My town car – 40 MPG

My selection for a retro-fit E.V.

MID ENGINE TRANS AXELS

You say “I want to make myself an electric vehicle but don’t know where to start.”
There is an Oriental saying: “The longest journey starts with the first step.”

STEP ONE: CHOOSE A CAR OR PICKUP.
There are a many things to consider when you pick the vehicle for your project.

1. Weight of the vehicle:
Choosing a SUV is not too bright. They generally weigh between 2,000 to 8,000 pounds. Give considerable thought to this and to find out the weight of a vehicle, check your computer. My car weighs just, under, 1,500 pounds and when I remove the motor- transmission radiator, gas, gas tank, miscellaneous items, like fuel pump and oil, my starting weight will be under 1,000 Pounds.

If you don’t have a car in mind you can go to a wrecking yard and ask them for a car that has a car with the motor and transmission not working. You can dicker and can pick up a vehicle for around $ 100 or $200.depending on the year. Another place to check is your local towing companies. They generally have a lot of abandon cars in their storage yard and are willing to deal, sometimes just for the towing price and will take it to where you want it.

2. Remove the engine, transmission, radiator, gas tank, etc.

If you want to do this yourself and don’t have a motor hoist, you can rent one locally. If you want someone to do this you can generally find some one who is converting cars to electric. They know where you can purchase the electrical parts and will give you an estimate. If you ask some of the car mechanics in your area they should know who does this sort of work. Remember, this type of auto has only a range of about 50 miles on lead acid batteries. This is great for driving to the store and back. The national average is under 48 miles per day. This is a good car for around town.

In order to compare the cost of electricity to gasoline we have to re-think from miles per gallon to cost per mile. A car that gets 20 miles per gallon at $ 4.00 equals 20 cents per mile. That compares to 2 to 9 cents per mile for an electric car. That’s a savings of $ 70 to $ 140 per month and quickly pay for the conversion costs.

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