[bennelson]

OK- It's official.

I am starting a build thread for my next electric vehicle and I am doing it here.

The premise is this.
I am going to build an electric vehicle based on converting a street-legal four-wheeled automobile to run on a DC electric motor and battery pack. I need to do this as an ecological/economic project

The plan is to buy parts as I can, with cash, and only when I can find good deals. Recycled/Reused is highly encouraged.

The motor will come from a forklift and be over-volted as much as I can for a resonable, but not high top speed. The vehicle will be used for local travel, errands, and short commutes.

When finished, it will be something that neither I, nor my wife would be (terribly) embarassed to drive.

I will start off using free/existing controller, batteries, and other parts. When I know what I am doing, I will upgrade to either a purchased, or specially home-made controller. I plan to really look around to see what is possible for batteries. I will check with power utitites, firealarm companies, etc, to see if I can get used/surplus batts.

Planned vehicle will be a two seater. Most the time it will be driven by only me, but occasionally will have a passenger. I never plan on using it for four people.

I am thinking that either a compact car because of its light weight and small cost, or a light pickup truck for ease of work and repair, and battery-carrying strength.

I am only in the really early stages on this. I am currently working on buy the forklift which will supply the motor and other parts.

Next will be to decide what vehicle will work best, and then start looking around to find the deal on it.

Right now, please feel free to suggest what you think would be the best donor vehicle. Let me know why you think it would be best.

Thanks in advance,

-Ben