Thanks for watching. It’s been a while since I did my build, but from memory I talked to my insurance company and made sure they knew I what I was doing - I think they gave me a special insurance for a few days. Then you’re good to drive to the test centre. As long as you have a test booked and you’re on the way there (or back home again), then everything is legal. Hope that helped.

Thanks for the comments. I may have to design my own off-board high speed charger, but that’s an interesting project on its own. As for the charging socket placement, absolutely agree. And in fact the position I show it in those animations fouls with the rear wing, so wouldn’t work there anyway. I’ve been waiting to see where the main components site before committing to the charge socket location, it’ll be one of the last things to be placed and in many ways will just have to be where it can fit - though take your point about Tesla charging location. Thanks for watching.

I hope so. Though my only Baldrick story is of him (Tony Robinson) and me being in a near miss as he was driving a Fiesta XR2 a bit too quickly in Bristol about 35 years ago. He was coming up a steep hill in Clifton and I was reversing around a corner… it was one of those moments where we both looked at each other with a “that was close” look on our faces as the two cars passed! 😂 Thanks for watching!

Agree with all of that. But I’ve found that the smaller your vehicle the more custom you have to get. It’s also becoming a major headache dealing with suppliers who only want to work with multi-car builders. Thanks for watching and commenting.

Glad you enjoyed it. There certainly will be some CANbus stuff coming in a few videos time.

HI, thats a very good question. To answer the last part first, I’ve had no problems with the Duratec, and I’ve not heard any problems from other owners. Caterham even makes a supercharged version that is another level again from mine. They do also still sell a 2.5L Duratec in the European market that I’ve heard is very impressive. Then Caterham now sell a 600cc Suzuki engined version of the car that many owners love for its light weight and therefore great handling - nowhere neat as performant, but a lot of people really like it as a fun car on the road and track. The k-series engines are often loved by Seven owners as a free revving and lighter version, but of course they are now older cars only, and not available as a new purchase - but I know owners who would absolutely not “trade up” to a Duratec because the love the character of the k-series so much. Personally, I’m a bit fan of the 2.0L Duratec due to its lazy town and country driving but can be a beast on track too. I have no experience of rotary based Seven’s so can’t give any opinion there. Perhaps one of the downsides of the Duratec’s is that they get very hot, and there’s a lot for heat soak into the passenger compartment - which can be a pain on hot summer’s days, touring, or on track, where you can’t get away from the heat (makes for toasty knees). The Duratec’s are also a bit heavy, so handling isn’t perhaps the same, they can push on a bit in corners and not as nimble as a k-series or Sigma car. I love my 2.0L Duratec, it’s just right for me. But you’ll hear many other Caterham owners say the same about their completely different cars too. You pays you money and takes your choice. Hope that helped, maybe not. It’s a complicated subject with not one right answer.

@@Purplemeanie Great feedback. Appreciated.

That’s a good point. But when I tried to sell the engine it wasn’t actually very salable. So maybe they didn’t want it. And anyway, I needed to get the car registered before a conversion and that meant it proabably needed an engine at that point too! 🤷‍♂️🤔😀

Thanks for your support. My aim is to do this sort of stuff at high school level physics. Hopefully that’s as inclusive as it makes sense to be. 🙏👍🏻

Well, thanks for the comment. I do try my best and I’m still trying to figure out what works. How do you think it could be better?

@@Purplemeanie sure... you're talking about technical stuff, and the audience will likely be watching because they have an interest and modest comprehension, you talk in waaay too much detail and simplistically... Your nuanced scripting quirks may seem cute when you're writing it down on your own but they're just cheesy in the manner that you deliver them ! Either find some charisma or leave the literary efforts alone ! .. You're so awkward on camera; Monotonal stiff, uncomfortable eye contact with the camera ! It does not work ... lastly ... the project itself is no where near as grandiose as you try to present it as being ! Enjoy, succeed ✨️ .. but I can't watch you sorry ! 😐

It's much better to offer small suggestions as to how to improve rather than just being a Richard about it. Personally, I think he's doing a fine job. 👍

@christopherroberts22 Thanks for the reply. I guess I can't please everyone. I think you're expecting a lot from someone who has only put a handful of videos together - and its a good job you didn't see the many takes that I scrapped because I wasn't happy with them either 🤣

@owensparks5013. Thanks for your support. You can't please everyone. But seeing as the response to my videos is generally positive, I'll take that as a sign that I should keep going for the time being. 👍🏻

Thanks for Watching. And as Colin would remind me… I need to “just add lightness”. Easier said than done on an EV! 😂

Thanks for the comment. Totally agree with all of that. I have some aero drag and power calculation spreadsheets that I might talk about in a later video. And the telemetry system I’m going to be running will be able to capture enough data to then correlate against theory. Hopefully people will be interested to watch a shortish video about all of that. Thanks for taking the time to comment. J

@@Purplemeanie SuperFastMatt has managed to be very entertaining while talking about such topics in videos, would definitely take a look at those for inspiration. :) How large will the battery be? Will you be repurposing automotive battery modules or making your own using individual cells? Will be watching as this progresses, wish you the best of luck!

