I think converting an ICE to EV for as little as £5k is actually very good, when you consider just how expensive an EV is to buy.
Plus the Freelander is very practical as an everyday vehicle.
I'd happily convert an FL2 to EV, if I could overcome the huge amount of electronic integration the vehicle has. :eek:
 
Today was very exciting but ultimately a little frustrating. I've been working on the HV junction box and after changing my mind about 10 times I decided to go with the layout below.

View attachment 268533

I'm using the contactors, fuse, pre-charge resistor, pre-charge relay and a cut down portion of the plastic frame from the eGolf battery junction box.
The two cables coming in from the bottom of the photo are the HV cables from the battery pack.
The Battery pack Pos goes to the fuse, then through the fuse to the top contactor. The Neg goes straight to the contactor.
The two modules below are timer relay modules that trigger the relay and contactors after pre set delays. These are cheap ebay modules so I wouldn't be confident they are reliable so I'll probably come up with something different for the final build but they will do for testing. The timing is as below.
1. Ignition on sends 12V to the neg contactor and the two modules.
2. The pre-charge resistor is on the NC of the second timer relay so it comes on immediately sending pack voltage to the inverter via a 30R resistor.
3. After a couple of seconds the first timer relay triggers sending 12V to the main Pos contactor.
4. A few seconds later the second timer relay triggers disconnecting the pre-charge relay and sending an enable signal to the Damien Maguire VCU.
These timers are very cheap and probably not very reliable so I don't think I'll be using them going forward but for testing they are fine.

So I spent the morning securing the contactors etc then dug out the VCU and hooked it together then connected the battery pack together and held my breath while turning on the system.
No smoke, no bang, just leds flashing as expected. Phew!

Then after rigging up a manual 12V disconnect (power lead through the window that I can yank out if necessary) I gently pushed the accelerator pedal and....
Almost nothing. :( The 1500W ebike controller was more powerful. :eek:
After some initial confusion I think it is because the last time I used the VCU it was during bench testing when I probably had the max current cranked all the way back to prevent over speed. Unfortunately I had no time to make any changes due to family commitments so the first proper test drive will have to wait until tomorrow.
Wish me luck.

As promised this happened yesterday.



This is a sneak preview for Landyzoners only as I haven't made it made public. I plan to use it as part of a longer video next week.
This was the first time I was able to drive the car using full power.
It is front wheel drive only here.
Everything was installed temporarily so I was holding back to make sure nothing bad happened, this was less than half throttle in 2nd gear.
Also I was using mostly just the hand brake as the vac pump is not installed yet.
 
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Cracking work Mr @Alibro
See bits still falling off though;) at least it wasn't the doors:).
I have been following your fred, and to get to this stage is a major milestone well done:).

J
 
Cracking work Mr @Alibro
See bits still falling off though;) at least it wasn't the doors:).
I have been following your fred, and to get to this stage is a major milestone well done:).

J
LOL, thanks mate, I had rubbish sitting on the roof while working on it and must have missed a bit.
 
Not bad acceleration for half throttle - well done.

and yes Project Z300S is the main one I've been following. Biggest challenge for the Z3 folks is lack of space for batteries. In one of the forum threads, he mentions looking at your project as well.
 
Everything was installed temporarily so I was holding back to make sure nothing bad happened, this was less than half throttle in 2nd gear.
Excellent work Ali. It still makes me smile every time I've watched it. :)
Scrabbling for traction at ½ throttle in second shows it's got plenty of beans!
Of course in normal driving, it should pull away in 3rd or 4th just fine.
Now you've got no excuses not to get the brake vacuum and PS sorted. ;)
Looking forward to a longer video.
 
As promised this happened yesterday.



This is a sneak preview for Landyzoners only as I haven't made it made public. I plan to use it as part of a longer video next week.
This was the first time I was able to drive the car using full power.
It is front wheel drive only here.
Everything was installed temporarily so I was holding back to make sure nothing bad happened, this was less than half throttle in 2nd gear.
Also I was using mostly just the hand brake as the vac pump is not installed yet.

This is sooooooo exciting. I really want to book mine into to Ali-EV-Conversions.ltd for next year when you're done with yours.
 
Brilliant, no probs, should be ready by early 2025. :p
Gives me a bit of time to save up then. It'll be a nice 20th birthday pressie to the old TD4. Just need to keep it going until then. I can also plan my trip to NI. The boys and I have always fancied a trip to Belfast.
 
Gives me a bit of time to save up then. It'll be a nice 20th birthday pressie to the old TD4. Just need to keep it going until then. I can also plan my trip to NI. The boys and I have always fancied a trip to Belfast.
Great. :)
I'll get the Ulster Fry going. :p
 
N

Never mind that. Get this proof of concept sorted so that you can get the inaugural comercial conversion going ;)
(although I will look forward to some decent black pudding. They just don't do it right in Kernow)
Yuk, if you watched black pudding being made you'd never eat it again. :eek:
 

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