Trajectory EV: Ford Ranger Electric Restorations and More!
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2022
- I apologize about the audio issues; my condenser mic was not working properly.
I stopped by Trajectory EV to check out their workshop and interview Sean McCluskey. Trajectory EV is a full-service EV workshop, offering services from repairing factory EVs to building and fixing EV conversions. They specialize in the Ford Ranger Electric, which they hope to up restore and sell to fleet customers.
Check out their site and store at www.TrajectoryEV.com or give them a call at (831) 471-7638. 
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Love to see these entrepreneurs indulging an interest and getting sucked into an EV business... echoing what others have said: more of this, please!
Nice interview - wishing independent EV shops all the luck in the world. Would love to see more of his pack rebuild process, those 230AH cells must be a really tight fit
Would love to see more interviews with people doing independent EV repairs, modifications and conversions. This is definitely going to be a vital industry in the future as EV adoption really takes off.
Love this, wish there a lot more of the Ford Ranger EVS out there.
I wish I knew about Trajectory! I;ve had my green 2000 Ford since I leased it 2000, and bought it for $1 from Ford after the lease expired. I have the original NIMH battery pack, but having the 12v battery almost every day. I sent it to Lanny last year, and he fixed a few odds and ends. By the way, my truck and I had a part in the 2006 FIlm "Who Killed the Electric car ( I was on a funeral procession ) when Ford was crush the EVs. I also have a lot of EV commercial for the EVs including the Ford RangerEV, and would be glad to share it with anyone. Hope to participate with Sean.
That's so awesome! I'm taking a bit of the longer road to fix up my own Ranger EVs, but Lanny and Sean have been great. Are you saying you have the original Ford Ranger EV commercials? Those would be cool to see.
I was wondering during the whole interview what Sean thinks of the Ford Transit Connect EVs.
Yeah, we didn't really get into vans, but I'm sure they are aware of the Azure Dynamics Ford Transit Connect vans. As far as I know, though, a lot of those are still in service.
I’m a huge fan! The transits are harder to convert to LFP than the NiHM packs in the rangers, but I’ve always loved the Transit Connect form factor!
@@trajectory_ev Thanks!
I'd love to know more about the mini bike on their Instagram
What do you want to know?! 😊
What city are they located in? I don't see an address on their website or instagram.
They are in Salinas, California. Just south of the San Francisco Bay Area.
What about Thermal Management Systems on those batteries? I didn't see any liquid connectors on either end of those packs...TMS systems are a game changer for longevity of the pack..
The Ranger EV didn't have a liquid thermal management for the battery, but they did have air cooling. With LFP, especially anything over 200 Ah, the C rate and nature of the chemistry wouldn't require active battery cooling beyond air cooling.
The bigger issue is operating LFP in cooler climates, and at that point, you'd want a battery heater, which the Ranger EVs did have (resistive heat pads).
@@newscoulomb3705 that’s interesting, it must be heavily ventilated because I don’t know how it would hold up charging in 110-115F in SoCal. Thanks for the response Eric love this channel! It’s my white noise when sleeping at night Haha
@@DonGrigorianFishing Thanks. LFP are pretty robust up to ~130 F, so outside of extreme conditions, air cooling should be fine. If ambient temperatures reach those levels, even liquid cooling needs to be tied to an AC loop.
Thanks for that informative interview. I just acquired
a 99 Ford Ranger EV with a NiMH battery pack.
Do you think it would be possible to get 100 KwH out of a lithium battery in the given coffin?
Thanks for watching! You're welcome!
Yes, you can definitely fit 100 kWh with lithium, but it might not be possible with the current LFP batteries. The pack I'm currently building is ~90 kWh, which is close to the max that you'd get out of LFP.
If you went with NCM cells sourced from other EVs, you could probably fit 100 kWh, but I found that a lot of planning goes into figuring out how everything will fit.
Cool Beans.
My plan for this truck is to use it to get to my cabin which is 270 miles North up in Maine. Mostly freeway, some highway with a 1,000 feet elevation gain in the journey. There is a new charging kiosk at the local grocery store nearby the cabin.
What battery pack would you think would work for this endeavor?
@@abriambarker3614 Even with a 100 kWh pack, that would be a stretch. I'm hoping my pack will do 280 to 300 miles, but freeway and elevation would probably cut that by a third. Keep in mind, the Extended Range Ford Lightning (~135 kWh pack) would be lucky to do that 270 mile run without stopping to charge.
As for recharging along the way, the standard L2 AC charger would take several hours to add the difference in range that you would likely need. A DC fast charger would add several hours of AC charging range in less than 30 minutes, but DC fast charging is much harder to add to the Ranger EV.
Some of us are looking into it (I'm going to by trying to add CHAdeMO to my Ranger EV for this reason), but I don't know of anyone else who has successfully added DC charging to the Ranger EV yet. CCS would be the better option, of course, but there is much less support for CCS at this point. I've seen a number of plans and a few prototypes, but so far, no one has made an easy CCS1 kit that bolts directly into older, 400 V electrics.
drive a 4cyl ranger to the cabin and then cruise around the neighborhood i the ev when you get there. i imagine youll aslo be wanting to haul loads to/from the property. the extra weight will lower your total milage
yeah, thats not going to happen.
Are these vehicles able to charge at commercial charging stations or are they locked out?
These can charge at public stations. The only charging provider that doesn't want to support conversions and modified EVs is EVgo, and even then, their concern is primarily about aftermarket adapters. Given the number of conversions and modifications that are going to take place in the next few years, we're likely going to need some sort of independent certification.
Like Eric said, our vehicles can use public charging stations. Our chargers use the J1772, interface, including the Pilot and Proximity protocols, to communicate with the public chargers. We also offer spoof adapters for lower-power EV chargers (such as motorcycles and 240v rated e-Bikes) so they can also use public J1772 chargers.
What would it cost to upgrade an original 2002 Ranger EV? There is one for sale local and I’m curious? That may be to general of a question but to replace batteries and any necessary upgrades what are we talking in general? $10k, $15k, $20k?
I think all three of those numbers you listed are possible, but a lot is going to depend on what you want out of the truck. In particular, range. Getting a 200+ mile range out of these trucks will require a significant investment.
Based on my experience, if you're replacing the battery, you need to look at $10,000 minimum. The BMS and onboard charger will be a quarter to a third of that, and you probably can't find suitable battery cells (with enough energy and capacity to run the truck) for less than $5,000 to $6,000.
Sean could speak to the labor and shop costs, so you might want to reach out to him directly if he doesn't see this comment.
Ah yes all the old EV's my dreams are made of.
This car was produced from 1997 to 2002
Production was 1997 to 2022, but the model years were 1998 to 2002.
@@newscoulomb3705 Yes, i want to say that
I thought this was going to show the stages of converting a Ford Ranger to an EV. The gospel of EV is already over preached! Show us how to repurpose our existing gas vehicles!
Sorry about that. A lot of people don't know that these trucks already existed as EVs, and they are still viable today. Converting to an ICE to an EV is a bit more involved of a process, and it will typically require custom fabrication. It's an interesting topic that I might try to cover more in the future, but right now, my hands are full just restoring a couple of these Ranger EVs. Some of that content, though, would be directly applicable to converting a gas car/truck.