Freelander 1 Freelander EV

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
Well done for sticking at it Ali.
When you say ‘fast charger’, i’m assuming you mean a 7kw charger?
Thanks mate but no, I mean DC fast charging using the Chademo socket I already have so maybe around 50kW.
I believe it can be done but still have to confirm it, however I don't want to spend a fortune on something that will be used a few times a year. 50kW would fill my battery in under an hour from empty to full. As it should never be totally empty and I would probably stop before it was full the slowest charging stop would probably be 30 to 40 minutes.
But there are still a few other things on the to do list before this. ;)
 
I'm not a fan of the look of the BMW, the front has a look that only a mother could love.

I actually quite like the look of the Fisker Ocean, which might well be a contender. I'm looking at 3 years time, so there'll be more vehicles on the second hand market by then.
If they haven't gone under before then the Fisker might be a nice car but they have got some very bad reviews and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy
 
If they haven't gone under before then the Fisker might be a nice car but they have got some very bad reviews and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy
Yes I've seen. I think they've potential gone to market before fully shaking down the vehicle. I've seen a few videos on it, and it does look like a perfect replacement for the FL2. However if they do go bust, the vehicles could potentially be worthless.
 
Thanks mate but no, I mean DC fast charging using the Chademo socket I already have so maybe around 50kW.
I believe it can be done but still have to confirm it, however I don't want to spend a fortune on something that will be used a few times a year. 50kW would fill my battery in under an hour from empty to full. As it should never be totally empty and I would probably stop before it was full the slowest charging stop would probably be 30 to 40 minutes.
But there are still a few other things on the to do list before this. ;)
Bloody hell ! That’ll need 3 phase, right?
I looked into having a 50kw unit installed at one of our company premises (absolutely nothing to do with the fact I now have an EV, and the place is 180 miles from my house ;) )
The quote was something like 22k - admittedly that was installation and a shiner new charger.
 
Bloody hell ! That’ll need 3 phase, right?
I looked into having a 50kw unit installed at one of our company premises (absolutely nothing to do with the fact I now have an EV, and the place is 180 miles from my house ;) )
The quote was something like 22k - admittedly that was installation and a shiner new charger.
Erm, I was thinking of public dc chargers not home ac. 😋
I have a 7kW EVSE at home but my on board charger can only handle 3.5kW so that is something that could be upgraded in the future but is not a priority. It would be much better than 3.5kW at a Supermarket charger or a friends EVSE but would still be too slow for a road trip.
 
Erm, I was thinking of public dc chargers not home ac. 😋
I have a 7kW EVSE at home but my on board charger can only handle 3.5kW so that is something that could be upgraded in the future but is not a priority. It would be much better than 3.5kW at a Supermarket charger or a friends EVSE but would still be too slow for a road trip.
Oh, I see! You’re getting the CAR to a point whereby it can TAKE a dc charge.
Doh.
I’ll get some more sleep!
:p
 
It's official, I AM A PLONKER! 😮 Not that it was ever in doubt. :p
Today I managed to complete the disconnection of the LV junction box. This gave me access to the battery box that was in the way and I was able to remove the bolts holding the it in place, thankfully without having to disconnect anything and was then able to pull it forward just enough to get at theH leaking hose. It looks like I was using an 18mm hose on a 15mm fitting and secured it with a spring clip. Had I used a hose clamp it probably would have been OK. 😒 Since I had it off anyway I just replaced it with an original Freelander hose I managed to find.

View attachment 311787

I had to cut away some insulation to get enough room but it is back in place and the two hoses now have decent quality stainless steel hose clamps. I'll keep an eye on them but I think this issue is now sorted.
The other thing I realised I cocked up was the orientation of the pump which I somehow managed to fit a$rse about face so it was pushing the coolant back into the header tank instead of pulling it. This is now sorted but I need the reducers I ordered yesterday and they will be a few days coming.
The hose reducers arrived yesterday but I still haven't done anything with them.
The work I'm doing at the moment requires me to stand around for most of the day and standing is the one thing that gives me a sore back so I can't afford to push my luck by standing all evening at the car.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed at the weekend. ;)
 
The hose reducers arrived yesterday but I still haven't done anything with them.
The work I'm doing at the moment requires me to stand around for most of the day and standing is the one thing that gives me a sore back so I can't afford to push my luck by standing all evening at the car.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed at the weekend. ;)
Take care of your back Ali, it's the only one you have. The car can wait, it won't mind. ;)

Interestingly my back hurts if I sit down for an extended time, Monday's and Friday's are my compliance paperwork days, so a good proportion is spent on my backside, resulting in an aching back. Mine is definitely happier if I'm moving about.
 
So today I managed to pretty much complete the LV junction box and get the car working again (spinning the motor while in neutral and charging). I made a couple of minor errors with the location of some wires but they were easily sorted and no harm done. Before connecting the battery properly I hooked it up through a 12V bulb to confirm there were no shorts.
In the photo below you can see how I've tried to tidy things up a bit with the fuse holders. As it turned out I'd have been better off with 3 smaller 6 way fuse boxes than two 12 way as I had to resort to Wagos for wires going to ignition position 1 but it is still much neater than before.

IMG_20240318_133912602_HDR.jpg


I have been documenting every wire as they were connected so hopefully when I go back to add stuff or make changes it will be a lot easier.
Then to see what would happen I connected the heater up and Woo Hoo, we have heat! Nice warm air coming through the vents with the heater on. Now I need to route the controller through the bulkhead and mount it in the cabin.
 
