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Comment by 40four | Hacker News Reader

Funny how many folks wondering where to put the batteries, trunk seems so obvious after you hear it :)

Most people's hardest task was mounting the motor to their transmission

Seems like this product is trying to solve that problem. Sounds like a big upgrade from what is currently available to people interested in these type of projects.

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except of course most trunks have load limits which batteries can quickly exceed.

I find it disappointing how quick they are to dismiss issues with ruptured batteries by falling back on "well gas explodes" not acknowledging the issue of environmental and personal danger batteries create that require special handling

sure you can cram batteries here and there but the reason for the skate board layout companies have adopted that is to have management of weight, ease of manufacturing, sufficient space for range needs, and more.

I was only dismissing the questions because the person asking the question was dismissing the entire concept of electric conversions, apparently unaware that they have been done successfully for many years. Besides, ruptured batteries aren't the biggest safety concern. Getting in an accident and having a giant battery fly into the back of your head is a much bigger concern. And most of the concerns are still going to come down to the same solution -- secure them well, maintain them well, and be aware of all the repercussions of their placement.

So "gas explodes" doesn't carry its own environmental issue and personal danger too ?

Gasoline has a whole host of issues, but as far as I know there have been zero recorded cases of a modern gasoline tank spontaneously exploding while the car is sitting undisturbed in a parking lot. The advantages gasoline has here is that it ultimately requires tons of oxygen with a consistent fuel-air mixture in order to combust reliably. Burning gasoline in the open is not nearly as energetic as the process which occurs in a gasoline engine under ideal operating conditions (which are controlled meticulously by a computer for most cars), so even in an accident which results in a fuel leak+fire, you usually have a bit of time to get away from the car before it turns into a complete inferno. Obviously, there are exceptions to this, but it seems to be in a majority of cases the driver/passengers can get out in time.

Battery packs do not have the same 'problem'. They have all aspects of their chemical energy available nearly immediately, and can go from zero to 'you are dead' in just a matter of seconds.

Yes, it sounds like a great upgrade. I may big deeper into this once it really is on the market, and do some more conversions if it comes through as described.

Depending on the car, that might not be a good idea as far as weight balance goes. I'm working on an RX-8 conversion, and the advice I got from a mechanic that works on Mazdas is not to put too much weight in the back, because it would make it much harder to recover from a skid.

That would make it easier to recover. More weight = more traction.

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