Riley's EV conversion
 

Hello ecomodder! My name is Riley and because of the ever rising gas prices I have made a goal to start an EV conversion this summer. My potential vehicle will be a 1987 Ford Laser. The person I might be buying from says the engine is already out (lucky for me). I'd really appreciate any help i could get, I've already seen a lot of threads on the site and it seems pretty much everyone is very friendly:). I hope to have a budget under $1500 but if it goes a little higher that's alright, it's better than paying $80 to fill up a 50 L tank of gas every week. I'm hoping the vehicle will be able to reach a top speed of at least 110 km/h (highway speed) since I live in a small town. The car is a 5 speed and I've been thinking of a 120v motor. I want the car to be able to go about 150km on one charge if that's possible without over-weighing the car because of the battery weight. I've seen kits costing like $3000 and there seems to be a lot of other things included. I'm just wondering what are all the different pieces I'd need for the car to run safely?

I've been following the forkenswift project and before seeing the videos on youtube, I was thinking of just building a small electric bike. The guys that did that showed me it can be done on a small budget and thats where i got my motivation from. So, thanks forkenswift team. I was wondering if there's any EV veterans or people who know a little bit about this kinda stuff that could help me along my way. Thanks in advance to anyone who helps.

Riley

Another question...does the voltage of the charger have to match your battery total voltage?

Not necessarily. For example, you can use 6 12v chargers to charge a 72v system (6*12 = 72). You don't even have to hook anything up or disconnect anything each time. This is often a cheaper route than a single 72v controller. The cost savings gets much more huge when you use a higher voltage system. 12 12v chargers can be purchased for like $250, whereas a 144v charger is like $1500!

Awesome, thanks Paul. I read through your whole thread and it sounds like your conversion is going really good. I love the part with the bar's kids.:thumbup: