Why GM's Bolt-Based Hot-Rod Crate Kit Won't Get Hot Rod, Classic Car Fans Excited
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- čas přidán 28. 10. 2020
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WIth more electric car choices than ever before, those looking for a new electric car have plenty of different models to choose from.
But for classic car and hot rod fans who don't want a brand-new car, the choices for converting their rides to electric are limited to paying someone a lot of money for a custom conversion; doing a completely-DIY conversion using off-the-shelf components; or using salvage EV components and Open-Source conversion techniques.
But in recent years we've seen another option: electric car crate kits from mainstream automakers.
GM is the latest to consider such a thing with the K5 Blazer-E show car (as designed for SEMA360 this year). But while the crate kit sounds good on paper, the actual execution of this conversion leaves us cold.
Here's why.
Watch the video above to find out more, support us with the provided links, and let us know what you think below -- but remember to keep your comments civil!
Presenter: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Produced: Transport Evolved
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I am not negative towards this idea...I have a 1957 Chevy that have long wanted to do this to....cost permitting...
czcams.com/video/sXq1VvizqBY/video.html
What about the beautiful exhaust sounds !!!!
Did you do it?
I was just getting ready to source components to do a Chevy S10 PU conversion. But now I'll put on the brakes and wait for this kit. The battery can easily be located under the bed (attached to the frame rails) and out of the way. If you want to take the easy way out, you could just mount it in the bed and create a false bed on top of it. Very cool!
_" The battery can easily be located under the bed (attached to the frame rails) and out of the way."_ And when you are hit from behind you are guaranteed a fire a sparks flying everywhere while you are trying to get out of the cab but can't since the doors have welded themselves to the cab from the extremely high current running through the cab to the frame rails.
@@nathanwoodruff9422 LOL :-)
@@nathanwoodruff9422 Ever heard of fuses?
@@ericapelz260 _"Ever heard of fuses?"_ I take it in all of your mechanical engineering classes that you have taken, you have never seen a battery short out to the metal frame. That is unless you are thinking the quarter inch steel frame would be the fuse.... Good luck with that though. You do know that when a truck is hit from behind, the frame will bend.... Well, maybe you don't.
“Fancies a tug”
While I am usually in full agreeance with your professional views on EVs, I disagree with your take on this. At 74, I'm a former ASE Certified Tech, factory trained by several marques, including Porsche and Rolls. I have also converted over a score of cars to EVs. Using Lead Acid batteries and hand built controllers with DC motors, it was beyond a challenge - it was hard. When I heard of Chevy's idea I was sold! Yes, it has failings and could be better, but to turn out a "professional" EV conversion that will pass all state and FED regs is also COSTLY and time consuming as EACH EV is a one-off custom. This will take off like GANG BUSTERS ! !
We hope you’re right :)
Valid point but exciting to see a full product to fit into wherever you can get it to sit and isn’t limited to one model.
arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/now-you-can-get-an-land-rover-restomod-with-a-tesla-electric-powertrain/ 335kW (450hp-600hp) 100kWh of lithium-ion batteries from a Tesla. For sure a better option....
@Art Uro but get the motor off a salvage, the batteries off other makers say 2 late spec Nissan Leafs - I bet the costs will plummet rapidly.... ps the Nissan Leaf can put out 300hp....
@@kylereese4822 then you're still having to buy a whole car to salvage for parts and it's a lot of headache versus a kit where it's all ready out of the box.
@@cpufreak101 leaf motors are about a grand, ionic battery modules 8-10kw 500ish open inverter forum gets you the brains wiring then a donor car with rot included you could get it running for under 20 grand and say 6 months work....
@@kylereese4822 again, a lot more complication than "ready to go out of the box". sure, you can almost always do something cheaper, but just because you're willing to do it that way doesn't mean everyone else is. there's a reason turn key crate engines get offered alongside bare blocks needing full assembly.
After viewing the Weber Auto channel's tear-down and reassembly of a Bolt battery I'm seriously considering using the Bolt battery. I really want to use a Model 3 battery but it's 7" to long. I'd have to split the Bolt pack into 4 pieces. The Bolt's cooling plates can easily be replicated using machining and welding. Why an entity like GM couldn't do the same is beyond me. That vehicle has plenty of ground clearance to put the entire battery under the car.
Seems like a great idea. MVP - minimum viable product. Do as little work as possible to modify a product and put it out there just to see if there is any interest. If not, than not much money or time was lost, and if there is than the product can be refined quickly into a better second version which would be even more popular. Playing the long game. Sounds like a good idea to me.
That is a great point. All they are doing is offering for sale something they are already making, without the added (very high) cost of developing and crash testing any new bodies.
