-
Where do people get the electric bits for these conversions? What do the parts cost? The total price inc. labour and profit etc always looks shockingly steep to me. Will the cost plummet one day?
nick_h.-
The motors we use are from Netgain in the US but made in Italy and shipped straight to us in The Netherlands. The batteries are either second hand (Tesla) or new (Mercedes / VW overstock). The chargers are from China and we import them ourselves. The BMS system we use is from Latvia.
A kit for a VW Beetle starts around €23.000 ex VAT for a diy conversion with 44kWh of batteries and 20kW of charging. Fast charging is not available on “low” voltage conversions and “high” voltage conversions are more money because the motor costs more and you’ll need extra parts for CCS. Lots of conversion prices include restoration work which means more hours which means more money. Economy of scale plays another big part; we sell around 100 Hyper9 motors a year, some in a kit and some to companies creating their own. That is peanuts compared to an OEM.
Prices will only come down a bit through government incentives as raw materials only go up in price as do labour costs.*I chose a Beetle kit as an example because it’s a simple conversion without any frills. No extras needed like ac, power steering.
Libraio
Customer of ours has three series 3. Two identical blue coupes, both restored by him. One with a V12 and one we converted to electric with 110kWh of batteries (he wants to drive from Leiden to Paris in one go because he did so when he was just married). The electric one was imported from the States where someone fitted a V8 so we didn’t feel bad inserting a electric motor.
He also has a convertible that’s awaiting restoration.