Electric cars are zero/low emission vehicle with a simple power train that contains an electric motor and controller. An Electric car conversion kit is a group of components that used to convert a conventional gasoline car to electric car (formal definition of electric car conversion kit ;-)).
You might have read the basics of electric car, how a hybrid electric car works, and electric vehicle charging stations. If no, you can read and understand some basics.
Why an electric car?
Electric cars are zero-emission vehicles that are highly important to minimize environmental pollution. Electric cars the best alternative for gasoline vehicles.
Electric vehicles require less maintenance and low running cost. Car manufacturers started manufacturing electric vehicles and they are slowly capturing the automotive market.
Here is a list of electric car manufactures. Electric cars take long to get charged and the distance that traveled by an EV in full charge of the battery is a few 100 kilometers.
How to convert a car to EV using Electric car conversion kit
It is a good project to convert an old car to an electric vehicle using the conversion kit that available. An electric car’s power train is simple compared to the power train of a gasoline vehicle.
Motor, controller, battery are the main parts of an electric vehicle. We can develop an electric vehicle from an IC engine vehicle body using a motor, battery, controller, etc.
Electric vehicle conversion is summarized as 7 steps. End of the seventh step, you would be the proud owner of an electric vehicle developed by yourself.
#1 Get a conventional car
The first step to convert a conventional car to electric is to get a cheap old car. Performance of engine, exhaust, radiator, etc. doesn’t matter since they will not be a part of an electric car.
#2 Remove gasoline related components
An electric car does not require any of the gasoline related components. So the next step is to remove the engine, exhaust systems, radiator from the vehicle. We can keep the transmission system in the vehicle.
#3 Connect Electric motor
Electric motor powers an electric car to move from one location to another. An electric motor can be placed in the front of the car where the internal combustion engine stayed before.
Fit electric motor firmly in the vehicle to run the vehicle.
#4 Connect motor to the wheels
Using an adapter plate, the motor can be coupled to the transmission of the car. We are not going to remove the transmission so that the possibility of high torque at the required situation can be obtained from the vehicle.
The vehicle travels in a single gear for all the journey and we do not shift gear unless high torque is necessary.
#5 Connect Controller
Power electronics controller to control the speed of the vehicle can be placed and connected to the accelerator pedal.
Accelerator pedal has to be modified such a way that to connect it to the electronics controller.
#6 Connect battery
The battery can be placed it the back of the car so that to maintain weight balance of the vehicle. We can use a 20kWh battery to run the vehicle a few 100 kilometers in one charge.
Charging port can also be connected to charge the battery of the electric vehicle.
#7 Convert brakes to power brake (if necessary)
The braking system in a conventional car works using vacuum generated running in the internal combustion engine.
Since we removed the IC engine and connected the electric motor, the brakes of the vehicle would not be as smooth as it before. So external mechanisms to make them smooth can be installed.
Where can I get an electric car conversion kit?
Electric car conversion kits are available in shopping websites such as Amazon. Electric vehicle batteries are not a part of the conversion kit. EV conversion kits come with motor and controller.
Other websites that offer EV conversion kits are
- Zero EV – UK
- EVwest.com – US
- CanEV.com – Canada
- EVSource.com – US
- EV4U – US
Conclusion
With simple 7 steps, we can convert a car into an all-electric vehicle. Electric vehicles are low noise and less emission vehicle. Using an electric car conversion kit, it’s easy to convert any car to an electric car.
Key points
- Electric vehicles are environmentally friendly vehicles
- Any car can be converted to electric using an electric car conversion kit
- EV conversion is possible in 7 easy steps