It's a great move, good eye!
I think they put the battery "on display" to show off, not for practical reasons.
Exactly. Why hide what you're trying to sell?
*punctuation
Where else would they put it? It takes up the entire bed as it is.
Actually when GM announced that they were dropping all of their PHEV/EREV models in favor of all electric vehicles, I figured that they would have used the Bolt drivetrain across maybe a dozen models, just as they had adopted the EcoTech turbo 4 cylinder engines to many models. The Bolt motor and battery pack provides brisk acceleration and decent EV range, and it wouldn't be too much to split up the existing case to separate the battery into smaller sections and still connect the power/control cabling and cooling lines. These simple E-crate concepts should have been shown and made available to buy in 2016. But it never happened, and GM has been soldiering along since then with just the Bolt to represent ALL of their EV products, at least until next year. It is nice to have everything new and ready to adapt to your classic car, but $30K is really steep, even compared to high end V8 crate motors! This is compounded by the fact that you can buy a used (but not damaged) Bolt for $14K, and disassembly and adaptation doesn't justify double the price considering that you are still going through the process of adapting this EV drivetrain to your restomod, classic vehicle. While I agree that this "showcase" vehicle represents the least effort possible, and we could have seen a modding garage do this job in a busy weekend including the Bolt teardown. But to GM's credit, no other major automaker has gone this far, or offers a crate motor and all of the necessary bits to make EV conversion processes happen. So it's both monumental, and half-baked at the same time.
10:00
You may be underselling just how incredible ultium would be for conversions, with most of the wiring becoming wireless, and the coolant loops being internal, all that goes to each module is HV lines and coolant lines, so battery placement and wire routing becomes far, far, FAR easier
@Steven Gulie
But ultium is the individual modules that are like thick model S modules, you can place them all over
Yes, a bit of positivity for GM.
@@cbromley562 exactly, i appreciate any effort towards electrification, however, as the host said, it's practicality at this point is limited.
@@teklife I agree, but I’ll take anything at the moment, so that I can say something positive about GM for once.;)
@@cbromley562 yea sure i meant it more as a compliment to GM. anyone else selling an entire EV power/drivetrain?
I think you slightly misunderstood Chevrolet's intent when they mounted the batterypack in the back of the Blazer.
Every customer who would even be remotely interested in performing such a conversion will not mind installing a new loadfloor on top of the battery. That's the beauty of converting a body-on-frame car: just weld a couple metal standoffs through the cabin onto the chassis rails and bolt a metal plate on top et voilà: a functional load floor.
It would only take a couple hours to cover that battery and convert the back of the Blazer into a usable area.. it's a crate setup, not a conversion kit, there's a difference between the two. GM has been selling crate engines for decades, and the customer base does not expect simple drop-in solutions anyways. This is an electric version of that, and not the kind of customer friendly EV conversion kit europeans have come to expect.
I'm into it. Can't wait to see the projects that this enables.
Converted my S10 pickup to electric nearly 10 years ago, still driving it today. Top speed of 100mph and over 100 miles per charge. Most of the batteries are under the bed so I can still use it like a truck and haul things. GM is way behind the curve but it's nice to have more OEM parts available for conversions.
That's interesting. I'd like to convert my front drive Dodge Rampage to electric with the batteries under the bed and retain front wheel drive.
And aside from the aesthetics, you also lose that low center of gravity that gives EVs their famously great handling and stable road feel.
True
🔥
That $50 patreon supporter "Tesla In The Gong"..
As a Wollongong resident, that is so cool to just hear a random reference to our city. Even if its just someones username.
I get why you're hung up on the battery, but frankly, I think it's fine as a "show car." The time and engineering required to fit the battery case differently would be onerous, so it's best to get these concept models out first. To me, the biggest compromise is the original powertrain and driveshaft components, all of which take up space that might otherwise be available in a ground-up conversion.
Another way to look at it is, while you'd expect a better execution from an established automaker (especially if this is a kit you're actually ordering), show me a DIYer who has done a better, safer, more aesthetic job. Even in its raw form, it exceeds what the typical shadetree EV converter would be able to accomplish.
This is the first attempt. I love that this is happening and definitely a project I’d take on in a couple years
I've wondered for a while now, why VW who has literally 1,000's of cars currently mothballed the following Dieselgate's legally mandated buyback programme, doesn't convert as many as possible to EV's ready for resale? Surely there's enough of any one model to be able to develop a standard plug and play slot in jobby; if they've got say, 10 models that would equate to 10 different suitable plug and play conversion kits.
