A Short Guide to the Electric Car

An  electric car  is powered by an electric motor instead of a gasoline engine.   The electric motor gets energy from a controller, which regulates the amount of power—based on the driver’s use of an accelerator pedal.  The electric car (also known as  electric vehicle  or  EV ) uses energy stored in its rechargeable batteries, which are recharged by common household electricity.

Unlike vehicles powered by fossil fuels, BEVs are most commonly and conveniently charged from the  power grid  overnight at home, without the inconvenience of having to go to a filling station.  Charging can also be done using a street or shop charging station.

Electric vehicles first came into existence in the mid-19th century, when electricity was among the preferred methods for motor vehicle propulsion, providing a level of comfort and ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline cars of the time.  The  internal combustion engine  (ICE) is the dominant propulsion method for  motor vehicles  but electric power has remained commonplace in other vehicle types, such as trains and smaller vehicles of all types.

Although electric vehicles have few direct emissions, all rely on energy created through  electricity generation , and will usually emit pollution and generate waste, unless it is generated by  renewable source  power plants.  Since electric vehicles use whatever electricity is delivered by their electrical utility/grid operator, electric vehicles can be made more or less efficient, polluting and expensive to run, by modifying the electrical generating stations.  This would be done by an electrical utility under a government energy policy, in a timescale negotiated between utilities and government.

A hybrid electric vehicle combines a conventional (usually fossil fuel-powered) powertrain with some form of electric propulsion.  Common examples include hybrid electric cars such as the  Toyota Prius .  The  Chevrolet Volt  is an example of a production  plug-in hybrid .

The Tesla Roadster is a screaming-fast, all-electric two-seater sports car built on the frame of the Lotus Elise.  The specs, if they can be delivered, are impressive:  0 – 60 mph in less than four seconds, 135-mpg equivalent, 200-mile range, and a brilliant tech design that wires together nearly 7,000 mass-commodity rechargeable lithium batteries.

Battery life should be considered when calculating the extended cost of ownership, as all batteries eventually wear out and must be replaced.  The rate at which they expire depends on the type of battery technology and how they are used — many types of batteries are damaged by depleting them beyond a certain level.  Lithium-ion batteries degrade faster when stored at higher temperatures.

The electric car in one form or another is here to stay, and as battery technology improves and charging gets faster and more available they will become a cheaper and convenient way to get around. Its a technology we have to embrace as fossil fuels are not a viable long term prospect.

Your Electric Truck Conversion

So you’ve decided to do an electric truck conversion and now you need detailed plans to get you started. Doing the conversion is not that difficult, as long as you follow these simple steps.

Find a place to work - shop, garage, etc.

Get your tools ready: saws, cordless drill, wrenches, etc.

Locate a small truck that's still in good condition, with little rust

Get detailed electric truck conversion plans

It is a good idea to use a small truck for this conversion, because they are light and strong. Unlike small cars, they also have lots of room for battery placement.

Since the number of batteries determines your effective range, this makes a small truck a good choice.

We recently completed a conversion on a Toyota Tacoma and it worked great.

Remember that you will need a standard transmission truck to start with. Automatic transmissions just don’t work with inexpensive electric motors.

Don’t worry, though, if you only know how to drive an automatic. After the conversion, your electric truck will drive just like an automatic.

Just put it in gear and go. It’s pretty simple.

We were amazed at the acceleration, which left a lot of people staring at us as we zipped between stop lights in town. This isn’t a slow-moving golf cart, as some people seem to think.

Your electric truck conversion will keep up with any vehicle in town and travel at least 50 mph on the highway.

With a range of up to 100 miles, as outlined in the detailed plans, it will take you where you want to go, when you want to get there.

The two main parts to an electric truck are batteries and a motor. We chose a large 11-inch DC motor for our conversion and this even allows us to haul loads of firewood with the truck.

What impressed us most is that the plans even outlined sources of free deep cycle batteries that we could use in our truck.

Since batteries are one of the largest expenses (you'll need 16-20 overall), this really helps keep the cost manageable - a big plus for the budget-minded family.

And isn’t that why you are doing this conversion, to save money?

In addition to saving money on fuel, you will also save on repairs, as the electric truck is much more reliable. For the cost of one repair bill with your present vehicle, you could be driving a converted electric truck.

The first time you drive by a gas station, you will know exactly the pride that we feel.

With gas prices rising all the time, isn’t it time you did your own conversion? Come on, let’s get started! Visit the convert2ev website for more information.

