Electric Berlingo conversions in Melbourne

Economics of battery recharging: overnight a no-brainer!

G'day Andrew - welcome to the thread, and thanks for the kind words. EV recharging is a funny thing. Simple maths - and lots of variables.

The simple sum: About $4.50 for a full charge to do approx 100km at the 18 ish cents per kWh off peak.

For a complication: in my case, I have a 10c off peak rate (and 35c peak rate, 22c shoulder rate) as I have the old Vic 66c premium feed-in tariff for my PV cells. So when I charge an EV at home, it's free as I get all bills paid plus a $500-ish as a cheque every 12 months!!!!!!!!! Just reduces my $500 bonus a bit. (by the way, its just a little 1.4kW system - only wish I could have squeezed more onto my difficult space. 1.4kW was all I could design to fit).

As an added complication - emissions are an interesting one: on brown coal only (or compressed peat as I prefer to call it) - you've shifted the emissions, but not done anything to reduce them. On hydro, wind etc - whoopee, you're zero emission! Black coal - better than fossil fuel and gas in your car: but not zero emission by any means.

Another complication - charging at a premium peak tarff could be painful (but avoidable - unlike air conditioner users). i.e. unlike air conditioners, EV's can be charged when it suits you - so as you've worked out: it's a no brainer to charge off-peak, and pay the little extra for non-carbon emitting sources.

NB: Just doing an article on related matters (EV electricity emissions) for the ATA mag ReNew - so will do an update on exact figures when I finish that.

Re wear and tear on batteries: most Li polymer batteries have a guarantee of 2000 - 3000 full charges, so at 2 or 3 charges a week - that more than 10yrs life. The EV at CERES is 4yrs old now and heavily used: I have found no degradation in the capacity of its Li cells at all yet.

Cheers & your in EV'ing
Bryce
 
EV CO2 emissions article out in ReNew

Hi all - following up on my comment re coming EV CO2 accounting article - it is now out in the current Alternative Technology Association's quarterly magazine 'ReNew'.
Bit too hard to explain results in this thread - lots of variables and calculations for each state etc. However let's say the results were surprisingly good when doing an apples-with-apples comparison of ICE and EV using national carbon accounting methodology. Even in Victoria on brown coal - replacing a petrol car with an iMiEV for city driving still reduced one's emissions. The rest I'll leave to those who get/want to buy a copy of ReNew.

Cheers
 
Another Ev conversion running

For those of you who have been following this thread and wondered where the Mercedes Sprinter conversion I occassionally refer to was up to: it is finally running! Took it for its first test drive last Wednesday. (It is being done for CERES Environment Park in Brunswick, Melb). Lots of gremlins to sort - but it actually goes. :)
Cheers
Bryce
 
Good job with this!
When I can afford to do so I'd live to retrofit a car with electric drivetrain...
I have driven the iMiev and hopefully I will get a chance to drive a Nissan Leaf soon.
Both of those are still too expensive, for me the difference in fuel costs would take twenty years to recoup, but the situation is getting better.
 
Great thread, I've only just come across it. I'm an ATA member, and get e-mails about meetings, but I cannot make it down in time for the meetings after work. I've been meaning to stream the meeting, but I just never remember. Not sure if they do it anymore.

My employer has an electric vehicle, based on a Hyundai Getz, although why anyone would use a Getz as a donor car is beyond me (manufacturer co-operation was the main reason). Ex-fleet bodies, with new electric drive-trains were about $35k. The range was about 100-120km. You could go further, but no one was really game to. It was definitely an improvement over a 1.4 Getz. It was pretty zippy taking off, but once you got above 70, it took a long time to get to 100. And if you saw a hill at 100, you lost half the afternoon getting back up to 100 after the hill.

Renew (ATA's magazine) has run a couple of articles of a guy in NZ who's converted a 2CV to electric (I think there's been two, one converted to an electric ute). He chose the 2CV due to its really light weight, and its simplicity. They're home-style conversions, done to be cost effective, with a shorter range than a more professional conversion.

