Is that the one from 'Back to the Future 2'? Because you need a Flux Capacitor as well

or maybe i can make a mini that runs on steam hehehe

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Morris Mini Pano 1968 (i think).
Paint that looks remarkably similar to rust.
Holes in the floor that Fred Flinstone would be proud of.

go get a motor that relies on the stirling cycle....
effiency ++++++

i have been doing a bit of research on ev's and am toying with the idea to put one in a mini also. If you have not checked out warp motors and zilla controllers do so, and for batteries optima yellow tops are the go. There is a company in sydney called farnow which have developed a batterie which they claim is four time as powerful as a standard battery. A mini with the following would hall arse

warp "8" inch motor
zilla 1000 amp controller 72-156 volts
12x 12volt optima yellow tops
manzinita micro onboard charger

The only hard part would be keeping the weight down & getting thefront/rearweight balance right for accelration/handling.

Download a copy of the draft regulations for electric & hybrid vehicle conversions from DOTARS, as they will be in force soon

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Too many cars, and too little time.

there is a workshop just around the corner from me (just outside parramatta) that has a yellow electric mini, i went to offer him some money for it until i found out it didnt have an exhaust pipe, and hence a piston engine!!!!

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Hi-Ho Silver LS1275
Charlieeeeeeeee Come to Candy Mountain!

More details please!

Pics, or better still get him to join Ausmini

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Too many cars, and too little time.

I plan on the electric conversion as a project some time in the future. I want to get the EFI setup on the van first.

What you have to realise is the batteries are big $$$ and they will have a limited useful life.

The majority of conversions are done with series wound dc drives. Advanced DC motors are a very popular choice for EV conversions. I believe the is a eastern states mob that are selling them for around $3G now which is pretty good.
An AC drive would be better as they have huge torqure right through the range but require the dc-ac inverter which can be pricey.

This link will give you an idea
http://www.evmotors.com.au/products/appguide.html

Realisticly I will probably convert an RX7 rather than a mini as its has the bonnet space required.


Interesting link http://www.evparts.com/about/index.php?show=mazda.ihtml

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1965 850 Mini Van
1972 Clubman Van
Member of SDMC

thats really a good read all of that. a spread of the batteries would be great (some under bonnet)
the lithium ion idea is good for the memory probs, but produce less "bang for the buck" coming up with some sort of "on the go" charging system would be great, even if it only gave you an extra 10% maybe sitill run an alternator of some sort???

Go and have a look at this site , http://homepage.ntlworld.com/electric.mini/ , gives all the details of an electric mini build , interesting and tempting , Maybe a little efficient petrol or deisel generator could be used as a trickle charger to cut down on the batteries needed and therefore weight while keeping the range ? Not a true hybrid but close and cheaper than the commercial options .....

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How much weight do you think you could take out of the mini before the electric system went in, engine fuel tanks exhaust rear seats etc.

i heard of someone that mada a tubular subframe (maybe aluminium) for the rear. would cut down on some of the weight. i would try not to do it with lead acid batteries, this would just add weight, and they have less kilowatt hours per KG of battery. i've been looking more into the battery side than the motor side, and there isn't one "great" battery source out there.
LI. needs low ambient temperature, but hight oputput, low weight
LA will handle high temp, low output, high weight
NiMH. in between both, maybe slightly higher output.

i think i wouldlook at running 144v, 2 batteries under the bonnet, 4 down the middle of the car (redo floorpan where exhaust would have been) and 6 in the back, less if i could cram one or two more in the engine bay.

battery life is the thing to look at, as it will determine whether or not it will be cheaper to run.

oh yeh. looking at the aussie guys that are doin it. (one shop located out my way) the heaviest engine is about 70kg. that particular motors peak output is 100hp. not too shabby. the next one down was about 45kg, so there is a fair bit of weight saving

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http://www.minisport.com.au
the guys there are dead set champions

If you made a subframe as if you were going to do a swift engine conversion, but only mounted the gearbox, you could then mount a netgain WarP 8 inch motor of it, there is a company that make the adapter plates and stuff for this motor/gearbox (www.evparts.com) You may then have enough space to mount the controller in the engine bay too.

3 grand for an 80hp electric motor is pretty darn good...

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don't forget you'd need a big sound system to play exhaust sounds....

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?