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.

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Lithium Rechargeable Batteries on DIY EV?

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!

1) Zero Motorcycles Inc – Zero Motorcycles Inc designs, manufactures and markets high-performance electric motorcycles to compete and win in the growing global electric vehicle market.

2) SANYO Energy Corporation – A world leader in the development and production of power sources and commercial secondary battery products, SANYO developed the innovative CADNICA Nickel Cadmium battery in 1964.

3) Battery-Biz Inc

4) G.S.Battery USA – GS Battery is the American subsidiary of GS Yuasa Corporation of Japan, which are formed after the merger of Japan Storage Battery and Yuasa Battery in 2004.

5) GP Batteries USA – GP Batteries International Limited has been listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited since 1991. The Group is principally engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of batteries and battery-related products.

6) House of Batteries – House of Batteries is a master distributor and custom battery pack assembler for every major battery manufacturer in every battery chemistry for every electronic application.

7) LG Chemical America – LG Chemical is a leading chemical company in Korea in terms of both size and performance. It is a vertically integrated chemical company that manufactures a wide range of products.

8) Micro Power Electronics – Micro Power have developed more than 1,000 different battery systems, from those using Ni-MH and Ni-Cd batteries to the most advanced Lithium-ion systems and smart battery packs.

9) GS-Melcotec USA

10) Quallion – Quallion was founded to develop and manufacture “QUALity Lithium ION” rechargeable power sources for unique and challenging applications by co-founder, Alfred E. Mann.

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!