I hate driving. Hate it. Haaate itttt. I hate that the infrastructure of my little corner of the South is not set up for public transpo (yaaaaay urban sprawl!). So, by extension, I kind of hate cars. They’re dirty, noisy, expensive, and bad for the environment. Most of the cars on the road today are too damn big, too damn heavy, and horrible on gas mileage. I mean, really, people. Nothing triggers my gag reflex faster than seeing a.) A Hummer on the road, and b.) Topless pictures of Danny Bonaduce. So, when Who Killed the Electric Car? showed up in my mailbox from Netflix the other week, it was only natural that I’d become a fervent EV activist.
If you wanna see the movie, but don’t want to wait for Netflix, the whole thing can be viewed here through Google videos. I highly reccommend that anyone into the “green” thing check out this documentary. Granted, it’s not a perfect doc. It has some moments that feel a little Michael-Mooreish and willing-suspension-of-disbelief-y, but that’s beside the point. The thing that really got my blood boiling about the EV situation is when, towards the end of the film, one of the men who worked on GM’s EV project said something along the lines of, “The car companies will never give us EVs. They’re using hybrids and the prospect of hydrogen fuel cell cars to string us along.” And it’s true. It’s totally true. The car companies stand to gain nothing from folks buying and driving EVs. And the thing that is SO frustrating, so wrong and insulting about this is that EVs are not the “cars of the future”. EVs are NOW. The technology may not be perfected (when is anything ever perfect anyway?), but it exists. They’re rolling out EVs in Japan and India, but, for some unexplained reason, not in the US. It’s about time people knew that they don’t have to wait on the car companies here in the States to make EVs available for purchase. You can do it your damn self. After the jump, EV conversion made real!
Now, I’m sure a lot of you out there are probably intimidated by the idea of literally hollowing out your car and converting it to an EV. Yeah, the idea is scary. But, you don’t have to do it alone. There are countless EV communities on the interwebs, and a wealth of information to help you on this mission should you choose to undertake it. By far, my favorite EV conversion site is http://www.evconvert.com/. If you can think of a question regarding how to convert a car to electric, the answer is somewhere in this site. Proprietor Jerry Halstead has been living the EV dream since 1995, with 3 gas-to-electric conversions under his belt. Don’t let the fact that Jerry is an engineer and lifelong car-tinkerer deter you. There are plenty of other folks out there doing it, too. Hell, you can even watch people’s conversions on youtube. On an impossibly tight budget? OK! Try taking a cue from project ForkenSwift. The poster child for “electric car conversion on a beer budget”, ForkenSwift is the marriage of reclaimed forklift engines and a couple of limping Geo’s to create a cheap and zippy EV.
Still scurred? Read through the Your First EV page, and see if EV is for you. Now, (given what my job is) I do know a thing or two about electronics. I’m far from an expert or even a whiz, but the fact that I can actually make heads and tails of the basic EV schematics means you can too, folks! Have a look at the basic tools list:
Here’s my rough tool list (to own/borrow/rent):
- socket set
- wire stripper and crimper (low voltage)
- big crimper (high voltage, picture here)
- volt meter
- hack saw
- welding gear
Aside from the welding gear, which I still haven’t fully gotten the hang of, child’s play.
But again, EV conversions are not for everyone. If you want a big car, a road trippin’ car, a heavy haulin’ car, maybe don’t try it. You also have to sacrifice some performance expectations with your electric ride. The Holy Trinity of car expectations is Cheap, Fast, and Good. With an EV, pick two. If it’s cheap and good, it won’t be fast. If it’s cheap and fast, it won’t be good. If it’s good and fast, it won’t be cheap. Nobody ever said saving the world was easy. But, it may not have to be all on you: If you can’t do the conversion yourself (and have a slightly bigger budget), I’m sure you can find a garage willing to convert a car for a fee. You may have to look for a time to find a mechanic you trust, and someone who will actually take on the project (as these are difficult to insure).
As for me, I can’t wait to get started. After all the wedding hoopla has died down and I’ve managed to save some coin (and read several EV books), I plan on hollowing out an old Cabrio and telling GM and Big Oil to kiss. my. ass. Leave me comments!!
ButtercupPunch - "La clique, c’est chic!" 
