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EV EB anyone?

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
37,077
Wait for the Electric Rubicon and take the guts from that.

A couple years ago I passed a flat bed trailer with a modified Rubicon on it. The typical big tires were not unusual, it was instrumentation added and the DOT label on the tow vehicle that was interesting. Rivian was doing benchmark testing on a Rubicon for off-road performance. So in a few years you might look there.

Or the new Electric F150 might have some good donor parts in a few years.

Looked at EVwest a couple years back. There stuff is aimed at lightweight cars. Old VWs and the like. They are the big name, manage to get in with all the TV shows and news outlets. They are clearly the best at marketing the conversions, but being good at marketing does not make them the best at the conversions.

As for the Bronco itself, it is going to be a very difficult conversion. The drivetrain part is generally the easy part. Battery packs get to be interesting. They are big and there are a lot of them. They also get heavy when you start putting them all together. Most cars have gone with the skateboard approach, fairly flat and under the floor. Pretty much the entire floor which is a substaintal amount of real estate. A Bronco doesn't have that space to give up.

Rumors are that there will be an electrified version of the new Bronco. If they make that in a 2-door, it might just be possible to put an old Bronco skin on a new Bronco and call it good.
 

yakelys69

Sr. Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
761
Good viewpoints, I’m thinking in the long run hydrogen will eventually be a better solution than the battery packs.
 

duffymahoney

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
2,734
Good viewpoints, I’m thinking in the long run hydrogen will eventually be a better solution than the battery packs.

Lots of other ways to power something over then EV. Hydrogen, bio fuels etc..

I believe the electric will win, because it will be more fun to drive, faster, less moving parts etc...
 

Rustytruck

Bronco Guru
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
10,872
Good luck finding enough rare earth minerals to power an all electrical grid. We cant even get enough to make catalytic converters and cell phones. There is a very interesting you tube video on the tear down of the Tesla drive train done by a collage professor worth the watch. better lease the thing as you wont want it 10 years down the line when the cooling system starts to fail.
 

yakelys69

Sr. Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
761
Hydrogen is EV just a different way to store electricity, some good Donut Media videos on it. Then considering the advancements of fusion power like the ITER project maybe some realistic possibilities. Then we'll be installing hydrogen conversions on the 2022 EV's - or - more likely - I will be laughing at my post in 15 years thinking I had some sort of idea what Im talking about.

Rustytruck has a good point that seems to be overlooked/ignored.
 

BanditBronco

Sr. Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2008
Messages
690
ZeroLabs is the company I was thinking of. That is literally all they do, build EV Broncos. Not a DIY application but relevant. I know it has been posted about here before.

I have used EV West products at previous employers, they make good stuff. They got in the game early and had the market early on. Tesla motor in front of a T56 is fun stuff.
 

duffymahoney

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
2,734
Good luck finding enough rare earth minerals to power an all electrical grid. We cant even get enough to make catalytic converters and cell phones. There is a very interesting you tube video on the tear down of the Tesla drive train done by a collage professor worth the watch. better lease the thing as you wont want it 10 years down the line when the cooling system starts to fail.

They won't need rare earth metals for the next generations of batteries. I think there are so many in development now. I hope the US is at the forefront of this booming industry.
 
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