So You Want to Build Your Own Electric Car?
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First Things First
High price of gas got you down? Well build your own electric car and get forget about gas! You know it's going to be back over $4 a gallon as soon as they can get it there. You can run an electric car for 1 to 2 cents per mile!
Now there are a lot of considerations when you are looking to build your own electric car. Do you start from the ground up or convert and existing ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicle? What would make a good "donor" vehicle? What kind of batteries to use? What about a motor? Can I really do this? Will this thing even work? Am I crazy?
Well, first things first.... Yes, you can do it. It's not rocket science and it really doesn't take any more than average mechanical skill to do a basic conversion. As far as starting from the ground up... well if you really want to go that route, more power to you! But I will say that is bordering on rocket science, you'll be a lot better off converting an existing ICE vehicle to electric.
The Donor Vehicle
So you still think you want to do this, eh? OK. Step one is to find a good donor vehicle.
One of the first things to consider is weight, how heavy is your donor car? This will significanlty affect the range of your EV (Electric Vehicle). Remember you are running on batteries and the more weight you have the more power it will take to move the car. So in general the lighter the better.
On the other hand if your car is so small that it can't carry very many batteries that will also cut down on how far you can drive.
A Tale of Two Cars
Let me tell you about a couple of vehicles I know that have been converted to EV. The first is a '80 Spitfire, the other an '89 Ranger pickup. Now at first you might think the Spitfire is the perfect donor car, it's small and lightweight and has a lot less aerodynamic drag, and you would be right. But on the other hand the pickup has a much stronger frame and can carry a lot more batteries, so in the end the pickup actually has a greater range, it can make about 40 miles per charge and the Spitfire only gets about 35 miles.
That's not very far you might say, but most of us only drive about 33 miles per day, and if you really wanted to (and had the extra cash) you could put in lithium batteries and get twice the range. We're talking basic, inexpensive, lead acid batteries here, this is about saving money on gas, not going high-tech & spending a lot of money.
Step Two
When it comes right down to it just about any ICE vehicle will do, but some are easier conversions than others. For example, a rear wheel drive car will be a lot easier to do than most front wheel drive cars. Why? You have a single shaft to connect to you electric motor instead of two.
Plus for some vehicles there are electric motors that are made to connect directly to the drive shaft of certain manufacturers. For instance the Netgain Transwarp DC motors that are designed to connect to the Chevy Turbo 400 transmission or directly to the Chevy universal joint on the drive shaft. Check it out here.
Now that you have a donor vehicle in mind it's time for a closer look at the hardware. You can do a DC motor or an AC motor with an inverter to convert the battery power to AC. I'm a fan of DC myself, hey it's one less piece of hardware that could go south on you, not to mention that it's one less thing you have to pay for...
Batteries
For these I would go for a quality lead acid, deep cycle battery. Or heck you can throw in junk used car batteries to start and upgrade later. Eventually lithium batteries will be affordable and you can make the change later, but run on lead acid for now to save money. Or you can put in cheap used batteries now and go for quality lead acid, deep cycle batteries later.
Just make sure that you get a good quality programmable charge controller that can handle the battery upgrade later.
Git Er Done
So now you're ready to jump into the project... good luck! Rip out the ICE engine, gas tank & fuel lines and maybe the transmission too. Mount your motor in place, put in the charging system and battery bank (be careful not to electrocute yourself!) and off you go!
Well, it's not quite that easy, but that's the general idea. You'll probably need lots of help so here's a link to a forum with some people that have done it all before... generally happy to answer questions and help out.
I'm out of time for now so I'll publish another episode on DIY electric car conversions later with more details on getting the actual work done.
