In terms of running cost, a pure plug-in electric car is definitely better compared to a conventional automobile. Just imagine the amount of money you’ll saved by not having to fill up at the gas station. There is a drawback on electric vehicle (EV) though, it is the high cost.

For the time being, an EV is still relatively expensive. If you were to visit an EV dealership, be prepared to spend upwards of $40,000 for a sedan electric car. Is there a cheaper alternative?

To save cost, my electric car enthusiasts are turning to homemade electric car to fulfill their dreams of owning an EV. Because of the rising demand from DIY electric car conversion, there have been a lot of EV conversion kits available in the market.

Generally, a DIY electric car is much cheaper compared to a brand new EV from the car makers. If you are starting your own EV retrofitting project, you should set aside roughly $7500 as the budget. The amount of money you spent on your EV can be reduced if you were to take steps to improve its efficiency.

To improve the efficiency on an EV, you have to find ways to extend its driving mileage before it has to be recharged. There are many simple and cheap ways you can do so and in this blog post, I thought of writing about improving the “air drag” of the EV.

Reducing Electric Car Air Drag

Just like a conventional car, when a homemade electric vehicle is moving, it too has to push through air. To extend its mileage, we have to find ways to push or redirect the air trapped in the front of the car to the side. One of the most popular ways of doing so is by installing a nose cone or grille blocker.

Depending on which model donor car you use, the grille blocker will improve the aerodynamic of your EV therefore extending its mileage per charge as much as 20 percent. It’s a simple solution and yet yields a big result!

Another way to improve the aerodynamic of EVs is by installing a flat belly pan underneath the car. This can be done by using a piece of plywood or thick plastic sheet. The idea is to allow air to rush through the undercarriage rather than being trapped in between the car parts thus creating drag.

There are many things you can do to improve the efficiency of your electric vehicle and they don’t have to be expensive. What you’ll need is some time and dedication to implement the solution onto your DIY electric car. It may seem insignificant, but the improvement on your EV mileage can be quite substantial.

Homemade Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you want to know how to convert a gas guzzler to a pure electric car in your home garage? If you do, check out the Convert2EV e-book written by Les Oke.

Les Oke is from Canada. He and his family have been living a green lifestyle for more than a decade. Staying true to their green lifestyle, Les and his wife use homemade electric cars.

The Convert2EV guide was written based on Les’ years of experience with EV conversion projects. For more information, read the Convert2EV review on this blog.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

Many people before starting their own DIY electric car conversion project, have an uneasy feeling because there are so many uncertainties. Some will even give up before they get started.

If you are planning a homemade electric car conversion project, how do you get over your jitters?

You can start by doing some readings on EV conversions. There are a lot of electric vehicle magazines and also web sites that you can read to feed your curiosity before you begin. You can also visit EV related forums on the web that a lot of electric car enthusiasts hang out and post some questions. The idea is to calm your nerves with some technical information.

But beware, do not fall into the trap of “analysis paralysis” where you become paralyzed with fear because you did too much analysis on your EV conversion project. Overcome your fear by just doing it.

EV Conversion – Getting The Motor In

The biggest hurdle that you have to overcome is removing the internal combustion engine of your donor car and connecting the electric motor to the transmission unit. This process involves a lot of technical precision.

If you had an adapter plate custom made, changes are, you may face some unforeseen circumstances. You may get all the measurement and dimension right, but when you try to install it, the components may not fit exactly.

Here’s a tip. Why not get a machinist to help you with the electric motor installation process? He will be able to studying your donor car engine compartment and would be better to anticipate any challenges that may occur. By doing so may cost you a few hundred dollars, but it will save you a lot of headache and also time and money wasted to redo the adapter plate.

The Rest of The EV Retrofitting

When the electric motor is in, the rest of the procedures are simple in comparison. The next big hurdle is to make the rack for the deep cycle batteries.

Generally, a homemade electric car would have 15 – 20 units of deep cycle batteries. The challenge here is to find the ideal space to store them without taking up too much of the interior space.

