Are you preparing to build your own homemade electric car? Have you already chosen a car to convert it to electricity? If not, here’s some information to get you started.
Before you begin, it’s always good to plan out the process you’ll go through to convert a car. You don’t want to walk into the middle of a conversion and realize you have to start over. An important part of the conversion process is the vehicle you choose to convert.
Although almost any car can be converted to an electric car, there are only a few cars that tend to be more efficient when converted. This is not to say that you should only choose cars that meet this criteria. This information should only serve as a guide to use if necessary:
Build homemade electric car selection criteria
Have you determined whether you’ll choose a small car, sport utility vehicle, or pickup truck to convert? The best cars to convert are small sedans that have the capacity and space to store their batteries. Vans are also great for conversion projects.
Experts suggest that you choose the manual transmission over the automatic transmission whenever possible. Manual transmissions tend to be more efficient than cars with automatic transmissions.
Regardless of the vehicle you choose to convert, your vehicle must be able to support the additional weight that will be required for its batteries and motor. This can vary between 200 and 500 pounds. You may need to check the weight rating of your vehicle. This can usually be found in the owner’s manual.
These are just a few guidelines you can use to select a vehicle for conversion. Once you select your vehicle to convert, then you really are well on your way to driving your first electric car.