Hello from Tennessee
 

Thanks for the great site. I'm a beginner. Don't have much knowledge or money, but I have a burning desire to build an EV from the ground up.

Welcome Tennessean from Ex-Tennessean. Just joined myself. Just began building an Honda ef 1991 two days ago. The short block is complete-new rings rods, mains, etc.
Formally from Chattanooga, K town, maryville.

Hi there... good to hare from a X-Tennessee boy. I live in Jackson. Moved here 2 years ago from Alamo. Glad to hear about your project. Hope you have a great time working on it. :thumbup:

Jumpin' Jack Flash? Teasing- Welcome.

Hi Frank... thanks for the welcome. This seems like a nice place to hang out :)

Welcome Jumper.

I live over in Ktown. So you're seeing this message an hour earlier than I wrote it.

The cool thing about EVs is that they're way, way simpler than gas cars. And often scalable, so build the important stuff first: brakes, suspension, someplace to sit; get what batteries you can afford and make something for running to the store. Save up on avoided gas purchases, buy some more batteries, upgrade the motor controller. Take 'er out on the highway and turn the pots up.

Hi elhigh. Nice to meet you. When you talking about doing the important things first, are you talking about doing those things before doing a frame? Don't forget... I'm as dumb as a sack of hammers -LOL.

"Frame" if you want to make things easy on yourself. Head over to a junkyard, find a pickup whose engine has pooped out and build your EV on that.

Lots of good reasons for this:

1) Heavier duty suspension than a regular passenger car. You can add more batteries to get more useful range without having to go the expensive route of Lithium-ion. Admittedly the price on those is coming down but it's still right up there. Yipes.

2) Rear-drive configuration is very, very roomy for placing driveline bits once you get the old engine out. You can route through the existing transmission if you so choose, it keeps amp draw low if you shift down for pulling away from stops.

3) You could get really weird and attach the motor directly to the axle and dump a lot of weight. You might want to switch to a lower (higher numerically) drive ratio to keep the torque loads on the motor down, but no problemo because

4) Trucks - foreign and domestic both - enjoy big aftermarket support for people who like to mod. People in the South just can't live without doing stuff to their trucks. Thank goodness for that.

5) Older compact pickups are actually pretty light compared to modern rides. My truck weighs about 2800 pounds.

6) A truck with its bed half full of batteries is still useful - remember, that's HALF full. Granted, they're heavy. Can't have everything.

7) Those body parts come right off. Want to build a stealthy under-bed battery box? On my truck six nuts gets it loose, crack out the welding torch and you're on your way. Don't forget to unhook the taillight wires too, though. You can take the cab off, the fenders...all of it. You can take a truck down to a bare frame with just hand tools. Can't do THAT to a Civic. Remove everything removable and a lot of volume is still closed in.

Downsides:

A bed half full of batteries. So much for making this your bug-out rig.

It'll never be a featherweight. Weight kills range in EVs and kills it harder with trucks due to the higher starting weight. The one saving grace there is the chassis is up to the challenge (usually).

If none of this appeals then the word you're looking for is "chassis." Same goal, different system. You can start small and keep things small, but I think the job is more of a challenge.

The biggest advantage in my opinion, of a car-based EV, is being able to carry more than two people when it's all finished. If that's never an issue for you, well, consider the truck.

Don't forget I'm mostly talking through my hat. I haven't built any EVs at all, this is just me thinking about stuff and paraphrasing "How to Build an Electric Vehicle" by Bob Brant. There are several guys on this forum who HAVE, however, and can doubtlessly provide much useful wisdom on the topic - but read their build threads first. It's cool stuff.

Thanks so much for all the info. Gives me a lot of things to think about. I really appreciate your help and guidance. I copied what you wrote and put it in a text file on my desktop for reading and future reference. When I finish this post, I'm going to read it again <g>

I clicked this link to see the Hell from Tennessee. Disappointed. :p

oops.... can't spell :)

Hey from just south of Selmer. Let me know if you have questions on where to find things locally, I might be able to point you in the right direction.

Good to meet you. I'm grateful for your offer to help. I'm just getting my feet wet. It's going to take me a while before I can get started, but I'm reading as much as I can. SO much to learn :)

Hi jumper, I would like to build an EV as well and am just getting my feet wet in the topic as well. I think I might try my hand at building an EV motorcycle to start with. Consider me subscribed when you start your build. :) Also welcome to emodder.

Thanks for the welcome. I sent you a PM. I had to look up where Selmer was and you're just south of us alright. That's cool. We should have coffee sometime midways and share ideas :)

I'm in Grass Valley CA.

Hi whaemmel, I used to live in Chula Vista. Just south of San Diego. Always loved going across the border and just looking around.

I like where this is going. I want to build an EV from scratch as well. My "dream car" per say. The approach I will take is start small. I will first build a power wheel for my daughter, then a go-kart, the a full scale car. I believe those projects will provide me with the knowledge to build a car from scratch without the worry of throwing too much money at an overwhelming project. Just my two cents. But first I have to finish my storage shed, insulate my garage, build a home addition, and replace all my carpet with laminate flooring. My wife is working me like a dog.

HI Pete, seems like there's a bunch of us just getting our feet wet. Your idea of starting small is good. I think that's something I should consider too. Before reading your post, I was just going to jump in without knowing a thing (pretty much). And with me, money IS an issue so starting small would be good for me.

You also sound like me in that I have to do some things before I get started. But I'm not going to be as busy as you. Sounds like your lady is really putting you to work.

I don't know if a thread exists already, but we might start one that's like "EV building for dummies" (like the books)

I would also think that the more experienced members would help out.

just a thought...

Welcome to the site. Good to see more people looking into DIY EVs! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Thanks for the welcome Daox. You might have missed my last post because your message came in just about the time I posted it. Is there a "EV building for Dummies" thread already?

thanks

This sounds like what you're looking for:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...here-6706.html

Thanks for pointing out the right thread. I'm going to bookmark it and start reading!

Aw dang, you fixed "Hell". Now my Jumpin' Jack Flash reference doesn't make as much sense.

Yep :) I think the admin fixed it for me.
Have a great one... I'm heading to a doctor's appointment.

If you're interested in building an EV bike, I just stumbled across this and it is very informative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikOqn...09BE54E721B480

Also his website 300mpg.org is a good resource for building an EV car