Ma'am Nikki your points are very valid; still, I believe this is a large step forward helping me in my quest of transforming my Jag x-type into electric... I have been already eyeing damaged Opel Ampera-e (=Chevy Bolts) and measuring and figuring out how would I get at least the first 3 Bolt ginormous modules to lie flat inside the Jag's trunk (getting there, but barely). Well, this crate solution is great news for me, I believe they will rather soon include a more user-friendly battery form... Eppur si muove, one step at a time! Cheers!
Maybe the intent was to leave batteries open for show but knowing users will come up with creative enclosure ideas.
This is what I'm thinking, they are just displaying how simple it is for the battery to be attached the car, just a few cables and a coolant line. The ultium battery modules should make it pretty easy to reconfigure for a future underbody solution that will fit between the frame rails and where the gas tank used to be. It's a shame such a negative video was made on a vehicle which was plainly a show piece of how easy it is to electrify an older vehicle with a battery on display. If the components had Tesla written on them it would have been a very different video.
@@anydaynow01 Nikki isn't a Tesla fan girl. She would have said the same thing about this set up no matter what name was on it. In fact, ironically, this system is straight out of the Bolt EV, and Nikki is a fan of the Bolt. She owns two of them.
Pronounced Tezzla
This doesnt use Ultium batteries tho. GM *may* offer that in the future, but this is just one big slab of battery box that cant really go anywhere except the bed of a truck.
@Kev R, "Maybe the intent was to leave batteries open for show..."
Just what I thought
Calling this half-baked is being too kind. I really want to like this, GM could and should come up with new battery shapes if they want this to work.
But too cruel for me because it is the best idea ever.
It would have been nice if the batteries could use the space of engine (using the standard engine mounts) and the electric motor the space of gearbox.
@@buddy1155 there is also the space underneath where the full exhaust, heat shields, and fuel tank was.
@@RichardJoashTan it wasn't Chevy's idea though as Jaguar unveiled a similar project system years ago. I believe early Land Rovers may be the perfect candidates.
@@fabulousoffroaddesigns5080 I know but those areas are very unique for ever model car. The space where engine/gearbox was is very similar between all different rear wheel drive cars.
But I do agree there are better places, for weight distribution and lower centre of gravity.
I think the battery pack is installed inside just to show it.
I believe the announced price of the conversion kit is $30,000 U.S.d.
I heard the same price, that is without batterys and the controls,that will cost another $15,000.-$25,000.
WAY TOO MUCH HOLY FKKKKKLK......I was considering it to be close to a gas engine price...uep at that price its a complete NO from me.
A whole Chevy Volt starts at $33k brand new. Who the hell would pay the same price for only a few parts from the whole??? Just buy a Volt and pull it apart! Better yet, buy a used Volt for way less and tear that apart, and then you can sell the parts you don't need to recoup the cost. Especially if the battery pack is just a huge, nearly impossible to place stock one.
Step in the right direction, maybe parts will be available for individual order. I'd gladly sign a waiver to get the motor, controller as a kit and figure out the rest myself. There is so much room where the fuel tanks and engine lived this would be easy, if your handy with a welder and electric/tubing skill. Someday my Capri will be electric...
So looking at it, if they split the case in half, then it could run and hook up under my 03 Suburban. As far as putting it under my hood where the V8 was, I'd like to bolt up a second Bolt Motor to double the HP
Love the shirt! Looking forward to seeing these kits become more mainstream.
This seems to be the product of a mindset that SEMA would be virtual if not cancelled entirely this year so let's not spend too much and also let's make sure we can deconvert the Blazer back to stock and sell the EV kit to a customer after.
I would still be interested. Agreed, GM is behind the curve with the lack of modular batteries but I would still love to convert an ‘03 Silverado I know of and still use all GM parts. For now it looks like A used Chevy Volt motor with maybe Chrysler Pacifica batteries may have to do. At least it isn’t another blasted Tesla swap!
Yeah... That feels like a prototype solution, to make it super obvious what the battery is like for showing off at SEMA - not what a consumer would actually want or be able to use. But for a 40s truck instead of a 70s SUV, it would be great!
That battery implementation is so crass. Smaller sub-modules that could be interconnected for cooling with per module BMS and an HV termination kit would have been so much better.
Considering all of the vehicles that I see on the road already that are souped up well beyond any semblance of their original design functionality, the addition of an electric drive train option like this seems to offer a truly beneficial mod to the list of more nonsensical mods currently seen deployed. Maintaining original design capabilities just doesn’t seem very high on the list of priorities for these mod’rs. And if these prove sufficiently popular, the manufacturers will get the stimulus they need to make the kits better and thus even more widely appealing. I’m pretty big on design functionality myself, so these sure don’t do it for me, but I applaud the offering to those of a different mind set. If this is another way to get more folks to go electric and get more IC engines off the road then the news is good.
