A new trend is gaining speed among the mechanically savvy, one that allows them to spend less time at gas stations. Turning gasoline powered automobiles into electric powered cars is a hobby that saves tinkerers money. This interest in electric cars is a combination of multiple events; rising gas prices, environmental concern, or simply curiosity are turning car owners with a little know how, and a few spare bucks into electric car owners.
The process is somewhat straightforward for a gear-head. First, anything that can be removed typically is, this includes; the engine, radiator, gas tank, spare tire and back seats. This "stripping" of the car brings the weight down, and this is one important aspect of an electric car. The lighter the car, the longer the drives that can be made, as excess weight drains the batteries faster.
Secondly, a number of supplies must be either bought, salvaged or traded for. This is not an exhaustive list, but it includes a number of car batteries, the more the better, an electric engine, some circuity supplies, and a lot of wiring. These supplies are the basic requirements to have an electric car, however some builders spend more money on purposed lithium ion batteries designed for such cars.
The next step is to put everything together and is the most complex. The are not very many guides for this sort of thing, they can be found but they are not tailored to different models of car; most of them are just for the wiring. What is difficult about this step is managing to fit all of the parts in the car. Depending on your build, there could be upwards of 8 car batteries that have to fit somewhere. With them in place, the engine is typically attached to the existing transmission with a conversion plate. The final piece that needs to be added is the circuity aspect. These can be ordered from a company or hand designed, it is up to the builder. What these do is turn the "raw" supply of power contained in the car batteries into a controlled, regulated flow of energy.
With everything in place, it's time to go driving. These cars have a recharge time of anywhere from 12hours to a number of days, it depends on the quality and quantity of the batteries. A typical build will be some kind of manual car, with 8 car batteries, which holds 96 volts of energy to power the car. These cars can drive anywhere from a few miles to upwards of 50 miles before a recharge is needed, it all depends on how the car is driven, faster speeds drain the batteries faster. There is one thing that I have neglected to mention that makes electric cars superior to gas cars for performance, acceleration. Electric cars have some of the fastest 0-60 times of ANY automobile, for instance the Audi e-Tron has a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds, tied with a BMW 325i.
http://www.audiusa.com/us/brand/en/exp/progress/Concept_Vehicles/audi_e_tron.html
http://www.zeroto60times.com/BMW-Bimmer-0-60-mph-Times.html
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car7.htm
"2 years on a high school electric vehicle team."
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