I thought that this would be an interesting topic. I am starting to think about designing and building my own electric car.
Here are my design parameters:
1. 30-60 miles on electricity alone before recharges.
Reasoning: Most people do most of their driving with a short distance of there home. I am not in intending this to be a long range vehicle just a get around town vehicle. I would like to be. able to commute in it if possible.
2: I would like to convert a used car or at least the frame from one (suggestions).
Reasoning: I am worried that if i design and build the frame myself that it will not preform that well in a crash. Thus i would rather use an existing frame.
3: Recharge by 110 AC.
Reasoning: Self explaining
4: Capable of highway speeds.
5: Smaller form factor.
6: Possible solar charger.
Maybe include small engine for emergencies.

I am just starting to think this out so if you have knowledge of vendors for these thing please list them or any suggestions and ideas that you would have. This might take awhile but i am going to build this car and my goal is a two year time frame.
Help Needed:
High Torque Electric Motors:
High Discharge Batteries:
feedback and control systems for driving.
anything else you can think of.
If they did it in the 60's there is no reason i can't do it today.

Here is a book
Building your own Electric Car
Electric Car Blog
Building an EV
Another Reference
EVParts
EV FAQ
EV Parts and Pictures

Motors Links
AC motors

Batteries
Saft

Hi
That actually sounds interesting. There are kits to make Priuses (I cannot spell it) into completely battery. The problem is that these kits cost $10,000 on top of the price of the car. I found an interesting blog where this guy took his old Jeep and made it electric. The link is below.

http://www.driveev.com/jeepev/home.php

P.S. Another good thing about having an EV car is that you can dump a commertial UPS back there and make your car a large backup battery for your house. There are also plans to do this to the Prius so that the engine can run and keep the house powered. Its like a generator you can ride on. Take that Generac and your inability to move!

Well I have looked into and electric car off and on the problem was my money could be better spend elsewhere and an EV would never get me the range I needed of probably about 150 miles a day.

Lead acid batteries would probably be the cheapest but they are heavy and have a very low energy density. I have read that most engine batteries die way before they are really dead due to batter sulfation and you can make a battery desulfator to rejuvinate old batteries back to near new condition. There are many free plans out there.

Here is one of many sites: http://www.flex.com/~kalepa/desulf.htm

If you can find them I have read "Wet" NICD cells last forever if you change the electrolyte from time to time as the atmospheric C02 nutralises the electrolite. They also have a greater energy density than Lead acid. They also will not hurt the enviroment if they are recycled properly.

I believe the battery technoology with the greatest energy density right now is Lithium ion batteries. The company Thunder Sky makes them but they are indeed expensive.


Lead acid which is the cheapest option can probably move you the 30-60 miles you want to go but keep in mind all mile estimates are probably on level ground.

Why do you want an electric car? Is it for enviromental reasons?

Electric cars sound great but in reality they still use electricity made by burning fosil fuels or nuclear reactors.

Battery technology is still very primative. It has barley moved on since the egyptions first used fruit acids in clay jars to generate electricity. Lithium Ion batteries are expensive and cause untold pollution in thier manufacture and disposal.

Hydrogen Fuel cells are amazing but very expensive and fueling them is not practical.

The best alternative we have at the moment is Bio Ethanol fuels.

While it still produces carbon dioxide when burnt, the plants that produce the ethanol absorb equal amounts of carbon when first grown so its a good balance.

It should also be possible to make your own Bio Fuel, though it might be dangerous!

DIY Hybrid Car maybe of interest


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative...lectic-Car.aspx


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative...ectric-Car.aspx

If you want an intersting car look at the Tesla Roadster. The thing is amazing. Accelerates faster than a Ferrari.

www.telsamotors.com

That car is amazing !

If one company can do it so can others..

Not trying to bash you or anything but I would like to give some counter arguments. Hell I agree with you on a lot of points.

