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.

==> Click here to visit Convert2EV now!

Have you ever wonder how long the batteries of a DIY electric car will last? If you are doing your own electric car conversion project, the cost of buying the batteries for your EV will take up a large portion of your budget. Wouldn’t you want to know how long the batteries will last before you have to replace them?

There is no exact answer to the above question. Different homemade electric cars will have different life span. It all depends on how the batteries are being used.

If you were to drain the battery bank and recharge them many times in a week, generally, the batteries would have a shorter lifespan.

Here’s an example, if you have 15 units of deep cycle batteries on your electric car and you use your EV for daily driving, you may have to recharge the batteries every night in your garage.

If you were to install 25 units of batteries on your EV, with the same driving usage, you may only need to recharge every other day. This means you cycle through your battery bank lesser and in result the batteries will last longer.

Should you install more batteries on your DIY electric car? When your battery bank has more batteries linked together, it would have more stored power hence does not have to be recharged so often.

But more batteries also means more weight on your EV. The key is to find the balance between weight and power availability from the batteries. Unfortunately, this is no easy task.

The best option, if you have the money, is to invest in premium grade deep cycle batteries for your electric car. They are more expensive, but they are capable of storing more power therefore you need to recharge less often.

DIY Electric Car Conversion Tips

Looking for more DIY electric car conversion cost saving tips? If you are, check out Gavin Shoebridge’s Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book.

Gavin is from New Zealand and is well known for converting his old Mitsubishi Tredia into a pure plug-in electric car in his garage.

During his EV conversion project, Gavin did have much money and had to be very creative coming up with ingenious ways to save cost on his EV. Some of his clever ways were included in his EV manual. For more information, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Gavin Shoebridge’s 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!

When you are doing an electric car conversion project, there is one thing that you have to keep an eye on. It is the cost!

If you are not careful, you can blow your EV conversion budget very easily. The following are 3 factors that will affect your overall DIY electric car conversion cost.

1) Range.

When most EV owners talk about range, what they meant is the distance from a full charge to absolutely flat battery or Depth of Discharge (DOD).

Using an EV to 100% DOD is not a good idea. It will shorten the lifespan of the battery.

A typical homemade electric car has a driving range of approximately 40 miles. The actual driving miles will depend on a few factors such as the condition of the batteries, the gross weight of the car, the car aerodynamic and also your driving style.

If you want to have a long driving range on your EV, you would have to use more batteries therefore increasing your budget. The best option is to figure out your driving needs on a daily basis and then design a battery system just to fulfill that need.

2) Speed.

How fast do you want to go?

Unlike a conventional car, a high top speed for an EV can be achieved quite easily. All you need is to have enough power in the batteries and controller that will allow large amount of current to the electric motor.

However, speed does come with a cost. Higher speed equals to higher cost.

3) Labor and shipping charges.

Most of the components needed for your EV conversion would have to be shipped or delivered to your home or garage.

The components such as the electric motor, adapter plate and batteries can be quite heavy hence cost more to be delivered.

If you are staying outside of the United States, some of the parts may have to be shipped oversea to you. You have to take into account international shipping charges and import taxes.

Another cost factor is on labor. If you are planning to outsource some of the work such as electric motor support frame welding and crimping of the main power cable, be prepared to spend some money to get the work done.

EV Conversion Budget

Before you start your electric car retrofitting, it is a good idea to draw out a budget. List down all the parts, labor, transport charges and miscellaneous costing of the project.

Project budgeting is a pain, but trust me, it is more painful when you’ve over spent money that you don’t have.

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!

Related web pages:

1) Electric Car Conversion Plans – 5 Tips To Find Good EV Manual

2) The Best Book To Design Electric Cars

1) Build Your Own Electric Vehicle by Seth Leitman and Bob Brant

2) Convert It! by Michael Brown

3) Electric Vehicle EV & Conversion: All you need to know about Electric Vehicle & converting to EV. by Dr Y EV

There are a couple more in the list, but these are the few that came highly recommended.

However, there is one electric conversion manual that I have read so far that is pretty good. It’s the Electric Conversion Made Easy by Gavin Shoebridge.

The EV Guy From New Zealand

Now, who’s is Gavin Shoebridge?

Gavin is from New Zealand and he looks like an average Joe. One thing unique about him is he had converted a conventional gasoline driven automobile to an electric vehicle (EV).

