EV

Regulations

In Sweden, and probably the same goes for all of EU (but don't take my word for it!), it's next to impossible to modify a car, at least if it's a -98 or newer. The reason for this is that the exhaust regulations demands that any changes to the car that can affect the exhausts from the car demands a certificate from the manufacturer. This includes, for example, changing the engine to another kind (even if the same car model comes with that engine) and even changing from, for example, manual to automatic transmission (ditto). Only replacing parts with the exact same kind is allowed without a certificate if a change can alter the exhausts even the slightest.

Manufacturers aren't very service minded when it comes to support and as a rule you're therefore very limited in what you can do with your car and get away with it. The rules are, however, not retroactive so the older a car is, the easier the rules are, but with old cars come rust and in the parts of Sweden where I live, cars rust a lot since the roads are salted in the winter. Salt is steroids for rust and old cars look like it.

However, there's a loop-hole. If the new configuration doesn't have any exhaust, you don't need a certificate and thus it's ok to go electric. I don't think that building a hybrid will be very easy though, good thing I'm not planning that then. Here's the essential rules boiled down to 4 points:

  • The new engine (or motor) can not have more than +20% horse powers than the original engine.
  • The new engine (or motor) can not have more than +10% torque than the original engine.
  • The total weight of the car can not exceed maximum registered weight, and that has to include driver, passenger, cargo etc (of course).
  • The axis weight is not allowed to be exceeded.

And no, it is not possible to increase the maximum allowed weight on a car by, for example, improving the brakes since that requires (you guessed it) a certificate from the manufacturer.

Keep that in mind when you pick your donor.