August 5, 2008 at 8:23 am
My husband is so proud of himself for fixing the air conditioner this weekend. I’m kind of scared, kind of excited to see what happens after he reads this article.
August 5, 2008 at 8:39 am
I share your enthusiasm but am petrified of trying to hollow out a car (have my eye on a teeny Metro)–though the hubs knows how to weld. Also, if people would stop buying huge gas-guzzling monstrosities it would force the car-makers to start looking at electric and other means…too bad most people just don’t give a damn.
August 5, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I was going to convert my current car to hybrid 2 years ago. My mechanic was all jazzed about dropping a new engine in my Cabriolet. That’s when the hybrid engines were a mere $2800. Now? That price has jumped to over $10,000. Even the environmentalists are effing opportunists.
August 5, 2008 at 12:45 pm
So, did you find out who killed the electric car? Was it Big Oil/GM in the Middle East with a profit margin?
August 5, 2008 at 4:57 pm
TF…I suspect it’s the collective lobby pressure of all the groups you mentioned, no doubt made in backroom deals.
August 5, 2008 at 5:23 pm
@TF & GED: Lots of folks killed the electric car. But, one thing I found so shitty abt the doc, is that they leveraged blame at the consumers for killing the EV1s. That just isn’t fair. Consumers are SHEEP. They will buy it if you ADVERTISE it. EV1s were never nationally advertised on as grand a scale as, even, Smart Water. So don’t give me that shit.
The SUV-buying consumers are not necessarily the ones to blame, either. They wanted SUVs b/c their favorite stars were driving them. They were prominently featured in their favorite movies, ads for Denalis everydamnwhere, so of COURSE they bought them. Shoot. Those very same sheep would have bought electric if the promo peeps for The Italian Job made public that the zippy little racing Mini getaway cars used in the movie were all-electric. For true. You don’t blame the puppets, yo, you blame the hands that control them.
August 5, 2008 at 5:47 pm
@BDJ: That is so true. It’s all about marketing. There’s no way anyone would ever convince me they just think Hummers are so attractive or practical that they had to get one. They buy those (and other massive SUVs) because it’s a status symbol–a message that’s fed to them through media, marketing and celebrity influences.
August 5, 2008 at 6:59 pm
@DottyZ: As a kid, a hummer was actually my dream car, even above a camaro. Then I grew up and started seeing them and had an irrevocable urge to urinate on the tires out of disapproval. Since it would be inappropriate for me, I taught my poodle the how-to.
August 5, 2008 at 7:01 pm
That documentary is my reason #5,011, 987 to hate/never trust the government. I can haz revolution?
August 5, 2008 at 8:22 pm
I’m an advocate for EVs not because I hate cars but because I love them. If given the choice between a plane, train or automobile, I call “Road Trip!” everytime.
Not only that, but I view the availability of affordable personal transporation in a country as large as ours a huge tool toward economic and social equalization. Just look at the inner cities before “new ubanism” and gentrifacation. When jobs followed white flight to the suburbs, only those with the cars to drive out to where those jobs were could keep their head above water.
Now that affluent people want the cities back, working-class people can no longer afford the rents in those cities and have to move to more rural and suburban towns where public transportaion is either not as developed or nonexistent.
Retrofitting current infrastructure (i.e. independently owned collective charging stations/parking garages for urban folk or battery swap stations instead of gas stations for long-term travel)for EVs is far less expensive than going fuel cell. It also requires not just government acceptence and evangelical enviromental preaching but good, old-fashioned, risk-taking capitalism to get these ideas out in front of the people.
August 6, 2008 at 12:08 am
There is one EV I’d love to roll, even though this one, too, seems lacking in the long-distance department, courtesy of Tesla. If it had a fixed roof and a more aerodynamic shape where the buttresses are now, that range could increase just a bit.
Otherwise, I’m going straight to a motorcycle by the time I obtain both my DL and my motorcycle license. After all, why pay $50 when you can just pay $12?
August 6, 2008 at 7:57 am
A bit off the subject but in the same groove, why not use wind and solar to reduce your domestic energy use? Sure, doesn’t help with the car, but does improve your total energy situation. I’m in the process of doing this at my home in Aruba, where the wind and sun are plentiful. In a year or so, I’ll be totally off grid. Even made a deal with my neighbor to use the power when I’m not here. Still working at it over here at http://www.bentpage.wordpress.com.