Casey from Electric 51 Speedshop shares insights on his Tesla-swapped Chevrolet Apache, a project that showcases the growing trend of electric conversions in classic vehicles. Originally equipped with a six-cylinder engine, the truck now boasts an 800-horsepower Tesla motor and an 85 kWh battery pack. The discussion covers the technical aspects of the conversion, including aftermarket control systems, battery management, and the integration of modern features like regenerative braking. Casey also highlights the environmental benefits of repurposing Tesla components, making this build both powerful and sustainable.
Topics:electric conversionstesla swapbattery management systemsregenerative brakingaftermarket control systemsclassic truckssuspension upgradesair ride systems
Hot rodding has been and always will be a HUGE part of American car culture, and electric vehicle conversions are bringing a wider range of options to the street.
Why do a Tesla swap and not use aftermarket components? What happens to the 12v electronics including the lights and indicators without an alternator or the brakes without engine vacuum to operate with?
At SEMA, Casey Loter gives us some answers to the above and insight into this customer's 1959 Chevy Apache Fleetside electric vehicle conversion, which is powered by a Tesla Model S motor and battery pack that's been rehoused for better packaging and suspension options.
While Tesla parts are used, they are scrubbed clean of Tesla's limited software by companies like EV Control, who can easily tap in remotely for this process. An Orion battery management system is used along with Stealth EV charging components and a cooling system for the charger and batteries up from and motors in the rear for this specific Chevy Apache conversion.
"...ntrol of the charging system, so it will shut the charger off and once the battery is up to its full capaci..."
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Electric conversions on classic vehicles are becoming more and more popular.
We're here with Casey from Electric 51 Speedshop to talk about his Tesla swapped Chevy Apache.
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Alright, Casey, we're here with your old Chevy truck.
It's really cool looking.
Can you tell us what this was originally?
what motor it had in it.
Yeah, so originally it had the six cylinder engine that it came with.
It was sent to me by a guy in California and he wanted to have it electrified, and so we ripped that thing out and checked a Tesla motor in it.
Right.
So what was the Tesla motor?
Also the batteries as well.
Yeah, so we did a Tesla Model S rear mounted motor and we did the 85 kilowatt hour battery pack out of the same vehicle.
So how much power roughly is this thing making?
Well, so it's got the ludicrous mode motor in it so it can take like 1400 amps, which it'll output about 800 horsepower.
Right.
Do you know roughly what the truck weighs now?
Is that similar to what it was originally?
More or less We've probably added.
You know the truck originally was about 32 to 3300 pounds.
We've added right around 400 to 500 pounds, I'd say so it's still relatively light in comparison to a Model S which weighs about 5000 pounds.
Yeah, that's a fast enough car by itself.
This thing, I'd say, would be quite a bit quicker than originally.
So you've got the Tesla battery system and motor, and does that mean that the control system for that is also Tesla stuff?
No.
So we use an aftermarket control system with the Tesla stuff.
Their software is proprietary so as soon as it recognizes it's not in the car that the motor just won't work.
So we use a company called EV Controls and what they do is they wipe the software off the original motherboard inside of the motor and remotely they can rewrite it.
So it was really cool.
Like I installed the motor, got everything wired and then emailed them and they're like okay, cool, open up the app.
Like it's got an app on my phone that I can run it with.
And about 10 minutes later he sent me an email back that was like okay, cool, car runs, go ahead and jump in it and drive it.
Just that simple.
So that's the VCU controlling the motor, the BMS controls the batteries.
Can you talk about what that is and who supplied that?
Yeah, so it's an Orion 2 BMS and that essentially is the brains of the battery system, and so what it does is it'll tell the vehicle that it can't even start if it recognizes a problem with any of the modules in there.
So it reads all the individual voltages.
It has control over some of the cooling fans if it recognizes temperatures are too hot.
It has control of the charging system, so it will shut the charger off and once the battery is up to its full capacity, it kind of just takes care of everything.
So on that side of things, what is controlled by is anything controlled by a CAN bus.
Yeah, so the whole BMS system is all run on CAN bus, so the BMS system itself is connected to the charger and the DC to DC and that's how it communicates to that and it will shut the charger off.
It also has a Wi-Fi connection that's on CAN bus.
That allows me to get on my phone and I can read all the voltages of the BMS through my phone as well.
So just backing up a little bit.
You've gone with Tesla Motors.
Why not go with an aftermarket electric motor supplier for this?
Well, like most of us, are experiencing their supply chain issues.
With a lot of technology stuff so a lot of the newer motors out there there's some issues with being able to get the equipment quickly.
I also just like the fact that the Tesla stuff is sitting around like these cars have been wrecked.
They're just going to sit there and not be used.
So I kind of sit on the repurposed reuse side of things and Tesla stuff is proving quality and you can get online and have one in a couple of weeks.
So the repurposed reuse side of thing fits well with the EV side of things being environmentally friendly, and it's got to see an old truck like this being able to be used into the future where maybe its lifespan might be somewhat limited.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
And you know the other great part about this thing as well is it's super fast.