When installing the batteries, what you must pay attention on is getting the right measurements. You can follow the rule of thumb for carpenter which is “measure twice and cut once”. In this case, measure the battery storage area twice before cutting the metal support frames.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

A DIY electric car conversion in actual fact is not very difficult. However, it does require a lot of persistence and dedication. If you’ve done some car maintenance on your own before, you shouldn’t have too much problem installing all the EV components onto your car.

If you are a total newbie and you want to get some basic information on home build electric car, you can check out the Convert2EV e-book by Les Oke.

Les Oke and his family live in Canada and they have been living a green lifestyle for more than 15 years. In order to have a low carbon footprint, Les and his wife drive electric cars that they built themselves.

The Convert2EV e-book was written based on Les’ years of experience retrofitting conventional automobiles to run on pure electric power. For more information on the electric car conversion guide, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

Have you driven a pure electric car before? Most people had but they just do not realize it. If you are a golfer, most probably you have driven an electric golf cart in the golf course. The golf cart is exactly how an electric vehicle (EV) feels like. It is quiet, no vibration, no exhaust gas and has a very powerful acceleration.

Many vehicle owners like the idea of using a pure plug-in electric car for their daily driving. However, a brand new electric car from the car manufacturer is still quite expensive. Let’s take the Phoenix SUT as an example. Phoenix SUT is a pickup truck that runs purely on electricity. If you want one, be prepared to spend upwards of $45,000! Yup, pure electric cars are not cheap.

Due to the high cost, many people are turning into Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion project to get hold of an EV. But before you rush to your garage and start yanking out the internal combustion engine of your car, this is what you have to know about homemade electric cars.

DIY Electric Car Conversion

Will the DIY electric car fulfill your driving needs? No doubt a DIY electric vehicle has many advantages, but it is not meant for everybody. The biggest drawback for an EV is the driving range before it has to be recharged.

Do you know how many miles you drive in a day? This number is very important because it will tell you if the electric car is suitable for you.

Let’s take the Phoenix SUT as an example again. The electric truck uses a lithium-titanate battery bank which give it approximately 130 miles of driving before it has to be recharged.

For a DIY electric car, the type of battery you will be using is the deep cycle kind. Deep cycle batteries are used for homemade electric cars because it is most suitable and cheapest.

However, EV using deep cycle batteries would not be able to give you the same driving mileage as a car using lithium-titanate batteries. Hence, your Do It Yourself electric vehicle will only have a driving mileage of approximately 50 miles before it has to be recharged.

Now, do you see why your daily driving mileage is so important now?

The mileage of 50 miles an EV can give you is for round trip. It is actually good if you are driving to a distant of about 25 miles from your home. The battery will provide you sufficient power to get to your destination about 25 miles away, but the balance power for the next 25 miles is needed for you to drive back.

If you were to get your journey mileage wrong, you may end up having your DIY electric car stranded in the middle of the road because the battery bank runs out of juice.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

Before you get started on a DIY electric car project, you must know whether the EV will meet your daily driving needs. If it does, the next step is to get a good EV conversion guide. If you are looking for an electric can retrofitting guide, check out the Convert2EV e-book by Les Oke.

Les Oke and his family are from Canada and have been living a green lifestyle for more than 15 years. To keep their carbon footprint low, they use pure electric cars to commute.

Throughout the years, Les has converted numerous conventional automobiles to run only on electricity. The Convert2EV guide is written based on his experience with DIY electric car conversion project. For more information on the Les’ EV guide, read the Convert2EV review on this blog.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

Should you be using lithium iron phosphate batteries (LiFePO4) on your homemade electric car? Lithium rechargeable batteries are the ideal battery choice for a Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car.

Lithium batteries are perfect to be used on EV because they are light weight, durable and can generate the power output almost twice compared to a conventional lead acid battery.

However, before you start stocking up on lithium batteries for your EV conversion project, here are 3 things you should know.

Lithium rechargeable batteries require a programmed charger.

Although the lithium battery has many advantages, it does have an Achilles’ heel. This type of battery can easily be damaged by overcharging. When the LiFePO4 is overcharged, it has a tendency to bulge thus breaking its outer casing. One good example is when we overcharge the battery of our mobile phone.

