Electric Car Conversions – Batteries

The heart of any electric car conversion is the batteries. You will need special batteries, called deep cycle batteries in order to make your electric car work properly.

These batteries allow you to charge quickly and discharge further than regular car batteries normally found in your vehicle now.

They are called deep cycle because normal batteries would be wrecked by the frequent draining of the batteries used in the system. Think of it as pouring water out of a glass. A regular battery you can only pour about 10% of the water out, but a deep cycle battery you can regularly discharge down 30% or so.

You don’t want to go lower than 30% down though. Topping up a battery that is to the 70% level is as low as you go.

Where do you find deep cycle batteries? We have been living off the grid for over 10 years now and have been living with battery systems to run our home for that long.

The same batteries used with solar panels and wind generators are easily fitted to electric car conversions. They are easy to find, but can get expensive if you don’t know where to look. The plans show some great sources of free batteries too. That is a great savings since the batteries for an electric car can be one of the greatest expenses.

Watch this interesting video that shows some high school students building their own electric car, including a good shot at the batteries.




If a bunch of high school students can do it, so can you.

Finding batteries is not that difficult either, isn’t it time you got started.

Electric car Plans

Don't Want to Build An EV...Then Buy One!

If the thought of converting your car or truck to electric is too daunting or you just don't have time, then I have good news for you. Many companies are jumping on the electric vehicle bandwagon and some of these cars are awesome!

This car is not due out until 2010. It is being developed by Mitsubishi. The MiEV will use a single 47 kW motor and 16 kWh lithium ion batteries—to yield about 75 miles of range and a top speed of 80 miles per hour. The vehicle will be a four-seater with a real usable back seat. No mention of price yet.

General Motors claims that the Chevrolet Volt is an “extended-range electric vehicle,” however the Volt is only promising gas-free transportation for 40 miles of driving. The good news is that 40 miles is well beyond what most Americans travel on a daily basis. The purchase price will be approximately $40,000 when it arrives in late 2010.

The Subaru R1e a small two-seater, has a top speed of 65 miles per hour and a range of 50 miles. More importantly, the time to recharge the 346-volt lithium ion battery pack has been reduced to about 15 minutes. Here’s the hitch: To get the faster charging time, you need a special stationary charger. Using the on board standard charger puts the electricity refueling time back to about eight hours. No price yet.

The limited edition Mini E car is based on the Mini Cooper platform. The car's 380-volt battery is comprised of 5,088 individual cells, and can be
recharged using a standard 110-volt electrical outlet. The battery pack has a maximum capacity of 35 kilowatt hours. BMW will offer a specialized high-amp wall-mounted device that will allow a full replenishment of the battery in less than three hours. The Mini E will have a cruising range of 150 miles. Approximately 500 cars are slated for production and lease to select customers in Southern California and the New York area. Pricing has not yet been determined.

And here's my favorite...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-mph top speed, 200-mile range, and a brilliant tech design that wires together nearly 7,000 mass-commodity rechargeable lithium batteries. The price? Just north of $100,000. Tesla has faced serious technology and corporate hurdles in delivering its first vehicles. Only a few Tesla Roadsters have been shipped so far, but the company plans to expand production to 1,600 annually for 2009 and 2010.

There are other electric vehicles that are either on the market or being developed as we speak. Some, Like the Gem e2 are currently in production and available, while others like the Miles XS500 area still in development.

One thing we can be sure of, the electric car is here to stay and as battery technology improves, the range and speed of electric vehicles will put them in direct competition with current fossil fuel vehicles.

How To Convert Gasoline To Electric Car

You’ve decided to learn how to convert gasoline to electric car of your own. It’s not that difficult of a project either. You just need to follow these simple steps-

·Find a vehicle (any vehicle will work)

·Get detailed plans on how to convert gasoline to electric car

·Obtain deep cycle batteries and a large DC motor for power

·Various parts and accessories

The nice part of this whole process is that you don’t need any special tools to do the conversion. Regular tools found in any home work shop will work. You will need a garage or shop to work in although you can do the conversion outside in your driveway if you have to.

After doing 3 conversions according to the plans we would suggest you locate a good helper as well. At times having a second set of hands is a good idea.

Learning how to convert gasoline to electric car is really about matching your DC motor used to power the car with the available battery supply.

