How do you convert a conventional car to run on electricity at your home garage? The whole process starts with identifying which car to be retrofitted. The most suitable car to be converted into an Electric Vehicle (EV) should be light weight and has ample storage space. Generally, the weight of the car will determine the numbers of batteries to install and the mileage you can get per charge. With the current high local gasoline prices, many car owners are seriously exploring the idea of converting their car to run on purely electricity. Can an average person modify a car into EV at their home? It is possible if he has the right tools and the right instruction guide. This article will provide some information on the subject.
It used to cost upward of $4000 to convert a car with an internal combustion engine into an EV. Even an “off the shelf” electric motor will cost more than $800. With a Do It Yourself (DIY) conversion project at home, the whole process is substantially cheaper.
The retrofitting process in general is to replace the engine with the electric motor. All of the existing fuel tank, fuel pumps, fuel lines, radiator etc are to be removed from the vehicle. However, the existing drive train such as the transmission, clutch system and drive shaft can still be used. The torque produced from the electric motor will be sufficient to propel a car forward to a substantial speed.
All these technical information may not make sense to you if you are not familiar with electrical and mechanical parts of a car. What you can do is to outsource the conversion project with a mechanic. To be cautious, you should at least have some basic knowledge of the science of EV and its component. This is to safeguard you from being charge for unnecessary parts or work done on the conversion. To gather these knowledge, you can buy an electric car modification guide from the web.