20k and it's sold. Add to a minivan and you have something that is not available.
Far as I'm aware the only minivan this kit would work in though is the Chevy Astro. The V6 was basically a 350 v8 with two cylinders cut off. No other van I'm aware of used SBC architecture.
@@cpufreak101 So much the better. I would cut the floor and put in a battery box.
$20k is the price break between a Bolt and a Sonic, and these are essentially the bulk of the parts that make up that cost difference in the two vehicles. So it will likely be $20k minimum. Although there are a bunch of additional things here for the conversion.
I'm thinking that the reason they did what they did with the battery pack was to show off the full extent of the kit. But... yeah, a better laid out design would have been much more desired.
The more important concern I'd see for the average gearhead (or petrol-head, as you may prefer) is cost. Someone who's willing to do this in their own backyard shop is going to want it affordable. 15 to 20K, though? That's poseur money, and that sort of person would be farming the project out to somewhere like EVWest to do it, which means full-custom anyway.
I'd gladly pay that money to see my utterly beautiful but mechanically utterly unreliable Jaguar eating the roads for many decades to come... :)
I agree they were showing it off.
Don't forget though, an entire turn-key engine kit including engine, ECU, sometimes trans, etc. They can be anywhere from $5-10K as-is. Usually if you're doing such swaps you have money to burn to begin with.
First off, there IS nowhere else to put it. It's the entire giant battery box. You cant put this conversion into anything that isn't a truck or SUV. And doing so kills the ability to USE the vehicle as a truck or SUV. So its not even REALLY a fully flexible CRATE system. Price wise... The price break between a Bolt and Sonic is $20k and you are looking at the bulk of the components that make up that difference... Plus additional components for conversion. If they offered multiple battery boxes with more coolant loops the price would jump even more.
My 1965 Chevy G10 Van has been swapped with a Mercruiser 383 small block. Entire vehicle weighs 2230 lbs. Engine produces 424 HP on the dyno. Not dropping to 200 HP anytime soon. But looking forward to when I lift this tech from the wrecking yard for a dune buggy chassis I've got laying around. enjoyed your video and I subbed and hit the notifications button.
Love the Dune Buggy idea! Bot Rod
Hi, glad you showed me the back, I couldn't see that when I first saw that K5 and now I know why, thanks.
My dream is to convert a 1960 Cadillac.... being one of the Biggest and Longest cars GM made it should be a bit easier.
I totally understand your point but, at least there making it available to us weekend enthusiasts. I’m sure there will be better versions in the future with better battery development. 🌈🌈
Prime candidates for conversion: a larger lower vehicle, space for the battery and lower center of gravity, preferably something with a high maintenance motor & a cool body that makes the project worth it.
GM needs a conversion shop, sell heaters, motor drive & mounting for accessories: ps, pb, ac...
Playstation Wagon
Same as you said, Motor-on-axle front and rear, and split the batteries into 'coffin boxes' running besid and inbetween the chassis rails which could keep a parallel cooling system.
If someone could do a bolt-in kit for the VW MQB platform at a decent price , they'd have a sales winner on theirs hands! VW, Audi, Seat, Skodas of numerous flavours within each brand could be satified buy the one bolt in kit. especially for people like me with a TDi that love the car but not the motive power source
I could see a modular system where part goes in place of the fuel tank and honestly simply making a system that bolts along the frame rails should be rather simple. The transmission should be ditched to save weight and space.
I personally feel that the fact that GM even offers a crate EV kit is awesome and this alone needs to be celebrated. No one else does and kudos for GM to start this. Great idea for pick ups to start with and as you said with the new battery tech on its way, the placing/concealing of battery packs in the future will be totally doable. Great first step GM, Thank you.
I agree, was the fuel tank area kept for the memory. The muffler areas, for the same reason? Put the motor in/on the pumpkins loose the drive lines. Remove the spare to a external gate mount.
GM is all over the place. Stupid idea for a diy kit. How can the people that thought about this say? Yes! Good job!
As we now know batteries last if you have thermal and good power management would it not make better sense for them to cast a V8 size metal block including motor, electronics and batteries to drop straight in an older car.
As Lucid's electronics arm Atieva proved proved with the Formula E battery pack that if you make the cells part of the structure you can save space, then building the batteries into a V8 sized pack will mean less batteries have to go elsewhere in the car.
By designing a motor to match the performance of the V8 you can optimise the economy of the system and it can bolt straight onto the old gearbox & chassis.
