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!

A homemade electric car would need from 15 – 20 units of deep cycle batteries as its on board power source. Let’s say after a couple of years, you start to notice the driving mileage of your EV is getting lesser before you need to recharge.

Can you recondition the batteries so it will give you the same driving distance when you first install it? In most cases, this is not possible.

The success of battery resurrection depends on the state of sulphate on the battery plates. The idea is to de-sulphate the plates by adding special chemical into the battery and using high frequency pulse. If you can break up the hardened sulphate, more plate surface will come into contact with the sulfuric acid therefore creating electric current.

But there’s another problem, not all batteries die from sulphation on its internal plates. In reality, most batteries go through a slow natural death from internal plate disintegration. You can try your best to recondition the deep cycle batteries of your electric car, but your attempt will be in vain.

This is a hard fact because some DIY enthusiasts will try to rejuvenate a dead deep cycle battery. The battery can be used on electrical equipment that requires low voltage supply. But to reuse it on your electric car which requires constant high amperage from the battery bank, the reconditioned battery simple could not do the job.

So in conclusion, you can try to recondition a weak or dead battery from your EV, but you can’t use it to power your DIY electric car anymore. You can use it for other low power demand usage. Nonetheless, by doing reconditioning and reusing the battery, you can still save some money.

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!

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!

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!

If you are looking for a cheap electric motor for your DIY electric car conversion project, why not consider using an old electric motor from a forklift.

Where can you find this type of electric motor? Well, at forklift service workshops of course. But not all forklift electric motor can be used on a homemade electric vehicle (EV).

When you are going through old forklift electric motors, look for something weighing in between 100 to 150 lbs. If you have a heavy donor car with lots of deep cycle batteries, you’ll need a big motor to push it around. Obviously, a bigger electric motor weighs more.

Here’s a tip. Look at the core of the motor. You want to see insulation that is wine colored with yellow banding. The brush leads should still have its copper color and should not be scotched. The commutator should not have any grooves or pitted because that is a sign the motor has been over used.

Here’s another tip. Look for armatures that have a commutator with a big bar count. A large bar count means the motor can handle higher voltage. Higher voltage means more power for your electric car but it will drain your battery bank faster.

If you are looking at a series motor, have a look at its solid field leads. Make sure you are not getting a sep-ex or compound would motor that may not suit your needs.

Finally, inspect the shaft of the electric motor. This is one of the biggest issues when using a forklift motor on a homemade electric vehicle. Make sure the shaft is something which you can modify and attached to the transmission. Replacing the entire shaft is a tough procedure and it takes a lot of time.

When shopping for an electric motor, if you need to, take off the cover of the motor to have a better look at the inside. Go through all the internal parts making sure they are in good conditions.

Some time we get so excited and eager to buy the forklift electric motor for our EV project but end up getting something not suitable.

Homemade Electric Car Conversion Guide

Want to know how to convert a gas driven car to run purely on electricity? If you do, check out Gavin Shoebridge’s Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book.

Gavin is from New Zealand and is known as the ”EV Guy”. His guide will show you what are the parts and components needed for a DIY electric car conversion project. For more information, click on the link below.

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

Where do you do go if you want to convert your conventional car to run on purely electricity in Canada?

If you are good with hand tools and you understand the inner workings of an automobile, you can actually do the conversion process yourself. There’s even a fellow Canadian who is willing to give a helping hand. His name is Les Oke.

Les Oke is the author of the popular e-book on electric car conversion called Convert 2 EV. You can see the main web site at www.convert-2-ev.com.

Here’s some background about Les. He and his family have been living off the grid in Canada for more than 15 years. As part of their green lifestyle, they use pure electric vehicles (EV) for transportation.

To save cost, Les will source for old vehicle, strip out the internal combustion engine and the gas tank and then replace them with an electric motor and a bunch of deep cycle batteries.

Here’s something you may not know, Les Oke is not really mechanically inclined. Most of his DIY electric car conversion project was done through trial and error.

Throughout the years, Les has converted numerous automobile to run on electricity for himself and his family. With years of experience, he has finally figured out the best way to retrofit a car to use only electricity.

The Convert 2 EV manual is his years of experience on homemade electric car penned down. Don’t be surprised if one of these days you see him and his family zipping around in their EVs on the Canadian streets.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you want to learn how to convert your gas guzzler to run on electricity? If you do, check out Les Oke’s Convert2EV manual. It is written in simple English meant for the average Joe. Click on the link below for more info.

==> Click here to visit Convert 2 EV now!

The kind of battery most suitable for EV is the deep cycle type. It is the same kind of battery used on marine boats. Deep cycle battery is more robust and is capable of handling deep level of discharge.

A homemade EV would require at least 15 to 20 units of battery. That will give you an average driving mileage of approximately 60 to 100 miles. To ensure you have good mileage on your EV, it is best to check the batteries on a regular basis.

How do you check the battery condition?

The easiest way is to use a battery hydrometer.

The battery hydrometer is basically a glass tube with a suction ball at one end. It is used to draw the electrolyte from the battery into the tube.

Inside the glass tube, there is a float with multiple color markings. You can see a long red strip, a narrow white strip and then a wider green strip.

When the float in the tube is at the green level, that means the battery is in a very good shape. In other words, the more the float sticks out of the electrolyte in the glass tube, the stronger the battery is.

When the float is at the white marking, your battery is in a fair condition. If the float goes to the red area, the battery is not in a good condition. There is something wrong with the battery and you have to take it out for servicing.

In a situation like this, you have to bring the battery to a shop to get a full recharge.

