Motor BayFront Battery Pack
OwnerJason Kelsch
LocationWoodinville, Washington United States map
WebWebPage
Vehicle1969 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
Conversion was started and finished in 2018.
We went with the kit offered by EVWest for our
conversion.

Kept the clutch although we eventually
upgraded to an aluminum flywheel and stage 2
pressure plate which got rid of most of our
vibration issues.
MotorHPEVS AC-50 3-Phase AC
Stock off the shelf motor from HPEVS designed
for light vehicles and mining applications
55kWh AC motor
~70 horsepower
120 ft/lbs torque @0rpms
6500rpm
DrivetrainStock 4 speed transaxle, suspension, and
steering.
ControllerCurtis 1238
Batteries10 Panasonic Tesla Model S, 22.80 Volt, Lithium-Ion
Modules in a 2p5s configuration for a 53KWh
pack

Half the batteries are mounted in the front,
Half behind the back seat.

Batteries and charging are monitored by the
Dilithium Designs BMS from Thunderstruck EV
System Voltage114 Volts
ChargerElcon PFC2500
March 2022: Installed a Thunderstruck TSM2500
charger in parallel for ~5kwh charging.

J1772 standard charge plug mounted in the fuel
filler door.

Good for home, ok for most public charging,
but I keep thinking of adding a second
parallel charger.

From empty to full:
@110V - 40hours
@220V - 10hours
Heater1500w CanEv resistive heater/fan.
DC/DC ConverterElcon 400W
InstrumentationDilithium Designs BMS + Curtis Spyglass
Top Speed85 MPH (136 KPH)
Not sure the top speed but have easily hit 85.
AccelerationMuch better than stock, it's not a sports car
but it feels sporty.
Staring in:
1st Gear - almost useless because you have to
shift out right away
2nd Gear - Fun quick take offs that go all the
way to 40 or 50 mph
3rd Gear - Starting in 3rd feels like starting
in first with the stock engine
4th Gear - just for highway, really sluggish
to start in 4th
Range200 Miles (321 Kilometers)
Longest trip so far has been just over 100 miles
with over 4000 feet of elevation gain at highway
speeds.
EV Miles
Start:54,750 Miles (88,092 Kilometers)
Current:73,457 Miles (118,192 Kilometers)
Total:18,707 Miles (30,099 Kilometers)
 
    As of 4/4/2023
Seating Capacity2, there is still a back seat but do those
really count in an old Ghia?
Curb Weight2,300 Pounds (1,045 Kilograms)
The car is somewhere between 300-400lbs over
stock. This is mostly because of the 500lbs of
batteries for this build.
TiresPainted Steelies with Coker Classic Whitewalls
Conversion Time~6 months
We dropped the original engine in March 2018,
got all the parts by the end of July and had it
running in December working just weekends and
the occasional evening.
Conversion Cost~$25,000 over half of that was batteries.
Additional FeaturesGigavac GV241QAX main contactor
2 Gigavac GV241MAC contactors for DC-DC converter and Heater
2 Gigavac HBD41 shutoff switches, one for each batter pack
300V 400A pack fuses
30A accessory fuses
Prius electronic throttle pedal

All lights converted to LED.
12v battery converted to 9Ah SLA.

Early Ghia shifter.
Custom made shift knob.
Dash welded in from a '71 donor car.
Upgraded to rear disc brakes.
Sewfine interior (coming Winter 2021)
Build site: WebPage
Instagram @ElectricSlice

code by jerry