I seem to remember a reading a couple of other articles in it of people that had done home conversions of 80's and 90's Barinas/Swifts, and Charades. Cost was under $10k all up, but they lost back seats and had a range of about 60km. Still not bad for a run-about, and if you're on solar that's big enough, you don't have to pay anything for fuel.
 
Hi Daniel - the ATA EV group still webcast. We met the 4th Wed of every month from 7pm at Swinburne Uni Engineering building. Not sure about the ATA main meeting in the city. (I never get there either).

The EV Hyundai you mention is a Blade Electron. Sadly, he is no longer in business. His stock of remaining bits is for sale on the ATA EV branch site. Our blue Berlingo conversion is a bit zippier that those, but has similar-ish, but slightly higher end technology to the Blades.

Renew articles refering to some NZ conversions - a 2CV would be a nice donor car, but a bit expensive here in Oz! Parts cost using simple DC motors, no clutch and lead acid batteries would be around 10k plus car to do even that simple a conversion - and lead acid is a PAIN of an EV traction battery system. The red Berlingo conversion is a simple DC conversion using Li batteries - a much better system, and worth the extra cost: lead acid are lucky to last a couple of years, Li should last 10 plus. (ZEV, the red Berlingo, is now over 4 yrs old and battery system has yet to show any degradation in performance).

NB: There is a VERY nice Capri conversion about to hit the road using a similar motor/controller to that 2CV, but using Li batteries. It should easily pass Vic registration compliance, the owner has done a mighty job – hoping I can convince him to write it up for Renew. His conversion cost I believe was around 20ishK (but don’t quote me!). We are also planning to do a Renew article on the blue Berlingo and Mercedes conversions soon, will put a note on this thread when it is coming out.

Yes, there are a few 80’s and 90’s EV Barinas and a Mazda 121 also around – but they are very agricultural in the main. However I know of one that’s made it to become Vicroads compliant recently (mind-you, after a fair bit of work by us to get it there for the owner!!!).

And yes, using your own solar is the best option to charge the vehicle (especially low range ones that don’t demand too much of your PV system) – at least you know where your electrons got their energy from!

Cheers
Bryce
 
Just reread the thread after 5 and a half years - so much has happened!

On the personal front: have been daily driving EV's since 2012 & still to pay an electricity bill (but the annual check is significantly reduced!), plus I recently bought the blue Berlingo from the Gippsland owners to give it a gentle 'retirement' as it approaches 200,000km. Is now being used as a local EV service vehicle and training bed for EV safe work practices.

And on the EV front - much of what I predicted 5 years ago has come to pass!

Mass market EV's with 300 - 500km ranges are now available. (Zoe, Bolt, Tesla models S, X and 3; new Leaf is almost there ..)
Fast charging can reduce the time for a charge to as little as 20 min; (time for a cuppa after a long drive :) )
Prices are coming down quickly - from $200k Roadster in 2011/12 to less than $15000 pounds for a base Zoe.
Several countries are planning to ban the sale of new ICE vehicles starting from 2025 (Netherlands & Norway) through to 2040 (UK), plus China (the biggest car sales market in the world) is looking into setting a date.
... And not much has happen in Oz ... :(

Might even do an update soon on the changes to the blue Berlingo since this thread was active.

Cheers
Bryce
 
Only19 said:
Conversion costs are bit like 'how long is a piece of string'. Basic DC conversions with lead acid batteries run from $10K to a high-end DC one with Li batteries at nearly $30K. (Au dollars, parts only, plus donor car).
Click to expand...

Interesting to look back on these cost estimates 6.5 years later. What’s the latest on this... have battery prices come down since then? (I’d expect them to be halved by now) Has the installation/conversion process become simplified for the DIYer? I’d love to convert my GS to electric.

Interestingly back in 2011 when this thread kicked off, fuel prices were around 141.2. (cf https://fleetautonews.com.au/historical-pump-prices-in-australia/). Still around that price today which I guess puts a damper on any need to rush out and convert just yet.
 
Yes, Fuel prices have stayed much the same but electricity prices have doubled (unless you're on solar).
At least where I live they have.
But if you plug into someone else's electricity (e.g. at work etc.) it's still free.
 
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