What is Digg?100 Comments
- rrouse, on 06/17/2008, -0/+63They need to get the costs down.
- MrColdheart, on 06/17/2008, -0/+35screw them, just wait for someone to create a "convert your own car" wiki.
- seanmx, on 06/18/2008, -0/+19I converted my car to flintstones by cutting a hole in the floorboard.
- gl77, on 06/18/2008, -0/+17they have had full electric conversion kits for common automobiles for years, sold in the back of magazines like popular mechanics for the do-it-yourself type. a guy i worked with 6 years ago drove around in a fully electric older model chevy S-10 truck that he bought the kit for and converted himself. this is nothing new, except now there's a company that will do it for you for an outrageously high fee.
- supermose, on 06/17/2008, -0/+17This is a really good idea if they got the price down. Unfortunately a lot of the tech for clean fuels are expensive - which is why GM will be loosing money on every Volt it makes for a while, and why Toyota went through the same thing with the Prius. However, being large, they have other sources of revenue - I think more incentives should be given to companies like this. Perhaps some ingenuitive incentives would drive down their costs and help them offer it for less.
- mal1964, on 06/18/2008, -0/+16That will void the warranty.
- dougvfr750, on 06/17/2008, -0/+14Yeah, give me the parts and I'll do it myself
- niccha, on 06/17/2008, -0/+13Personally, I love the idea of messing around with my own car. But the fact of the matter is most folks aren't willing/able to do these types of conversions themselves. Most people will just want to fire-and-forget with the minimum of fuss.
If we want people to "recycle" their used gas cars into "new" electric cars, conversion companies will be necessary. - audieattar, on 06/18/2008, -1/+13WOW, I want to convert my hybrid now!
- BelatedHero, on 06/18/2008, -1/+11It's a little hard to tinker with today's cars. Open the hood and everything is either hidden under plastic, shoved somewhere impossibly hard to get to, or requires special tools... or all of these combined.
- Nerys, on 06/18/2008, -1/+10Your just unaware of the circumstances. A NIMH powered electric car uses $1 in electricity to go 100 miles.
If you think $1 in electricity produces more than a fraction of the amount of pollution even from a COAL fired plant than 5 gallons of gasoline ........
On top of this once we are electric ALTERNATIVES become viable. $1600 for a grid tie in. Once nano solar gets up and running for consumers $1000 in solar panels and now I can sell back to the utility more power than I will use charging my car.
Now its 100% Free 100% clean and 100% no load on the grid. There is NO DOWNSIDE. - qwertydvorak, on 06/18/2008, -0/+8don't forget to take your flintstones vitamins to keep the power source running optimally.
- inactive, on 06/18/2008, -0/+8The feds need to offer some sort of reward. $50 billion to the company that sells the first million EV cars.
- Revolutionista, on 06/18/2008, -3/+11Fine, more unleaded for me.
- regeya, on 06/18/2008, -1/+8Yes, but one important point is that you don't need most of that garbage after the conversion.
- Nerys, on 06/18/2008, -0/+7yet once again at a cost that makes it a completely irrelevant effort. All thanks to them stinking lithium batteries. I want my damned NIMH batteries. We need to string up both chevron/gm and our government and get that patent tossed.
- apeweek, on 06/18/2008, -0/+7Converting your own car is not that hard - just remove the nasty bits, and install an electric motor, controller, and batteries. Even the transmission is optional.
Here's some help: http://www.evalbum.com/build
Here's a kit to convert an S10: http://www.canev.com/KitsComp/index.html
Kits for a Rabbit and a Porsche: http://www.electroauto.com/catalog/kits.shtml
Here's the world's cheapest EV conversion kit ($2280): http://e-volks.com/electric_car_conversions.html
More useful links here: http://www.squidoo.com/cheap-electric-car - TwinTurboMike, on 06/18/2008, -0/+6If I had a dollar for everytime I've heard people say this... *cringe*
I would MUCH rather have electricity produced at a coal fire plant where the plant is optimized for peak efficiency output than a bunch of combustion based cars running around at 5-30% efficiency (which varies greatly by many variables). The amount of pollution produced from one coal fire plant to make an electric car go 100 miles is going to be far less than what you'd get from an average combustion car burning gasoline to go that same 100 miles.