It is true that most of our electricity would now come mostly from fossil fuels here in the USA however the the fossil fuels are burned more efficiently in a powerplant and pollution is easier to monitor and regulate at the powerplant level than each individual car owner. Also using electricity would allow us to not be so dependant on fossil fuels as we can switch to nuclear or coal pretty readily right now in fact most of our electricity is not from oil but domestically mined natural gas and coal.

With electric or hydrogen cars we also eliminate localized pollution and in most of the places we live is not ideal for dispursing pollution I know in part of the bay area pollution willsettle over a town in a valley.

I also agree that battery technology is very primitive even compressed hydrogen has more energy and hydrogen doesn't even come close to gasoline. A gallon of gasoline has more hydrogen in it than a gallon of liquified hydrogen. But if research doesn't go into car batteries they will never get built and though consumer electronics will help drive battery development cars need different power draw charactoristics. Another alternative is to create a variety of fuel cells. What is the energy of say turning NOx into nitrogen and oxygen or combing carbon (from say wood charcoal) with oxygen to form co2 etc.

In lead acid batteries at least their 98% recyclable weather they actually get recycled is another matter as companies take your battery then send it to a 3rd world country to be recycled and some of these companies will end up landfilling them to save money.

Biofuels are great but also have their own advantages and disadvantages as they do produce localised pollution just like gasoline and weather they are a net producer of energy is debatable the advantages that that is can be used in our existing gasoline fueling infastructure and is energy dense. Tailpipe emissions can be cleaner because in existing cars we cannot use certain catalysts in the catalytic converter becasue its gets poisened by sulphur. In biofuels their is no sulphur so new technologies can be used to reduce pollution.

Making your own bio fuel is not that dangerous but in the usa you will have to obtain a fuel producers permit as you will be making pure alcohol and will have to denature it so that people do not drink it. Another bio fuel that is possible is biodiesel or straight vegetable oil burned in a diesel engine.

you will definitely need these cells.
FAST charging, HIGH output, and the LIKE beeing mis-treated (unlike every other cell types).
A123 cells
a dude has made a DRAGBIKE with these puppies, scary shi...
here it is
and watch it "roar" down the strip Killacycle NEW EV WORLD RECORD, Battery power drag bike 7.82

To me that modified hybrid electric car is the way to go. Get a cheap used small car with a dead engine but a solid body, add an electric drive motor, use a small gasoline / diesel or vegetable oil fuel engine and generator to produce the electricity that drives the electric motor, add a few standard car batteries for cost and you have an electric hybrid vehicle. Well that guy did make it sound simple

The beauty of this system is the availability of parts. It's very efficient and new ways to produce electricity can be added to the design. For example if you live in a sunny climate adding solar panels might extend the pure battery drive mode. I can imagine some type of magnetic braking or motion sensing generators hooked to the drive wheels producing some extra power in a future enhancement. Also, more realistically, many types of fuels could be used for the generating motor so it's very flexible and adjustable to new situations.

I would think that getting the car approved for road use would be easier using a prebuilt model that already meets gov't safety standards.

I have heard suggestions that electric cars should run strictly from batteries but that significantly limits their range and makes them dependant on higher priced batteries / cells. The idea of an electric motor that runs from a fuel generator or from standard car batteries that are recharged from an onboard fuel source is the simplest and best method in my mind until the other technologies like fuel cells and super-batteries mature.

Check out the XR3

The main problem with the electric cars has always been the batteries. There are a few new one coming to market that will change all that.

This company is releasing a new lead acid this year with about twice the AH rating and perhaps 1000 charging cycles.

http://www.fireflyenergy.com/

The big thing here is the cost. They should cost about the same as a old style group 30 battery.

A123 systems is for real too and are making LI batteries for Dewalt and the new Chevy Volt. They have twice the power density of the older LI cells and a lot longer life.

I was thinking of the same idea of making a electric car just for fun.

I have done a little research and have some hands on knowledge of some of the power system needed for the concept but I just don't have the time or money right now.

I do have some ideas so I will try to watch this thread.