EV CONVERSION OF THE 190SL: REAL PROGRESS

The past few weeks we have taken our focus from computer screens, research and development to the actual garage. It is about time to get our hands dirty and fit the whole electric drive train into the machine. As we wrote some time ago, we started out by fitting the flywheel on the new electric motor. Next step was to fit th whole under the bonnet of the 190, along with the original gearbox. Due to some over-engineering by the lads at Mercedes, we encountered some hurdles along the road. But as you can see in the above picture: we’ve all tackled them. We’ve used the original engine mounts and have developed a adjustable test set-up to allow us to determine the exact position of the engine and the transmission. The prop shaft has been connected to the differential, so we’re ready for our next steps now: connecting all the dots, literally. In the next weeks we will take care of the High-Voltage cabling and the CANBUS connections between battery, battery management system and EV-motor.

Meanwhile, we have determined where the battery boxes will be integrated and we’ve designed the casings. Three of the battery packs will be fitted under the bonnet, two other packs will take the place of the fuel tank and the last one will be positioned centrally (just behind the driver and the passenger seat).

Once this has been done, it will be time to put everything to the test. We will keep you updated …