Build Your Own Electric Vehicle

Electric vehicles have many advantages over their gas-powered counterparts. They are ecologically sound, much cheaper to operate and require almost no routine maintenance. But they can also cost twice as much just to drive off the showroom floor. Ambitious do-it-yourselvers, however, can enjoy the clean-running convenience of an electric car for half the price of the most affordable Chevrolet or Toyota. This money-saving guide explains step by step how to build an inexpensive EV from a kit or from an existing internal combustion engine chassis. It begins with a look at the history of electric vehicles, from vintage tyrn-of-the-century Baker Electric automobiles to current international advances in EV technology, and a look ahead at the future of EV development. Then, Bob Brant embarks on a chapter-by-chapter building-block description of each EV component: motor, drive train, controllers, power supplies, chargers and chassis. Final chapters pull it all together with clear instructions for assembling an electric car from scratch or kit, with advice on where to find low-cost EV supplies and systems.

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Is an Electric Car a Zero Emission Vehicle?

With ever-increasing fuel costs and worries over climate change, the humankind is facing a difficult question: how are we going to move from place to place? Sooner or later the oil will be gone, and then what? Electric car is touted as the future of motoring by many scientists and marketing experts. The latter want us to believe that electric car is a zero emission vehicle. At least that's what all the advertising messages say.

It is, in fact, very far from truth. Although no CO2 comes out of an electric car, you cannot call it 0-emission. Your electric car is as green as the electricity that powers it. Unfortunately, production of electricity pollutes the environment in a pretty similar way to a petrol car.

In USA 51% of electricity consumed comes from coal plants (36% in the UK). The remainder is somewhat split between natural gas, oil, hydro-plants and nuclear stations. Only 2 to 3% of all world's electricity is generated from green sources such as wind or sun. Well, nuclear stations are close to being green but many people don't want to live near one and, really, you cannot blame them.

So on average, considering CO2 contribution of the electricity plants, your so called 0-emission vehicle will account for around 130g CO2 per mile. That is almost as much as a small petrol car. There we are - we need to generate more green electricity in order to make an electric car a good idea.

Are there any Zero Emission Vehicle Available?

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to create a perfect zero emission vehicle. Let's see what other means of alternative propulsion are there. Compressed air - we need energy to compress the air. Hydrogen. Again, energy is consumed to generate free hydrogen and more energy to compress and store it. To do that, we either use fossil fuel or electricity that also comes from fossil fuels.

The only truly autonomous vehicle that doesn't even come close to consuming fossil fuels (and only if we disregard the expensive and carbon-intensive production process) is a solar car. Indeed by using a solar battery, we draw energy from the sun. Even considering the current political and social situation, the sun is free to everyone. However, a solar vehicle can only accommodate one person and it is neither safe nor fast. The weight should be kept to minimum because modern solar batteries cannot produce enough energy to power a full-size car.

Before that next big scientific breakthrough that will give us the perfect free energy, the future of green motoring is likely to be dominated by hybrid cars. Imagine: both gasoline and electric engines on board plus a solar battery on the roof - the ideal package to meet the CO2 emission guidelines.

Is electric car a hype or a good idea? Find out more by reading pros and cons of Electric Cars. Would you like to drive one?

Vehicle to Grid - How Electric Vehicles Interact With a Smart Power Electricity Network

What is Vehicle to Grid

Also called Vehicle 2 Grid or V2G, Vehicle to Grid is the process of connecting your electric car into the transmission electricity network. If you have an electric vehicle then you will definitely want to consider setting up V2G through a simple metering system and contract with your local electricity supplier.

What do I need to consider before deciding to connect my vehicle to the grid?


Firstly you have to have an electric car which can be charged by a standard electricity outlet.
The second thing you will want to do is determine some basic driving habits - i.e. if you drive almost your entire vehicle range to work and back every day, then there is unlikely to be much energy left over to swap between your battery and the grid, which makes setting up V2G a little redundant
Having decided that V2G connectivity is possible and feasible, you will need to look at the right products on the market to help you achieve this. I.e. which inverter should be used and which electricity trading contract will suit your needs the best?
If you decide suddenly that V2G is not good for you, how can you get out of an otherwise more expensive contract?

Once these basic items have been checked off the list, it is time to call up your utility and start the process of applying for V2G. You can then purchase a suitable inverter which allows you to feed back into the grid (this will be similar if not identical to the type of inverters used on solar PV grid connected power supplies). Of course you will have to decide what sized inverter to go for.

For example, a 5kW inverter may cost $1000 and a 2kW inverter may cost $600. Therefore you have to be sure that you can recover the $400 over being able to sell a higher rate of electricity in peak times. Some simple maths will help you work out the optimal solution, but just be aware of the various pay offs for each option.

