If you are looking for a cheap electric motor for your DIY electric car conversion project, why not consider using an old electric motor from a forklift.

Where can you find this type of electric motor? Well, at forklift service workshops of course. But not all forklift electric motor can be used on a homemade electric vehicle (EV).

When you are going through old forklift electric motors, look for something weighing in between 100 to 150 lbs. If you have a heavy donor car with lots of deep cycle batteries, you’ll need a big motor to push it around. Obviously, a bigger electric motor weighs more.

Here’s a tip. Look at the core of the motor. You want to see insulation that is wine colored with yellow banding. The brush leads should still have its copper color and should not be scotched. The commutator should not have any grooves or pitted because that is a sign the motor has been over used.

Here’s another tip. Look for armatures that have a commutator with a big bar count. A large bar count means the motor can handle higher voltage. Higher voltage means more power for your electric car but it will drain your battery bank faster.

If you are looking at a series motor, have a look at its solid field leads. Make sure you are not getting a sep-ex or compound would motor that may not suit your needs.

Finally, inspect the shaft of the electric motor. This is one of the biggest issues when using a forklift motor on a homemade electric vehicle. Make sure the shaft is something which you can modify and attached to the transmission. Replacing the entire shaft is a tough procedure and it takes a lot of time.

When shopping for an electric motor, if you need to, take off the cover of the motor to have a better look at the inside. Go through all the internal parts making sure they are in good conditions.

Some time we get so excited and eager to buy the forklift electric motor for our EV project but end up getting something not suitable.

Homemade Electric Car Conversion Guide

Want to know how to convert a gas driven car to run purely on electricity? If you do, check out Gavin Shoebridge’s Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book.

Gavin is from New Zealand and is known as the ”EV Guy”. His guide will show you what are the parts and components needed for a DIY electric car conversion project. For more information, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Gavin’s web site now!

One of the trickiest processes of a DIY electric car conversion is coupling the electric motor to the transmission unit of the car. To make the connection work easier, it is recommended for you to take out the transmission and put in on a workbench. It involves a lot of work, but it will save you a lot of time and unnecessary headache.

When the electric motor and the transmission is on a workbench, you can now handle the alignment, get the holes drilled and get everything working.

To start of the connection process, there are 2 things you need to consider.

1) The physical piece of the electric motor.

You have to find a way to somehow bolt the motor to the transmission. The motor will be using an “L” shaped motor mount.

A lot of electric cars use a motor that mounts off the face and you’ll actually end up with a piece of metal plate between the electric motor and the transmission.

2) Connecting the power from the electric motor to the transmission.

When doing this, you will notice two different size and very different shaft. You will need to come up with a way to connect both together. The most common way electric car converters are adopting is to use a brand of connector calls Lovejoy connectors.

The connector comes with 2 pieces of steel with finger. There will be a piece of rubber insert that sits between them. The Lovejoy couplers are not very expensive and you can get them from Amazon.com.

You can order the steel pieces independently with different size hole to match the different shaft.

The Lovejoy couplers are designed for industrial work and are made to go right on the shaft of the electric motor. Look closely at the electric motor shaft. It is smooth except for a groove in it. That is where the “key” goes in.

The key is what keeps the coupler from spinning once it is on the motor shaft. That is how you connect the electric motor to the transmission unit of the donor car.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you want to find out more on how to convert your gas guzzler to a pure electric vehicle? If you do, check out Les Oke’s Convert2EV manual.

Les and his family live a green lifestyle and use an electric car for their daily commute. Les has converted numerous conventional automobile to EV. The Convert2EV e-book is all his EV conversion experience penned down.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

In this blog post, I wanted to write about electric motor. To be more specific, how to find cheap electric motor. If you are doing your own Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion, the electric motor is one of the key component of the project. When the internal combustion engine (ICE) is removed, the motor will be the primary torque generator for your electric car.

There are many places where you can get an electric motor for your EV. If you have the budget, it is best to buy a brand new one. If you do not have the budget, then it is time to be creative in order to find inexpensive motor.

In my last couple of blog posts, I mentioned the electric car conversion guide by Les Oke, Convert 2 EV. From his e-book, Les showed how to find cheap electric motor at eBay. I decided to do a quick search at eBay to see if I can locate some cheap motors.

It took me only a couple of minutes and I managed to find 5 great deals on electric motor. You can see the screen shots on top. How did I do it? It’s easy.

First, go to eBay main site at www.ebay.com. If possible, choose a local eBay site closest to you. By doing that, you will saving on shipping and transport charges.

When you are at the web site, you should see a search bar on the top left. Type in the phrase “electric car motor” and then press the “Search” button on the far right.

When you do that, eBay’s search engine will display all the listings with the key phrase “electric motor” in them. The last time I did the search (July 24th 2009), there was a total of 64 results.

Now we have to find the right electric motor for your electric car. From the book Convert 2 EV, Les suggested to look for a motor with voltage between 50 to 80 volts. That was the criteria I used to locate the 5 offers above. Most of the motors were rated 48 volts and I think that’s close enough.

When you have located the best deal, you can now start bidding for it. Remember, to be a legit bidder, you have to sign up as a user with eBay. User registration is very easy.

Here’s a tip you can use. When purchasing the electric motor from eBay, it is a good idea to ask for a 60 days guarantee from the seller. Because you are not physically inspecting the motor, you do not know its true condition. If the seller is sincere, he will comply with your request. If he declines, just walk away and look for another offer.

If you want to know other tips and tricks on how to find cheap parts for an EV conversion project at home, be sure to check out Les Oke’s Convert 2 EV. His ideas will save you thousands of dollar.

==> Click here to visit Convert 2 EV now!