Electric Car Conversion

It isn’t really a complicated process to do an electric car conversion, but you will need to obtain certain specialized parts.

You will need: an electric motor, deep cycle batteries, a controller, a battery charger, an adaptor kit, and various other small parts.

But first, you are going to need a vehicle that you can do your electric car conversion with. Any vehicle can be used for this project, but some work better than others.

Heading the list are small cars and trucks, as they are light and strong. Your first consideration as shown in the detailed plans is to find the lightest vehicle that will still do the job of hauling you and whatever cargo you carry around.

Next, you will want a large DC motor that will produce power for your electric car. The larger the motor, the more power your electric car will have.

Don’t worry that it will be slow either. Many people have the wrong impression of electric cars; they accelerate as fast as any vehicle on the road and travel at least 50 mph.

What about batteries?

You will need to locate about 16-20 deep cycle batteries for your car as well. The plans outline sources of batteries, even free batteries that you can find with a little effort. The same source will probably have free DC motors too.

It’s just a matter of asking.

Why do you need this many batteries? In order to achieve a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge.

A controller is needed to fix the amount of current flowing from the batteries to the motor which determines how fast you go. The controller is connected to your old gas pedal linkage for smooth control of the vehicle.

In order to charge your batteries between trips, you will need an on-board battery charger. That way you can just plug it into any common AC circuit and get charged up again.

Doesn't this sound like fun?

Isn’t it time you got started on your own conversion project? Visit the convert2ev website for everything you need.

Learning How to Build Your Own Electric Car

Learning how to build your own electric car is not really that difficult of a project. We did our own conversion of a 1995 Toyota Corolla at a cost of only five hundred dollars.

How did we do it? Well, it really turned into a family project after it began. Here’s how you can do it too.

What you will need to get started:

Detailed plans on how to build your own electric car

You can use any vehicle - gas or diesel

A garage, shop or barn as a work space

Simple tools every home workshop has - wrenches, drills, etc.

First off, you will need a large DC motor (9 inches or larger) and a source of batteries. Note that AC motors can be used as well but they are a bit more expensive so we went with DC. They are easier to install too.

You can, of course buy all these parts brand new but this is the heaviest cost of the whole project so we suggest using the sources of free DC motors and free industrial batteries listed in the plans.

They’re not hard to find either and since a DC motor will run for probably longer than you will own your car, using salvaged motors makes sense. Your car will rust out from under you before the motor gives up.

We wanted to keep the costs down and figured this was a great way to do it.

After obtaining your DC motor and batteries, you have to remove your gas engine from your car. Rent a hoist or find a friendly mechanic to lift it out for your. A few bolts and it’s free.

Leave the clutch and flywheel assembly and detach the rest. That will leave you room for batteries and DC motor mounting.

It is imperative that you only use a standard transmission vehicle for your conversion as automatic transmissions simply won’t work.

Don’t worry, you won’t even have to shift gears in traffic once the conversion is done. It will drive just like an automatic transmission, which is nice. Put it in gear and go. When you stop, the engine simply stops too. It doesn’t keep idling, requiring clutching like a gas engine.

Get more information plus your plans and sources of free batteries and motors by visiting the convert-2-ev website.

Build Your Own Electric Car - Review

This product is offered by a Les and Jane who have been living “off grid” for the past 15 years. They drive their own homemade electric car and use solar and wind energy to run their house.

Their book reveals the method that they used to convert their car to run on electricity at a cost that they, as regular people, could afford. The cost of the whole process is a few hundred dollars. And they will also show you how to complete a 100 miles with one charging.

You will learn in a step-by-step the method of converting your car to electric power and how to reduce the money that you pay for fuel to nearly zero.

This method is not only an effective way to get great mileage for less, but it also helps the environment. The use of fuel increases the amount of harmful gases in the environment which has a negative affect on the overall environment and particularly on the local environment.  By adapting to this method of running your vehicle you are also doing a favor to our environment.

You will be pleased to learn that the IRS gives refunds to people who are using environmentally friendly methods of living. In this book you will learn how to benefit from this as well.

In the book you will learn how to replace the expensive batteries that you have to buy for running your car on electricity. You can keep a whole bank of used batteries in great shape for years.

The car speed is something that you may be concerned about because without speed there’s no point in wasting money on such methods. The authors say that your electric powered car will easily achieve freeway speeds. This means that in terms of performance there will be no issues at all.

For the couple, however, this electric vehicle conversion is only part of what has been a 15 year journey to find the ultimate way to maintain a normal lifestyle and live green at the same time.Read more and get your own copy