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Well, seems this author failed to mention the finer points of an electric conversion. Like new parts costing ten grand. Hey the point here is to save monies, not spend it. For ten grand one could buy a nice used car getting thirty some miles per gallon, and not the fifteen to twenty he or she might be getting now, and pay for said vehicle in a few years, thus saving money, and gaining a greater range vehicle. I have yet to understand why or how an electric vehicle can't be run by it's own generator once it is running via one or two batteries, allowing said generator to power an electric motor. An interesting factor here is that a three phase motor can generate electricity when over powered. The old bs that such things can't be done, or they would already be done is lost on me. I remember the hand crank generator in school, and do not understand how such a generator couldn't be made for a car or truck. I for one, know that both innovation and inventions are being suppressed by the corporations who stand to loose out if such things were made. Like the CFL light fixture that delivers a 75% savings in electric use and cost. Why isn't it being made and used? Because companies like GE, who sold Japan all those nuclear reactors are into nuclear. Can anyone imagine the savings to retail companies and their product costs? Or the jobs said light fixtures would create everywhere? And as far as the electric car is concerned, It should already exist, and we ought to be into our third generation car design by now. And as far as putting all those internal combustion engine and parts companies out of business. A simplified internal combustion engine could be run on air. Yes, I said air, like Germany is doing with buses. Compressed air like what is powering our power tools today. And please don't give me the old bs about charging electric batteries or charging compressed air tanks. All could be done most cheaply via solar and wind power. Isn't it interesting how wages haven't kept up with the rising costs of almost anything, or how innovations and inventions aren't being used to create and save monies. Every home and building in this country could and should have a wind mill on it, generating cheap power, not some GE nuclear power plant capable of killing people for miles, and making land un-usable for thirty to forty thousand years. Nuclear power use is simply stupid! Hello Japan. Oh, they probably have lowered electric use now, with people and everything else glowing in the dark. And hey, you want an immediate solution to the cost of energy? Convert to natural gas. It's here now, and it would put people back to work, and save everyone money, and get this, we have the natural gas, not the Arabs. Yes, I'd say this author missed a few things. Jsav123.
10K to build?? OK, if you just want to spend a bunch of cash go ahead, but it can be done for a LOT less than that if you don't have a need to drive a fancy car.
First use an older VW bug or Karmen Ghia for your donor car, about $1200 will get a decent specimen. Then sell the engine, you should be able to get $500 to $900 depending on what you've got. Then how much you spend depends on what kind of driving you need. If you are close to work and the drive is flat you could use a 72 volt kit found here: http://www.e-volks.com/about2.html
for about 3K. You could spend less on this by getting creative with used stuff if you have the know-how.
Then you need six 12volt or twelve 6volt batteries. Now you can go out and buy new deep cycle batteries designed for use in an electric car... or you can scrounge some used batteries and re-condition them. Your choice, spend the $1500 on new or work with your local recycle place (or a golf cart place -- lots of good used batteries) and only spend a hundred or so, but keep in mind you won't have as much range.
So, put all that together and you'll have a good basic EV to get to work and run errands, etc. About a 30 mile range, but like I said if you live close to work and have no steep hills it works. Stats are that most people drive less than 30 miles a day anyway. And all that for as little as $3000 if you go with used batteries, $4500 with new batt... not too bad. And that's if you pony up for the kit, if you can scrounge a bit you could find a used motor and save $$ too.
OH, and Jsav123... don't be a jerk... if you want to rant about all kinds of stupid stuff do it elsewhere....
ANd, FYI, an electric vehicle can be run on it's own generator, you should be familiar with the Chevey Volt??? Even when it's running on gas the drive wheels are powered by electricity... yeah, the engine is just a generator. Problem with this on a DIY EV is the cost and the weight. I do know a guy who did a small pickup as an EV and has a generator he can drop into the bed of the truck if he needs to make a longer trip.
Your hand crank generator doesn't EVEN come close to making enough power... most EV's need at LEAST six 12v batteries if not ten or twelve of them. You can make a glorifyed golf cart with 4, but only for a 5 mile range.
CFL lights?? Dude! Get a clue... they are here, I have a dozen in my house, you can even buy them almost any grocry store.. in the USA... maybe not yet where you are, but they're coming.
And, sure the compressed air thing is interesting... just hasn't caught on yet, not enough driving range...
And yes, we obviously should be making a lot of cars to run on natural gas... but then that's a huge political issue and the oil companies have the money to fight it, at least on a large scale. You could convert your own car for a couple thousand... but then you still have to pay for the natural gas... won't really save you money. You're better off to build an el cheapo EV, it WILL save you enough $ over buying gas to pay for itself in a couple of years.
JakeAuto 2 years ago
The spitfire's oversize 'hood' must be handy for tinkering.
I made a survey of electric car conversions, aside from a few using donated or recycled components, the average new part cost for a conversion is $10,000. A 30 mile range and 60 mph top speed are common. Spend 10 times more and you can get 240 miles range and super speed with the Tesla.