If you look at the space an old engine with all it's parts take up and turn that into a cube with the same mounting points, there's a lot of room to fit cells in if you make them structural and free them of their cell in a box in a frame in a chassis setup. Obviously weight distribution is an issue but done the Atevia and soon Tesla way you can have a lot more capacity for the same volume meaning less compromises trying to fit the extra cells needed elsewhere in the vehicle.
Now before anyone starts mansplaining to me that like this already exists can I point out that yes I know but they are still modular not an all in one block to be dropped in and certainly don't save space by making the battery part of the structure.
It's just an idea a bit of online fun and certainly nothing I will be involved in as I don't even drive. :)
I'm glad to see GM moving forward to making this a reality. Hopefully with the right price enthusiastic participation will make smarter solutions than this entry level proof of concept. I hope to use this in my 2006 Ford Expedition the way that the host had suggested. Come on GM. Don't drop the ball!
I saw this too. I cant believe they couldn't reconfigure the battery to fit between the frame rails.
A better solution for older cars would be an elecrified live axle. GM has the motors to do this. Back in the early 2000s I went to a plant in Mexico making motors for that twin mode hybrid Tahoe. The vehicle was an overpriced flop, but the motors were really cool. There were 2 inside the transmission. I think each one made around 100hp. They were flat style motors about 4 inches thick and 10 inches in diameter. I imagined putting 2 of these back to back inside the pumpkin housing of a live axle gear reduction. Each one could drive a wheel. The pumpkin may have to be stretched a little to fit them, but not much, and there would be plenty of room for that in a lifted truck like a K5. If the motors arent torquey enough for direct drive you could put a planetary pack between the motors and the axle shafts to the wheels.
This would be a much better solution for hot rodders. It eliminates the motor up front, the transmission, the transfer case on 4wds and all the drive shafts. This would leave a lot more room for battery placement and even a frunk if you want. My personal preference would be to just leave a big gaping hole where the engine was or put a little hamster in a wheel in there for that post race reveal.
A false floor above this battery pack is the thing to do. But most cars will not be able to take this of course. But I guess its good that GM are going this way. The more providers of such conversion gear the better. Actually, despite all the Teslas being so good, the most desirable EVs for me have been conversions. Johnny Smith's recent drive in the converted Land Rover comes to mind. Personally, I would love to convert a Jaguar XJS And those big old Mercs of the 70 - a mighty candidate for conversion..
GM literally said the only reason they put the battery pack in the back of the Blazer as well as the orange e10 that they built last year was to be able to put it on showcase so that people can see it. They also said that they know that that's not how it's going to be done in most cases with other people putting the system into their personal vehicles. It's not GM trying to not spend money, they spent $75,000 on the orange e10 not including the electric drivetrain that was just the body restoration. And as far as I know they spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 45,000 restoring the body on the K5 Blazer. They only built those trucks the way they did in order to showcase all of the components of the vehicle.
Nikki, I'm not surprised by this disfavor/disdain for such a offering... I recall how a few years ago, GM showcased a modern, 300-hp turbo-charged 4-cyl in a track-prepped custom version of their only 1960s model--that was popular with both consumers & racing enthusiasts--offered with both a V-8 AND a I-4: The 1st-gen Nova. It's reception was good with very few, as "tuner-car" engine seemed out-of-place to the youth-oriented Tuner crowd, and the traditionalists of the hot-rodding community saw it as "Blasphemy! }:("
No... such an idea as electric conversion seemingly won't take a hold in the mainstream... at least as long as ethanol production holds out. :\
Memories of the 4.5 diesel.
They just wanted to show the battery pack off. I'm sure that with a little bit more work it could be mounted between the frame rails underneath the floor of the Blazer where the fuel tank used to go.
This is what I am thinking. Been watching closely for the release of the eCrate to convert a 66 C-20 my uncle has (good body, trash engine) to use on our farm, but we need that full bed. There has to be a way to mount it differently.
It seems odd to offer the Bolt-based system now, rather than just waiting for the Ultium system. I doubt there will be many of these sold on the Bolt version.
The fact that it's the battery pack from a '17-20 model suggests that this is just a project to move surplus stock from their warehouse.
The Chevy Blazer has a solid front and rear axle on leaf spring suspension. If you were to put a duel electric motor system in the front and rear you would have to convert the suspension to 4 wheel independent and ditch the axles for a system with CV shafts. The other way you could put a duel motor conversion is find a way to bolt the motors directly to the front and rear differential. No need for a drive shaft. No more universal joints.
I would love to be able to affordably convert my 2007 4 door Jeep Wrangler converted to electric
I still want to see Ford build a conversion kit for the Panther Platform cars.
