AUTONEWS

Kei truck looks like a giant power tool

A little Japanese Kei truck has been turned into an electric vehicle and features a faux battery pack in the bed that resembles a giant cordless drill battery. Ron Grosinger, often known as Mr. G to his students, is a high school auto shop and welding teacher who spearheaded the modification of a 1999 Daihatsu Hijet with his students.

Years ago, Grosinger acquired the truck for a rust repair job and to give his students some hands-on welding experience. The tiny truck was originally equipped with a 660cc gas engine that produced only 40 horsepower and sent that power to the road via a five-speed manual transmission and a transfer case for four-wheel drive. The gas engine has been removed, and the space has been made available for a Netgain Hyper 9 electric motor, which has been installed in the stock engine bay. 

This contraption produces 127 horsepower, three times the original specification, and communicates with the original transmission via a custom-made adaptor plate. That plate was made by students using flat steel blanks cut out with a laser cutter, costing less than $150, and features crisp tab as well as slot joints for accurate welding.

The power supply is made up of five salvaged Tesla Model S battery modules stacked in a 30 series configuration that operates at a modest 125 volts but has 74 amp hours of juice to play with. These modules are housed in a custom-built box that has been constructed for easy access – and to make a statement, it was actually cut out of a big block of urethane foam by a friend of Grosingers who specialises in foam sculpting. The entire thing was then coated in a durable two-part epoxy paint and painted to look like a large battery pack, with a false level indicator. The entire device moves around on Unistrut rails with little wheels, and it only takes one finger to move it out of the way.

In the interests of teaching, all of the electronics in this conversion are left exposed, with wire looms propped open in the back of the truck for your convenience, and the team plans to install a CAN bus display in the dash with the help of some of his former students. The truck retains the same mid-engine configuration as when it was new, so the weight distribution is still fairly good, resulting in balanced handling, and the four-wheel drive system is intact.

The entire project took around a year to complete, while the majority of the actual construction was completed in a single, hectic week. The community also contributed to portions of the wiring, machining, and CAD work. Grosinger currently utilizes the vehicle as a teaching tool in his seminars, and he hopes to hold monthly EV sessions with plenty of hands-on learning beginning in September.

by: Navarre Bartz