Progress #1 - Purchase and Road Registration // Putting the EV in Seven

This is the first in a series of progress videos about my project to take a 10 year old Caterham Seven drift car and convert it to be an Electric Vehicle.
00:00 Introduction
01:04 Purchase
02:20 PT Sports Cars
03:39 What to do next
04:24 Options
04:38 DVSA and DVLA
05:17 What's an MOT
05:58 What's an IVA
06:57 R100
07:51 Road Registration Options
08:39 DVS Road Registration
10:57 MOT Preparation
12:11 DETOUR Project Scuttle
13:49 Back to fixing the electrics
14:19 Speedometer
15:15 Reversing Light
16:46 Finally MOT
18:38 Another MOT
20:15 Registration Plates
21:15 Wrap-up

[@martinp7997]

Very interesting update John. Pleased that we at the Caterham Archives could be of help.

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@TheHungryHorace]

Amazing video - perfect level of detail. Really excited for more, and some CAN bus coverage!

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@geirmyrvagnes8718]

Cunning plans! Baldrick would be proud!

[@Purplemeanie]

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!

[@martinmiller7623]

Just happened to see you build great idea. Colin Chapman is one of the greats❤

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@ot0m0t0]

Subscribed. Had a good chuckle at the "guy wont fit in" bit :)

[@Purplemeanie]

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. 😀

[@Pesmog]

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.... 😉😁

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@ColinCarFan]

Nice video John - perfect level of details and general interest. I've been following your progress on the Caterham and Lotus Seven Club website and magazine but this video covers a lot more ground. Already looking forward to the next one.

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@Priapos93]

I live in a different jursidiction, but it was interesting to get the flavor of the regulatory process.

[@Purplemeanie]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching 👍🏻

[@lukesaunders9321]

Love your build video and this series is very interesting... you earned a sub

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@neilbrown5657]

Small tesla front drive unit in the rear with the battery pack and charger module where engine was Should be balanced and with 300 bhp and instant torque

[@Purplemeanie]

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).

[@gordon6029]

Exactly what I want to do.

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@johnwaller9924]

Following this one John. It's something I'd like to do when/if I get the space.

[@Purplemeanie]

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! 😂

[@ptonpc]

Subbed so I can follow this. How does the MOT garage feel about this?

[@Purplemeanie]

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. 🤷‍♂️

[@woodydroneson]

Great stuff, I would like to see all kits available for all classic cars in the near future, I have a BMW Z4 E85 2.5i with 38k miles on the clock and drives like new even though it's 17 years old, but an EV conversion in the future for all of the Z4's and other classics etc with 100k +++ miles would be great

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@owensparks5013]

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

[@steveporritt1550]

This looks like an interesting build. I would suggest you re-upload without the delivery part😏

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@TheWinstn60]

I've got a Westfield SIEW so very interested in this build

[@Purplemeanie]

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! 😁🤔

[@evilutionltd]

I wonder if they disconnect the speedo so it doesn't add mileage so they can sell the cars for more when they move them on.

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@swecreations]

Just some pieces of advice regarding aerodynamics. The aerodynamics of a Caterham Seven is very poor, it's lightweight and its acceleration is fast but its top-speed is low. The low weight will translate into fairly good range at low speeds, issue is that aerodynamics becomes the biggest factor in terms of total drag at speeds above 70 km/h in the average car, and probably closer to 50 km/h in this car. As such, expect *massive* reductions in range at highway speeds, you'll likely go 2-3x further at 60 km/h than at 120 km/h unless you do some major modifications to improve aerodynamics. A fully clad undertray is probably the easiest thing and will reduce drag (and as such increase range) at highway speeds by about 10% in the average car. I don't know how the underside of a Seven looks however so hard to say exactly how much of a difference it'll make. Would be happy to share some ideas on how to improve the efficiency with you if you want.

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@swecreations]

@@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!

[@Purplemeanie]

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 🤷‍♂️

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@swecreations]

@@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!

[@modscotsman]

There are different levels of r100, as long as the battery boxes are compliant to r100.1 then you dont have to go down the full test route.

[@Purplemeanie]

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?

[@modscotsman]

@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

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@joostwestra]

I did see an electric 7 on the public road here in the Netherlands. Can loop op a picture for you if interested

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@joostwestra]

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

[@markthomasson5077]

I am surprised you could not buy the car with the engine stripped out, as surely that company could have used it

[@Purplemeanie]

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! 🤷‍♂️🤔😀

[@ekim000]

How in the name of all that's holy can a Caterham be 'unloved'? Can't make sense of that.

[@Purplemeanie]

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. 👍🏼

[@stuartdean4620]

This is what little I know if you register the vehicle at any point after 2001 and you register as an ice vehicle you can then not change it to an electric vehicle and have it say on the logbook that it is electric if however you register from day one as electric There’s no problem. This is I understand it. Please do your own research.

[@Purplemeanie]

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.

[@zogworth]

Ive fallen for the engagement bait grr. If the speedo is running at drive train speed on a drift car thats not going to bear much correlation to road speed.

[@Purplemeanie]

🤣 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.

[@mememaster147]

Finally, a way to get a new EV without all the ADAS wank. Without ABS too... hmmmm...

[@Purplemeanie]

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

[@SimonWallwork]

Why, ffs?

[@Purplemeanie]

🤣 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.

[@christopherroberts22]

Urgh.. you're scripting and delivery are awful ! Page 1 of 1000 how to deliver a presentation .... I was looking forward to this video, but you're too painful to watch !

[@Purplemeanie]

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?

[@christopherroberts22]

@@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 ! 😐

[@owensparks5013]

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. 👍

[@Purplemeanie]

@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 🤣

[@Purplemeanie]

@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. 👍🏻