Conversion Process Slideshow

Pre-conversion 1983 BMW 320i before 9/15/2013
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First steps in the conversion process 1/06/2014
Engine removal. Click image to see video.
Pressure Washing the engine compartment 2/08/2014
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Weighing the vehicle after ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) removal 2/21/2014
Click image to see video
Cutting out the lead acid battery mount 3/10/2014
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Electric motor assembly placement for motor mount measurement 3/12/2014
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First time spinning the wheels with electric vehicle components 5/19/2014
Connected the motor, transmission, inverter and batteries to spin the wheels with electric power. Click image to see the video
Spoofing the Instrument Cluster 6/27/2014
Learning how to control the movement of the instruments with Pulse-Width Modulation. Click image to see video.
Battery conditioning system 7/17/2014
Battery cells require bottom balancing. Click image to see video.
Battery boxes fabricated and installation started. Contactor box for the battery connections. 8/17/2014
Click image to see video.
Delphi DC/DC Converter Upgrade 3/27/2015
One of many components I had to modify for the car. Click image to see video
Batteries all connected in rear seat boxes 9/03/2015
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Batteries placed in trunk box and started strapping up. 9/18/2015
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Wiring cross-over box 11/20/2015
Building up all the wiring connections. Click image to see video
Engine compartment components installed and wiring finished. 2/4/2016
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All electric drive components installed. Spinning the wheels, preparing for the test drive. 5/10/2016
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First test drive! 10/07/2016
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First test drive! 10/07/2016
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Major Milestone. Vehicle passes Massachusetts Inspection 6/19/2018
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Major Upgrade. Scott Drive Inverter 6/12/2019
Major Milestone. Commuting to work in the ElectricBMW320i 7/25/2019
Upgrades: New Wheels, Tires and Suspension. Scott Drive Installation. 8/10/2019
Click image to see the Video
Major Upgrade. Chevy Bolt Battery Modules 10/18/2020
Click image to see the Blog entry
Upgrades. New Paint, Winter Tires and Wheels 11/15/2020
Click the image to see the Blog Entry
Cars and Coffee by the Mystic 11/14/2021
Attended a Cars and Coffee car show at the Mystic River BMW Dealer. Click image to see Blog entry
BMS Development 7/03/2023
Developed a BMS system for the Bolt Battery Module. Click the image to see the Blog entry
BMS Deployment 10/18/2023
Built up BMS units to deploy in Vehicle. Click image to see Blog entry
BMS Reader Prototype 2/2/2024
Development of a reader for all the BMS modules Click the image to see the Blog entry
BMS Reader Deployment 3/1/2024
Deployment of a reader for all the BMS modules Click the image to see the Blog entry
Instrument Cluster 5/20/2024
Upgraded the instrument cluster with 120mph speedometer. Click the image to see the Blog entry
BMS Reader Redesign with Arduino Nano ESP32 10/6/2024
Found the program size for the BMS Reader exceeded memory limit. Need a new processor and PCB. Click the image to see the Blog entry
BMS Reader Redesign with Arduino Nano 33 IOT 12/8/2024
Found the ESP32 was not compatible with my BMS Reader components. Made a new PCA with logic-level Shifter. Click the image to see the Blog entry
BMS Reader Redesign with I2C Line Drivers 1/3/2025
Found Logic-Level Shifter does not work with wire connections. Click the image to see the Blog entry
New PCA Redesign with I2C Line Drivers 2/3/2025
New PCA works to solve the problem with the wire connections on the I2C bus.
BMS Deployment in Car 4/8/2025
Machined all the mounting hardware to mount BMS modules in the car. Click image to see Blog entry
Update to Instrument Cluster 5/14/2025
Updated the Real Time Clock (RTC) in the instrument Cluster to make the time reading more reliable

Welcome to The ElectricBMW320E site

This site shows my exploits of converting a 1983 BMW 320i automobile into an electric drive vehicle. The slideshow above shows the progress. Click the links below to see the details of the conversion. The Video Gallery has a more complete chronology of the build.

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