Introduction To Electric Car Conversions
Lately, I was asked if converting a gasoline powered car to electricity is really possible. Absolutely you can. In fact, why there are no local companies offering to do these conversions for profit, I’ll never understand. I think they’d clean up, and if I ever get tired of the website thing, I might even try it as a new business.
Learn more about electric car conversionsat diyhomepowergrid.com
There are several different approaches you can take to convert a car from gas to electric. There might be mechanics around that will do it for you, but often, the price they charge is close to that of a new car. There are kits you can buy on-line for between $2000 and $8000. A kit usually comes with all the electrical components and some basic instructions. Be aware that kits you purchase never include the batteries you need. Since an electric car won’t run without batteries, so figure on another $1000 or more for those.
Our favorite alternative is to use reconditioned parts you can get cheap and do the whole thing yourself. You have the option of using an AC electric motor or a DC electric motor. AC motors are lighter and produce more power than DC. However, DC motors are much less expensive than AC. For this reason, we always select a used DC motor. There is no reason to spend the additional dollars buying a new AC motor for your electric car conversion when a decent DC motor that you can get very cheap (and sometimes free) will outlive just about any car you put it in.
A 9 to 13 inch DC motor will do the trick. You can acheive a top speed of 50 MPH or more with one in this range. The amount of current that flows from the batteries to the motor determines how fast the car can go and this flow is regulated by a controller, which is also necessary. The controller is assembled to your old gas pedal linkage for smooth control of the vehicle.
The conversion requires an on board battery charger in order to charge your batteries between trips. Just plug it in to any common household AC circuit and simply charge it up overnight.
The car will require about 20 deep cycle batteries to achieve a range of 200 miles on a charge. There are a number of sources for acquiring these very cheap and often free. These batteries will charge more quickly and discharge further than regular car batteries normally found in gas powered vehicles. In fact, that’s why they are called deep cycle – because they permit and stand up to greater and more frequent draining, unlike the battery you have in your car now. Deep cycle batteries can regularly be discharged down to 30% or so, but that’s just about the limit.
Always remember to balance the the space available to hold the batteries in the car against the battery capacity. In other words, if you need 20 batteries, you want to make sure there is space enough for 20 batteries. Common sense, I know, but still – this detail is often overlooked by many people.
If you are planning to complete your own electric car conversions, you can find more information on our site including the best type of car to use.
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