Considering an EV and I need some help

EV Small Talk
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Hey everyone, Im glad to see there is a forum with EVs in mind! Im considering building an EV as a second car with two main uses. First, Ill use it as an around town car for errands and things (I live in Richmond Canada, which is a small city just south of Vancouver) The second use is the important one, in two years Id like to have the EV to commute to and from university (UBC). The commute is about 25 kilometers each way, so 50 kilometers a day. That comes out to under 35 miles, so Im thinking I should be able to build an EV that will commute both ways on a charge. The main reason I want to do a conversion is to prevent having to pay the damn gas prices up here. In Vancouver, regular unleaded is cdn$1.30 a litre (the price is also rising weekly), which is equivilant to cdn$4.92 per gallon. If I were to drive a car that gets 25 mpg, it will cost me about 7 bucks each day I drive to school (that might not sound too bad, but 5 days a week for about 40 or so weeks adds up to $1400, and that’s just for school!) Not only this, but greater Vancouver is powered hydroelectrically through BC hydro and it is pretty cheap to buy electricity (Im not sure the exact rates, but they can most likely be found on the bc hydro website)

Now, I need a bit of help justifying this idea. My main concerns are initial cost, range, performance and life of batteries (before they need to be replaced). What kind of cost am I looking at with an EV conversion? What kind of acceleration, speed, etc will I see? How far will I be able to go on a charge, and how long will it take to charge the car? What kind of batteries are best, and how long will they last before Ill have to buy new ones? (this might be the deciding factor for me, because savings might be offset by having to buy new batteries) Also, approximately how much does a full charge cost?

I understand an EV isn’t practical for everything, and the initial investment in building one might be high, but having one as well as my gasoline car (for longer trips) would probably save me a lot of money in the long run. Also, Id rather be putting my money into the conversion (and it also helps the environment a bit) than handing it off to the damn oil companies. So, do you think that an EV will suit my needs, or should I drop the idea and just drive my gasoline car? Thanks for any opinions or help guys. :cool:

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  1. What are you looking to spend? Your budget will determine a lot. If you have $100,000 you can get the Tesla and out perform many i/c cars while not having to recharge for almost two weeks. I suggest going at it by determining how much you want to spend then start placing your priorities- speed, range or compromise between the two.
  2. What kind of car are you thinking of converting?
  3. Get a book on building EVs. There will be tons of questions answered in there. Look up ‘Build your own electric vehicle’ by Bob Brant.
  4. Start a vehicle conversion project thread on here to keep us and guests posted on progress. This accomplishes a few things. a: Allows others to see a project actually coming into being thus providing motivation. b: Allows others to share more info and ideas involving a tangible application as opposed to just theorizing. c: Increases exposure and popularity of EV vehicles. d: It’ll make you cool :cool:
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I am in the middle of a conversion check me out in the conversoins area on the main page DIY is do it yourself. I have spent many hours researching my progect before starting it. My car will be up and running in one to two weeks. I still have a couple of hurdles to jump before I get there though. I have a budget of 7,000 dollars usd I am over budget I think about 500 dollars. the 35 miles is very doable with no problem with the right components. DON’T SKIMP ON BATTERIES though, Batteries are your fuel figure at least 10 lbs of lead per mile of travel. I have 12 82 lb batteries, theoretically I can travel 100 miles, I am going to push the envelope further as I am putting a regen circut into the car that should give me at least 30% more. Let me know if i can answer any questions.
There are three helpful links on the first page of my area "Saturn from SC2 to EV 120