That's always a bonus?
Yeah, of course.
So in terms of the original truck obviously would have had an alternator for charging the onboard system.
What happens now of that sort of thing?
Yeah, so basically.
So I mentioned earlier the DC to DC.
So a DC to DC converter basically takes the high voltage battery pack voltage, so the 400 volts, and converts it down to 12.
And then it sends that to the 12 volt system.
So it's sitting there charging that battery, just like an alternator would in a gasoline car, and that way your battery doesn't die because you still have to have turn signals like all the normal 12 volt stuff in these vehicles, just like any other car.
So how does it supplies that system?
So the charger and the DC to DC are one unit.
It's a company called Stealth EV.
It's a 6.6
kilowatt charger.
It's liquid cooled.
The DC to DC portion of it, I believe, is a 1.5
kilowatt and outputs a I think it's 100 amps.
So it keeps everything charged up on the 12 volt side, like really nicely.
Yeah, I had a look under the front before and there's it looks like a water pump in there.
It was some lines, a set for cooling that sort of things, or the battery system or what.
So the pump up front cools the battery system and the charging system or I am the charger at the same time, and then we've got a pump in the back that actually keeps the motor cool as well.
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Forward slash free.
So obviously it's a lot more power, completely different systems.
A lot of the original systems in the truck would have been redundant.
And then you have to add some, and power brakes, master cylinder I noticed something a little bit different going on there.
How have you made that change?
So we actually put a Tesla iBooster in this.
So because this car doesn't make any vacuum, it's an electric brake system.
Basically.
A lot of the newer gasoline cars are even using them these days and it's becoming a really big thing for hot rodders because, you know, less vacuum equals more horsepower for those guys.
So Tesla iBoosters are made by Bosch and you can find them in Hondas and all sorts of things, but the one that we used actually came out of the Tesla.
That's an interesting one for people with individual throttle bodies as well, the kind of pulsations and the intake, the vacuums affected.
So it's a good option to go to for that potentially as well.
There's a lot more power gain suspension brakes.
I mean, this thing's pretty low.
Is it on air?
Yeah?
so it's got a full air ride system.
It's got independent front suspension, independent rear suspension, air ride on all fours.
It's getting run by an AccuAir system and we've got ride tech shocks on the front and the back as well.
So, yeah, it rides and handles like sports car.
That's really cool, the dash system.
What are you looking at there and how does that communicate with?
the rest of the system.
Okay, so on the dash there's actually an iPad and that is.
It's got an app on it and so the controller for the motor actually displays up on the iPad and the iPad communicates with the motor controller or the the VCU, via Bluetooth.
So it's got.
You know your speed, you can adjust all the power settings, gives you battery temperature, gives you voltage.
It's a really cool setup.
It makes it super easy.
I mean, you wire the motor up to the VCU and then, once you have that done, like I was saying earlier, you get into the app and 10 minutes later you're you're driving.
It's simple and you're saying you can use your phone as well.
So this wireless kind of system?
Yeah, yeah.
So I've got the app on the iPad and then I've also got it on my phone.
So for some reason, I forget the iPad or it runs out of batteries, even though it is charging at the moment.
I can always just pull my phone out and put it on the seat next to me and it's got drive, neutral, reverse and all the speed and everything else that the iPad has as well.
Regenerative braking is a big thing with AVs anything like that happening here.
So the EV controls app, the controller for the motor, you can also dial up or down the regenerative braking.
So I keep it dialed up pretty high, which is amazing, because you don't actually touch your brakes like I literally drive around town and just let off and Just all of that resistance in the motor will bring the car to a stop, and then I use the brakes just to kind of hold it still at the lights because it wants to just kind of creep forward, basically.
But but yeah, so I mean you know brake pads on this thing are probably gonna last a lifetime, and then you're also charging.
You know your battery pack back up every time you come to stop.
So that's really cool, so I guess allows maintenance bill.
So what were the major hurdles?
When you're going through the build?
Did anything catch you out by surprise?
Anything?
Yeah, that was really difficult.
No, I mean, you know, just getting the motor and figuring out what suspension to use with it and kind of fitting out all that it's stuff in there and then figuring out you know what components needed to kind of talk to each other, because you know locations going to be based on what needs to talk To something else.
So, but other than that, no, I mean it's, it's intimidating at first, but once you kind of get into it it's a, it's a fairly basic system and once you learn these it's universal, like it's universal for a home, for a boat you want to do a motorcycle.
You know this.
Basically, this technology is interchangeable for anything you want to build.
Essentially, so you build days for a living as a, and you're doing this for other people as well.
You ever shop, or something like that.
Yeah, so electric 51 speed shop is my shop.
We're based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
You can find us online at electric51speedshopcom and we also have a pretty good Presence on Instagram as well, and it's just electric 51 speed shop.
Awesome.
Well, thank you for your time, cheers.
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