In order to achieve the desired range between charges of over 200 miles you will need about 20 deep cycle batteries. You can even find free batteries and free DC motors that will work great for your electric car conversion if you follow the detailed plans carefully.

The DC motors are large and heavy but easily last the lifetime of your electric car, and possibly a second installation as well.

Try and find the lightest small car or truck that you can find for the conversion. This will insure good range between charges.

What we were really amazed at was the acceleration and speed of our new electric car. This is not a slow electric golf cart you are building. It is quick, responsive and smooth.

At stop lights you will be able to keep up with any vehicle off the line.

Although most Electric cars are designed for in town, you will find that you can travel easily at 50 mph on the highway too.

The whole process of learning how to convert gasoline to electric car takes about 2 weeks or so to complete depending on your abilities and persistence.

That’s not bad, considering you will not have to stop at a gas station ever again.

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

Isn’t it time you did your own electric car conversion? Let’s get started.

Learn How To Convert Gasoline To Electric Car is the best place to start to learn all there is to know about doing this yourself, and producing renewable energy to power your car, it’s easy to figure out how to convert gasoline to electric car for yourself.

Electric Vehicle Motors

You’ve decided to build your own electric vehicle and now you need to learn about electric vehicle motors.

There are many considerations in choosing which one to install.

What do you need to know to get started?

·DC or AC- the choice is yours

·How big of a motor do you need?

·Detailed plans on how to build an electric car- electric vehicle motors

·Do you choose a car or truck?

Let’s start with the vehicle you will use. There are some basic considerations you need to remember but mostly vehicle weight and battery capacity are your main concerns.

Basically the lighter the vehicle the farther it will be able to travel between charges. That means installing electric vehicle motors in a small car or truck is your best choice. This must be balanced with total battery capacity too, since the more batteries, the longer your vehicle range will be.

We have chosen small trucks for most of our latest conversions as they are light, strong and have lots of room for batteries making it a good choice for installing electric vehicle motors.

Which motor should you choose?

Most of the large car companies are installing large AC motors in their electric vehicles. AC is light for its power output and they have a powerful charging device that works off of your braking system when the AC motor is slowed down that energy is actually transferred to the batteries.

The two drawbacks to those motors are that they are more difficult to install compared to DC and more expensive.

For that reason we have chosen DC electric vehicle motors for our recent conversions. They are easier to install and cheaper too.

The plans we found also showed us where to find them for free- and deep cycle batteries from the same source too. That really saved us a lot of money.

Since electric vehicle motors will last a very long time, probably through 2 vehicles obtaining used DC motors is a good choice for the conversion. Good recycled motors are all around if you know where to look.

Motors in the 9 to 13 inch range work best and has lots of power.

Choosing the right vehicle and obtaining free parts will definitely keep the cost of the project down too.

The first time you drive by a gas station after you do your conversion you won’t be able to stop smiling.

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

Isn’t it time you did your own conversion? Let’s get started.

Learn about Electric Vehicle Motors is a great place to start and learn how you can save lots of money on your gas bills for the future and help the environment in the process.

Electric Truck Conversion

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 if you follow these simple steps.

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

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

·Locate a decent small truck to convert

·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 electric motors.

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

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

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 50 mph on the highway.

With a range of over 200 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 allows us to haul loads of even 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 need 20 or so) 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…

You will save lots of money too on both fuel and repairs as the electric truck is much more reliable. For the cost of one repair bill with your present vehicle you could be driving an electric truck conversion.

The first time you drive by a gas station you will know exactly what we mean.

Did you know that gas is expected to rise to $7 per gallon by next year? Isn’t it time you did your own conversion too. Let’s get started.

Electric Truck Conversion is the best place to start to do your own conversion and start saving money and the environment; you can do your own electric truck conversion too.

Electric Car Conversions – Parts List

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

You will need, an electric motor, deep cycle batteries, controller, battery charger an adapter 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 easily at 50 mph.

What about batteries?

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

It’s just a matter of asking.

Why do you need 20 batteries? In order to achieve a range of 200 miles you will need this many batteries.

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 simply just plug it into any common AC circuit and get charged up again.

Isn’t it time you got started on your own conversion.

Just go to Electric Car Plans to begin.

Build Your Own Electric Car?

Yes you can!

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.

Get your free copy of the book, "Build Your Own Electric Car" by visiting EV Conversions and scroll to the bottom of the page. You can read the reviews as well while you're there.