That said, Washington State is one of the greenest in terms of electricity. There is a huge windfarm as well as hydroelectric, etc. It doesn't HAVE to come from coal, and you can install solar panels and residential windmills on your own property. - GregFD3S, on 06/18/2008, -1/+7$8,000 Street Bike > $60,000 Hybrid Mini
- GregFD3S, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5I live in San Diego, WTF is snow?
- subterfuge, on 06/18/2008, -2/+7but they're FAR more efficient than gasoline vehicles. also, hybridization technology will also be used in hydrogen vehicles, so any advancements in regeneratvie braking go toward hydrogen vehicles as well.
- kakwakas, on 06/18/2008, -1/+6My dad and uncle are actually planning on starting a business in the Ann Arbor area doing this. Looks kinda cool, really.
- 1charmedlife, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5A friend of mine drives an NMG car out of San Francisco - her electric bill went up by $5 PER MONTH to charge and drive her electric car on a 12m/each way daily commute. Not bad:)
- tnvwboy, on 06/18/2008, -0/+5Yes but these prices are beyond cost of parts. There is a hefty premium on these cars. Unless they are pricing high to offset development costs (Tesla) then the high margin is purely to profit on the 'green' scene.
- sgtcaboose, on 06/18/2008, -0/+4Dugg for wanting to drive an electric 911.
- Shogi, on 06/18/2008, -0/+4Now all we need is a large sound system under the hood that simulates the sound of a gas engine.
- jobney76, on 06/18/2008, -0/+4done
http://www.evparts.com/ - apeweek, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3High costs at this time are inevitable - however, it can be done more cheaply - if either you are willing to settle for less advanced battery technology, for example:
http://www.voitureselectriques.ca/en/produits/prod ...
Or if you are willing to do the conversion work yourself - here are some lithium powered hobbyist cars:
http://www.evalbum.com/battb/THUN - subterfuge, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3the tesla roadster costs less than 0.02USD/mile according to their website
- qwertydvorak, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3enjoy your bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JO1AWDHisk
i love riding my bike, but it isn't always practical. - granolajoe, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3Yikes! It would take quite a while to reap the benefits of that conversion. It may be better to just wait for electric vehicles to come around.
- handheldchimp, on 06/18/2008, -1/+4You do know it is more efficient if you don't power the car yourself right? It is way more efficient if you strap about 20 cats to the hole in the floorboard and let them do the driving for you.
- inactive, on 06/18/2008, -0/+3What the hell are you talking about? More weight does NOT make a car handle better. In fact you couldnt be more wrong.
It gives you better traction in snow, but thats about it. There is a reason things get stripped out of racing cars, weight makes everything harder to do. Turning, braking, acceleration, top end, all of those are reduced by weight. - ThankTheCheese, on 06/18/2008, -1/+4o.0
I'm calling shenanigans on that whole post, my friend.
Anyone who acts so defensively about not being affiliated is clearly affiliated in some way. The digger doth protest too much. - Murdats, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2until that forces the production of cheap electric power to meet demand.
- Deputy_Doodah, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2It's that white stuff you see on the ground while driving through the east side of San Diego county.
Thought it was coke, didn't you?
Hell, you can even see it on the mountains from the roof of your apartment in Hillcrest. - beauley, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2There have been many attempts to design an electric powered vehicle for as long as the the internal combustion engine has been around. Unfortunately, battery power was never a formidable contender to the present internal combustion engine, but it looks as
http://www.gomestic.com/Consumer-Information/The-E ...
