Nissan Frontier EV Conversion

[J1000]

What is the radiator cooling?

What a great thing to do with young people.

The radiator cools the motor stack which is made up of the motor, inverter, and charger. It really only gets warm when charging or when driving at low RPM.

Yes Dave the owner wants to use this car to get kids into STEM, he used to be a shop teacher.

that is so cool. So in reverse, you still get all the gears?

Yep! You can drive in 5th gear in reverse if you wanted to!

 

[J1000]

Whoa! The Nissan truck got featured on Hackaday!

From Nissan ICE Pickup To BEV With Nissan Leaf Heart

Last year [Jimmy] got a request from a customer ([Dave]) to help convert a 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup into an electric drive vehicle, with a crashed 2019 Nissan Leaf providing the battery and elec…

hackaday.com

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

Whoa! The Nissan truck got featured on Hackaday!

From Nissan ICE Pickup To BEV With Nissan Leaf Heart

Last year [Jimmy] got a request from a customer ([Dave]) to help convert a 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup into an electric drive vehicle, with a crashed 2019 Nissan Leaf providing the battery and elec…

hackaday.com

always someone....

 

[MonPetiteShoe]

I saw that same comment. The mental gymnastics on this one are hard to follow. He commented at 7:30 this morning. Maybe his coffee was still brewing.

So he paid to have it converted? Doesn't that mean that someone still had to convert it? EVSwap is literally listed in the article. Jimmy is literally mentioned in the article.
Despite people's best efforts, you don't just pay money, then BAM! New EV conversion.

"It's better to be quiet and thought stupid, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Go take a walk Piotr. I think that's enough internet for you today.

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

I saw that same comment. The mental gymnastics on this one are hard to follow. He commented at 7:30 this morning. Maybe his coffee was still brewing.

So he paid to have it converted? Doesn't that mean that someone still had to convert it? EVSwap is literally listed in the article. Jimmy is literally mentioned in the article.
Despite people's best efforts, you don't just pay money, then BAM! New EV conversion.

"It's better to be quiet and thought stupid, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
Go take a walk Piotr. I think that's enough internet for you today.

guess he's more of a DIY guy. "Built not Bought"?? who knows.

 

[rover67]

PS: I'm not the Marco in the comments lol. But this is awesome Jimmy! Congrats on the great publicity!

 

[J1000]

Haha thanks guys. Honestly, the amount of negative comments received are way less than I expect. It is Hackaday which is heavily DIY focused for sure, but it's not like I'm running a factory over here!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Haha thanks guys. Honestly, the amount of negative comments received are way less than I expect. It is Hackaday which is heavily DIY focused for sure, but it's not like I'm running a factory over here!

Exactly. They feature plenty of small commercial projects. That swap completely qualifies as a hack (in a good way).

 

[90WT]

@J1000 Instagram tells me there's a FJ40 conversion in the works. Super cool! Did you start a thread for that one yet?

 

[J1000]

@J1000 Instagram tells me there's a FJ40 conversion in the works. Super cool! Did you start a thread for that one yet?

Yep I have a '69 FJ40 I am converting with a Tesla Model 3 motor and all the fixins. Haven't started a thread but probably will when I'm a little further down the road. I got my body back from @rckhound straight and rust free so now it's time for the real work to get started.

 

[SteveH]

Jimmy - maybe you can work this one into your lineup? https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-mars-ii-electric/

 

[60wag]

That would be an awesome sleeper with a Tesla dual motor setup in it.

 

[J1000]

Jimmy - maybe you can work this one into your lineup? https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-mars-ii-electric/

That thing is pretty cool but I've got enough projects haha. This car represents a lot of partial EV conversions out there. It's got a DC brushed forklift motor and lead acid batteries. Probably cost a fortune even though it's 1970s technology. If I were going to finish the conversion I'd probably throw everything it came with away.

 

[J1000]

I installed a tachometer in the pickup and now we can see what RPM the motor is at in each gear. Turns out 1st gear is good for 65 MPH at 10,000 RPM! In 2nd it can cruise easily at 75 MPH at 6,500 RPM. Almost feels like we need shorter rear-end gearing to get the full potential out of it.

 

[J1000]

Come check out the Frontier and tons of other EVs this weekend at Electrify Expo! First year it is in Denver. At the Stockyards Event Center Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Electrify Expo Denver

The #1 EV show stops in Denver July 13-14. Drive & demo electric cars & trucks, e-bikes, scooters and boards. See customized and modified EVs in Showoff, our all-electric car show, and entertain the kids in three massive kids' zones.

www.electrifyexpo.com

 

[CORunner]

Ex-Myth Buster Adam Savage is looking to convert his 1982 BJ42 diesel into an EV. Talks about it around 2:06 in the video and an article below too.


View: https://youtu.be/PdLPr9ak_7Y?si=Ju_KxeKsQwEpx8BY&t=126


https://jalopnik.com/please-someone-pay-adam-savage-to-ev-convert-his-clas-1851595565

 

[J1000]

I'm honestly surprised he hasn't done that already. IIRC he has a GM V6 in his 40 and it was stolen a few years back. I made a comment on that video, thanks for posting it!

 

[J1000]

My friend Matt and I did a range test with the Frontier EV. We were able to do 114 miles and we calculated we probably could have done 129 total if we ran it all the way down to zero. Speeds were mostly 55-65 but we did get up to 75 MPH in a few places. Overall a good usable range test. Likely, Dave doesn't have as heavy of a foot as I do so I can confidently tell him it'll do 120 miles.

 

[IoN6]

Does the RPM matter, or just the load?

 

[J1000]

Does the RPM matter, or just the load?

Mostly just load, however it's best to keep it above 3000rpm or so. Attached is a plot of the motor efficiency vs. load and RPM done by Oak Ridge National Laboratory on the LEAF motor. The motor and inverter combo is up to 96% efficient in the meat of the powerband but is less efficient at the edges.

I'm now thinking maybe I need to re-run the loop in 2nd gear which would keep it more in the efficiency zone than 3rd.