Why is Vehicle to Grid (V2G) Good?

Vehicle to Grid applications have a number of benefits for all sorts of businesses and stakeholders. Vehicle to Grid (V2G):


Empowers the home consumer to make sensible choices about when they use their electricity through smart metering
saves the consumer money in the long run through effective electricity management
is green! Every time you supply the grid with electricity during the yearly peak energy demand, you are reducing the need to upgrade the electricity network with more transmission lines and generators
You are helping to bring electric vehicles (EV's) onto the market
You are reducing your carbon footprint! This is a big ones these days
The electricity company can save money and reduce their unit electricity prices, or reduce the need to increase them
reduce the amount of electricity transmission line needed. I.e. the car transports the electricity to where it is needed.


Cuts down on the amount of fuel stations required
Reduces our addiction to foreign oil through the accelerated introduction of electric vehicles and ability to replace fossil fuel generation with renewable energy generation.
Allows more sustainable energy and renewable energy to be introduced onto the electricity grid, as electric vehicle batteries can now act as a buffer to intermittent generation.

The last point is an important one. Traditional transmission networks are struggling to cope with large percentages of intermittent renewable and sustainable energy generation, as electricity generation from these sources is largely dependent on the elements. Therefore to have the ability to store electricity somewhere is important. In many countries power utilities are approaching this by pumping water up a hill and regenerating during peak times (~60% efficiency) or storing hydrogen formed by electrolysis underground ready for re generation (~40% efficiency). Storing electricity in batteries is a much higher efficiency (60% - 90%) however is a little costly.

Japan uses large battery sheds to store small amounts of energy, however vehicle to grid systems also work very well as storage mechanisms and are likely to play this role in the future as more electric vehicles hit the market. How soon we will see such networks will largely rely on the countries commitment to renewable and sustainable energy sources, as well as the abundance of wind, sun and wave energy. Although many companies claim to have a green lining, short term economics of such projects still remains the number one driver for the introduction of such technology.

The advantage to the end consumer who is running a vehicle to grid system is the savings in electricity for essentially hiring out the storage space in their electric car battery. So as we can see, it is a win win for many as it not only reduces the stress on our electricity transmission and generation networks, allows more sustainable energy to be placed on the system with lower carbon emissions, but also saves the end user money whilst making electric vehicles more affordable. It also weans us off our foreign oil addiction through the cost effective introduction of electric vehicles, a topical issue as we approach peak oil status around the world.

For more information you may want to consult your electricity network to find out about their smart metering tariffs. You will also want to look into the purchase of an electric vehicle, or an electric vehicle conversion in able to make use of the vehicle-2-grid (V2G) technology. I guess we can all look forward to a cleaner, greener, cheaper carbon restrained future, and V2G is going to help us get there in a big way!

More information on Vehicle to Grid (V2G) at http://www.v2g.com.au.

http://www.sustainableenergy.com.au has plenty of information on solar PV, solar thermal, wind energy, geothermal generation, biomass and biofuel energy, peak oil, electric vehicles and other renewable and sustainable energy alternatives.

I look forward to seeing sustainable energy, electric vehicles and effective energy management bring us into the next era. Richard Watson http://www.richardwatson.me

Electric Vehicle Kits - Build Your Own Electric Car

With rising fuel costs, more and more people and are looking for alternatives. One such alternative that is gaining popularity, especially with the do-it yourself types, are the electric vehicle kits. Anyone familiar with automobiles can now use these kits to convert traditional gas powered vehicles to one powered by electric current.

However, converting a traditional Gas powered vehicle into an electric vehicle can be a very daunting task. Only those who are the very mechanically minded should try this. To convert the vehicle will require extensive modifications to nearly all-mechanical parts of the car. Everything from the engine to the radiator, heater and air-conditioning, to the gauges on the panel. On top of that, the electric cars have to be recharged on a regular basis, which means having to purchase or use the services of recharging station. Solar power could be another potential source of power for the electric vehicle.

Can any car be converted into an electric vehicle?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Not all cars can be converted into an electric vehicle. However, and the most common electric vehicle kit seems to be the Chevy S-10 pick up kit. For examples to follow just do a search online for Chevy S-10 pickup Electric conversions.

Other cars that are good candidates for conversion are the Chevy Geo, especially from 1989 to 1999. These cars are good potential candidates for an electric vehicle kit conversion. Cars similar to the Chevy Geo Metro, such as the Chevy Sprint, Pontiac Firefly and the Suzuki Swift are also ideal for conversions too.

Are there downsides to using an electric vehicle kit?