A few years back, Gavin was sick and tired of having to pay high gasoline prices to maintain his car. He decided to take action to sever his gasoline addiction by using EV.

Unfortunately, new EV from a dealership is very expensive. The cheapest alternative is to convert a normal car to run purely on electricity.

That’s what Gavin did!

The Mitsubishi Tredia EV

What Gavin did was to purchase a 1987 Mitsubishi Tredia, remove the internal combustion engine (ICE) and put in a DC electric motor.

The process sounds very simple, but it was anything but that.

You see, Gavin is not an automotive engineer and he has never done an EV conversion before. The project was pretty much a trial and error process.

Gavin took almost a year converting the Tredia to EV. But in the end, Gavin managed to complete the project and had the pleasure of enjoying the “EV grin” when he first took his homemade electric car for a spin.

People Start To Notice, Even The TV Channel

After some time, people start to notice Gavin’s EV. Instead of the loud roar of an internal combustion engine, Gavin’s electric car only gives off a soothing “hum”.

A New Zealand local TV station actually did a news segment of his DIY electric car. You can see the news clip above.

Electric Car Design Book

Back in August 2009, Gavin decided to put all his knowledge and experience into a manual. Most of his writings are not really conventional. Many of his ideas are “fly by the pants” because he’s a real DIYer. Creativity is important when you’re working with a limited budget.

What’s different between Gavin’ e-book versus all the EV books from Amazon.com? It’s the videos!

Yes, Gavin e-book comes with 11 High Definition (HD) step-by-step instructional videos on how to get started building your own electric car.

It is pretty cool actually. Seeing what’s involved in converting a normal car into a pure electric vehicle. For more information on Gavin’s Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Electric Conversion Made Easy!

Related web pages:
1) Electric Car Conversion Manual

2) Gas 4 Free Review – Is Gas4Free The Real Deal?

How much would it cost to convert a conventional gasoline driven car into a pure electric vehicle (EV)? There are many factors that will affect the bottom line of an EV conversion project. The following are 4 factors:

1) Shipping and freight cost.

Most of the EV components have to be ordered from the manufacturers. Is you are located in the United States, this may not be an issue.

However, if you are located outside the US, shipping and freight costs can be substantial.

Some of the components for an electric car such as deep cycle batteries, electric controller, power cables etc can be purchased locally.

There is one major component that you would have to get it shipped from overseas. It is the electric motor.

These electric motors are heavy. Some weighing 40 kg and above. That’s the reason why is will be costly when you purchase the motor.

Most of the top rated electric car motors are manufactured in the US, hence you have no choice but to pay a premium price for it.

2) The strength of your currency.

When you are buying parts from overseas, the strength of your currency will also play a part in the final costing.

If the US dollar is weak versus your country currency, sorry to say, you’ll be spending more money on your EV conversion project.

3) Labor cost.

Some of the components in your EV have to be custom made. For example, the battery racks and the motor-to-gearbox adapter plate.

If you are good in welding, you can make the battery racks yourself. If not, you may have to engage a professional welder. Obviously you have to pay him for his service.

Most probably you would have to outsource the work to make the adapter plate also. Unless you are a machinist and you have tooling equipment in your garage, you have to outsource this portion.

Cutting a piece of 1 inch steel plate is not an easy task. Be prepared to pay a high labor cost to get the adapter plate made.

4) Cutting, welding or crimping battery cables.

Some people would do this portion of the EV conversion task themselves. Some people would rather outsource it.

Remember, the main power cable is the fuel line for your electric car. You want it to be cut and crimped properly.

To save cost, you can do it yourself. But the drawback is, there are more than 50 cable joints you have to tackle.

EV Conversion Cost Saving Tips

Are there anyway ways to reduce your electric car conversion cost? As a matter of fact, there are. Check out Gavin Shoebridge’s Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book.

Gavin has converted his old 1987 Mitsubishi Tredia into a pure EV on his own. Most of his EV task is based on trial and error. In the end, Gavin managed to get his EV done with relatively low cost.

Gavin’s manual is full of tips and strategies on how you can reduce your conversion cost.

==> Click here for Electric Conversion Made Easy instant access!

Related web pages:

1) NetGain Motors Inc – Distributor of Warp hybrid and electric vehicle motors.

