Choosing a Truck as an Electric Donor Vehicle
One thing that I realized from doing my research on Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion is the space needed to put all the deep cycle batteries. For an average electric vehicle, you will need a minimum of 20 units of batteries. On the full charge, the car will be able to go about 150 miles. The actual mileage will depend on the driving condition, the speed of the car, the net weight of the car and also the condition of the batteries.
If you have not noticed, stuffing a sedan with 20 batteries can be quite challenging. Most probably you have to use all the space in the booth and maybe remove the back seat to hold the batteries. You may also have to construct multiple batteries rack on different places in the car. If you want more mileage from your electric vehicle, you would have to put in more batteries.
If space is one of the primary concerns of an electric car conversion project, why not use a [tag-tec]pickup truck[/tag-tec] as a donor car. With a flatbed at the back, a truck has no space issue storing 20 or more units of battery packs. All the batteries can also be placed relatively close to each other making your wiring job neater and easier. If you are thinking of doing an electric car conversion, start by considering a truck to be retrofitted. Check out the video below on a converted Ford Ranger electric truck.