Convert VW Beetle Into a Pure Electric Car

Volkswagen Beetle Electric Car Conversion

Most people are intrigued with the idea of driving a pure electric car. Many are not sure on the handling and performance of an electric vehicle. For the time being, buying a new electric car from the manufacturer is still quite expensive. Without economy of scale, the price of brand new EV is beyond the reach of many car owners. The best alternative is to convert a gasoline driven car to run on electric power. Many electric car enthusiasts are are doing a Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion from their home garage.

One of the most popular donor car for a homemade EV conversion project is an old Volkswagen VW Beetle. Old VW Bugs are generally inexpensive and can be obtained easily. To save cost, try to get a Beetle that is busted beyond repair. With a faulty Beetle, you can always negotiate a lower price from the buyer.

The idea of converting a VW Bug to electric is quite simple. The work involve the removal of the internal combustion engine (ICE) and replacing it with a DC electric motor. Since the engine is take out, all its associated components such as gas tank, fuel lines, fuel pumps, exhaust pipe and radiator are redundant and to be removed as well. To generate force, the electric motor is connected directly to the existing transmission unit.

Driving a Beetle electric car can save you a lot of money. However, if you are not familiar with automotive parts, it is not recommended to do your own EV conversion. In this case, it would be better if you were to outsource the conversion work to a professional mechanic. If you are interested to convert your own Bug, check out the VW Beetle electric car conversion guides.

 

Save DIY Electric Car Project Cost with Reconditioned Battery

EV Conversion with reconditioned battery

If you are planning to start your own Do It Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion project at home, it is always wise to have a budget. You want to know how much money you need to get all the parts required.

Apart from the electric motor, the other major cost of the overall project is the batteries. An average homemade electric vehicle will require 10 to 15 units of deep cycle batteries. If you were to buy all new battery, the cost will be very high it that will defeat the purpose of a DIY electric car.

To save cost, you can reuse dead batteries. How to you recondition a dead battery? There are many ways to do so. Part of the reasons why the battery is dead is because it has lost all the electric charge. There is a process where you can recharge the battery but you have to run through a few steps to check the condition of the battery.

An electric car does offer a lot of benefits compared to a gasoline driven vehicle. If you have the budget, you can buy a brand new one from the dealership. Unfortunately, without economy of scale, a new EV is still relatively expensive and many people are not ready to make the investment. The best alternative right now to retrofit our existing car to run on electricity.

 

Donor Car for DIY Electric Car Conversion

DIY Electric Car Conversion Project in New Zealand

The following is a Youtube video of a chap by the name Gavin Shoebridge. He’s a DIY electric car retrofitter from New Zealand. You can see from the video, he bought a faulty 1987 Mitsubishi Treadia donor car for $180 back in March 2007.

 

Why Convert Your Gas Car To Electric

Why Convert Gas Driven Car to Electric

Before we convert our gasoline driven car to run on electricity, we want to know why? What are the advantages of driving an electric car? There are some very obviously answers but I decided to do some research and write a blog post about it. As usually, I open up Peter Millward’s Electricity 4 Gas e-book to find the answer.

There are a few interesting facts in the electric car conversion manual. One of the main reason has to do with our environment. A car with an internal combustion engine is very harmful to the earth. It creates toxic fumes, greenhouse gas, toxic waste, you name it it has put it in the environment. According to my Electricity 4 Gas review, car exhaust is one of the biggest contributors to air pollution that has ever existed.

The last couple of years, we’ve seen car companies have been forced to clean up their act, to a point. For example, the California Air Resources Board has passed the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) to help clean up the city air. Unfortunately, the mandate was amended due to strong pressure from the car manufacturers. The fiasco was documented in the movie Who Killed The Electric Car.

Finding new ways to fuel our cars is the answer. Using renewable energy to power our cars is the answer that we are pursuing here. An electric vehicle produces very close to zero emissions, which is an excellent solution. We can use conventional AC power from your home, which is more and more produced with renewable energy sources.

Driving an electric car not only can save you money, but as an added benefit, it is also good for the environment. We cannot depend on fossil fuel forever. We have to start using alternative energy source such as electric to power our cars. What we need now is more publicity for the humble electric vehicle.