So today I managed to pretty much complete the LV junction box and get the car working again (spinning the motor while in neutral and charging). I made a couple of minor errors with the location of some wires but they were easily sorted and no harm done. Before connecting the battery properly I hooked it up through a 12V bulb to confirm there were no shorts.
In the photo below you can see how I've tried to tidy things up a bit with the fuse holders. As it turned out I'd have been better off with 3 smaller 6 way fuse boxes than two 12 way as I had to resort to Wagos for wires going to ignition position 1 but it is still much neater than before.

View attachment 313003

I have been documenting every wire as they were connected so hopefully when I go back to add stuff or make changes it will be a lot easier.
Then to see what would happen I connected the heater up and Woo Hoo, we have heat! Nice warm air coming through the vents with the heater on. Now I need to route the controller through the bulkhead and mount it in the cabin.
You see that this vehicle knows it's still a freelander. You've got the joy achieved when feeling heat after sorting a TD4 stat out.
 
You see that this vehicle knows it's still a freelander. You've got the joy achieved when feeling heat after sorting a TD4 stat out.
LOL, I did that once, I guess it is similar in a way but maybe the stat might be a bit easier.
If you're wondering about the modules at the bottom of the photo I plan to make an extension to the LV junction box to enclose them. ;)
 
So today I managed to pretty much complete the LV junction box and get the car working again (spinning the motor while in neutral and charging). I made a couple of minor errors with the location of some wires but they were easily sorted and no harm done. Before connecting the battery properly I hooked it up through a 12V bulb to confirm there were no shorts.
In the photo below you can see how I've tried to tidy things up a bit with the fuse holders. As it turned out I'd have been better off with 3 smaller 6 way fuse boxes than two 12 way as I had to resort to Wagos for wires going to ignition position 1 but it is still much neater than before.

View attachment 313003

I have been documenting every wire as they were connected so hopefully when I go back to add stuff or make changes it will be a lot easier.
Then to see what would happen I connected the heater up and Woo Hoo, we have heat! Nice warm air coming through the vents with the heater on. Now I need to route the controller through the bulkhead and mount it in the cabin.
That's a lot of wires!

When you say you have documented all the wiring, have you used an app/online resource to create a wiring diagram, or written/drawn it on paper?
 
That's a lot of wires!

When you say you have documented all the wiring,

I was thinking the same. It looks a lot like the wiring to the CJB of a Freelander 2, only missing the binding tape.

When I started this I guessed there would be lots of wires but it kinda evolved into a bucket of spaghetti.
There are so many systems that need connecting and issues with timing to take into account.
This still looks a bit messy but makes it much easier to trace the wiring.

And of course it wouldn't be an update from me if I didn't run into a problem. :oops:
The brake boost started playing up so I'm having to reconfigure the vac plumbing. I had originally plumbed it with a vac sensor that was controlled by an Arduino but the setup was always a bit leaky and the pump would kick in every ten minutes or so. Today it was kicking in every 30 seconds or minute and was getting more and more erratic so I'm replacing the sensor with a Volvo vac switch that is either on or off. I had ordered it months ago but it was slow to arrive so I went with the original setup. I'll wire it through a relay to drive the vac pump and hopefully simplify everything. Others in Openinverter.org have used a similar vac switch and recommend it so hear's hoping.
 
When I started this I guessed there would be lots of wires but it kinda evolved into a bucket of spaghetti.
There are so many systems that need connecting and issues with timing to take into account.
This still looks a bit messy but makes it much easier to trace the wiring.

And of course it wouldn't be an update from me if I didn't run into a problem. :oops:
The brake boost started playing up so I'm having to reconfigure the vac plumbing. I had originally plumbed it with a vac sensor that was controlled by an Arduino but the setup was always a bit leaky and the pump would kick in every ten minutes or so. Today it was kicking in every 30 seconds or minute and was getting more and more erratic so I'm replacing the sensor with a Volvo vac switch that is either on or off. I had ordered it months ago but it was slow to arrive so I went with the original setup. I'll wire it through a relay to drive the vac pump and hopefully simplify everything. Others in Openinverter.org have used a similar vac switch and recommend it so hear's hoping.
I like the idea if a simple pressure switch for the vacuum. For simple problems, I like to keep the solution simple.
 
I like the idea if a simple pressure switch for the vacuum. For simple problems, I like to keep the solution simple.
I got it installed after my last post and so far so good with the vac boost. :)
Of course a couple of other issues have cropped up but hopefully should be simple to sort. I know what one of them is as I had the same problem before, when I turn on the lights I hear a relay dropping so that is a simple voltage glitch that needs some rewiring. The other is the heater isn't working so I need to do some digging to figure it out. Hopefully it is simply a bad connection somewhere as I had it working before.
 
I'm not a fan of the look of the BMW, the front has a look that only a mother could love.

I actually quite like the look of the Fisker Ocean, which might well be a contender. I'm looking at 3 years time, so there'll be more vehicles on the second hand market by then.
I had literally never heard of those, so I looked it up, and yeah that looks nice!

[Edit] Just read the other replies! Darn it, was a goer for a while!
 
So the great news is we are back on the road again after more than two weeks major organ surgery (cabin heater) and some plastic surgery to the LV junction box.
The vac boost is working a treat and so far everything else is too.
The cabin heater issue was entirely self inflicted as I had the Arduino unprotected as I was soldering wires for the LV JB and I think I may have dropped a piece of solder on it but whatever the cause the Arduino was toast.
Now I need to get the controller and display for the heater installed and tidy up a few things.
 
Back
Top