To be 100% honest, I've always despised EVs, or even the thought of them. I just love the sound, rumble, feel, and smell of ICE. That said, this is extremely fascinating. I've just discovered and read through this entire thread and I like what you're doing. Seems like the perfect thing to make a 4cyl tj worthwhile. (assuming the original powerplant doesn't matter for the swap. If there's something in this thread mentioning that, I overlooked it)
No, we think all Jeep motors are crap, we can swap any ICE motor out. The motor isn't the thing, it's the adapters and couplers we had to make that join the motor to whatever transmission is stock. I do get a lot of inquiries about 4cyl though.
It's a funny thing, isn't it, change. You don't want it, you're programed to resist it, and for some reason, it seems to always require new cloths.
My path was something like this:
- Love my Jeep but hated the constant maintenance and unreliability. Traveled down the path toward a complete small v8 that came in RAMs kit. The logic being that there were so many of them that were wrecked and available, they might be a perfect fit and mix of power and reliability. Not too much but a lot more than stock.
- COVID - so, two choices, you remember them: learn play chess or take up a musical instrument. I, of course, picked convert my reasonably good and running 1984 CJ-7 to all EV,
right...
- 10 months of homework, called and talked to everyone I could find. Watched every video, went to anything I could go to. Fished on forums for opinions - that didn't go well but, I could see a path. Not to start a company but to do the conversion.
- Started it, think blue painters tape, carboard boxes, 1/8" & 1/4" plywood, string, more tape. Made mockups of every part, motor, BMS, Batteries, boxes, everything.
- Played Tetris with it for about 2 months then started to commit real parts where the cardboard part was.
- More Tetris, like, a LOT more. Months of it.
- V.1 through V.20, before a V1.
- (jumping here) Driving it for the first time, still just thinking of a one off, nothing else. Driving it, that's where the change happened.
- Refine, refine, a little bit more Tetris, refine, tune, drive
- About 2.5 years into the build, it's all about driving it every single day, trying to see what explodes or falls or jumps off. What breaks under real driving.
- Then, at around 3 years, it's clear, this is a better Jeep.
At that point, something in me flipped and I began to see the path to a full blown company to do nothing but Jeep EV conversions.
My long-ass point, I wasn't looking for EVs to be part of my life, much less my Jeep life. But then you drive it, and you go from 'Oh wow, that's fun.' to 'OMG, this is better in ways I never imagined' finally to 'If I want to go get milk, I'll take the Jeep without thinking' - it's that reliable.
Still think Tesla models look like Dr. Seuss cars and doubt I'll ever own one but I have since given up my 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser (maybe the best built SUV ever made) for a Chevy Bolt EV. A great around town car that is practically free to drive.*
Long-ass rambling way to say, it took me a lot of time time come around to EV. A surprising amount of time.
- Patrick
*Ok, so, the other factor of giving that amazing car up was I no longer had any of my sons in rugby so I wasn't hauling 8-10 kids and a trailer around every single weekend. Once I got done coaching them and moved to adult, didn't need to that wonderful but horrible on gas beast. Bought it for $28k used, sold it for $22k, about 5 years of heavy use.
