Gav caught the EV bug. He also caught the video bug, and made a bunch of great videos of his process to convert his glider to an EV.
During the next few months I’ll be converting an old gas powered car to run on clean, cheap electricity. It’s a serious learning curve for me but I’m up for the challenge – and hey, if I can do it then believe me, anyone can do it!
After years of wanting to do this I thought, “hey, why not start now?” and started looking around for a cheap donor car. Ideally something that had a damaged engine but a good body and gearbox. I was looking for an 80’s Mitsubishi (I’ve had a few) and found this one for sale locally within a few weeks of searching.
This segment shows the conversion process in a slimmed down version:
Gav mentions DIY Electric Car, which he credits as having excellent resources for people doing their own conversions. Their forums look active and polite. Here is a bit from electric motors section:
When searching for cores, look for insulation that is wine colored with yellow banding, brush leads that are still copper color and not scortched, and a commutator that isn’t grooved or pitted. Don’t be afraid to remove the cover band and have a look inside the motor (and while you’re there take a pic to send me). I get a lot of “I wish I had wrote you before I bought this emails” and it’s a bummer to read them honestly. I’d bet that almost half the motors I’ve built are still not up and running yet, so you might not need that motor as fast as you think you might. Sometimes looking to eager to buy not only drives the price up but might also cause you to buy something ill suited for your needs to boot.
Looking to do a conversion? Already driving an EV? Just looking? Check out how Electric Vehicles fit in to our future.
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