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Electric Car Conversion
14

Electric Car Conversion

Electric Car Conversion

(OP)
With the price of gasoline approaching $4.00 / gallon I am seriously considering converting and old car (VW maybe) into a an electric vehicle to drive back & forth to work, store, pharmacy, etc  - maximum of about 50 miles per day.
I am a decent mechanic and know enough about electricity not to kill myself - so this seems a reasonable project.

Has anybody tried this and/or what insights do you have..  Yes - I have found a TON of Net info - but not sure who is telling the truth.  One book says you can do it for $300 - that I seriously doubt.  But the neighborhood of $3,000 to $4,000 seems doable??

Thanks for any insights or paths to pursue...

RE: Electric Car Conversion

If your goal is truly to save money, get a bicycle.  If you want the challenge (frustration) of creating a usable electrical vehicle, go right ahead.  Just let us know when you are on the highway so we can take another route.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Thirty-five-ish years ago, a guy who worked for my Dad converted a VW bug to all-electric drive, and used it for commuting, maybe 40 miles a day, for a while.

ISTR he used about ten, 12V car batteries, mounted pretty much everywhere, and a big DC motor and custom controller, all of which he got for free because it was such a new idea at the time.  He painted the car real nice, and put a few tasteful decals on the outside to advertise the battery company.  The motor and controller came from the prototype shop of a huge company that was thinking about going into the electric car business, but subsequently didn't.
The big company's name did not appear on the car or any of the parts.

Nowadays, you'd probably have to pay for it all yourself, but on the bright side, motor controllers that should be appropriate have gotten relatively cheap.

I'm guessing that $4k plus the car is do-able.  I'd want something with better brakes than a Bug, though.  I'm thinking maybe a Subaru would make a decent substrate.




 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Electric Car Conversion

You could look for a first generation Prius that is at the end of its battery life, yank the engine, then put in batteries of your own choosing.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

The VW electric drive conversions are reasonably common around here.  I've seen several articles in the paper about them.  My neighbor built one several years ago and the total bill, including the old car, was $3000...Most of that in batteries...24, I think.  All I know for sure is that it was a big motor bolted to the VW gearbox and it had batteries EVERYWHERE!
Never saw it run, but I'm told it was not all it was cracked up to be.  A golf cart might be better would be my editorial comment today.

Rod

RE: Electric Car Conversion

I was thinking "street legal" golf cart, which is a vehicle class in North Carolina or apparently most of Florida, which without too much "bling" would fit your budget.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

3
50 miles range is a bit of a stretch for a cheapy. GM Volt gets about 35 miles from a 16 kWh pack, so you need 24 kWh. So that's 20 100 Ah /deep discharge/ lead acids. Plus a bit because you don't want to discharge them fully. That's about 900 kg of batteries, if you go lead acid.

Next problem is motor and controller.

You'll want at least 30 hp, preferably 50 hp.

Golf carts use a fairly inefficient technology, if you go down that path you'll need more batteries.

 

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies  http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: Electric Car Conversion

One of the considerations overlooked with electric cars, is what is the terrain like where you live.
 I have a friend who converted a VW squareback into an electric car. It had a range of about 65 miles and would top out at about 70 mph, not bad for an all electric car.
 His problem with it, was the fact that he lived on top of a hill.
Returning from a trip, if the batteries were down, there was a serious discussion, as to whether, or not, he was going to make the last 1/2 mile up the hill.
B.E.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

2
For a tiny fraction of the trouble, you can get a used diesel car like a VW.... and have your cake and eat it.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Mike,

I read an article in the Ag newspaper "CapitalPress" about a farmer in Haines, Oregon who converted a 1986 Ford F-250 to electric power.  The farmer's name is David Anderson and the mechanic who did a lot of the work is Ken Myers. Maximum range is about 50 miles, and max speed is 50 mph. From the article, I think that they kept the four wheel drive, transfer case, transmission and cluth.  The conversion cost 13,000 dollars.  As an added feature, the truck is also remote controlled at low speed!

Myers also converted a 1965 VW Beetle to an electric drive, and has more than 100,000 miles on it.  Anderson can be reached at 541-519-3030.  He  

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Wondered about this a few times myself.  Do like an internal combustion engine though!

Have seen some quite detailed information for DIY conversion of Triumph Spitfires and even some video of one in service somewhere in the US - that would do 70mph (dunno how long for) and seemed pretty quick off the mark too.

There's a bit about one of them here

http://www.totallytriumph.net/TriumphCarForums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47  with links to his original build thread.

He used lead acid tech to begin with and definitely had weight issues.  He's now gone to lithium tech.  He's not saying how much that cost but I'm betting it was alot.

There are some addvantages to starting with old cars (lower weight, simplicity etc) but the old car disadvantages come through as well.

I also watched a lengthy video diary made by a guy in New Zealand who converted a mid 80s Toyota (I think) - that seemed to work pretty well.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

You may be better off to have your vehicle with fuel cells to drive a DC motor;  the reformer would break down fuel such as gasoline into its hydrogen component for the fuel cells and the other components can be the fuel for the reformer.
You may be able to double you mileage per gas tank with the fuel cells incorporating a reformer.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

By the way, there are European car manufacturers in the process or are already using fuel cell technology to power AC units while the vehicles are parked.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Well, if you could do that reliably you could buy a Rolls Royce for every day of the week and two for Sundays.

Reformulating hydrocarbons to hydrogen for use in practical fuel cells is very hard to do on board a vehicle. It also takes about 20% of the calorific value of the HC to do it, not exactly a great help in achieving a mighty leap forward in efficiency.



 

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies  http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Granted these european cars have no reformers. Hydrogen is stored in containers for the moment.  

RE: Electric Car Conversion

For about $10K you can get a used 2nd gen Prius (2004-2009). Then you can convert it to a "plug in" for about another $2000 to $3000.

Essentially what you do is install another 2 stock battery packs, sourced from salvage. So 3 stock battery packs total. Then you install another programmable ECU that piggy-backs on the stock ECU.

This turns the car from a hybrid that mostly runs on gas to a hybrid that runs mostly on electric with about a 50 mile range. When the battery pack runs out then the controller shifts it back to a primarily gas hybrid.

You get the equivalent of about 100 mpg on a cost basis. The plug in charging system is another major component in addition to the extra battery packs and add-on ECU.

this is a total DIY kit, the turn key kits run about $5K to $10K.

This car is pretty high performance when the gas motor kicks in.

Toyota is coming out with a plug in version of the Prius in 2012, IOW this fall. It's the 3rd gen and will go for $25K to $30K.  

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Where do you put the other 2 battery packs?  On the roof?

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Two additional 1200Wh batteries would take the all electric range up by 12 miles, roughly. The Prius' gas efficiency is relatively unaffected by battery capacity.

So you've turned a 50 mpg car into a 60 mpg car for the first 50 miles, by adding batteries. Well done, but old news.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies  http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: Electric Car Conversion

Try to find an electric vehicle club such as;

http://sydney.aeva.asn.au/

which is Sydney Australia based.  Their website helps but go to a few of their meetings and you'll meet people who have done it and can tell you how to and how much.  The guys I met at this particular club were very helpful and willing to share.

This club also has Field Days so you can go for a ride in their cars and if they thought you were serious I think they would let you have a drive as well.

RE: Electric Car Conversion

(OP)
Thanks for the invite and a visit to Australia is on my bucket list - but I live in the US.

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