Our misson: Promote Electic Vehicles and support everyone who dreams of owning one.
An electric vehicle can not only be an economically viable replacement for your daily driver and commuter but you can also build it yourself.
Bike? Car? Motorcycle? The choice is yours!
Ah have an EV dream!
When I was 18, I was in complete envy of my best friend. He had the coolest car in the world; a 1970 Chevelle Malibu with a 350 two-barrel, appliance mag wheels, BFG TA radials and a bi-amplified am-fm Cassette. When I got a job and it was time for him to trade (up?... naah) to a 280z, I bought it from him. That was 1980.
Fast forward 5 years. Married and ready to become a grownup by buying a house. Sadly, the only source of cash was the value of my beloved (the car that is) so we sold it.
Fast forward another 7 years. I'm driving to the gym after work for a quick workout before going home to help shuttle kids about. What's that I see? It's my car! Parked in the local HS parking lot! I left my biz card under the wiper. The owner called me back that night... what a coincidence! It is for sale!
I think I overshared with the seller, (OMG! I MUST HAVE THIS CAR!!!) because the transaction was notable for the nonexistent negotation. I paid 50% more than it was worth but was happy about it.
The people in the photo are my 18 year old son and his girlfriend at his senior prom.
I know I'm crazy, but I think this is a good ev candidate. I hope so, because I'm keepin' it even if gasoline becomes completely unavailable.
Here's my goal:
- 60 mile range.
- comparable power to stock.
- professional but not exotic look.
- understated. I know that people want to show off their creations, but POWERED BY BATTERIES! in 6" tall text is not in the plans.
Tentative plans call for 2 banks of 144v of 90ah LiFePo4 batteries (all under the hood) for a total of about 22,000 wh of energy with a theoretical maximum power of almost 1800 amps. To deal with that kind of power, I envision (2) 9" motors. For a controller, I'll have to wait for Zilla to resume production, I suppose.
It'll probably be a year or two before I can begin this project. In the interim, I want to convert a small truck, probably an S10.
Wish me luck!
So you want to build an electric vehicle?
Converting a gasoline powered vehicle to electric power is a completely viable and doable project. An EV has several advantages over a gas car :
- It eliminates tailpipe emissions
- It's quiet
- It's essentially maintenance free
- It costs far less to operate
- In most places, power rates are much more predictable than gasoline
- Electricity will be available long after fossil fuels are gone
The basic technology has been around for 100 years, but it is being improved at a rapid rate. New technologies, such as Lithium Ion Phosphate batteries are dropping in price rapidly.
I'm here to help. I don't mean to imply that your goal is easy; there are many decisions and a significant dollar and time investment that you must be prepared to make. The websites that tell you that you can build a serviceable EV for $500? Forget 'em - they are blowing sunshine in a place that sunshine is not supposed to be.
It IS possible to do a really professional job for less than $10,000 and about 80 hours, and it is possible to do a serviceable job for less than $5000... particularly if you can resell your ICE (internal combustion engine) components.
Selection of a vehicle
In my research, I'm finding that EV candidates are selected on the basis of a handful of often contradictory considerations;
- minimum weight when the ICE (internal combustion engine) is removed
- small frontal area. Aerodynamics are a plus, but it's hard to beat a vehicle which presents the minimum area to the wind.
- maximum gvw; the ability to carry a very large payload.
It should come as no surprise that those which have the best cargo capacity are also those which have the worst frontal area and weight. Life is full of compromises.
In addition to those major considerations, I would add a few more secondary considerations (continued)
