My First Electric Car.
 

Okay, this will be my new project. I want to build an electric car, by myself (maybe a little help from Tim), for less than $600. I am going to build this thing from the ground up. Well I guess I will have to buy tires, so from the tires up. :D Yeah, that means I am going to teach myself how to weld and everything. Unless I get a drill press and just bolt everything together.. I guess that would work too.. Maybe.

This will be an interesting uphill battle for a non-mechanical 25yr old female. I can change oil, but I don't think that will help me any on this project.

Updates to follow..

Welcome to EM! Sounds like a good task ahead of you. What are you using as your base car?

So far I've gone from thinking that I could just build from scratch to deciding to look for some sort of small car shell. I'm currently looking into all of my available options. Maybe I can find a frame at the local pick-a-part for cheap..

I think you should start with a small car and just convert it, considering you aren't too mechanically inclined. Ben Nelson and MetroMPG did it with a Metro. But if you're up to the challenge, than go for it!

More 'power' to your ambition.

Inform yourself with every bit of info, get mentors (from here & everywhere), get down & dirty with E systems/donor vehicle (golf carts, electric scooters, used electric conversion vehicles) and then a ground-up project.
Share your insights & experiences here.

Your local info banks;

Tacoma Electric Vehicle Association

Main Page - SeattleEVA

WEVA - Home

Washington, Oregon & Hawaii - Electric Cars, Trucks, Bikes and Scooters - MC Electric Vehicles

Electric Vehicles of Washington

Commuter Cars - The TANGO, ultra-narrow electric car for commuting; 0-60 in 4 seconds

Okay, I've decided to start with acquiring a starting vehicle. The current nominees are: 1980's Volvo 240, older honda civic hatchback, or (whatever I find in the junk yard for cheap.

I'll be back in a few days with the winner.

Good luck in picking your project, keep the enthusiasm it is not an easy task inform yourself with everything you can get as previously stated I am planning a project int he future and started coming here to learn prior to starting one. anyhow wish you the best of luck and look forward to your build thread if you choose o make one.

As a 15-year driver of Volvo 240's (I also did most of the "smaller" maintenance jobs on them), and with 65k miles on my current Civic, - - -

I'd definitely recommend a Civic basic shell over a 240 for this project. Reason: The civic shell will weigh far less than the 240. My '97 Civic is 2340 lbs; the '80's Volvo wagons are 3000 lb (sedans a bit less). The previous generation Civic (through '95) was even lighter and the one before that was probably lighter still. You can look up the various generations in wikipedia (search "Civic generations"). Look up the weights on autos.com.

Weight becomes critical in an electric car. It tends to become a race between adding batteries, which are either very heavy or very pricey, or both - and thus increasing the vehicle weight, making it harder to move it, needing more batteries, etc etc. Any extra weight in the basic shell means more battery power you have to carry around to move the heavy shell and it's possible to keep adding battery weight and not get increased range or speed, due to the weight.

Just my .02. I'd go with a Civic, or another lightweight body.

On second thought (making myself look flighty I guess) an '80's 240 wagon has a payload of 1200 lb stock. Replacing tired rear springs with overload or progressive types or stock ones is a pretty easy job for a driveway DIY'er.

So if the battery budget is there, you could load a huge quantity of batteries into one of those. Sedan version has a somewhat reduced payload but similar. But with a wagon there's a huge cargo area to work with that still leaves room for other stuff.

I'd try a want ad on Craigslist, rather than looking at junkyards. Most junkyard cars are there because they were crashed, and the junkyard owners want to make a profit.

So instead, once you have an idea of what you want for a body, put in something like "Wanted: such-and-such model, with sound body, blown engine." You can probably pick up something like that cheaper from the owner.

You can also take some time to do the searching, while getting batteries & electrical parts together.