EV Beetle Conversion Project

I decided to pickup another battery pack to extend the range on the BugPlug (contact me if you have one for sale, looking for more packs for projects). I dismantled this pack, and it has evidence of water ingress, as you can see, some of the modules have oxidation. My first pack didn't have this. My original intention was to mount them where the fuel tank was, and initially this looked good with the car up in the air. I could only fit 3 across when oriented in the flattest way, on their side all 4 fitted and looked to give good ground clearance. I made up a quick frame for them and mounted it to the car, the Beetle has quite low ground clearance as it is, it became apparent this wasn't going to work. If I go with a 3rd pack I'll have to rethink how I can fit them where the tank was, but for now, the spare wheel well will be squared out and the modules will go there. Continuing with the battery box, I bought pre-cut steel, only added a couple of quid and saved loads of time ...

I'm currently working on adding rapid charging, in the form of Chademo. I've designed a hat to sit on top of an Arduino Due, containing 2 CAN bus transceivers,  a 12v input and 2 open collectors. This lives inside a 3D printed box. This is the brain of the Chademo system. Also located the inlet in the lower part of the front grille. A second set of contactors for the socket are required, so that it's only live when the charging station says so. Full of hope and fear I headed for my local Chademo charger, tucked down the side of a hotel. With my laptop out I gave it a test. Charger says no, so off home I went, found an issue with the 2 start signal wires crossed over, and returned the next day. Still denied, but gets further, my controller now recognises the session start sequence, I need to get the CAN bus logger out and debug that part. Stay tuned, maybe next time will be a winner.

 Further to my last post, I've come across someone on YouTube that's had their electric conversion reverted on the V5 to diesel. Since then, I've been in contact with some others that have either been rejected by the DVLA or had their vehicle reverted back to it's original fuel type. Next steps We've contacted our respective MPs, below is a list of them. John Healey MP, see previous post. Afzal Kahn MP, he's had a response from undersecretary for transport, see below. Connor Burns MP. Quick Edit. I sent the DVLA a Freedom of Information request to the number of post 2001 registered vehicles that have had their fuel type changed, below is the response. Dear Afzal Thank you for your letter of 7 October to the Transport Secretary enclosing correspondence from your constituent about electric vehicle conversions. I am replying as the Minister responsible for this issue. You will be aware that this Governme...

 Now with over a 1000 miles done on electric, and over 6 months of to and fro, the DVLA are still refusing to update my V5 to electric and change the tax classification. Their reasoning in the VERA act, below, they have taken this to mean that on post 2001 vehicles the fuel type and tax classification cannot be changed. This is despite the DVLA website (https://www.gov.uk/change-vehicle-details-registration-certificate) making no reference to been unable to make the changes. LPG conversions, changes to disabled classification and conversions to a camper-van are all possible. Here's another part of the VERA act. The purpose of this post is to document my experience with the DVLA, so back in August 2021, the 2nd to be exact, I filled out my V5 to change the fuel type to electric and tax class to electric. On the 14th of October I was asked to provide more details, receipts, photos etc.  I was also asked to fill out a V627/1 built up vehicle report. Below is the first letter I re...

 While it's cold outside I've been a little reluctant to venture out to mess around with the car. I have started trying to tidy the 12v wiring by fitting a new relay fuse box for my additions. This is proving more time consuming than I'd originally planned but the protoboard PP detector circuit that I had taped to the top of the HVJB is now in it's new 3D printed home. As you can see, I'm going to need more black tape. Another addition is a set of wheel trims that popped up on Facebook market place 5 minutes away for £30 in like new condition. A little cosmetic enhancement, but I like them and the price was good. I've also been working on a bit of an info dash using an ESP32 to read CAN BUS messages and serve up a HTTP server and web socket, displayed on an old Fire Tablet from a gadget drawer. Displays motor temperature, inverter temperature, and battery pack temperature. Along with Sate of Charge, instant currant draw as well as the current trip distance and a...

With my car having a type 1 inlet for charging, I need a type 1 to type 2 cable to charge on untethered EVSEs generally found for AC charging in public. These cables are usually pretty expensive, even used. I made one up for just over £30. The video below contains the details. Here I am grabbing some juice at a local carpark, I have a 3.3KW charger on board, so this is the maximum rate for my current setup. These particular EVSE's have a 3 phase connection and can in theory top out at 22KW.

 A fellow DIY EV'er friend is recording a series of chats with other DIY EV'ers, here's a link the Episode 1 featuring myself and the BugPlug. Enjoy