GOING ELECTRIC

[87Chevette]

I'd like to take in some suggestions on how to go ELECTRIC, on a project car. Here's what I am dying to know...

1. A basic Idea of HOW.

2. What to make my Electric car out of, I have seen Saturns converted.. What would you do?

So far I am thinking that I should buy a ready-made conversion kit, and build it into a 2-dr cavalier. The car can be dressed up pretty well, and if it is an EcoTec powered car, I should be able to get some of the funds to do the swap from selling the powertrain.

Any ideas of sites I could go to, I need to know more about what to do and how.

Thanks in advance for your tips!

[BigPontiac]

http://www.lincvolt.com/

[Drew Dowdell]

go for the lightest weight body that suits your needs.

[Camino LS6]

Kit would be the way to go - too much "home engineering" otherwise.

[SAmadei]

As I've seriously looked into this, I feel that making an homemade electric vehicle is still too impractical for two reasons...

1. You can't afford the 6600 Li ion batteries, so you are saddled with a overweight pile of cheap, lead acid batteries. At the time, I was still looking at $40K in Li ion batteries.

2. There are no easy regenerative braking systems for the homebrew set.

Sure, you can build an electric vehicle... in fact, I really like the pickup that was built with a big wing on top of solar cells, to help extend its range... but in the end, it will either have little range or will be too slow for regular use.

I would have expected more parts to be floating around now that the Prius has been around for 5+ years.

That said, you may have different expectations, so don't let me dissuade you.

[G. David Felt]

Personally I suggest you wait about a year and you will have a ton more options. If you really like projects and cost is not a big issue, then go for building your own or doing it with a kit car.

[SAmadei]

Personally I suggest you wait about a year and you will have a ton more options. If you really like projects and cost is not a big issue, then go for building your own or doing it with a kit car.

Which isn't such a bad idea... doing the project in stages so you could get the parts that become obsolete fastest last.

Because the actual electric motors are pretty much as developed as they are going to get. Perhaps, you could work on getting a controller and the electric motor installed... but power it with a diesel with a huge generator. This would require less batteries (just a couple lead acids as a buffer), and likely would still be more fuel efficient that the drivetrain you are replacing.

When the batteries get cheaper, dump the diesel/generator combo or leave it as a range extender.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

you could always build one of them human powered vehicles that go like 40+

[Satty]

you could always build one of them human powered vehicles that go like 40+

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Ermm... a hybrid bicycle? Wouldn't that make you tired really fast? I mean you now have to not only drive the wheel but also charge the battery.

[Satty]

Its actually just an electric motor, you have to plug the battery in, it doesn't recharge while pedaling. Although that would be awesome.