Doing the Starion has been a real learning curve and a challenge. The Echo has been the same but as the months roll by, we have found better components, and found better ways to install and customize.
The Echo is looking great now, everything fitting in snugly in the engine bay.
Echo engine bay battery box fits perfectly.
As you can see, the forward batteries are housed in a snug metal casing (what I originally wanted for the Starion but the constant re-assessing of the battery positioning prohibited finalizing this). As the motor (an 8 inch Advanced DC) was decided upon at the start, everything else came together nicely. Even the battery jumpers are better quality, meshed for better conductivity (not layered in strips) and flexible too.
When finalized, a cover will be placed over the entire component area (except the fuse box of course), just like in modern cars (where one is restricted from doing a self-service) – hah. Naturally this is to facilitate safety and the RTA assessor is very impressed with the overall conversion.
Snug Fit
As you can see from these images, the controller, vacuum pump, pot box, and DC-DC converter sit nicely around the battery compartment. The controller will have a finned heatsink placed on it. Water cooling is not required for the expected lower-demand, however being a lighter car means it’ll be zippy and give lots of range and power when needed from the same batteries I have.
Curtis seated snugly near vacuum pump - pot box upper left.
DC-DC unit sits in opposite corner near acc battery and fuses.
Echo rear battery box portal.
Echo rear battery box lid.
The rear battery compartment now has a threaded ‘hatch’. This is a marine-grade bilge pump hatch that can be opened for quick inspection and for ingress of fire extinguisher should the unlikely event of a fire occur. The front compartment will have access ports. Such things we thought of more recently will also be applied to my Starion, and better connectors, battery-framing etc (now that we have settled on the layout) will make for a better car. Being older it still needs other TLC but should be the fastest EV in this country when done.
Echo Delivery Time
Once the ‘fuel’ port is completed and fuse boxes done, the car will be ready for shipping to Brisbane for our client.
Maybe we’ll get in one more test drive first 