The Electric Vehicle, is It the Answer? - regeya, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2Glad to see that more companies are springing up that will do conversions. Now if only some of them would band together and get costs down :-)
Imagine what some intrepid folks could do if they got their hands on a large number of Metros and put together an assembly line... - Nerys, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2Thats because its illegal to have them (the RIGHT ones) 11 YEARS ago the EV1 could go 120-150 miles on a charge (with SOME people squeezing 190 miles out of it) the Rav4EV can do 80+ miles on a charge (same batteries heavier draggier car) and some with 150,000 or more miles are STILL DRIVING TODAY.
COST of the battery to the consumer 11 years ago. $4500. Show me a lithium comparable cell for even 5 times that price. - chrisinsocalif, on 06/18/2008, -1/+3It's summer in California, so my electric bill is a few hundred dollars. How much power does it take to recharge an all electric car? I dont want to spend all my money from gas and just switch it to electric bill.
- queencicada, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2I don't think a car is very practical in that situation either... what if some money goes to reinforcing or building new public transportation systems? Can a bus be made to run on electric too?
- Nerys, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2Change will come by 2015 (possibly 2013) once that god damned battery patent expires. Assuming they do not have some other way of preventing people from manufacturing the batteries.
Within a year of them getting those batteries into production I WILL have an electric car. - OrangeCrush, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2It'll take more than that to convert a gas car to an electric. It's a lot more involved than just pulling the engine and dropping a big electric motor in and splicing on some batteries. There's the transmission to contend with (so the wheels actually turn), the car's internal wiring, etc.
- macromage, on 06/18/2008, -0/+2You will only have to take a few electrical safty classes. Once you understand what you are trying to do this could be done in a few days. There is only the small problem of getting the engine out of the car and disposing of all the HAZMAT. Then making the cars computer work with the electric engine. Then the Brakes may not work. good luck doing this yourself!!!
- LeRenard, on 06/18/2008, -1/+3Hydrogen does indeed aid the combustion of gasoline, but the electrolysis process to produce it consumes a lot more energy than the hydrogen will help you produce, not to mention that adding hydrogen to the intake mix will cause most modern cars to run lean as the computer is not equipped to compensate for the leaning that occurs (it doesn't expect hydrogen). In most cases, mileage improves slightly for many people simply because they are increasing octane (allowing for a timing advance) and leaning out the mix (which reduces fuel consumption), however this could be potentially damaging to your piston rings as any lean condition would be. In those videos where they are running "blubbers", they are often using huge high amperage lab power supplies that can deliver current in excess of what is available from the cars alternator.
- SolidBones, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1I seem to remember attitudes like this for stuff like calculators and cell phones...
...not to mention the internet. - Heff1111, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1You have to experience the use of the system by building it from the ground up. The hydrogen conversion is afforadable. It took $250 in parts to change out my 1988 3/4 T Chev 4x4 PU Which runs on TBI (Throtle Body Fuel Injection). Before converting the truck ran on 15 MPG. Now with the conversion it averages at 30 MPG. There was no need to chage the timing. The system should also prove it self useful on diesel 18 wheelers. The only proof needed is to certify the milage gain. This configuration runs on 8 to 10 amps and is wired to run only when the engine is pumping gas. The anodes and cathodes are of my own design and do not require a bubbler.. you just fine tune the system. My proof is in my driveway. It will be much more difficult for you to prove a negative if you do not bother to take a close look at it function first hand.
- apeweek, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1Ask your utility about off-peak rates. My utility here in Detroit has off-peak rates available (a separate meter is installed) as low as 3 cents/KWH.
Since EVs get from 4-6 miles per KWH, your driving could cost under a penny per mile.
Even at a high electric rate, it's much cheaper than gasoline. - apeweek, on 06/18/2008, -0/+1So install a solar panel on your garage. An EV-sized panel can be had for as little as a thousand. Drive for free.
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