Daklein
Well-known member
Daklein said:I'll measure it up and figure out more when I unload the new one soon, and look again under my car and measure there. I hope it will fit as is, like the 40's fit in mux's gen 1 projects. It should fit, unless the Plus model underfloor structure is different? If not, I'll be making it fit somehow, modify either the car or the pack.
I got the new 62 kWh pack unloaded, after some garage clearing & shuffling of projects, and beefing up my dolly for holding the pack. The dolly had been marginal with the lightweight 24 kWh pack. The big pack is heavier for sure, the loader could not lift it directly, only curling the bucket allowed lifting it off the truck. The loader capacity is supposed to be 900#, so I estimate it's about 900 pounds.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZYvNpjkFY9RDCv718 Pictures of unloading, and welding the dolly.
It looks like there is 40mm of height added in the base of the 62 kWh pack, the extra height hangs out the bottom of the car. (Pictures I see of Plus cars show the pack extending below the rocker panel) The claimed ground clearance is the same, maybe the rear axle is the lowest point already? The two front mounts (near the HV connectors), and rearmost side mount have raised platforms. The HV connectors are moved up from the bottom of the pack, so they will be at the same height as before in the car (the stiff main HV cable will be the same). The forward and center side mounts are one long mount with 4 bolts, with height near the bottom of the pack as the 24-40 packs all have. The Plus cars must have a different frame rail stamping that extends down the extra 40 mm. That would be a reasonably minimal change for manufacturing, just weld in a different rail part(s) to the floor pan. The rear support bracket holes look like they have the same spacing from the bottom of the pack, and the two holes are 40mm vertical spacing as before. The height from the top of the front and rear mount points (with the 40 mm raise) to the top of the pack looks very similar to 24-40 packs: 243mm to the rear hump, 164 to the front hump. (not the total pack height, the height from the mounting plane).
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kkMU62Cr5Y42JHo39 Pictures of measuring the new pack, checking measurements on the car, sketches measurements and adapter spacer
What it will take, starting at the front of the pack:
- Front mounts will work the same as before, same bolts.
- Grounding straps may work by flipping them around, so they go down from the frame to the 62 pack, instead of upward from the frame to the 24 pack.
- Forward / center side mounts: Make a spacer from a 40mm square or rectangular tube between the existing frame rail and the new 62 pack. Front bolt location is the same, use a longer bolt. The three remaining bolts on the 62 will use longer bolts, into nuts or threaded plate fished through the frame rail (like in typical trailer hitch installs). There is a hole in the rear of the frame rail to fish them in through. You could almost use the existing center bolt location from the 24 pack, but it falls right at one of the structural channels of the 62 pack, about an inch from the rearmost bolt location on the 62 pack.
- The rear side mount uses two bolts, the inner location measures the same as before, and the outer one lines up with an existing hole in the frame of my 2014 car. There is room to fish a nut or threaded plate into the frame there from the rear suspension mount.
- Rear support brackets, could try to buy brackets from a plus car, or the existing brackets should line up offset by one hole. I could fish a threaded plate into the rear of the pack, adding a third hole on the pack, existing bracket bolting to the upper two holes. There is a 1-inch hole at the rear corners of the pack, between the outer and inner walls of the pack. Also could add a plate on the outside of the bracket, extending down to the bottom hole, so there would be three bolts holding it.
- Playing on the CAN bus will need to follow. (help, help)
I have not looked at a Plus car, could any Plus owners take pictures of the sides of the battery mounting? Even with the covers on may help, but even better would be with the covers removed if you enjoy crawling around under your car. And also I wonder if there is anything different in front of the pack on Plus cars, maybe I want a skid plate sort of bar across in front of the pack.