2) Postage Price Calculator – Domestic and International Postage Prices

Many people have heard of a pure electric vehicle (EV), but not a lot of people have driven one. Unless you are a golfer and you spend a lot of time on the green. Golf courses use a fleet of electric golf carts to ferry people around.

There are many benefits on driving an EV versus a car using an internal combustion engine. The following is 5 great reasons why you should own a pure EV.

1) Sever your dependency on gasoline.

This is one major factor why an EV is much better than a conventional automobile. Many car owners wish they didn’t have a car back in mid 2008.

That is when the world crude oil price reached a dizzy level of $150 per barrel. The effect has pushed local gasoline prices through the roof. People were having a very tough time refueling their cars and making ends meet.

A car using electric power is independent from the fluctuation of global crude oil prices. When there’s another energy price spike in the near future, at least you’ll know it won’t affect you and your family lifestyle too much.

2) Zero emission.

Since an electric car does not use an internal combustion engine (ICE) as its power source, there is no engine exhaust therefore zero emission.

Smog from car engine is one of the causes of “green house effect” which raises the planet temperature therefore melting the polar ice cap. It’s an issue many world leaders is trying to solve.

When you use an EV, you’ll know you are doing your part to help the environment. Instead of just “lip service”, you are actually taking proactive action to help the environment.

3) Save money.

Do you want to stop spending your hard earned money at the gas station? Would you rather spend it on your family on a holiday? When you use an electric vehicle, you can forget about stopping at the gas service station ever again. The only time you’ll go there is when you need to use the restroom.

Do some calculation. Figure out how much money are you and your family members are spending on gasoline a week. And then multiply it with 52 weeks. That is how much money your family will be saving in a year if everyone drives an electric car.

4) Reliability.

Compared to a conventional car, an EV has less moving parts. Let’s take the heart of the electric car which is the electric motor as an example.

The electric motor has only 1 moving parts, which is the rotating shaft. An internal combustion engine has more than 100 moving parts. All the parts in an engine have to be lubricated in order for them to function properly.

Which one do you think has a higher chance of failing? The electric motor or the internal combustion engine?

That being said, an EV is more reliable compared to a gas guzzler. That’s only one component of the car. How about other parts on a normal car that’s not required on an electric vehicle? Components such as exhaust pipe, radiator, spark plugs, timing belt, air filter, fuel filter etc. Every part has a chance of failing, but you do not have this issue with an EV.

5) Recharging at home.

With an EV, you have the option of recharging at home. No more trips to the local gas station. I don’t know about you, for me, going to the gas station is quite a hassle.

You have to queue to use the pump, get out of the car, go to the cashier, more queuing, wait for the cashier, wait for the gas to be pumped etc. A lot of none productive time spent.

With an electric car, all you have to do is drive to the garage at the end of the day, and then plug it into the charger. Leave it there overnight and by next morning, the batteries will be fully charged.

There are many more reasons why using an EV is much better compared to a normal car. What I’ve written down is only a small list.

Do It Yourself (DIY) Electric Car

Buying a brand new electric car from the dealership might be more expensive compared to a conventional car. There is a cheaper option though. You can convert your existing car into an EV. To do that, you will need an EV conversion guide.

One of the latest EV conversion manual on the internet is the Electric Conversion Made Easy e-book by Gavin Shoebridge. Gavin is from New Zealand and he has converted his old Mitsubishi Tredia into a pure electric vehicle.

In his manual, he’ll teach you step-by-step how to retrofit a car to run on electricity. Together with the manual, there is also a series of High Definition (HD) instructional videos. For more information, check out Gavin’s website at www.evsecrets.com

==> Click here to visit Electric Conversion Made Easy now!

1) Inexpensive.

An old VW Beetle Bug is generally inexpensive. You can find it everywhere. You can find one at a used car dealership, motor trading sites, government auction sites etc.

If you are lucky enough to find an old Beetle with a busted engine, better still. You can ask the seller for a lower price since you have to spend money to repair the engine. But he does not know you are planning to get rid of it!

2) Simplicity.

Generally, a Bug design is very simple. No complicated electronic components or circuitry to mess with.

3) Rear wheel drive.

If you are looking for an electric donor car, preferably, find one that has a rear wheel drive. Most old VW Beetles are back wheel drive.

