57 Conversion to EV

How many '57 Chevys were built with hybrid or electric motors? I'm guessing none.

I suggest selling the car to someone who is a true '57 Chevy fanatic, who would love a chance to restore a classic. Use the money to buy some other car (one not as rare as a '57 Chevy) with which you can do some experimenting.

Fun costs money, how hard do you want to laugh?

Your 57' is not an ideal candidate for conversion to EV for the following reasons;

It is a classic and desirable car in standard configuration and will only gain you derision from all, but lunatic fringe greentards.

Weight, the basic shell weighs around 3300#(1.5tonnes) Then you add batteries..

Drive train, Most conversion kits available are only suitable for small to medium sized cars, the performance will be very ordinary (read woeful) in your 57.

Return Of Investment; If you were to do this, the value of the vehicle would remain at scrap or salvage value irrespective of the money you poured into the technology, just ask Neil Young...

If you went the hybrid route, think about using a diesel motor for the generator, much better economy/ecology.

A hybrid conversion would gain you range over a pure ev vehicle, with the advantage of refilling over recharging.

Gary,

That's sacrilegious, you know. I thought that car weighed more than 3300#, but, even so it's still heavy for an EV.

How 'bout one of these instead.

Hey LYN,

Ok It was just an idea but not thought out very well, I guess I will just continue to restore it and make it Awesome with gas... I like the mod cart where can I see more info on them,

Gary

You want to do WHAT?

[edit] I see others have expressed the same disbelief.

I say go for it!

Start by finding a larger sized electric forklift and use that as the base conversion source for the big electric motor and control systems. I would recommend keeping the stock or at least a similar transmission between the motor and the rear axle for easiest operation while still keeping the stock look.

After that the bottom of the truck and the remaining ares in the engine compartment can be reworked to hold the 20+ 6 volt deep cycle golf cart battery's you will need which will most likely mean you will also have to do some suspension and brake upgrades to handle the added weight in the end.

As far as performance goes that is souly dependant on how much peak horse power your motor and battery's can support intermittently. Just for comparison a 120 volt DC system with a 1000 amp peak capacity could produce well past 120+ electric rear wheel horsepower which would be far beyond what the smaller sized stock gas engine options could ever could put there.

I say chop and shock it and for once be someone who truly does have an honest custom one of kind 57 Chevy

(Unlike that row of 20+ clones we always see at car shows boasting that each of them is a one of a kind even though we all know that half their owners couldn't tell them apart on the first try if they took off their licence plates and randomly mixed them around in a parking lot!)