Going back a few years, many people associated electric powered vehicles with slowness and a lack of power. But as usual, thanks to technology, significant advances in the electric vehicle have changed all that. With these electric vehicle kits some cars can reach top speeds of between 70 and 75 mph. nonetheless, converting to electric power still has its drawbacks.

The biggest drawback it is of course the need for recharging the batteries. As an example, the Chevy Geo Metro kit must be recharged every 20 to 40 miles, depending on driving habits and battery quality. For city driving, this would be ideal. However, for lengthy commutes on the highway, this would not be ideal.

The Chevy S-10 with an electric vehicle kit installed will run a little longer on a single charge. On a single charge, the S-10 should last between 40 and 60 miles. Again this depends upon the driving habits as well as the size and quality of batteries. Some S-10 models can be equipped with solar powered panels which would in reduced in the need for charging, at least when driving during daylight hours.

Converting vehicles with electric vehicle kits is not a cheap affair. Most conversion kits seem to cost between $8000 to $10,000. And this does not even include professional installation as well as the cost of the batteries, not to mention access to or the purchase of a charging station.

Quite frankly, with the cost involved of using an electric vehicle kit, it probably wouldn't be very practical for the average consumer, especially if they do a lot of highway driving. However, that being said, it probably would be ideal for a back yard mechanic who loves to tinker with cars and has a few bucks to throw around and wants to impress his beer-drinking buddies.

Kerry Ng is a successful Webmaster and publisher of The Hybrid Cars Blog. Click here for more great helpful information about Hybrid Cars: http://www.hybridcarsinfoblog.com/build-your-own-electric-vehicle

Growing Popularity of the Electric Vehicle

A commonly heard marketing ploy in today's society is "going green". It affects the cleaning products we use, the produce we buy and even the type of automobile we select. Of course, this Green Technology does have its benefits-one of which is cleaner air as a result of vehicle emissions test. As auto developers began looking for other ways to improve transportation technology, electric cars and hybrid vehicles started appearing more frequently on the market.

And, while many may believe that the electric automobile is a relatively new approach to auto transportation, in reality, it has been around for many years. In fact, it was actually first used by Camille Jenatzy in 1899 to power his rocket shaped vehicle which could reach speeds of 105.88 mph. More interesting, is that in 1897, there was a fleet of electrical taxis used in New York City. The cars were built by the Electric Carriage Company of Philadelphia. In addition, electric vehicles were also produced by American company, Anthony Electric and included vehicles like the Studebaker, Riker and the Milburn in the early 20th century. The electric cars, and later trucks, grew in popularity and by the turn of the century there were nearly 34,000 (38%) registered in the U.S. with sales of electric autos peaking in 1912.

Despite the use of electric auto technology (such as it was) being early on in vehicle history, it took a bit of a backseat for a number decades until the 1990s, when at the Los Angeles Auto Show, General Motors revealed the GM Impact electric car and announced that GM would be building electric cars for the public. These electric cars would promote California's "Clean Air Act" promoting more fuel efficiency and lower emissions. Typically, the cars were design for 2 people. The concept began to catch on, and before long other auto makers such as Nissan, Tesla and Li-ion Motors (Mooresville, NC) began developing electric cars of their own.

At Tesla Motors auto specialist introduced the Tesla Roadster in 2008 with other electric cars (also referred to as electric vehicles or EVs) to follow. In June of 2009, BMW began field testing the electric Mini-E in the Los Angeles and New York-New Jersey areas. Then, in August 2009 the Nissan LEAF was launched as the first all-electric 5 door family hatchback produced for the mass market; the LEAF has a range of 100 miles and is comparable to the Ford Focus EV. In addition, the Nissan Leaf was named the 2011 European Car of the Year by Auto Scribes. Other electric cars that should soon be available include the Toyota FT-EV slated for 2010, the 7-seater Tesla Model S planned for late 2011 and the Renault Fluence for 2011. There are other electric cars slated for release in the near future, but at this point many of them are still in the design and trial stage.

It should also be pointed out that while environmentally friendly, the electric car does pack a punch in regards to price. Electric automobiles can range in cost from $25,000 to well over $100,000-depending on make, model, and passenger potential and how long the car can travel between needing to be recharged. However, those in favor of the EV point out that these automobiles do not require oil changes and other engine related needs.

The electric vehicle is no longer an uncommon sighting when traveling around town. No, it has not become the norm, nor is this mode of transportation without its share of pros and cons, but it is growing in popularity-especially in states such as California where the emission standards are much higher. The automobile industry is always looking for better and more efficient ways to travel, and right now, the electric auto is definitely a part of that venture.

A leading Auto Transport Quote company has provided the information in this article. For more on this and other Car Shipping nationwide, visit them today.