You should call Ford and suggest this.
@@211steelman Look up the Ford Eluminator. They did!
That K5 blazer conversion is exactly the type of conversion I want to do. I have a 94 Jeep Cherokee in my driveway I’m dying to convert
I cannot see any reason why the battery pack would not fit underneath the floor in either of the vehicles featured, once the standard gear is removed, there is ample room beneath the floor in both vehicles. A Chevrolet full size van would also be a viable option for displaying the technology, with more than enough room beneath the floor once the standard gear is removed, in addition to that, all wheel drive would improve the utility over the standard Chevrolet Van.
Thank you for posting this video! Please have an excellent and awesome day! 🙂
Glad I found this channel! Your videos are so good!
Okay, this in this instance the battery pack is up front and in your face. But, you have to understand, this is a SEMA show car to showcase that you can put this e-crate system in anything. In this case it was designed to show off the battery and motor. I'm positive GM has systems that will disappear into any car...not a SEMA show vehicle that is designed to SHOW THE MOTOR and BATTERY PACK.
Nikki, as a Canadian, I love the shirt... sorry.
I hope the battery pack was like that just for the prototype. Everybody else would benefit from a more distributed battery that could be placed wherever there is space on a particular vehicle.
I think you are missing your own point when you criticize the “as a complete unit” that is ugly. Building a floor to go overtop the battery/electronics/cooling system is dead easy compared to what it would take to “reinvent” tucking everything away in a new configuration in my project car. If I knew how to do all that I would do it now. I can’t. That is the whole point of this idea as you explain it.
In addition to the issues you've pointed out, the aesthetic of a hot rod or classic car is tied to the powerplant -- the sound and feel of a particular ICE motor. It's not just the styling. My old '55 Chevy with electric drive would not hold a candle to the cammy 327 and whining Muncie M22 rock-crusher gearbox it had. A '32 Ford deuce coupe with electric drive would be blah compared with a hot-rodded flathead V8. The sound and feel is an important part of the aesthetic. Likewise, a generic drop-in powerplant can ruin the aesthetic, such as a Duesenberg with a Chevy crate motor instead of the big straight eight. EVs have an aesthetic of their own having to do with state-of-the art technology, power, and efficiency. The two worlds don't coexist well.
Take the General Lee for example. Without the V8 rumble something is missing.
I agree that it does take away from beauty of the vehicle but on the practical, it is best this. Think of it as a demonstration of future battery technology improvement. As battery density in it's capacity increases the size of it will decrease. Let's say that GM did to show off the incremental improvement of its Ultimum Battery this would be the best way to show it. More and more mainstream auto makes will start to see the benefit of showcasing their advancement in battery technology which will show a shift in their way of diversity of making a profit.
This could be solve for electric pickups and delivery vehicles..
Those old trucks have space for the battery packs where they had the fuel tanks. Anywhere from 16 to 40 gallons. That is a lot of space for those cells to sit
I think that EV conversions are also a good way to recycle car frames and bodies.
No big deal for most people. A case will cover the battery. The question is the price.
Great concept, but what about using the space left over from the unneeded (huge) fuel tank area, along with some of the cargo area. And, given it’s a square body chevy, a better thought out battery kit could also be used on the pickups, too.
These are showcasing the battery powered conversion. In actual application im sure these could be placed under the pickup or blazer platform. Ultimum will offer battery location capability.
I've always wanted an electric Brat/Brumby. Things like this are the only way that's likely to be possible. Neat.
There will be a new generation of hot rodders who want electric.
I can we convert ev to 65 67 era cars
Car manufacturers are missing a huge opportunity of reformatting older body styles into electric. Honda should really be on this.
New Drinking Game!
Every time Nikki says
“Don’t get me wrong” ,
you take a shot!
Im a hot rod/classic car fan and it has me excited....but I want a kit made that is super simple and easy to mod/fix yourself (also with easily removable and swappable batteries)....still, I will never give up gas..but I wouldn't mind ALSO have a classic that is electric....as long as it still had a stick shift.....also, this kit has too low power, I will wait for a more powerful kit....either way its going to be WAY too expensive...I will wait a decade when these kits are affordable.
Im excited!!!!!!!!! I have a 1979 f150 that I bought for $350.00 I was about to buy a junkyard engine for it, but if this works I will wait.
