Electric Car Conversion at Home

Many owners of petroleum-fueled cars today aremake electric cars work.
interested in electric car conversion. Since the invention* Electric motors or DC motors use magnets to
of alternative-fuel cars, some people have turned theircreate movement. This attraction and repelling motions
traditional cars into these environmentally-friendlyallow the engine to start.
automobiles right in the comfort of their own homes.
The electric car became popular in the mid-nineteenthStep-by-Step Process Of The Conversion
century and early twentieth century. It is anHere is a basic guide in doing the conversion at home:
unconventional fuel automobile which utilizes electric* Take off the engine, the gas tank, the exhaust
motors and motor controllers for its driving forcesystem, the clutch, and the radiator from the vehicle to
instead of an internal combustion engine. These arebe converted.
usually powered by battery, so that they are also* Connect an adapter plate to the transmission, and
called battery electric vehicles.then mount the motor using custom mounting brackets.
* Create a gear reduction for maximum efficiency of
Things To Consider When Doing Conversion At Homethe electric motor. Do this by pinning the existing
The usual electric car conversion uses a DC controllermanual transmission in the 1st or 2nd gear.
and a DC motor. The descriptions of these* After this, mount the controller.
terminologies are presented in the following section.* Hold all the batteries in place by building brackets first,
The person who does the conversion chooses whatand then finally installing the batteries.
voltage the system will work at. Usually it is between* Wire both the batteries and motor to the controller
96 and 192 volts. This decision determines the numberusing a welding cable.
of batteries, the type of motor and the type of* Install a charging system, followed by a DC-to-DC
controller the car will be using.converter to power the accessory battery.
There are a variety of choices a person has regarding* Also install a volt meter to detect the state of the
battery technology. He can utilize lead-acid batteries,batteries.
the one which is mostly used. Other options are marine* Finally, put on a contractor or large relay that can
deep-cycle lead-acid batteries, golf-cart batteries, andconnect and disconnect the battery pack to and from
high-performance sealed batteries.the controller. Rewire the ignition switch, and let the
These batteries may be flooded, gelled, or may benew electric car be tested.
made out of absorbed glass mat electrolyte. Among
these, flooded batteries have the lowest peak power,Some Points to Note
yet it is the least costly.If the vehicle to be converted has a power steering,
When decisions regarding the motor, controller andwire up and mount an electric motor for that power
batteries are finally made, conversion can nowsteering pump.
proceed.If it has an air conditioning unit, wire up and mount an
electric motor for its compressor. Also set up an
Parts Of An Electric Carelectric water heater and put it into the heater core.
To fully understand the conversion process, you haveIf the automobile has power brakes, install a vacuum
to know the following important terms mentioned in thepump so you can operate the brake booster.
following sections:Also note that you may need to install some reverse
* The controller is the one delivering the power fromswitches to the controller depending on the conversion.
the batteries to the motor.These are the basic things you need to know when
* Batteries are the stored energy sources required todoing electric car conversion at home.