Electric Spider

[NSFIAT]

Thinking out loud after catching an article on a French proposal (nothing written in stone) to ban fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 ....

Has anyone converted their Spider to electric? Or seen one? Heard of one?

A quick google search came up with a bunch of companies like this one;

https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk

Not something that I'm willing to tackle at this very moment, but would be interested in studying conversions!

[AriK]

I thought this project was pretty cool. The restorer is a business and one of the cars he built was the Spider. Alot of money invested but still a cool project nonetheless. Pretty quick too, enough torque on it that he snapped the driveline when he goosed the pedal too hard.
http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... ric+spider

[NSFIAT]

Crazy expensive, but it looks amazing. As with anything I'm sure costs would drop over time! Thanks for that link - I hadn't even thought of searching the forum (face palm).

[AriK]

Thinking out loud after catching an article on a French proposal (nothing written in stone) to ban fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 ....

Volvo just announced putting an end to the internal combustion engine in 2019.

[RRoller123]

Volvo (and all the others) will probably not include their strong Truck/Marine/etc; engines in that policy pronouncement. There will need to be some policy carve outs for long haul trucking, aircraft engines, etc.

[AriK]

Yes you're absolutely correct. I should have included to say it's for their car engines. They will be available in either electric or hybrid formats.

[bobplyler]

Volvo just announced putting an end to the internal combustion engine in 2019.

The end of Volvo is in sight. They must want to follow SAAB.

[AriK]

Volvo just announced putting an end to the internal combustion engine in 2019.

The end of Volvo is in sight. They must want to follow SAAB.

BMW also has plans to electrify each and every one of its makes and models by 2020, while Volkswagen says it will spend $2 billion in the United States on electric vehicle infrastructure which includes the installation of more than 500 charging stations across America.

[RRoller123]

The electric utility grid is going to be effected. Demand has been nearly perfectly flat for many years, but the replacement of vehicle energy from HCs versus the electric grid is quite a significant demand shift.

[VAS]

Courtesy of the owner, we have a nice picture of an under construction electrified Spider located top, center on page 66 of our Fiat Parts Catalog.

https://www.vickauto.com/Catalog/Vick%2 ... atalog.pdf

[Jimb]

I wonder what what will happen with all the hundreds of thousands of discarded batteries one day.

Jim

[TStark]

Thinking out loud after catching an article on a French proposal (nothing written in stone) to ban fossil fuel vehicles by 2040 ....

Volvo just announced putting an end to the internal combustion engine in 2019.

Well, consider that them announcing each car built will have an electric motor in it, is not equivalent to saying they will be devoid of IC engines.

[DieselSpider]

I wonder what what will happen with all the hundreds of thousands of discarded batteries one day.

Jim

They usually go to the telecommunications grid or solar farms as storage devices or get stripped down to their individual bolt together cell packs, balance charged and the 100% ones are bolted back together into complete packs again and sold as refurbished.

The most economical way to do a conversion to electric is to get a totaled Nissan Leaf 2014 or newer (you want the more heat tolerant Lizard Pack batteries) and cannibalize it.

Here is a gent who used the Leaf battery to upgrade his S10:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26PfXFgouLE

MGB-GT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUlf6W7MUiw

Note that the Leaf can take up to a 2" receiver hitch and its unpublished towing capacity is about 2,500 lbs. I have been driving a 2014 Leaf since September 2016 on those extremely hot or stormy days when I leave the Aprila and the Spider at home.