https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/the- ... 022-09-16/
Ok, not a fan of all of the other stuff they're doing to the FSJs, but I like the EV conversion aspect.
I think the way I will do an EV conversion on mine when I get the chance, is to pull everything in the drivetrain in front of the Dana 20, as well as the fuel tank and exhaust. Then, take two AC electric motors bolted together (~200 lb-ft of torque and ~120 hp each)(doesn't sound like much but remember it being electric, that power is INSTANT), mated to a 3-or 4-speed (probably column shift with the reverse gear removed), up to the D20. That should all fit in the trans tunnel (and if not it won't go too far into the engine bay; no clutch or anything needed) I think. The motors I like are water cooled, so I was thinking I'd use that for the heater (also supposedly seat heaters are the best way to heat an EV...not my favorite option in the world but I guess it wouldn't be too hard to incorporate into the bench seats). The heater door controls would be cable or electronic, as I'm not going to run a vacuum pump to suck power just for those.
My brakes are nonpower anyway (and I like them that way; AWESOME control), and my thought there was to have regen braking--put a sensor in where the booster would go, and have it apply extra regen (vs. just lifting off the accelerator)(almost said gas there), and if you feed it a lot of brake (esp. fast), kicking in the hydraulics. I don't have it all worked out yet in my head, but that's my thought.
I can't find anything for electric power steering (well, there's rack and pinion) other than running an electric pump. The nice thing there is that you can have it shut off above a certain speed when you don't need the boost anymore. I'm going to put a Ford steering box on (for a number of reasons) here pretty soon, and it will be a good setup.
Otherwise, I have LEDs and a modern radio (Retrosound) already, and the electric cooling fan will also be removed. I figure batteries go on either side around the drivetrain (in place of the size of the TH400, gas tank, and exhaust, and some in the engine bay too, but only low), and then maybe take the spare tire out from under the back and put batteries under there (and relocate the spare tire to under the hood, where it will be outside/out of the way, but also a bit cleaner than it is now).
What do you guys think of this? I mean it IS still my Jeep, but I'm just looking for some feedback. And I realize going EV doesn't solve everything for the planet, but if you pretend that I don't care about the planet, I would still do it because
1. it's low maintenance
2. it's quiet
3. it's less explosive and there aren't chemicals EVERYWHERE
4. if nothing else, if I'm alive when we run out of oil, I can still run it on synthetic oils w/o spending a crazy amount of money
Thoughts/insight would be appreciated.
'71 Wagoneer (DD)
-B350 (HEI, iron 4-barrel, Edelbrock 1406), TH400, D20
-'74 D44 front (nonpower discs)
-custom headliner
-Front shoulder belts (rears eventually)
viewtopic.php?t=23070
There are 2 major differences between new Wranglers and FSJs. FSJs are meant to be both utilitarian and capable, not just capable. FSJs are also rarely initially recognized as Jeeps by the average American.