Over mobile phone uses the same rechargeable lithium battery as it power unit. If we constantly overcharge our phone, you will notice a shortening of your battery life.

If you were to remove the phone battery unit and place it on a table, you will notice a slight bulge at the center. The same scenario will happen with lithium batteries on electric vehicle.

To overcome the issue of overcharging lithium batteries, we have to use a special programmed charger known as a Battery Management System (BMS). It is best to use a BMS from the manufacturer of the lithium batteries because it would have been carefully tuned and adjusted.

Requires power equalization.

In order for the BMS to work properly on your electric car, the individual battery unit on your EV has to be equalized. To perform the equalization, you will need a device known as a balancing module for each battery.

The function of the balancing module is to constantly check and record the condition of the battery from its state of charge to its internal core temperature. All the information will then be sent to a master control unit.

Lithium battery pack master control unit.

The third key component of a lithium battery pack is the master control unit. Its key function is to control the charging and discharging of individual battery.

With its centralized data processing system, the central control unit will prevent overcharge and over-discharging of the lithium rechargeable batteries on your electric car.

If you have the budget, by all means use lithium batteries on your homemade electric car. But before you do so, make sure you understand the importance of the 3 components above. Doing so will ensure your lithium battery pack to last a long time.

Homemade Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you want to know how to convert a conventional car into a pure plug-in electric vehicle? If you do, check out the Electric Conversion Made Easy guide by Gavin Shoebridge.

Gavin is from New Zealand is a well known as the EV Guy. He has personally converted a Mitsubishi Tredia into an EV in his garage on a shoestring budget. To learn how he did it, click on the link below.

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

If you are building your own Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car, having an on board battery pack made of rechargeable lithium batteries would be a dream come true.

At present, lithium ion batteries are considered an ideal choice for homemade electric cars because they are light, last longer before recharge, generate more power output etc.

The list of benefits rechargeable lithium batteries have over deep cycle batteries is very long. The reason DIY electric car builders don’t use them is the astronomical cost. Why are lithium batteries so damn expensive? Do they lack economies of scale or are they simply cost a lot to manufacture?

As a matter of fact, lithium batteries lack economies of scale and cost a bomb to make. Firstly, even though most modern electronic gadgets runs on small rechargeable lithium ion batteries, their demand is still relatively small compared to car lead acid batteries or marine deep cycle batteries.

Another reason why lithium batteries are so expensive is the manufacturing process. Making a lead acid or deep cycle battery is relatively easy and does not require sophisticated equipment.

Building lithium batteries require both precision chemistry and manufacturing which require special custom facilities. To build a lithium ion battery manufacturing plant would require the investment of hundreds of million dollars.

If you have the budget, you still can build an electric car using lithium battery pack. Your investment cost will be somewhere around $5,000. But for most people, that would have burst their EV conversion budget. Until the cost of lithium batteries comes down, EV enthusiasts would have to use deep cycle batteries for the time being.

Convert Your Own Electric Car

Want to know how to convert a conventional automobile into a plug in electric car? If you do, download the 20 DIY Electric Car Conversion Videos e-book.

The e-book will show you videos of homemade electric cars and the different components needed for the conversion project. Click on the link below to download the free e-book now!

==> Click here to download free e-book!

Have you ever wonder how long the batteries of a DIY electric car will last? If you are doing your own electric car conversion project, the cost of buying the batteries for your EV will take up a large portion of your budget. Wouldn’t you want to know how long the batteries will last before you have to replace them?

There is no exact answer to the above question. Different homemade electric cars will have different life span. It all depends on how the batteries are being used.

If you were to drain the battery bank and recharge them many times in a week, generally, the batteries would have a shorter lifespan.

Here’s an example, if you have 15 units of deep cycle batteries on your electric car and you use your EV for daily driving, you may have to recharge the batteries every night in your garage.

If you were to install 25 units of batteries on your EV, with the same driving usage, you may only need to recharge every other day. This means you cycle through your battery bank lesser and in result the batteries will last longer.