4) Ample storage space in front.

This is one of the reasons why I think a Bug is good for EV conversion. It has a large storage space available in front of the car.

If you were to take out the spare tire, you have enough space to store at least 10 units of deep cycle batteries.

5) Ample storage inside the car.

There’s more storage space behind the driver’s seat. Add in more batteries to extend your electric car drive mileage.

6) Readymade electric car conversion kit.

Since a VW Beetle is such a common electric donor car, you can easily find the EV conversion kit for a Bug. This will save you a lot of time converting it to run on electricity.

The biggest advantage is the adapter plate. Since the metal adapter plate is already cut to fit a Beetle, all you have to do is line it up and bolt it on. Easy!

7) Light weight.

Generally, an old VW Bug weight less than 1800 lbs. This is good for an electric car. Less weight means less inertia therefore less power needed to propel the car. Less power required means longer battery life.

8) Easy to remove the engine.

Because of its great engineering, it is relatively easy to remove the internal combustion engine (ICE). All you have to do is open the engine cover, place a hoist over it, loosen a few bolts and it is out.

Some other cars might require a lot more time and effort. It is like pulling out a tooth!

9) Manual transmission.

If you are building an electric car via Do It Yourself (DIY) approach, you need to get a donor car that has a manual transmission. It is quite easy to find an old manual transmission VW Beetle. Saving you time and money.

10) Parts availability.

Since there are so many old Volkswagen Beetles around, sourcing for spare parts would not be a problem. Again, this boils down to cost.

There it is! 10 reasons why I think an old Volkswagen Beetle will be a great donor car for a DIY electric car conversion project.

If you have never converted a gasoline driven car to EV before, be sure to check out Les Oke’s Convert 2 EV e-book. The manual will show you the science behind an electric car conversion project. For more information, read the Convert 2 EV review on this web site.

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

Related web pages:

1) Golf Cart Battery Maintenance Guide To Extend The Life Of Electric Golf Cart Batteries

2) Samuel Watson Premium Electric Car Guide Review

Sometime I will also go the book store and buy books related to EV conversion or on topics related on renewable energy. But by far, the most information I can gather is from the internet.

If you did a quick query on the search engine, you will come up with literally thousands of web pages that have write ups on electric car conversion. Which one should you read?

The following is my Top 10 electric car conversion information web sites that I will usually visit:

1) DIY Electric Car Forums

This is a great forum site where people discussion about electric car conversion projects. Reading the forum posts will give you a better understanding on what’s involved in doing your own EV conversion.

2) EV Weblog

This is a blog maintained by Jerry Halstead. Jerry is a software engineer that likes to work on electronics and mechanical devices. He did his first electric car conversion project in the fall of 1995.

3) Gav’s EV Conversion

Gavin Shoebridge is a New Zealander and an electric car enthusiast. He converted an old Mitsubishi Tredia into a pure plug-in EV. Gavin actually documented the whole conversion process on videos. Great stuff!

4) Electric Cars for Girls

I know…it’s a weird name for a web site. But it does have good information on the electric car industry.

5) Autoblog Green

This blog does not limit on electric cars only. You can get information related to alternative fuel sources for vehicles i.e. ethanol, bio diesel, vegetable oil etc.

6) KTA Services

KTA Services has been in business for more than 24 years. It is basically a company selling electric car related components and parts. Usually I will come to this site to get some technical information on electric vehicle.

7) NetGain Motors

This is the web site I will visit when I want to read up on electric car components especially on the electric motor. I came across one of the most popular electric motor for EV conversion on this web site, the Warp 9.

8) Electric Auto Association

An EV association web site that has everything to do with electric car. It has a great inventory of EV newsletter.

9) Tesla Motors Blog

One of my all time electric car model in the market is the Tesla Roadster from Testa Motors. This is the blog that I read to get the latest updates on Tesla’s EVs.

10) Better Place

One of the biggest challenges of driving an electric car is its limited mileage. So far, the only company that is working to solve that problem is known as Better Place.

There are a lot technology advancement from Better Place. To keep myself up to date, I have their web site on my bookmark.

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!

Related web pages:

1) Golf Cart Battery Maintenance Guide To Extend The Life Of Electric Golf Cart Batteries

2) Samuel Watson Premium Electric Car Guide Review