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Any running projects using i3 motor?

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2026 6:25 pm
by ber
I've been lurking for a few months, gathering info and parts in preparation for an upcoming conversion project. The i3 drivetrain is appealing for a variety of reasons, but I'm concerned by the lack of completed projects. Searching the forum is a challenge, since "i3" is too short to be a valid search term, so I'm hoping folks can share info on projects I might have missed.

I'm aware of Scott166's Mini conversion (https://www.youtube.com/c/MiniLifeCrisis) and his posts on the controller-hacking thread (https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1296), but there haven't been any updates on that project for quite a while so I'm not sure if it's been successful. There's only one entry in the parameters database, and it's from his project and still labeled "experimental". I'm also aware of the Smart Roadster build (https://openinverter.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3640), but the last update on that thread was eight months ago, so I'm not sure how far it got.

Is anyone aware of completed, driving projects using the i3 motor? I know there's a huge ecosystem for Tesla and Leaf motors that's missing for the i3, but I'd welcome other thoughts on why so few projects seem to be using it.

Re: Any running projects using i3 motor?

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2026 8:34 am
by tom91
Not that I am aware of or have seen on the forum/youtube/discord

Re: Any running projects using i3 motor?

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:52 am
by marcexec
You can get a similar package with a little less power with the Outlander RDU: https://openinverter.org/wiki/Mitsubish ... Drive_Unit

Re: Any running projects using i3 motor?

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2026 11:39 am
by jrbe
You can put this into Google,
bmw i3 site:https://openinverter.org/ is better but a lot of the hits are not showing info about the posts found.

https://openinverter.org/wiki/BMW_i3_Inverter

Johu has the board for them but I'm unsure of any running swap projects. You can add running swap to the beginning of that search string and other things to see if you get any hits.