With gas prices on the rise the way that they are in the United States today, many people are joining the going green movement; building a home made electric car is one of the many ways that you can make a small contribution to this effort. Still many more are simply trying to save a buck by avoiding those extremely high gas pumps. while many people have found excellent ways of doing this, using an alternative energy source is still by far, one of the best techniques that you can use when trying to accomplish this goal.
Home Made Electric Car
Building an electric car can provide many benefits other than just saving money when you on gas. Operating an electric car is a good way to reduce the pollution in your neighborhood, and it contributes to saving the ozone layer and stopping global warming. Just the thought of these benefits alone has many people quite ready to engage this endeavor with fervor. Having a step by step guide to building a home made electric car is one of the best ways you can accomplish this goal.
You can make a home made electric car yourself with some technical expertise and a natural understanding for mechanics. This article will explain how to do such a thing right in the basement or your garage. Most people don’t know that you rebuild your old gasoline powered car to be a home made electric car simply by switching out the engine with a forklift motor and adding batteries. The first step in this task is buy a car, and since all cars are not made equal you need to pick one that fits the criteria.
You want to get a car that is very lightweight and make sure that the car does not have anything that is powered by electricity except for maybe the radio. The heavier the home made electric car, the more energy is required to make it down the road, meaning that your battery life will be severely hindered if you choose to get an extremely heavy vehicle. make sure that the vehicle you choose is mechanically sound, except for maybe the engine as this will ultimately be replaced anyway.
The next step in your plans to build a home made electric car is to remove anything in the car that is related to gasoline, for most cars this means: the catalytic converter, engine, starter, radiator, gas tank, exhaust, muffler, coolant tank, fuel lines and the fuel filter. Anything else that you can think of that involves gasoline related components should be removed as well, as these merely get in the way when it comes time to install your electric components. It also serves the double purpose of making the car more lightweight and easier to work on. Don’t forget that if you keep the parts intact when you remove them and they are in working condition, you can always resell them to recuperate some of the costs involved in this project.
Make sure that you keep the transmission intact, as you will need this vital component in order to transfer power from your new electric motor to the cars wheels. Take the transmission out of the vehicle and place it on a piece of cardboard and make an outline of the shape of the transmission with something like a permanent marker. Make sure that you mark all the holes that come along with your transmission, then take the motor end cap and your diagram to a machine shop and ask them to make whats called an adapter plate. In order for this conversion to be successful you have to make an adapter plate that will allow the drive shaft and the center of the transmission to line up perfectly.
This will require professional assistance so do not attempt to fashion the adapter plate yourself by any means. Now before you connect the transmission again with the engine you will have devise a method that will enable you to mechanically transmit power from engine to transmission. The clutch and flywheel can be used to achieve this end but for all practicality and for the sake of keeping things simple, for this conversion we will use a coupler. The particular type of coupler that you need is called a lovejoy connector. once you have used this lovejoy connector to connect the engine to the transmission, you now have a home made drive-train and you can proceed to the next step.
The final step for building your home made electric car is to reinstall your drive-train directly into your car and you now have a fully home made electric car. But what is a home made electric car without a motor to run it with? You should be able to find a deal on an electric motor simply by looking around for people who have used forklifts that they are trying to part out. As mentioned before an old forklift with an electric motor is one of the most inexpensive alternatives to finding an electric motor without spending a lot of money. You should be able to find one of these for somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty to one hundred dollars.
Home Made Electric Car – The Conclusion
Rebuilding an electric motor is not as complicated as it may seem. First of all, there are only a handful of parts that are necessary to rebuild it and electric motors are generally only composed of a few parts. In order to rebuild an electric motor you need to degrease it first. Then you simply remove the coils and then spray them with a good insulating epoxy so that you don’t catch a shortage in your motor. Next you want to check the bearings and if you are so inclined, you can even paint it to give the look and feel of a brand new motor. Put it back together and there you have it, your like new rebuilt electric motor. These are the basic steps that it requires to build a home made electric car; and it can all be done right from the comfort and privacy of your own house!
