Swindon Powertrain, the company responsible for the Swind E Classic (a fully-electric classic Mini), has revealed a crate electric motor that can be bolted on to existing drivetrains. The company says its offering will help niche manufacturers (or even hobbyists) electrify their vehicles, as there is a low availability of compact, high-power EV powertrains that they can source.
“When you factor in development costs, specialist OEMs haven’t been able to electrify their vehicles as quickly as they would like. Our ready-to-install crate powertrain will accelerate EV adoption in sectors poorly served by the larger tier one manufacturers and integrators,” said Swindon Powertrain’s managing director Raphael Caille.
Developed in partnership with electric motor manufacturer iNetic and automotive specialist Code, with funding from Niche Vehicle Network, the all-in-one solution consists of the electric motor, inverter, single-speed transmission and cooling system assembly. However, the package does not include a battery pack as well as charging and management systems, which are a bit trickier (and costlier) to deal with.
The package is meant to be mounted transversely and is rather compact, measuring 600 mm wide, 440 mm deep and 280 mm tall – the weight is 70 kg. The company also states that the powertrain has multiple mounting points for adaptability, with users able to place the inverter and cooling pack in separate locations so it fits a wide range of vehicles.
These include sports cars, quad bikes, classic MINIs, right on through to commercial vehicle; with waterproofing solution, it is even suitable off-road leisure and recreation vehicles. It adds that the unit could also be used as the electric component in a hybrid vehicle’s drivetrain for OEMs.
The electric motor provides 107 hp (80 kW) of power, and is already in use in the E Classic. Swindon Powertrain is aiming to put the crate electric motor into series production by June 2020 – albeit without a retail price yet – with core R&D and validation being covered by the company to further ease development costs for integrators.
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This would make an absolutely bonkers superkart ….
To get an idea what it might cost: An electric kit for a VW Beetle from ‘EV West’ is US$$16,893, without the battery it’s still US$7,598. That’s the kit only without the car…
source: https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40
This might make sense for rich people who want to drive their classic cars in restricted areas (i.e. Inner London).
Yes please!!
Imagine having your old Iswara or saga converted to EV, hmmmm
The EV makers don’t tell you the difficult part is not the electric motors but its the batteries.
“Available to order immediately in either left- or right-hand-drive, the limited production run of 100 cars starts at £79,000 and comes with an unlimited mileage one-year warranty and MOT.”
A bit expensive for a superkart…
All sound good until we understand the magnitude of the management system which is currently not included in the package.
Battery and charging is not so much of an issue.Battery is all up to the owner how big the capacity they want and how much they want to spend. Charging alone is easy but linking it to the management needs a bit knowledge.
Still, its a good initiative. Just wait till China start to make their own version. I have personal exp with their electric motor kit for bicycle and it works like a charm….Front tires spinning during take off.
Now I can hybrid my Kancil.
Looking forward to availabiity