Where to get parts? What parts do we need?
 

I think I've accepted the fact that my next car after my civic dies (10 years maybe?) will be an electric car. Maybe I'll build it myself for fun. Who knows.

Anyway, does anyone know what parts are needed? Does anyone know the "whys" and "hows" of each part? How big of an engine is really needed? I've heard that it costs between $5k and $8k to convert a car. Can anyone confirm this?

Fuel additive experiments....
 

Hi Matt, I'm not sure of the exact date, but I read an article on Mother Earth News' website about a guy that converted an Opel(?) to an electric car in the early to mid 1980's. If I remeber right, it only cost him about $1500. He used a starter motor from a jet engine and a 5 horse Briggs engine, a generator and some batteries. I believe he was getting over 80 mpg. He left the manual transmission hooked up also. I seem to remember that he may have used a motor controller(from an electric forklift?) because when he tried to run it without, it fried everything. You may be able to find the article by searching the archives. Good luck.

Honda n600 on the east coast (Virginia) - $750
 

So he did the same thing as the city bus? That being he ran a electrical motor off of a small generator instead of batteries? I personally think that's a wonderful idea.

The real question is how on earth did he get around on a 5hp engine?

VX rims Got em and weighed em
 

Mehbe it was a really kick *** 5hp motor. In any case, good complete kits now adays with support and all that will run at around 10k I think, for a small car. So mehbe that way is better. But those kits are EV, so no generator.

Serious testing takes time and energy.
 

I think what he did was have four 12 volt batteries that he ran the electric motor with. He used the 5-horse to charge the batteries. Here is a link to the story.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative_Energy/1980_January_February/Update__David_Arthur_s_Hybrid_Electric_car actually, that is the update. Here is the original story:

https://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative_Energy/1979_July_August/An_Amazing_75_MPG_Hybrid_Electic_Car

The Aerostar Gets Aero Mods
 

Damn that opal looks good, they used to be the pimp cars back in the day way before I was around. And 75 mpg, he musta worked the hell out of the 5hp generator to only get 75 mpg, but what do I really know about it. If he only used four batteries that would certainly contribute to the lower cost and weight, those things are high up there for both of those. I think that if you did that, but added say, 8 more batteries and a plug in charger, you could do most of your around town driving on batteries and then turn on the generator for 200+ mile trips and it'd work out sweetly.

Google Earth Help
 

I agree with this. I would like to see this on an older volvo or even a 70s honda accord. The plans are still available to purchase. <a href ="https://www.motherearthshopping.com/Mother-Earth-Shopping-Detail.aspx?ItemNumber=1764" target=_blank>here</a>. I think I might buy a set and make this my next project.

Min fuel for gaslog
 

I think you should. You could always sell your car and get a crx or if you want chilluns go for the four door rabbit. Nice light cars. Stuff like triumphs and cutesy sports cars are prolly too seatbelt and back seat and rollbarless for kids.

Entrenched industries and corporate government fight wind energy, again
 

This is in the other thread but might as well stick it here for the sake of answering your question in this thread and making stuff easier to find:

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.electroauto.com/catalog/kits.shtml">https://www.electroauto.com/catalog/kits.shtml</a>

EV Smartcar
 

sweet articles. i really want to start a project like this...