Yes, I’m a big fan of SuperfastMatt. I look forward to any of his videos and have been following him for a couple of years. I’ve certainly taken inspiration from Matt but I think it’s important to also plough your own furrow. It takes a lot of effort to try and be interesting but also not drone on about stuff. Matt also has the advantage of lots of different projects he’s working on. Matt manages to be both deadpan, funny and interesting…. That’s a tough act to follow. All I can do is try my best 🤷‍♂️

Another pick up here.. just realized I hadn’t answered all you questions. Size of battery: I’m probably going for a smaller battery to start with that will be easier to get inspected and therefore road legal. And yes almost certainly going with re-purposed road batteries here… VW ID3/4/5 batteries are currently what I’m going with for the moment. Though I am also talking to a battery company that are taking a radical new approach to battery design and they may make the final build if we can work something out - can’t say much about this as its confidential at the moment.

@@Purplemeanie 214 Wh/kg and 469 Wh/l at module level, that's fairly good. Also very interesting stuff, will be looking forward to hearing as this progresses!

Ooo! I would be very interested in seeing a picture of that. Thanks!

@@Purplemeanie I send you some info on the contact form of your website. Let me know if it reaches you.

Thanks for the sub. I’ve been back to the garage a few times since. There’s no need for them to know about the speedometer. Every other car I’ve taken there has been an easy pass. As this EV project was, except for a speedo that will never be needed. 🤷‍♂️

Look forward to you joining the club. The more people we have thinking about the issues the better outcome we'll get. 👍🏻

🤣 You’re not the first to ask that! This is very much an experiment to see if an EV Seven can be fun to run around in. No matter what you think about EVs, we will run out of fossil fuels at some point and IMHO electric is the only viable long term option. So why not tinker around with an EV Sevem to see what the issues are 🤷‍♂️ Thanks for taking the time to comment, I’m very much on the fence as to whether this will be worth it, so good to get views from all sides of the discussion.

Yes, I totally agree. Hopefully there’ll be lots of people breaking new ground on their cherished vehicles so kits start to become available. Thanks for watching.

Well said. I have a 1st gen Cayman that would love a conversion in a few years.

Thanks for the comment. I’m already moving onto the next video, no time for re-uploads 😂

Great, thanks for the comment. Every day is a school day. I read the R100 over a year ago and hadn’t put 2 and 2 together with the IVA’s stipulation of R100.1. I circled that statement in the video and made a note to go and look at it again - guess I should have done. I don’t think that changes my desire not to do an IVA and certainly not in regards to chassis modifications (don’t want a Q-plate if I can get away with it). Seeing as you seem to know a bit about this, do you know if there are any guidelines for the reports that get created when you request a change of drivetrain to EV with DVSA? I’ve seen that the likes of Electric Classic Cars need to engineers reports done for each car they convert… any idea if that process has guidelines?

@Purplemeanie I work on ev conversions, the key thing is the points system for the inspections. There can't be any changes to the chassis on our kits as it will make them go down the iva route which most classics will never pass. Moggy from ecc done a video on the process recently, as far as I'm aware there's no engineers reports dome, but they arerequited in countries like Australia

Ok. Thanks. I have watched Moggy's video on the process. I need to rewatch it though because I was pretty sure he said they get an engineers report written for each car that gets its drivetrain designation changed. Thanks again.

Thanks for the comment but there’s not enough room for any of the Tesla motors in the rear. There’s a gap of around 200mm (8”) if you assume no chassis changes (which is a must to get it registered here). I’ve not found ANY options from pre-owned vehicles. There are a few options for boutique motor suppliers but that’s a topic for a future video to do it justice. If you know of any small (much smaller than Tesla) motor options then I’m all ears (though I’ve talked to about dozen suppliers now).

🤣 I was being serious about finding out why... only a little baiting 😉. Yep, clearly engine speed and ground covered won't correlate. It just seemed odd that there wasn't any sign of a speed pickup. If something had just broken then I'd expect to see some remnants, but there was nothing. The only thing I can think is that the pickup had originally been on the gearbox but for some reason the gearbox had been swapped. I'm probably reading too much into it and there's a simpler explanation. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Thanks for watching and commenting.

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.

