My Electric Starion EV

I’m Going to Convert My Mitsubishi Starion Sports Car to an All Electric Vehicle!

A Starion you say? Oh my God! Are you MAD? They’re fast! They go like stink! How you gonna beat the turbo with an electric motor?

It was a tough decision to do this – people thought I was crazy… nuts!… to think I could convert an existing gas-guzzling sports car into an all-electric car. And I probably am. But the reason is plenty-fold… and since many others are out there making it a reality, I want to prove for myself that it can be done.

I’ll be using the latest EV parts… batteries, controller, cooling gear and charging units.

My Batteries

The batteries I’ll use are Thundersky, once considered a risk as there have been some negative stories about them. However, their production quality has improved now and they are ideal for range, durability and cycle life. In fact these Lithium batteries could be the primary thing to tip the scales on electric car viability for general mass production.

My Starion EV

The Starion is a classic high performance sports car that didn’t crowd you in like other cars, had space but agility and its ICE (internal combustion engine) was superior to those of other cars of the day.

I fell in love with these cars after Stephanie Walsh introduced me to them. Dubious I was, to start with. I used to say to her, “Wow, look at that red hot throbbing macho machine!”

However, although powerful, the Starion had a certain elegance about it in the way that it handled, the way it performed.

Rare as Hen’s Teeth

Like the car itself, Starion engine parts are becoming rare as hen’s teeth. And, as these classic cars now start to appreciate, the price of parts also goes up.

I have gotten by through the years… collecting bits from donor cars for my other Starion. Some parts are found in many similar cars, and I don’t just mean from the same model.

A Treasure Hunt

A couple of years ago I had to replace the old starter motor. I found a suitable one in a wrecked Hyundai Excel. It was a rare-earth type, smaller and less strenuous on the battery.

Other parts of course are difficult to get, such as the turbo. A Cordia turbo is smaller and not ideal, but it can be retro-fitted with a bit of work.

Cylinder heads can be found in Mitsubishi vans and some Hyundais… but the machining is not as refined. The parts I talk about are for the Sirius engine used in Australian Starions.

All in all, to replace the entire lot with an electric motor has to be a reasonable decision, though die-hards may dispute this… and have even told me to go with a later model car, but I just have a thing for Starions!

A Clean Conversion

Whatever the car, the conversion path I chose would suit most car types, be it left-hand drive or right-hand drive, no matter what country you are in. And with an EV conversion, there’s no coolant, no oil, no mess… a very attractive option. Sure, easier to maintain and with a performance result that I hope will be impressive.

When the car is finished, I hope to have a range of around 75-80 miles (approximately 127 kilometres) between re-charges, not the piddly range offered by the hybrid Prius on batteries alone.

The Work Involved

From my other posts you’ll see that an older car needs some refinement and general fixes throughout. Many people have converted old and newer cars, but to me the Starion is unique in that it has a timeless style and excellent handling. Weight-bearing for traction batteries, voltages required, parts that are complementary and robust are all considerations for a good EV conversion.

I searched the Net and came across many suitable components but finding suitable complementary parts was initially difficult; what kind of motor speed controller was needed to handle the motor, will it overheat and cost me power, and so on. I found Nathan from Convert Ur Car who offered many tips for a suitable parts and such conversion companies like his offer packages to suit your requirements, be it performance, efficiency or a budget conversion – with a good balance between all three. He has some good contacts for people who can machine parts (for example, my gearbox to the adaptor plate for the electric motor). It’s contacts like these that are invaluable.

While Nathan will help me with the heavy stuff, a lot of this you can arrange with a local mechanic, such as hoisting out engines, machining gearbox, and so on. It’s the special application of the motor, controller and batteries that must be considered and I hope to offer such information on this site.

As my car progresses to full conversion, please come back at any time to see how it is going. There are many differences between the various conversion sites out there and we plan to include innovative and efficient methods for my EV.

Yours in EV world,

Carmel Duryea Morris
VK2CAR