Should you install more batteries on your DIY electric car? When your battery bank has more batteries linked together, it would have more stored power hence does not have to be recharged so often.

But more batteries also means more weight on your EV. The key is to find the balance between weight and power availability from the batteries. Unfortunately, this is no easy task.

The best option, if you have the money, is to invest in premium grade deep cycle batteries for your electric car. They are more expensive, but they are capable of storing more power therefore you need to recharge less often.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Tips

Looking for more DIY electric car conversion cost saving tips? If you are, check out Gavin Shoebridge’s Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book.

Gavin is from New Zealand and is well known for converting his old Mitsubishi Tredia into a pure plug-in electric car in his garage.

During his EV conversion project, Gavin did have much money and had to be very creative coming up with ingenious ways to save cost on his EV. Some of his clever ways were included in his EV manual. For more information, click on the link below.

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

A DIY electric car is very different from a conventional automobile because it does not use an internal combustion engine to generate the torque needed to move the vehicle. Instead of the engine, an electric vehicle (EV) uses an electric motor.

To transfer torque to the wheels, the electric motor is bolted to the existing transmission system. Power from deep cycle batteries will be used to power the motor. To charge the homemade electric car, all you have to do is plug it into your home power supply.

When charging the batteries, there is one component that you should never leave out and it is the charge controller. Why do we need a charge controller for a Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car?

The main function of the charge controller is to fully charge the deep cycle batteries of your electric car and at the same time prevents overcharging. Overcharging the batteries is a bad idea because it will damage the internal plates and shorten the life of your batteries. Since an electric car use from 15 – 20 units of batteries, overcharging them can be an expensive ordeal.

How does the charge controller prevent overcharging on the batteries?

Inside the controller, there is a transistor that acts as a shunt. When a battery being charged reaches a fixed voltage level, the shunt will open therefore severing the charging circuit and stops electrons from flowing into the battery. This process is automatic so you do not have to look at the battery charging state constantly.

A homemade electric car with 15 – 20 units of batteries will give you approximately 50 miles of driving before it has to be recharged again. Charging the batteries in your home garage will usually take overnight. By using a charge controller, you can rest assured the batteries will not be damaged due to overcharging.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you want to know how to convert a normal car into an electric vehicle? If you do, check out the Convert2EV e-book by Les Oke.

Les Oke and his family are from Canada and they have been using pure electric cars for traveling. To save cost, Les does all the electric car conversion work in his garage.

The Convert2EV e-book was written based on his many years of experience completing EV conversion projects. For more information on his EV guide, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

Well, most of us are broke, and high gasoline prices are ripping a hole in our pockets. That’s why we are hoping a DIY electric car can help us to reduce of monthly expenses.

If you have only a shoestring budget, I thought of writing some helpful tips to reduce your EV conversion project cost. The list is not comprehensive in anyway, there are many other ways you can cut cost. Here’s my top 4 suggestions on building an electric car with minimal cost:

1) Simple technical specification.

If you don’t have the money, you can’t demand a lot from your EV. What we want is for the homemade electric car to meet our very minimum requirements.

Let’s take speed as an example. If you don’t have the money, you can’t drive very fast on your EV. You may have to use a smaller electric motor and a less powerful controller. You may have to be contented driving at “old man” speed in your EV.

2) Used parts only.

Forget about buying new parts and components. Your option right now is either used or refurbished parts.

You can save a lot of money if you were to spend the time sourcing for used parts. Doing so, you may have to take a longer time to complete your EV project.

3) Selling leftovers from donor car.

Think of what you can sell from your donor car. If the internal combustion engine (ICE) is still in good condition, sell it for some cash. Do the same with other redundant components such as gasoline tank, radiator, fuel lines, exhaust pipe etc.

4) Ask for donation.

