(See also: Two Canadian friends build a $672 street legal electric car )
We all know the major manufacturers are saying it can’t be done, so I guess it’s up to the youth!
Andrew Angelloti, an Ecomodder forum member, converted his very own 1988 Mazda pickup to run on electricity last year, using $6,000 he had saved up from his part time job as a life guard. He built his truck using 20 flooded lead acid batteries to create 120 volts, which he couples to a 60 HP 9†electric motor.
How does it perform? Reaches a top speed of 55mph, has an acceleration of “not too bad…,†and can get up to 40 miles on a charge (which is more than enough to get him to work and back, and coincidentally, will be something similar to what the Chevy Volt is supposed to be able to do).
What’s even more amazing is that Andrew is now working on a second EV conversion. This time he’s doing the same with a 1992 Toyota Tercel, but with a much bigger motor for a lot more speed. He’s hoping to use a 120HP motor to have the top speed up to 80 MPH with a bit of sacrifice of the range.
I wish Andrew the best of luck, as he is certainly going out there and doing it on his own, without waiting for the major manufacturers to do it for him.
For more information, check out these links:
– – > Andrew’s blog
– – > Two Canadian friends build a $672 street legal electric car
– – > More electric vehicles @ the Ecomodder.com Fossil Fuel Free Forum
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Just goes to show you that it can be done. While the Bush group continues to tell us we don’t have the technology, a 16 year old makes his own electric vehicle. Americans are sick of the lies and corporate control. This shows that people are taking matters into their own hands. Kudos.
How about everyone who wants to own a cheap EV , are going to start up a company and we all buy shares to finance the design and production. All we need are enthusiastic people to manage this, and make the EV affordable for the masses a reality! I am willing to spend as much as i would for a normal car or more if this will save THE EARTH from pollution, save us from IMPORTED OIL. I like to think of this like an Open Source Project
In the best business management books I’ve read, the authors say that they trained their employees to never come to them with a problem without some possible solutions. They recruited the type of employee who did this naturally. I’m learning to do the same.
Based on this idea, I wouldn’t even think of hiring the critics who have posted here — it doesn’t take much talent to shoot holes at someone else’s implementation, but it does take smarts to say “okay, we can do even better next iteration, and here’s how….” So I challenge the critics here to go the next step and show us if you really know anything worth implementing. Don’t just point out the problems — propose some solutions.
Kudos, kid. I love hiring people like you and parading your successful implementations in front of the nay-sayers who just sit and snipe and produce nothing.
ok, for everyone who’s sayin “well how is it eco friendly? he’s plugging it into his house and that’s from a coal or nuculeur plant” just to let ya know those plants are 80% efficient,when the combustion engine is 30% efficient(around)
so shut up he’s 16, give him some credit and if you don’t got anything good to say about it keep it the hell to youself
That is so breezy air in automotive industry. That is about the sweetest thing I have heard in a dodge. We need more people like this kid who chose to think for himself or herself.
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