They're showing off the conversion, not building a custom car (truck). I'm sure a kit will come with modular batteries : D
Totally agree two motors twice the power twice the fun hidden battery and usable as originally intended vehicle, may persuade people that need a "truck" to convert and restore rather than replace with another ice
I at one point owned a very unusual 1972 Blazer. The thing was a Frankenstein. Transmission was out of a early 1980s Firebird special edition pace car that they made one year and only made a handful of. It was a two wheel drive with a positraction rear end. Not completely sure what the hell the brake system was off of but it' have the ability to stop with half the braking distance of a 1972 Blazer which man if you weren't careful with the brakes you could either be kissing the steering wheel or other fun problem. The engine was out of a 1960 something GTO that one of my neighbours turned into a piece of Modern Art by crashing the vehicle was barely recognizable as a GTO and look more like a ball-shaped mass of metal. And here to the fact I'm a idiot it only had a two-barrel carburetor because the motor had been taken out of the GTO at some point and put in a half ton truck and they had changed the Dome and carburetor from the motor for the truck and put it on the GTO motor and I never bothered swapping it back. Bear in mind that had a fair bit left our paperwork wise with a two-barrel carburetor. The reason I say the vehicle was unusual is respite on paperwork how much horsepower it was supposed to have it has significantly more power which is why I can't explain. From a dead stop I accidentally lifted the front wheels up off the ground think about that for a minute? I driven similar GM vehicles in the past so I gave it the same amount of gas I would have given my 87 and it proceeded to start smoking the tires and just as quickly pop the front end up in the air on something that's essentially a cinder block with tires which preceded wefbee almost making a Code Brown in my pants. Most of the time I owned it I drove like a little old lady for that reason. Then came the answer that we're a little SOB with a Porsche 911 got the bright idea to nearly swept me off the road in the woods doing a series of illegal Road manoeuvres starting with coming up almost slamming into the back bumper passing me and almost hitting the side of the truck and then cutting back in front of me with barely a couple inches clearance to the point I had to slam the brakes to keep from hitting him as he got back in and e then proceeded to disappear increasing speed. I had the bright idea of getting his license plate number. So not thinking about it I hit the gas. Speedometer only went to about 50 miles per hour lol i basically broke the speedometer and faster than you can say Captain Kirk I was nearly kissing his back bumper with the front tires and this guy from what I could see in his rearview mirror was having a suddenly Very Bad Day when he realized what looks like a extra from Mad Max was now kissing his back bumper and he had that car bottoms out to the floor wikth no hope of going any faster lol.i got lucky there wasn't any bad turns or I probably would have went the thing in the woods. I caught up to him in a couple of seconds from him being a Matchstick in The View could probably imagine this guy surprised me being a little toothpick in his vision to end the snap of your fingers hugging his bumper driving what look like a mini monster truck from a Apocalypse movie. Really wish I had a picture of it but wasn't something I ever thought of at the time. Last thing I thought of was I wouldn't be able to get another one but i found out after only a couple years there pretty uncommon around here most of them were rotted out a lot worse than that one was.i spent a couple thousand putting it together which nobody believes these days I think all together I had about three grand and do it including all the brand new purse and everything that I bought. Still don't understand why it's rolled as fast as it did given it had an automatic not a standard you were constantly having to be careful of if you hit the gas pedal the wrong way at the wrong time it would start lifting the front end up. When I went after that guy I was already doing about 40 or 50 kilometres so it wasn't a dad take off I still remember the needle on the - going right around like a needle on a clock LOL.i Had a couple of - consoles in the burn so it was the hour or so to put another one in not the end of the world.i Set a couple years trying to get another one or a old gm van and gave up between Ross and what they want for them. I was looking at vans that were significantly more Rusty and they wanted four thousand and on top of all the work the vehicle would need. ive as of yet not come across another 1972 2 wheel drive everyone I've ever seen since then was a four-wheel drive and had a partial removable roof the one that I had the entire roof was fiberglass from above the windshield back.
seems to me it would be far easier to put a motor on each axle, remove the drive shafts and place the battery under the hood. The nature of v8 cars means there is plenty of space under there. lets hope ultium gets us there. As an American millennial, an electric converted classic American muscle car is my ultimate dream car. Just so long as it doesn't convert rear wheel drive cars to front wheel drive I'll be happy.
It's a shame they couldn't come out with specific kits taylored for the different body series. Say a kit for the X-body platform, Nova, Omega, Ventura, Apollo. The F-body platform, Camaro, Firebird. etc. etc. A battery pack large enough to give 250-300 miles, and capable of 10 or 11 second quarter mile times, LOL, hey one can dream can't they. To make it even better, pattern it after the Volt, have a small, all aluminum ICE generator with a ten gallon tank so there is no range anxiety. You could charge your battery pack at home, put it in Hold position, drive it to the track on the generator only, have fun clicking off some 10 or 11 second times, either charge it at the track or drive it home on the generator.
