Comments on: A DIY Build Your Own Electric Car

By: Gaza Taxi Driver Builds an Electric Vehicle in Three Days

Gaza Taxi Driver Builds an Electric Vehicle in Three Days — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:22:47 +0000

[…] Muzer Al-Kasas was able to collect all of the necessary materials, it only took him three days to build a small electric vehicle. Unlike Better Place EVs (which are now for sale in Israel) or any other fancy equivalents, the […]

By: Gaza Taxi Driver Builds an Electric Vehicle in Three Days | Green Prophet

Gaza Taxi Driver Builds an Electric Vehicle in Three Days | Green Prophet — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:46:40 +0000

By: Assemble Your Own Electric Powered Car – Discover How To Live Without Gas Completely : ATAVENTURES

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:52:43 +0000

[…] a lot of information which by itself is valuable, even if you don't convert your car to electricity.For anybody who is wondering how you can rid yourself of high fuel costs, then Les and Jane Oke's st…by using solar and wind energy. Within their book, Build Your Own Electric Car, they educate you on […]

By: Iran’s Solar Car Competes in Australia | Green Prophet

Iran’s Solar Car Competes in Australia | Green Prophet — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:20:32 +0000

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By: Dubai Municipality To Convert 500 Cars To Hybrid Gas Engines | Green Prophet

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:06:30 +0000

[…] A DIY Build Your Own Electric Vehicle […]

By: dtbaker61

dtbaker61 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:06:17 +0000

absolutely I do own and drive an EV. My car uses 12 x 8v deep cycle golf cart batteries. They are a little over a year old, with 4500 miles and about 300 cycles on them. There are LOTS of people that get 600 cycles on them with proper maintenance and not too deep daily depth of discharge. I was not very good about watering mine in the beginning, and so they are showing early signs of age, but still working fine.LiFePO4 batteries are just about all made in China, and ARE expensive… but *should* last 10 years which brings the cost per cycle a little lower than lead-acid, and result in a slightly lower operational cost than gasoline by my numbers… which is my main point. I have NOT read about many 'spontaneous failures' of cells, only failures of BMS systems killing cells, or people that use too big a controller and discharge at too high a rate too often. Sure, its early, and we're all learning… if you stick with what people have learned over the last couple years, I think EVs are at a very drivable and dependable state.I am moving to Li because they are far lighter, have higher capacity, last longer, and I think have established reasonable quality control in the last two years or so. Most of the failures I read about in online Forums these days are from people who installed faulty BMS systems that actually killed the batteries, or used chargers with inappropriate charge curves. I am going WITHOUT a BMS because I think they caue more problems than they solve, and the charger costs around $1000, not $3000.I am not saying EVs are for everyone, or able to be a family's only car. I am saying that in MANY cases electric EVs are perfect for 'around town', and then you can use an ICE vehicle for trips.

By: joepah

joepah — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:31:45 +0000

Sir do you own a DIY bike or car? I have an EV and EV bike and belong to an EV club. No one gets 600 cycles from a lead acid battery. And LiFePO4 batteries from China (where else can you buy them?) cost thousands and are of poor quality, and usually develop individual cell failures within a few months of purchase. If you press hard enough they will replace the failed cells, which do no match up well with the existing cells. Also with LiFePO4 batteries you have to charge them very carefully, or buy a $3k programmable charger and hope the leads on the Chinese batteries last. Like I said before, DIY EV's are a great hobby, but it's mostly for tinkering in your garage and does not really replace any car you might own.

By: dtbaker61

dtbaker61 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:59:43 +0000

this article overstates a lot… but DIY evs are better than joepah thinks. 😉 It can cost under $10k to get a conversion running on lead-acid; but yes the range will be 40 miles, and the batteries will last about 500-700 cycles if you treat them well with a net cost per mile on par with cas prices around $2.50 -$2.75 in comparable vehicles.lead-acid batteries are not as bad as joepah might think with an almost 100% closed recycle process in place. Just bring the dead batteries into any auto parts store, and virtually 100% will be turned back into new batteries.the better news is that the LiFePO4 large-format batteries are now less expensive than lead per cycle, and can be used to build a car with up to about 100 mile range for less than $20k. The cost per mile is LESS than gasoline finally!so… the original article is a bit too positive, and joepah a bit too negative… funny how that works. ;)for lots more info from people who are DOING this, check out the site diyelectriccar_dot_org

By: The Middle East Will Remain “LEAF” – Less as Nissan Puts Electric Car Efforts Elsewhere | Green Prophet

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:03:01 +0000

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By: joepah

joepah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:46:58 +0000

These cubicle writer articles are always entertaining. DIY EV's are a great hobby and working with your hands is a great stress reliever and it's educational. However, please don't con us to believe that these EV's are a benefit to our planet. Those lead acid batteries are only good for 300-400 charges at most, after that you have to replace them EVERY YEAR.And that picture of 10 batteries, 6 volts each will NOT get 200 miles to a charge. Very misleading.