Hello all! First post to the forum, so go easy on me.

This may seem really OT, borderline blasphemous in this setting, but I'm really interested in doing a custom electric vehicle conversion and I think the A4 B6 sedan (03,04, early 05 in USDM right??) is a beautiful car and would make an awesome candidate for a lot of reasons...

One problem I'm having though is finding the Gross Vehicle Weight ratings. Since batteries are so heavy it can be hard to find a car whose chassis can handle the weight and still have enough capacity for passengers/normal cargo. Go over and you end up with insurability / liability problems. Curb weight is regularly published, but so far I haven't found a way to get the GVWR other than actually looking in the driver's side door jamb.

One of the major questions I have is then, is whether a 1.8T FWD has the same max rating as a 3.0 quattro or not. If the quattro has the higher rating then I'd want to use that as a donor car of course.

I'd like to get at least a couple of examples of different year, engine, transmission, and overall GVWR combinations for the A4 B6 style sedan.

Thanks everyone,

Mark M.
Mililani, HI

For those interested I'm planning on ditching original motor and transmission, and going rear drive only with a one or two speed reduction depending on whether I choose AC or DC motor (very different torque curves). I'm hoping the weight reductions here would help save capacity for the fat batteries - probably at least 1000lbs if I go reliable lead acid. Lithiums half the weight but triple the price and ?? reliability. I know range will suck, but I have a short commute and it should be a fun project in and of itself.