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How to Build Your Own Electric Car Without a Kit
It is possible to build your own electric car without going out and purchasing an electric car conversion kit. Fixing a car with an electric car conversion can save an owner a lot of money on gas. You have many choices when converting your own car as you can use different types of technology as well as different batteries.
Materials & Tools:
- Wrench, screw driver, hammer, pliers etc.
- Floor covering
- Portable light
- Adapter plate
- Batteries
- DC motor
- Mounting brackets (custom)
- #00 gauge welding cable
- Charging system
- DC to DC converter
- Volt meter
- Potentiometers
Step 1 – Remove Parts
To completely convert your car form gasoline to an electric car you will need to remove the gas tank, engine, exhaust system and perhaps the radiator as well. If anything is run by gas then that comes out.
Step 2 – Mount Electric Motor to the Transmission
You will need to take your new electric motor and mount this onto the transmission. Most people find they need custom mounting brackets to achieve this, so check before hand about the types of brackets that you will need. You also need to have a reduction gear in order to get the best efficiency from your electric motor. You can create your own gear but this can be very expensive. Instead it is recommended that you pin the current manual transmission into second or first gear.
Step 3 – Mount Controller and Batteries
You now want to mount the controller and the batteries. Make sure you have plenty of space to get brackets that will hold all of the batteries safely and securely. The best types of batteries to use are sealed batteries as they can be turned onto their sides and can fit in a variety of weird spaces. Use #00 gauge welding cable to wire the motor and the batteries to the controller.
Step 4 – Mount Electric Motor
If your car uses power steering then you will need to mount a separate electric motor for the steering wheel. Additionally other electric motors are needed to power the air conditioning, heater and brakes. For power brakes it is best to use a vacuum pump for the brake booster. For the heating system a small electric water heater is the best, though a ceramic space heater will also work.
Step 5 – Install Charging System
You will need to install a charging system to charge the batteries and they connect a AC to DC converter to your batteries. In order to know when you need to recharge the batteries you will need some sort of volt meter and this can replace the gas gage on the display.
Step 6 – Use Potentiometer
To control how much power you need you will use a potentiometer and hook it to the accelerator pedal as this controllers how much power you need, by pressing on the pedal, to the controller which will supply the power. You may or may not need to build in a reverse gear as this will depend on the type of motors and controller you use. Many will just run the motor in reverse when specified to run in reverse.
Step 7 – Rewrire Ignition
To turn the car on and off you will need a relay hooked up to the controller and it needs to be able to carry a lot of amps. You also will need to rewire your ignition for your new electric motor.
