They say electric cars are good for the environment because they don’t consume fossil fuels that expel CO2 into the atmosphere. Of course the ideal use of electric vehicles is in tandem with charging the electric vehicle from renewable energy sources, otherwise the energy and CO2 you saved with not gassing up just increases the demand to the fossil fuel based powerplant to burn more fuel in order to generate electricity for charging.
Pundits however have pointed out that electric vehicles might not be all that good for the environment because the batteries used by the vehicles just end up being disposed in a landfill. Add to that of course that batteries have to eventually be changed because their charge capacity reduces as time goes by which results in reduced operating time of an electric vehicle that translates to range of travel.
Despite that, with the clamor for stopping Climate change, there has seemed to be a renewed interest in Electric Cars for public transport. Those who would prefer to not buy an electric vehicle from a manufacturer have taken to converting some old vehicles into electric ones using common off the shelf parts that require only minor customization. Looking at this list of articles at Wired magazine for an electric car conversion project, it might not sound as impossible as it seems.
Basically it entails getting a used car then swapping out the gasoline engine for an electric one while keeping the transmission in place. The matching of the motor to the transmission will need some fabrication. The engine bay will serve as the housing for the control systems, the charger, the motor and the batteries. For longer range you have to make do without any air conditioning but in articles I’ve read before they install a smaller motor to power the compressor for the air conditioning system.
For more details check out this ongoing series from Wired magazine.
Part I :We’re Building an Electric Car!
Part II : Our EV Conversion Gets A Curvaceous Body
Part III : Searching For a Motor To Drive Our DIY EV
Part IV: Our DIY Electric Car Gets Some Batteries
