Electric Truck Conversion Kits – Convert Pickup To EV
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 it so?
There is one advantage a gasoline driven truck has that other normal car 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 electric vehicle (EV) would need about 15 to 20 units of batteries to run. On a full charge the batteries would be able to provide sufficient power to the electric motor to cover a range of approximately 150 miles.
Obviously, by adding more batteries, it will increase the mileage of your electric 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 kits 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 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 kits is very important.
To find out more about electric truck conversion, check out Les Oke’s Convert 2 EV electric car conversion guide.
Im all for electric cars, and doing away with gas, but the only problem I find with this kit is that it takes up the storage space, which im sure people need since they bought a truck in the first place.
just my 2 cents worth, other than that its a great idea and buy!
Hi SLV,
I do agree with your comment about electric car conversion kit taking too much space. Most of the spaces required will be used to store the deep cycle batteries. A pickup truck with a flatbed in the back will be very useful for that purpose.
‘Will
Hi Will
Thanks for the feedback comment. Feedback comments are rare.
Keep up the great work!
if people are buying like a cheap used car to do this on (you dont really wanna mess up your normal car untill you got this down right?) then you might get a pickup knowing it wont have any storage space. another option would be to get a 5/6 person cab, then you could just put groceries ect. back there. and also to me, looking at the picture of the pickup on the top of this page it seems that you could lay down like a board or something on top of the batteries and put your things on there right? and if you have one of those locking bed cover things, it would be just like a very long trunk. oh well i just looke at it again and it appears the battereies go all the way to the top, but there still apeears to be some space behind them
Hi Will,
I was hoping you could tell me which motor i would need for this truck so I can do a budget up.
I would like a ac motor and dc example as well so i can compare pros and cons of both before i decide on the system i would like to use.
Thank you for your time Brian N.
Hi Brian,
Check out the following link on electric motor for your truck.
http://www.go-ev.com/motors-warp.html
I’ve seen a lot of good reviews about the Warp 9 motor on the web. You should check it out.
‘Will
The EV truck I saw had the batteries stored under the truck bed and up under the hood. He had cut access ports in the truck bed floor. There is lots of space for batteries between the frame with the gas tank and exhaust system gone.
Hi John,
A truck is a much better choice as a donor car for an electric car conversion project.
As you’ve mentioned, there are lots of space. Another reason is its weight carrying capacity.
Remember, the batteries on an EV can be quite heavy. A normal sedan car may not be able to handle the extra dead weight.
‘Will
Im trying to decide what to do. Putting me in a small vichile is like putting a square peg in a round hole. I know that I need a vihicle that hax manual transmition which limits me and uses up more electric energy. Is there such a thing as running a vihicle like a train a small gas motor running a generator to charge the batteries when needed. I know that would cost more than chargeing but havn’t seen anything on using bigger vihicles. Thanks for your time.
Hi Darrel,
Using a gas generator to charge the batteries would defeat the purpose of using an electric car in the first place…which is to save on gas cost.
I think the best approach for you is to get a pick up truck as your electric conversion project donor car. It will have lots of space for you and the batteries.
Will
Thanks for your advice. When you mentioned a pickup were you thinking of a small pickup or a 1/2 ton pickup ?
I ask because the only pickups I’ve seen converted to Electric were the smaller pickups. I like the idea of using a 1/2 ton pick up. If I use that size of pickup I imagine the mileage will go down.
Thanks Darrel
Hi Darrel,
You’re right. I’m referring to a 1/2 ton pick up.