association-aire.org
IIRC they were targeting small city cars like 107 (and the other models sharing the frame).
- https://www.challenges.fr/automobile/dossiers/il-sera-biento... [in french obv.]
- https://www.caradisiac.com/se-convertir-a-l-electrique-mais-...
Here are some more articles where they explain their desires
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=association%2Daire%20k...
So you can't remove the gearbox, or you'll have to place a new stand-alone differential, which will add significant costs.
I'm glossing over the details but you'd need about half a dozen precision machined features and like three or four parts that are specific to a particular ICE engine/transmission application. Dimensions are such that you could probably buy cheap axles for a common application and then have them machined down to make your part. Parts cost should wind up under $200ea unless you need something expensive to machine (like blind female splines).
My most vivid memory is climbing into the “frunk” of a Porsche that was owned by a famous cardiologist, and measuring the heater core slot so that we could make our own heater core enclosure to fit for an electric unit we bought. And I took very careful and accurate measurements and very carefully applied them to sheet metal on the hand brake press. Only to discover that I had not accounted for the thickness of the metal or the enforced bend radius, and so the finished unit was off by about a millimeter and wouldn’t fit.
I tried to convince them that they should partner with certain kit car companies, buying only the non-BEV components from them, much the way Tesla started out with Lotus. But that never went anywhere, and I haven’t heard from them since. I need to get back in touch with them....
When there is a crash and the emergency rescue team has to use the “jaws of life” to cut the car open, you want to make damn sure they won’t be cutting through any of your high-amperage cabling. And if you are converting an ICE car to BEV, you don’t want to surprise them by routing your power cables through unexpected places. When they see a certain model of car, they are going to expect to be able to cut through in certain manufacturer-approved locations.
You don’t want to risk killing the guys who are trying to save your life.
1. when you are working with multiple cars+models it is much harder to scale, every car is its own challenge, as such the operation is likely to remain small
2. customers might expect the rest of the car to also improve which would be problematic when you have to source parts or fix 10 to 15 year old car models
3. every new model you work with is a bit of an experiment, you don't really know whether your configuration is going to cause problems until it does; what worked with another model might not work with this one, in the worst case scenario, people get hurt and you're to blame; if you read any of the 100s of EV conversion blogs, they never get it right the first time round, there's always something that needs rethinking
As a side note, you don't have to buy anything from Tesla to do this. You can furnish yourself a whole package relatively easily from various suppliers. People were doing it before Tesla was even a thing.