In this article, I am going to share with you some important information on deciding your home made electric car driving range needs. You may be asking, why wouldn’t you want the longest drive range possible for your electric vehicle (EV)?
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.