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Comment by jdboyd | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what that £20k would turn in to if you could commit to your suppliers that you would be buying a thousand units worth? What about only 100 units worth?

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I would guess that it's mostly labour. Unless you could get a fleet of identical cars or vans, then every vehicle is going to be a bespoke job, slowing things down.

My 'plan' was thought of because the Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar are all the same van, and the labour wouldn't be much - getting the engine and gearbox out can be done in a couple of hours when you're using a ramp, and if the conversion kit was intelligently made to pick up on the same mounting points as the standard engine/transmission then it would fit back in really quickly.

The same powertrain is also used in their larger models - Master/Movano (can't think of the Nissan one), so that would also be another market. The labour would be minimal compared to the cost of the batteries.

It's front wheel drive. Assuming new drive units come complete with everything but wheels, the change would take about an hour or two.

EDIT: esp since you can just use an angle grinder on the old pack

Trafic/Vivaro are the same car, jointly produced by Open/Vauxhall & Renault so economies of scale could be found.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Trafic_III_-_Fiat_Tale...

TBH I never found out - even doing a one-off is beyond me financially, so it's not something I bothered pursuing. I'd imagine you could get a good cost reduction on the parts if you were committed to volume, but no matter what the batteries to give it a worthwhile range would be the lion's share of the cost. My van has a 700+ mile range on diesel (it gives me about 40mpg on a run), and while you wouldn't get that, I think lots would want 300 mile range before they'd consider it as most workmen do a fair mileage.

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