[IamIan]

I have been anxiously waiting for someone to do this but so far only the guy at this site.

http://ev.whitecape.org/insight/

has done it. he admits that the old parts he used at first need to be replaced but when he is done he thinks he will get near 300 Miles per charge at the same or better performance.

I have been looking into it but I guess I'm not as adventurous and want to see how it goes for some other people first.

Dose anybody else know of anyone who has done this conversion?
Or does anybody have any other helpful ideas / thoughts that may help solve some of the problems that the guy at that site has been going threw?

Thanks.

 

[Aaron Cake]

If you really want to do this, subscribe to the EVDL. See http://www.madkatz.com/ev/evlist.html

 

[Yves M.]

Wow thanks for the link,
it looks cool. From what I have seen, it only misses heating, AC and maybe regenerative braking.

I wounder what happens with the power stering and if the gears are still needed like to go in reverse

Yves.

 

[Aaron Cake]

Power steering is an unknown (as far as I know). I would assume the rack needs the stock ECU to run, and the ECU probably freaks out if it is missing an engine and the rest of the hybrid components.

Yes, you will want to keep the transmission. While it is possible not to use it, you really should anyway. The reasons are long, so just search the EV list archive for "transmission" and I'm sure you'll get tired of reading all the info that comes up.

 

[b1shmu63]

I suspect that regenerative braking is standard fare for a modern EV.

The EPS has Its own "black Box". It should be independant of the ECU for safety reasons but it might have to be tricked into thinking that the ECU is still there.

If one wanted to be really cute with the climate control on an electric vehicle, both heating and cooling could be done using a reversable heat pump. For heating the heat pump could extract and concentrate the waste heat given off by the electric motor.

 

[Rick]

I think it would be cool if someone built a high preformance Insight EV conversion off of say a AC propulsions drive train. You'd have to build your own gear box because the kind of torque that I'm talking about would snap the stock transmission in to pieces. Then it would be able to pull a Corvette in it's 1st and only gear. You could also eliminate the front console where the gear shifter is and give yourself a little more floor space.