Easy Way to Convert Your Pickup Truck to Electric Vehicle
If you were to look at DIY electric car conversion projects, one of the best donor car you can choose is a pickup truck.
Why is that so?
There is one advantage a gasoline driven truck has that other normal sedan cars doesn’t.
It is the flat bed storage space at the back.
The ample storage space of a truck is great to keep all the deep cycle batteries needed to power the electric motor.
An average homemade electric vehicle (EV) would need about 15 to 20 units of deep cycle batteries to supply to power needed to run the electric motor.
On a full charge, the batteries would be able to provide sufficient power to the electric motor to cover a range of approximately 50 miles.
Obviously, by adding more batteries, it will increase the mileage of your electric truck.
More batteries also means more weight and space required.
Check out the YouTube video below where a 2003 Ford Ranger truck has been converted into an electric vehicle by EV West Shop.
Battery Voltage: 251 Volts Nominal
Motor Voltage: 170 Volts, Controller Limited
Motor: NetGain Warp 9
Controller: Evnetics Soliton 1
Range: 120 Miles
Charge Time: Less than 8 Hours (J1772)
Transmission: 5 Speed Manual
0-60 Time: 8 Seconds
Top Speed: >100 MPH
Traction Batteries: 76 Qty, 180Ah CALB LiFePO4 Cells
System Battery: 20Ah 12 Volt Shuriken AGM
Battery Monitoring: Manually with EV West Balancer
Charger: Elcon PFC5000
Charge Inlet: J1772 With 110 Volt Adapter
Throttle: Chennic Hall Effect Throttle Box
Traction Cables: 2/0 AWG Double Insulated
Amp Counter: Xantrex LinkPro
Instrumentation Driver: ZEVA Plus
Shunt: Deltec 1000 Amp
Contactors: Qty 2 Tyco EV200
Vacuum Pump: Belt Driven from Motor Pulley
Power Steering: KRC Pump from Motor Pulley
Heater: Fed from Power Steering Pump (It is SoCal!)
Air Conditioning: Ford AC Pump from Motor Pulley
Safety Disconnect: Dual Contactor and Cable Pull Breaker
RPM Sensor: EV West Billet Aluminum
Controller Cooling: Dual Fan Radiator, Water Coolant
How far can your drive the EV truck?
According to EV West, on a single charge, you can drive up to 100 miles!
Converting an EV truck
What is the best way to convert a truck to run on pure electricity?
If you are well versed with the internal workings of an automobile and you are good with hand tools, you can start by purchasing electric truck conversion kits.
Most of the electric truck conversion kits in the market are not the same.
Make sure you have the correct kit made for your truck model.
The key components of the kit is the joining plate.
The function of the plate is to hold the electric motor in place.
The electric motor shaft has to be perfectly aligned with the center core of the transmission.
Any misalignment will cause vibration and reduce the efficiency of the motor.
That in effect will reduce the net mileage of your electric truck.
The steel joining plates are custom made to fit the transmission housing for the specific truck model.
Therefore, choosing the right electric truck conversion kit is very important.
Cost saving
How can you reduce the cost to convert a regular pick up truck into an electric vehicle?
One option is to use recycle deep cycle batteries instead of brand new batteries.
In order to do so, you must know how to bring a dead battery back to life.
Click on the link below to learn the technique and tools needed to recycle old deep cycle batteries.
