SubiEVee

In our search for the most practical “EV Car” around, we were please when we came across Ron Gompertz’s 2008 Subaru Forester at Eco Auto Inc.   I actually own one of these Foresters, and I love it. I love everything about these cars. The space you have for a camping trip is amazing, which is coming up for my wife and I in just a few weeks. Put the canoe on the roof, fold the seats down and pack away. In the winter you have heated seats, heated mirrors, and a car starter to boot.  Once our Subaru forester is loaded up, off we go. Well o.k. there is one thing I don’t like. Unlike Ron’s EV Subaru, we do have to stop for fuel. To be quite honest anything that is pre 2010 Subaru’s are hard on fuel in the AWD configuration. However, that has never stopped me from loving and driving my beloved Subarus.  In fact I have a few of them, one of which is a 2002 Impreza RS, which also happens to have the same drive configuration as Ron’s Forester. The Impreza is slated for a conversion, and I’m sure will be jealous of this Forester with all it conversion bits.

Ron’s Forester has got to be one of the cleanest conversions of its type in its class that we’ve seen. The one thing that that draws us performance freaks to the Subaru lineup, is the boxer engine setup. It’s the low center of gravity that comes natural to these vehicles, allowing huge cornering speeds. The engine sits low and flat, thus the flat four. It’s what enables my wife to whip on and off the freeway ramps in such a small SUV as if it were the Impreza. Converting most cars will actually bring the center of gravity lower in the car for better handling, low electric motor, battery packs slung lower, etc. However, in this Forester you can so easily raise the center of gravity during a conversion without realizing it.

The SubiEVee has an Azure Dynamics motor in it, an AC55 with a DMOC445 controller. This motor fits inside the motor bay quite well. The former engine, Subaru’s H4 is a very short engine. So you can’t afford to choose a motor and adapter that is too much greater than 23.250”. From our calculations, the AC55 brings the center of gravity back to stock with its motor weight. It is has a fair amount of weight for its size. It makes it up though in its torque of 184 Ft. Lbs. torque in a 0-3500 RPM range and 78 KW of power. Also to help keep the center of gravity low is the rear battery pack in its design, taking the place of the spare tire well.

Adapter plates are a hard find when it comes to our beloved Subaru’s. Finding one of very high quality is also hard. Ron invested some money in having one developed at an engineering firm called AutoPilot Design. Matt McCune designed and fabricated a custom extruded aluminum adapter and mounting system for the Azure Dynamics electric motor, mating it to the stock Subaru 5-Speed manual gearbox. The investment paid off, as it has got to be one of the best looking adapter plates we’ve seen yet. Polished too! The whole setup is a very unique to this vehicle. It makes for a very functional conversion, retaining the symmetrical AWD system for where it will be driven. None other than the snow covered roads of Bozeman, Montana.

Making sure everything is safe and secure is Gordon Ormesher at his EV conversion shop in Hayden Lake, Idaho. At  Gordo’z Electric Speed Shop Gordon looked after installing all the subsystems and fabricating the battery boxes.

Elite Power Solutions  supplied the 60AH GBS lithium batteries and BMS for this conversion. Tim Foster of Patriotic Motors looked after installing all one hundred of the lithium batteries and connecting up the battery management system. Heater design and fabrication was also taken on by Tim, a subsystem you can’t live without with the Montana winters. Once batteries were wired up it gave this Subaru 320volts to take on the world. It charges on standard 110V @ 20A or fast charge with 220V @ 50A, an option with the Manzanita Micro PFC30 charger. Ron says his cost is about 2 cents a mile. The best part now that it is electric, is that there are a whole lot of options to choose from as to how you would like to charge it, and bring this vehicle even closer to a zero foot print. From wind or water mills to solar panels, you can surely find something that could even fit your ride. Ron’s range is about 40 to 50miles at a top speed of 75 mph.

This truly is the car the Japanese wish they built. At EVTuners we applauded you in your efforts to:

Power The Future With Electric!

See more of Ron’s SubiEVee in the Car Gallery!