Has anybody came up with a way to put A/C in a GEM? I liked the all in one for RV. Just mount to the roof. I have seen a few setups for truckers and a bare bones setup for 500 on Amazon. Anything else out there?
Hole saw though the windshield?
There are three possible air conditioning methods that are being looked at. It is vacation time in China for the next 3 weeks so my getting these units is stunted. But I will have the equipment by Fall and will test each to suitability.
1. Ease of installation
2. Power requirements
3. Cooling capacity. You kinda have to have doors or you might as well just sit on an ice pack.
4. Quality of equipment and parts availability.
I have my Chinese associate find the real manufacturer of the product and then we work to get the best price. Most of the people selling on the internet are “traders” and just add a middle-man upcharge to the item. Buying from them means higher price and an impossible parts availability and warranty path.
Power requirement is either 12v or 24v or 500v (Yea the 500v go in electric cars!) So this will have to be worked out. I’m thinking 12v and have a very large 12v battery pack and charger but I will have lots of help from some excellent GEM power people on this forum.
Where to install? either the rear of the cab or the roof.
There are roof crossbars for holding amber lights, I have one, that are very strong.
Already designed and tested so two of them could hold a roof top unit. I hate raising the height of the car but it would give better air distribution for e4 cars.
Rear mount units are less intrusive but would not cool a e4 front area very well.
Can an evaporator (inside coil) be installed on a factory heater/blower?
Good question.
I will try to evaluate this possibility. That would be so nice and could be a solution to needing a front and rear cooling source for e4 and e6 cars. This would mean intense refrigeration work to run refrigeration lines through the car.
or maybe an underdash blower. It is 12v and worked on all the 60’s cars I upgraded in the 70’s
These require a rear mounted condenser that produces heat and would cause anyone in a rear reverse seat discomfort.
But who cares, they are stuck outside while the inside people are cool. 
Comments and viewpoints on this subject are very welcome. Doing something new is a challenge and help is always appreciated.
Looks like your on top of it. Keep us up to date.
I’d like to hear more about this option for an eM1400 (2-seater) with a full cab kit. The full cabs are black plastic ala rubbermaid. Side windows only open half way and less than 0.5sq ft open area each.
̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶o̶f̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶u̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶y̶e̶r̶, although it’s not super bad inside, but it can still get hot and ventilation is kind of shittay, which is the worst part.
Condenser location isn’t a a problem, the eM1400’s are basically (sorta) electric RWD ranger 300s. There is a big open area up front where the winch normally goes that could be used.
Just adding This crazy idea to the pool of thoughts (I have had worse).
But to cool an entire cab might require a lot of energy.
How about taking a tip from the NASA guys and just cooling your suit?
Just having a hose of nice cool air blowing in your shirt for a short run to the market would be instantly refreshing.
This also flashing me back to when I was working out in a big workshop and felt overheated I learned that sticking the compressed air nozzle in my shoes for a quick blast worked amazingly well too.
HAHAHAHAHHA. That’s perfect.Nice Walmart outfit.
Wow that sound like a good placement for the condenser in the front, great air flow. I wonder if the under dash unit would work. That would be a simple setup.
I am in Florida and my big shop is in Houston area. I guess I will have the ac equipment sent there where I have plasma cutters and vacuum pump and such. But first Chinese vacation time has to get over. Why don’t we get 6 weeks off like China, France, Germany, et. al. ? Workaholics.
You know a car normally has 3-4 tons of ac. We have gotten used to a car being cool in about 2 mins. That is 36,000-48,000 BTUs. This project will have to be much less cooling. Maybe tinting and running the ac before you get in the cab. Teslas have a cool mode while the car is sitting, parked. “Pet Mode” I think they call it.
There are these ice Vests, you put a frozen pack into your vest and it sucks up the heat. You see how I did not say “makes cold” . No such thing. Only removing heat or moving heat. But you knew that.
Now all you need is a freezer on the back to keep the cool packs in.
I will keep you up to date.
Sounds promising. I’ll post some photos as soon as I can. Might be a few days. Cabin fan easy to access on an eM1400. It’s on the passenger side, all exposed. only 3 (?) vents iirc, one is right on box
Maybe a separate battery pack for the cooling? eM’s are designed for 8 massive GC2 AGMs, after li-ion conversion, depending on the box the pack is built into, there could be lots of room left under the seats.
eM1400s are with trucks, so they come with factory installed air leaks in the cab but the vents are well placed enough that if the are blowing at each occupant, might be able to get away with less cooling
I really like this idea. we been talking w @MrAir1 for a while about this project,
unfortunately my cars don’t have doors But I can help with Battery and design.
So far, Having a separate battery for the AC seems like a good idea but I would try to use the same battery for all, I rather a bigger battery than a separate one, that way it can extend the range in winter or when AC is not being used. Probably needs a dedicated DC DC converter, (@Inwo has some that he is testing)
Cool. Talk more later when I catch a break. Haven’t built the pack for Emmy yet, I need to inventory exactly how many SDI cells I have. Two full cases plus extras.
Obviously ACond wouldn’t be used in winter, but if reversed the same system can be used as a heater.
With boat systems this is quite common.
For some unknown reason I just saw this thread now I have been talking with Scott and he has a few rooftop mounted AC units.12v-24 48v units
And a 96v unit. They are All the roof top mounted units. I’m gonna go with a 96v unit.
It can run as high as 104volts. This way I can tap into my large battery bank that’s 98 volts.
The AC units are supposed to land here in America soon. My initial thought was to do a roof mounted unit Inc. with a roof rack that way the roof rack sort of Hides or conceals the not very good looking AC unit
So how is it working? Does it need to be on full all the time? Any specs on battery drain? I want one for my 2018.
The AC unit on the E2 is not mine. It’s a Car Scott did for a customer. That unit is a 12v unit.
I’m not sure of what the draw is on it. But he said it works real good. He said it will or can freeze you out of the car! I’m betting that’s only on cars with doors and windows. Just like a car as soon as you open the window out go’s all your cool air. I’m waiting for my unit to get here and then I will know more. It would be good to know what kind of AC horse power a average car has Vs these roof top mounted units.
The one I’m getting also has a heater in it.