This is a difficult approach, but if you have limited budget, why not ask for donation from your friends and family. The donation doesn’t have to be money, it can be parts such as batteries, tires, rust removers, paint, cables, anything…

Well, the above are 4 ways I can think of on how to reduce the cost of a DIY electric car project. If you have more to add, feel free to write your thoughts in the comment section below.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you want to know how to convert a conventional automobile into a plug-in electric vehicle? If you do, check out the Convert2EV e-book from Les Oke.

Les and his family have been living a green lifestyle in Canada for from than 15 years. To reduce carbon footprint, Les drives around in a DIY electric car.

The Convert2EV manual is Les’ experience completing numerous electric car conversion projects. For more information, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

Have you seen electric cars covered with solar panels? If you were to convert a conventional automobile to run on electric power, should you include some Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the EV to charge the battery bank?

I’ve came across this question in a forum recently and I thought of doing some research on it.

Here’s the fact, a normal sedan homemade EV needs approximately 300 watt hour or Wh to move 1 mile on a flat surface. There are a few factors which will affect this figure such as tire pressure, road resistance, road gradient, wind drag etc. But let’s take that as an example for now.

In order for you to drive 1 mile on your electric car, it will use up 300 Wh of electricity from your battery bank.

Now, how much power can a solar panel generate? Let’s take one of those common 4 feet PV panels used for home solar system. 1 piece of the panel can pretty much cover the entire roof of your EV.

On a bright sunny day, the said solar panel is capable of generating 150 watt-hour of electricity. Meaning, if you were to park your EV under the sun, it will charge your battery bank with 150 Wh after 1 hour.

If you need 300 Wh, you have to install 2 pieces of 4 feet solar panel on your EV and leave it under the sun for 1 hour. After that, you would have top up the battery bank with enough power from the solar panels to travel 1 mile!

If you are planning to install solar panel on your DIY electric car, don’t bother. The power produced from the panel is too small for your EV, unless you are planning to park your electric car under the sun for days.

The fact is, an electric car is an efficient vehicle, but it does consume large amount of electricity. To replenish the battery bank, it is best to park your EV in the garage and recharge the batteries using the power outlet going through the charge controller.

Homemade Electric Car Guide

Do you want to know how to convert a conventional car to run on pure electricity? If you do, check out Peter Millward’s Electricity4Gas e-book.

Millward is an environmental activist and he has been teaching people step by step how to retrofit a car to use electricity for more than 10 years. Click on the link below for more information.

==> Click here to visit Electricity4Gas now!

Many people may not have heard of Gavin Shoebridge of New Zealand unless they are Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car enthusiasts. In the EV conversion field, Gavin is known as The EV Guy.

Many people were very impressed by his work of converting an old Mitsubishi Tredia into a pure plug-in electric vehicle (EV). Gavin became a well know EV celebrity when he posted his electric car conversion project videos on YouTube.

Not too long ago, Gavin wrote a book on DIY electric car conversion, the Electric Conversion Made Easy guide. The book is available from www.evsecrets.com and is meant for anyone interested to convert their conventional car to run on pure electricity.

Is Gavin Shoebridge’s electric car conversion guide any good?

If you were to visit his web site, Gavin promised to teach anyone to start an EV project even he has completely no automotive skill or experience. This has been proven true because when Gavin converted his Tredia, he has no idea what he was doing. But through the process of trial and error, he managed to roll out his EV from his garage after almost 1 year working on it.

It took Gavin that long to complete his electric car project because most of the modification done didn’t work very well and had to be redone. His Electric Conversion Made Easy guide basically listed down what worked for him.

From his guide book, Gavin covers every components of an electric car such as electric motor, controller, deep cycle batteries, potential box, circuit breaker, vacuum pump, shunt etc. In his e-book, he also wrote about the rules and regulation of EV conversion and also tax rebates and deduction for electric cars.

If you are still not sure, don’t worry. Gavin has included his personal guarantee on his electric car conversion guide. If for whatever reason you do not see any value from his manual, you can ask for a full refund within 60 days from your purchase date. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

If you are concern about high gasoline prices and you want to find a way to reduce your monthly gasoline budget, why not consider using a plug-in electric car. If you are willing to invest the time and money, Gavin will help you with the instructions.

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