Use the battery hydrometer to test all the batteries in your electric car. A faulty battery in your EV may affect the total driving mileage because it is not giving any power to the electric motor, and yet it is taking up space and weighing your car down.

DIY Battery Reconditioning Guide

Do you want more tips and strategy on how to maintain the batteries on your electric car? If you do, check out the battery maintenance guide on this blog.

It will show you step by step on how to maintain your battery and how to bring a dead battery back to service life.

==> Click here to visit the Battery Reconditioning Guide now!

The problem is COST!

Unlike conventional automobile, you can stop by the gas station to refuel and continue driving. Since there are thousands of gas stations around the country, a vehicle using an internal combustion engine has virtually unlimited driving range.

For an EV, the case is very different. A DIY electric car has to carry its power source on board. The power is stored in the deep cycle batteries. To have longer drive mileage on your electric car, you’ll need more batteries.

If you are planning to put extra batteries in your EV, it will inflate your conversion project cost, not to mention the extra dead weight your vehicle has to carry.

The key here is to find the middle ground or the “sweet spot” for your cost versus drive mileage. To determine your EV range, ask yourself the following questions:

1) How far will I need to drive each day?

2) Am I going to use the car for work commute or for unpredictable usage?

3) Is my driving route terrain hilly or flat?

4) Is there a recharging point at my work or at my destination I can use?

5) Is my choice of donor car a big heavy truck, or a small hatchback?

If you’re unsure of the distances, try recording them on your car’s odometer or on a GPS system to give you an estimate. By doing that, you will be able to gauge your daily driving needs.

When you have the figure, you can now design a battery storage system to give you the desired driving mileage for your DIY electric car.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Guide

Do you need some help building your own electric car at home? If you do, check out Gavin Shoebridge’s Electric Conversion Made Easy manual.

Gavin is known as the EV Guy from New Zealand. He has successfully converted an old Mitsubishi Tredia to run purely on electricity in his home garage.

Gavin also shared a lot of tips and strategies on how he managed to reduce his EV conversion cost with some very creative solutions when converting his car.

If you are planning to convert your car to EV at home, check out Gavin’s web site first.

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

1) EV Parts – This company provides parts for electric golf cart, street vehicle, industrial vehicle, marian – RV etc. It’s main warehouse is located at 157 West Cedar Street, Sequim, WA 98382.

2) The Beeps Company – This company specializing in electric vehicle products with its main shipping store located in Clarkesville, GA.

3) KTA Services Inc – This company sells everything related to electric vehicle conversion from electric motor to adapter plate. KTA has been around since 1984 and is located in Ramona, CA.

4) Electric Vehicles of America – Has been around for more than 20 years selling electric car components. The company is located in Wolfeboro, NH.

5) Canadian Electric Vehicles Ltd – A Canada based company started as a hobby for Randy Holmquist, owner of Canadian Electric Vehicles in Errington, Vancouver Island. The company has been around since the early 1990s.

6) NetGain Motors Inc – The company is the exclusive worldwide distributor of WarP™, ImPulse™, and TransWarP™ electric motors for use in electric vehicles and electric vehicle conversion. It is based out of Lockport, Illinois.

7) EV Components – The company operation is based out of Lacey, WA.

8) EV Source – EV Source was founded in January of 2005 to provide goods and services to the alternative transportation and energy markets. The company is based at Logan, UT.

9) Revolt – The Revolt Electric Vehicle Components store is brought to you as a collaboration between the Revolt Electric Vehicles team, and Cara Fealy and Alyssa Farver.

10) Electric Motorsport – The company specializes in the sales and service of Personal Electric Vehicles as well supplying electric vehicle parts for EV Builders, Hobbyists, Educational institutions and Original Equipment Manufactures (OEM).

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!

If you are planning to do your own DIY electric car conversion project, selecting the donor car is the fun part.

This is where you get to see the actual electric car…well only the outer shell. There’s still a long way to go before you’ll be buzzing away in your EV.

When you are selecting a donor car, here are 5 tips you can consider to make your choice easier.

1) The GVWR.

GVWR is short for Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. This is the car ability to carry the extra weight of your battery pack without exceeding its legal limitations.

So what is the guideline for the right GVWR?

The key here is knowing how many batteries you will need. The number of batteries needed for your EV will depend on the power system you will be using.

The power system can be either 48, 96 or 144 volts. Therefore, the extra weight of the battery can ranges from 240 to 720 lbs.

Make sure the total weight of the battery is less than 50% of the GVWR of your donor car.

2) Aerodynamic.

One way to increase your EV driving mileage is to reduce its air drag. To do that, it is best to get a donor car with good aerodynamic.

How do you know if it has good aerodynamic features?

If it has rounded corners and shape like a tear drop on its side, air will flow through the car easily. If it is box shape, you might as well get an ice cream truck as your donor car.

3) Minimal rust.

Check your donor car for rust. If it has lots of rust patches or worst, holes on the body of the car you can see through, give it a pass.

Patching rust holes and painting it can be a pain and expensive. Why go through the hassle.

4) Manual transmission.

This is very important, get a donor car with a manual transmission. An automatic transmission does not work well with an electric motor. It needs constant high torque to spin the gears.

With a manual transmission, it is much easier and cheaper to bolt the shaft of the motor to the central core of the transmission.

5) Less electrical gadget is better.

You may want to get a donor car without too many electrical gadgets such as power steering and air-conditioner. This type of equipment will need additional power to work, which means you have to build a separate power unit.

You may have to compromise on some of the basic comfort of your donor car. If you live in a cold climate, there’s a way you can make a DIY heater for your EV.

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!