Why not make it in the form factor to the gas tanks that are no longer needed. Since a lot of trucks of this era had dual fuel tanks as an option, there should be space for two such tanks. This would make the cooling loop more complicated though.
Gotta start somewhere. You could easily put some wood & chrome trim on top of the battery. However, that giant battery pack will not fit in a sedan without some major metalwork.
Great conversion with another battery configuration that doesn’t make the vehicle useless
I have an 81 K5 that will get the conversion if it’s even marginally affordable. A simple platform can cover the battery pack for functionality.
I feel like this is possibly a little unfair. When I saw that battery placement, on a car with a HUGE amount of space underneath, my first thought was; this is a sema show car, they CHOSE to put it somewhere on show, to /show off/ the battery, this is an advert, they wanted their product visible
Plenty of room underneath to put the battery pack on the K5 Blazer. You could do a dual motor 4 wheel drive that was pretty cool.
She had an idea with a Motor On Axle arrangement, but like the Tamiya Clodbuster and Bullhead or Lunchbox and Midnight Pumpkin R/C monster trucks or the Berg MOA R/C rock crawler axles or the offshoots of both.
Cost?
That eBlazer looks like it was thrown together in a week just so they could show something to not be left out. I own a 2019 Bolt and enjoy it but for a 4x4 it should have a motor front and back with the battery pack in the middle, then to show it off cut the floor out and replace it with Plexiglass.
Why not just use a bed tool box for the batteries. It's something people expect to be in a truck and would be bolt in plug and play.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that *if* (and IMO it's a big "if") you run across someone that has the skills necessary to do a powertrain swap, *AND if* they wanted to turn their 25+ year old GM truck into electric (usually those types would prefer to go with a 454 big block) then they would almost certainly also be able to mount the battery pack somewhere else.
You make a great point though... it should be a transaxle package.
I love the idea of this! Really hoping to cost comes down so everyday car guys can afford it. But why doesn’t anyone ever discuss the environmental impact of using electricity? Building all the batteries? What are the hazards, of the chemicals used, to the environment? What is the real carbon footprint of going electric?
Have you followed the Zero EV car conversions over here Nikki? They've been using a modular system ie using Manufacturer battery modules rather than whole batteries albeit with open souce controllers and BMS.
GM seems to have missed this: A whole battery designed to fit one car will only fit another where it touches. A modular system would be much better and more usable but would require HV skills which I expect is what they're trying to avoid - not sure why though as there's plenty of aftermarket EV skills out there.
I have a '71 Blazer and a '68 Bronco - I don't want the battery behind the front seats as GM recently showcased in it's Gen II Blazer. so they're going to have to solve that before I convert.
Is this the new LS swap? Make it where multiple, smaller battery packs can be used, and I’m in!!!
The hope is that if they do something with an Ultium pack (GM's next big pack) that they could make some serious bank.
Yes, it's an LS swap with an EV motor - Although we'd like to see something even more powerful than the 200 horses of the Bolt Motor ;)
I'm going to throw this out here because I feel there was a missed angle. If this kit is going to be sold as it appears for a set price then this has one added benefit.
It sets the price of the bolt battery module in stone.
So unlike Nissan Leaf owners who have found themselves somewhat left out in the cold by Nissan when they want to buy a new battery getting prices all over the map Chevy Bolt owners should in theory be able to know what a new battery will cost them.
Heck even if the battery isn't sold separately for Bolt owners to DIY a swap they should in theory be able to buy this kit, swap their own battery, then sell the rest of the components to offset the cost.
Hopefully chevy also includes instructions on the structural mounts of the battery pack so people who are willing to put in the extra subframe work can figure out a method to mount this pack out of the way in the frame.
Crazy thought, this setup might make the s10 blazer safe(r) to drive by lowering the center of gravity...
At 200hp. I wouldn't, but I'm ready to convert once the units actually produce the hp needed to haul.
The blazer could get a shelf mod for the battery. Having it sit out in the open is off putting.
At this point I wouldn’t mind converting my 2003 Tahoe over to a dual motor setup with the battery between the frame rails
Its a great idea but suits only large vehicles currently. In 18 months the pack will be half the size and easier to integrate in more vehicles.
It’s a sales tool if you mount it properly between the frame rails no one can see it. Think about it’s use as a moving add for the kit not a practical application. This may be the first of many kits to come.
Great example of knowing how to bury the lede. When I clicked on this video I didn't agree with your point. I am excited to convert my car. However, I wouldn't be excited to find a place to put that massive battery either.
Like I say at work, I wouldn't do it like that!
Then at the end she says my idea.
The under side of a truck based vehicle is expensive without any fuel and drivetrain components.