Why not develop an axel with an integrated motor? It’d be easily scaled to any vehicle with a solid rear axle. Fill the engine bay with batteries… It seems like an easy approach to get a widely applicable EV conversion kit. Offer a few widths and diameter axles… Is it bad to have the motor in an unsprung position?I see hub motors, so I think not. I guess air conditioning would be another thing.
I have been looking into this exact question. All of the Tier 1 OEM suppliers have some kind of integrated Axle option. Manga, Allison, etc. the next big hurdle is integrating all of that with the existing controls and everything else. Manga did a drop in swap for a GMC Sierra 3500 as a proof of concept. I think there is a huge market if someone does the engineering and solves the interface and fitment issues. You could probably sell the kit to all the class 4 and class 5 vehicle upfitters. Feel free to DM me if you want to talk about it. I think it is a good business, i have experience supplying the Tier 1’s with metals. Specifically aluminum so i have a decent idea of how it works but not an on the ground installers view. I would like to follow the road map that Edison motors has written for the class 8 vocational and heavy haul market.