Thanks J.A. If no one played with things no one on this board would know half of what they know about tweaks for their brick. If you (or anyone for that matter) looks on google there's certainly been a number of less "suitable" vehicles done. Sure some are obviously better choices strictly from an engineering point of view; but from a life point of view a vehicle has to be practical to. I'm doing this strictly for the fun and experience. Life costs money. Entertainment costs money. Some of us entertain ourselves in different ways than others. As far as weight goes a brick isn't to terribly far off from what other cars weigh, also seems to have fairly reasonable coasting distance. A 3-Phase motor would be my choice. Instant torque from 0-full RPM and also has torque available when on the freeway or at speed. That's where a DC motor loses out. DC is much cheaper initially but as far as efficiency and a full torque range 3-Phase is where it's at. I haven't had time to study the underbelly or other structural workings in my brick. School just started and with 15 credit hours on top of everything else I just haven't had the time. (My love for the diesel engine has grown more though; too bad Volvo doesn't market diesels in North America, seems like the Europeans get all the good stuff.) ANyway back from my tangent, it seems to me (structural integrity and crumple zone areas permitting) that once the tank is out the under cargo area (junk drawer/third seat area) could be cut out and a recessed battery bank could go there preferably on the front side of the rear axle. Like I said I haven't had time to study the layout too much so I'm just going with what immediately looks plausible. Battery weight is a concern but Lithium looks promising. More specifically Lithium Iron Phosphate. The Voltage per cell isn't as high as a traditional Lithium cell but it is much safer and easier to deal with by comparison if handled wrong and weighs a fraction of a lead slosher. I do realize the costs, but if your not going to do something the way you want it the first time why bother? There's a few cool conversions I've ran across. One was on a late model BMW 3 series found here and the other on an Audi wagon found here

Back to the books-

Nick
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Current Cars- 1993 245 178K; 1990 780 250K Saab APC; 1973 450SLC 40K, Converted D-Jet to Megasquirt - - Past Cars: 2004 S60 RIP; 1987 780 280K

I'll concur here. It seems like an awful lot of work to put up the hours and hours it will take to do a conversion. In the end, what will you have? A slow vehicle with limited range, that takes more room to stop, that needs to be recharged periodically, and produces a large amount of hazmat at new battery time? I wonder if Advanced Adapters makes a plate to go from a B230 to a Mazda5 automatic..mmm..