Just The The Victim (a.k.a. The Donor Vehicle) Part 2

...Saturn Vue 2002. The Saturn Vue is a lightweight (relatively speaking) SUV.

One "rule" for EV conversions is that the lighter the car the less lead/battery weight you will need. So many conversion are light cars or light pickup trucks that have a large carrying capacity relative to their weight.

For example a 2500 lb car that can carry 1000 lbs of batteries will probably go farther and perform better than a 3500 pound car carrying the same amount, all things otherwise being equal. Some cars and trucks popular for conversions include Chevy S10, Volkswagon Rabbit, Honda Civic, and Porsche 914. If fact you can buy kits with all the parts for converting some of these vehicles.

One point I mentioned earlier is that "likeability" is an important part of picking an EV. Not that any of these cars are bad cars, I just did not want to drive any of them regularly.

Another general rule of thumb is that the vehicle should be able to carry at least one third of it's total weight in batteries. The Vue has a curb weight of 3172 lbs and a max weight (GVWR) of 4538. For comparison the Chevy S10 has a curb weight of ~3000 lbs and a GVWR of ~4200 lbs.

Based on other conversions removing the the ICE components will reduce the weight about 25% (~750lbs):

3172 -750 = 2422
4538 - 2422 = 2116

So 2116 lbs is what I can add back to the car in weight. This includes batteries, motor, other components and of course me! Now 2116 lbs might seem like a lot to work with. But the batteries I am using weigh about 62lbs each. Multiply that by 24 and you get almost 1500lbs for batteries alone. That only leaves a little over 600 lbs.

Another reason I chose the Saturn Vue is that is has electric power steering. As I get more into the nuts and bolts of converting to an electric vehicle I'll go into more detail. Let's just say that by having electric power steering I don't have to deal with finding a way to run the power steering pump used on almost all other cars.

The Vue is a 2002 and has the usual safety features (airbags, disc brakes, ABS). It is also a manual transmission. This is important. Almost all EV conversions are done on manual transmissions (more on that another time).