Leslie Oke asked:

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 in about 2 weeks at a cost of only a few hundred dollars. How did we do it? It really turned into a family project after it began, here’s how you can do it too.

What will you need to get started?

? Detailed plans on how to build your own electric car
? You can use any vehicle- gas, diesel
? A garage, shop or barn is nice, but not necessary
? 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. The accelerating ability takes some getting used to as there won’t be a vehicle in town that will take you off the line at stop lights. This is no slow golf cart you will be building here.

Learning how to build your own electric car is a lot of fun too. Putting together the controller and motor assembly is not that difficult either. Your new Electric car will be able to go 50 mph and travel up to 200 miles on a single charge too. Pretty amazing.

Did you know that gas prices are expected to reach $7 per gallon next year?

Isn’t it time you got started on this project.

Build Your Own Electric Car is the best place to start on your own electric car conversion and learn all there is to know about how to build your own electric car.

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matt q may, Sr. asked:


The Basics Of How You Can Build Your Own Electric Car

With the cost of gas these days, some consumers have decided that having and operating an electric vehicle will be more effective and cheaper in the long run. If you decide to build your own electric vehicle, there are whole lot of resources available to assist you understand and work through the process of changing a gas vehicle to an electric vehicle.

If you have a long commute everyday, an electric vehicle might not be your best choice, since on average, electric vehicles can run from 30-70 miles each day. This is totally dependant on the driving conditions, the weight of the vehicle and the battery quality. Also consider how you will be recharging the batteries. If you live in an apartment complex with no garage, it may be impossible to charge the car’s batteries every night.

Important Considerations

First you have to decide what type of car you want to use to build your own electric vehicle. Smaller cars will usually be ideal, but larger vehicles can be used as well. You will most likely want to use a car that has a manual four or five speed transmission, since manuals are more efficient. Interestingly, since electric motors are so efficient, shifting up and down constantly won’t happen as much as it does in a gas fueled engine.

When you build your own electric vehicle, the additional systems can add anywhere from 200 to 500 extra pounds to the total weight of the car. So, when choosing the car you want to work with, make sure that the total weight of the car with the modifications isn’t completely ridiculous and is within reason.

A few things that are optional and not used often when you build your own electric vehicle are power steering and air conditioning. The power steering would require another motor to make the power steering pump work. Air conditioning drags on the batteries, but you can hook up air conditioning using a special magnet system to work the compressor.

If you want to build your own electric vehicle, there are plenty of resources out there to help you do the job right. As time passes, electric vehicles and hybrids will become more and more popular simply because the price of gas seems like it is going to stay fairly high and for many people, gas is almost not affordable. Take a look and decide if you want to build your own electric vehicle; you might be surprised at how fairly easy it is to convert your gas guzzler into an electric vehicle.

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