openinverter forum

Hi folks!

After succesfully converting my 1979 Volkswagen Late Bay Window minibus to electric with salvaged parts from a 2016 Nissan Leaf, I have a second conversion project! A 1970 Scania B11063 big bus (have to come up with a nickname).
My circus performance project Motör Circus is a one man Rock'n'Roll Circus Show with a VW Bus. And now that I have children, I need to have a bigger bus. And the bus has to be able to carry not only a family of 4 but also the VW minibus. So it's going to be a motorhome.
Starting this autumn I will have 2 years to complete the big bus. Loads of things to do. Let's start planning!
Feel free to throw in ideas for power train, loading ramps for the minibus, interior design, etc.
Especially motor configuration / powertrain options need to be discussed.
Right now I'm thinking a dual motor option: Tesla, Nissan Leaf, other? Or there was a Siemens motor that have been used in bus conversions.
The bus has a total weight of 13.800 kg.
More at Motör Circus socials:
@motorcircusfi
motorcircus.fi
https://www.instagram.com/motorcircusfi/
https://www.youtube.com/@motorcircusfi

HAHA! Nesting Minibus... you could adapt some connectors to connect Minibus battery in parallel with the big one for more range....

Seriously You will need two motors for this. What is the power of OEM engine?
I may suggest using twin Leaf motors. There is lots of torque but not too much HP.

Or you could make a belt drive adapter to get two Leaf motors power to rear driveshaft...

Nice big roof on the big bus, you could add a couple of full length fold out leaves for solar panels for some solar charging

How fast do you want to go? What's the fuel consumption at that speed? If it's diesel, multiply liters by 3 and you roughly get kWh. E.g. 20L / 100km = 60 kWh / 100 km, and if that's at 100km/h it means 60kW continuous power.

Using any single passenger car motor is probably not a safe bet, they will likely overheat. Check out the recent boat thread(s), those are dealing with large amounts of continuous power also.

EDIT: Two good motors paralleled would work fine, as long as you can figure out the mechanicals for that. Needs a beefy belt drive.

Maybe GS450H? It's got both water and oil cooling which could help. It neither has been proven for this kind of use though.

If you can get like a plaid model s rear drive unit that certainly would do it, but probably is very expensive. Oldschool model s is not rated for much continuous power, that's for sure.