[braddd]

I wanted to introduce myself and give a bit of background.

I am 24, and Canadian. I have grown up in a home where using anything in excess was rude and a waste. My mother is extremely eco friendly.
I moved to the US (southern California) 4 years ago and somehow managed to get used to wasting half of my food (mamma mia!), buying SUVs and NOT RECYCLING!!!!

When I met my wife it got worse.

The guilt built for too long though and I started to get back to my roots. I now have us recycling, I've taught my wife how to hypermile and we no longer leave lights and electrical equipment on when we are not using them.

That leads me to our cars. I drive Sharky, my 08 Lancer (how I got it is a super long story, maybe another day) and my wife has a BMW 325i. She HAS to drive a tough car. She is a very poor driver and I don't feel safe with her in anything that can't act like a tank. However she uses that car to mull around town and go shopping and it is one of the most inefficient cars I've ever owned for that.

So my natural instincts kicked in. I am an electronics freak. I've been taking things apart my whole life. It only made sense to find a better option for her, and myself when we need to run errands. I couldn't figure out the best option though. Buying a prius made little sense. My wife won't drive an old beater and why would I want to put something that pollutes more on the road?

When visiting instructables and looking for a side project for ways to build cheap solar and wind generators I ran into a few EV projects and then it hit me... I need to build an EV. Not only because it will save money, but because I LOVE projects and as a bonus I can get the word out just by driving it around town that an EV is practical.

I'm very excited to get my project under way and implement a lot of the ideas I have into the car.

Status: Looking for a donor and keeping my eyes peeled for a cheap and dependable forklift motor.