Skeptics love to challenge the idea that a regular person can build their own electric car at a reasonable price using parts that are regularly available and easy to find

Frankly, Its a mystery to me why everyone isn't building a DIY electric car of their own. So why aren't more people doing it you may ask? driving for $0.04 per mile instead of four dollars per mile is a no-brainer. Who wouldn't do that if given the choice? Everyone would gladly say goodbye to tune ups, oil changes and the gas pump forever if the could. Therefore, many conclude that converting a car to electric power must be highly complicated, difficult and beyond the ability of most people. What I do know is that it is a lot of fun to build and drive and the project is easy and cheap to complete.

Anyway, start your DIY Electric car project with a car that is appropriate for converting and a good set of plans.

You'll need to mount the electric motor and batteries inside, so you'll need a vehicle with enough room for those but is still relatively small and light. To make the project a lot easier, the car should also have a manual transmission. That's really important, but don't worry if you can't or don't want to drive a stick. Once your conversion is complete you won't have to shift. You can pick up used cars with engine damage that is otherwise in excellent condition at pretty amazingly cheap prices if you look around a little. Check the undercarriage, breaks, transmission, etc to make sure there aren't issues there before you buy something.

Here's a tip. Don't convert your primary vehicle if you do a lot of freeway driving or take long trips. If you do, you won't be happy because even though a DIY car conversion will travel at speeds approaching 60 MPH and has a range of about 200 miles on a single charge, its just not something you want to be taking across country. Another thing is take some time to get used to the vehicle's responsiveness once your conversion is finished. You must get a feel for the controller (the electric car version of the gas pedal) because these things are surprisingly quick off the line.

A good set of plans will guide you step-by-step through the entire project. This is important to have. More importantly though, a proper guide book also includes priceless information on places to get every part you need at a very very low price-and in some cases even free. A ton of money can be saved with a good instruction guide. Consider that conversion kits cost $6000 or more and that's before you even purchase a single battery or the vehicle, or you can spend $50 on a set of plans up front and convert the entire car for under $500 including the batteries. For more information on DIY electric cars and recommendations for a great set of plans, see the related articles at our site.