>  GPG = E987 4493 C860 246C 3B1E  6477 7838 76E9 182E 8151 ITAR license #4933
> I've found a solution to Fermat's Last Theorem but I see I've run out of room o
>
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