Yep. That's a critical part of the whole project. I have some plans on how to keep the weight down but there's still a lot to get ironed out before I can put them into practice. But in terms of weight targets, my spreadsheet calculations put the weight somewhere between 650 and 700 Kg, and I think that would be acceptable... but that depends heavily on what motor/battery/inverter configuration I end up with. Caterham's two Seven EV project cars came in at about 700kg, but they had to change their chassis considerably and that's something I don't want to have to do (IVA/R100 as explained in the video). Thanks for watching.

Thanks for the sub. I hope my videos can be informative and fun to watch. Converting a car may not be everyone’s must watch project, but I hope they can watch and have a chuckle at what I get up to. 😀

I have the same problem when I get my Caterham MOT'd. The tester can get in the car okay, but getting out, well that is a completely different matter.... 😉😁

I had that problem with an elderly neighbour, getting out was always the problem. I used to take my cars to a different MOT place, but they were never happy for me to stick around. I like to be able to chat about what they see, so I can be ahead of any problems. It’s also more of an adventure when I can sit in the car and be part of the testing.

Thanks for that. Yes, I have heard about this as a problem. I’m not entirely sure of what can and can’t be done, but even though a car can be registered as electric, it istill seems to be classed as ICE - and so has to pay road tax as an ICE car. I also know that in other countries there are routes to registration that mean you have to get a report from the original vehicle manufacturer to say that the vehicle can cope with the conversion that’s being done (weight, power etc) - I’ve seen people having to do this in Sweden for instance. The community of conversion companies are getting through these issues, so I’m hoping there’s a route for me too. Thanks for the comment.

That is a good point. But while it had been looked after, that’s not quite the same a being loved… I’d say. Thanks for watching. 👍🏼

Welcome along to the journey. There’s a few catchup videos still to get through before we can get up to date. But the project is still progressing. As for space… I really don’t have the space to do this either… but I’m not going to let that stop me! 😂

Thanks for the support! 👍🏻

Thanks! Glad you liked it. 👍🏻

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 😁

No ADAS, no ABS, no power steering, no cabin heater, no roof… it’s all about fun! 🤩

That’s certainly crossed my mind too. What didn’t make the video (maybe the next one) is that there was a timer rigged to the ignition… counting hours of run time. I’m sure that’s a better way of determining service intervals on a track car, but odd that the Speedo was disconnected.

Thanks for watching. Well you’ll soon be able to buy an electric Westfield won’t you? Can’t wait to try one of those out! 😁🤔

Thanks for the comment. It’s really helpful to get a bit of feedback to know if I’m doing things right and that they’re interesting. The next video is probably going to be about ICE engines again. But there’ll be another progress video on the EV soon.

Thank you. Every sub means a lot. 👍🏼 And glad you enjoy the content.

Thanks for the comment Martin. And your help was key to saving me a whole lot of time and money… thank you! (Again!) 😀

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching 👍🏻

Hi Wayne, can you share any more details? Thanks for commenting. John

Thanks for the comment and watch. If you’ve got a reasonable level of practical knowledge then building a Caterham isn’t too difficult. I’m probably biased, but the quality of the kits from Caterham are better than others, but of course that’s reflected in the cost. Hope you manage to get one built at some point 👍🏻

The algorithm can always use a good bump! Thanks for the comment! 👍🏻

Yep, well spotted. The project has changed a number of times as I was making those last two videos, and keeps changing. So there’s a bit of artistic license… diagrams are “indicative” really. When I get into the progress videos I’ll be detailing exactly what I do and updating diagrams, animations etc as things get tied down. For instance I’m still in a real battle with tying down the exact motor configuration (even today having talks with the supplier) and if that falls through then it’s all change again. Thanks for taking the time to comment, really appreciate it 👍🏻

Thanks for the comment. I think the day was about £300 and they were hoping to do a few of these taster days at different tracks each year. I’ve not seen their calendar for this year to know if they are doing the same this year.

@@Purplemeanie Great to know. I don't even live in England, but I'd consider a fun travel like this. Hope you enjoyed as much as it looks!

Thanks for your support. Yes, I hope to answer all your questions as a progress with the project. 👍🏼

For sure I hope my toy will be fun. Thanks for watching.

I’ve got a couple of update videos to get out of the way before I truly get into the build, but they’re coming. Thanks for your support!

I'm glad to hear it. I cant' wait to get it on the road. More video coming soon!

I’m afraid that went very quickly to somebody else. The engine took more time to get rid of, but that’s gone too now. There’ll be videos coming soon about all that process.

@@Purplemeanie no problem - thought it was worth an ask! I nearly bought one of those drift cars.

There were a few batches of these cars that came to the market when I bought them. The next video will be all about the buying a registering of the car.

Everyday is a school day, I learnt loads making the video too! 👍🏻😀

There's more coming soon!