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The world’s major auto companies have yet to bring an electric vehicle (EV) to market and keep it there for long. Some drivers, however, taunted by stratospheric gasoline prices, have taken matters into their own hands.

They are retrofitting their gas-guzzlers into their own DIY EVs.

A company catering to these gas-averse early adopters is Electric Vehicles of America, a New Hampshire-based company that sells you the parts in a kit and gives instructions to convert a fuel-dependent vehicle—from a pick-up truck to a boat—into an EV.

Unfortunately, the electric-conversion enthusiasts are banging up against the same technological ceiling that the big boys have yet to shatter: limited range. One vehicle mentioned in a recent CNN report, a 1995 Chevy S-10 pickup, runs on 20 six-volt, lead-acid batteries and got only 40 miles between charges. Bob Batson, the founder of Electric Vehicles of America, notes, however, that the average driver only logs 20 miles per day, so such an EV could work for some people.

I've driven many electric cars, and short range plagued them all. The batteries just don’t hold enough power to drive too far. Remember the fabled General Motors EV-1—immortalized in the film Who Killed the Electric Car? It was nice little auto: peppy acceleration with a pretty slick look. But many commuters who drove it in the late-1990s were afraid, for example, to travel too far to go for lunch—lest they wouldn't have enough juice to get them home after the workday ended. In California, where most of them were beta-tested, the state failed to install sufficient numbers of roadside recharging stands, so a low battery level was trouble. As noted in the CNN piece, driving an EV today means you need another vehicle for longer trips—an economic problem for many households.

It's unclear from the article whether these converted cars can be charged from a standard electric socket. If so, I guess an EV driver could run an extension cord to the car when they park it at work. But, that could be pretty impractical—especially if it rained.

Tesla Motors recently sold its first electric Roadster [see YouTube video below], a gorgeous hot-rod that offers tremendous performance and more than 200 miles of range. Of course, it also costs more than $100K and its lithium-ion battery pack weighs in at over 900 pounds. Sorry to say, more progress in battery technology is needed before the car can truly go electric.

(Photo Credit: iStockphoto/Christopher Pattberg)

9 Comments

1. 1. benmichel 09:47 PM 8/14/08

   I think that to make the electric car work, we need to rethink transportation in general. Since statistically most car travel is less than 50 miles per day, existing technology could begin right away to replace gas cars. For trips from 50 miles to 500 miles we should be developing our rail system like every other civilized country. It's the most efficient method for this range. Beyond 500 miles air travel makes the most sense. There's no reason to own a second gas vehicle for occasional long trips, in the short term it would be more economical to rent one. We just have to stop thinking that we have to own a gas car and use it even if the trip is cross country. In short, the most important change needs to take place in our thinking.

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2. 2. astock27 11:53 AM 8/15/08

   Benmichel: couldn't agree with you more on the above. But good luck on that. My family thinks I'm some kind of "commy socialist tree hugger" because I recycle. Sadly, its going to take more of what we've been seeing (gas prices, wars, environmental catastrophes) to change that line of thinking. And the passing away of older generations might not hurt either.

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3. 3. selrachj 07:22 PM 8/15/08

   Most conspiracy theories, as readers of SciAM likely know, end up debunked based on good old fashioned evidence. Regarding the future of electric cars, it appears that the oil giant, Chevron, has indeed conspired to sit on an excellent battery technology that they bought from GM. Their self- interested reason needs no explanation from me. Chevron successfully sued Panasonic for $30 million when Panasonic tried to bring that battery design to the US. Now, Mercedes is suing back after Chevron spoiled their plans for a new ML 450 hybrid. http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/08/03/chevron-drains-battery-planned-for-mercedes-ml-450-hybrid-merce/ One observer of electric vehicles goes so far as to offer up the notion that Chevron is traitorous to Americas national interest http://www.texrocks.com/chevron-gm.html History may reveal that this claim, while outrageous at first glance, is not as far-fetched as it may seem.

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4. 4. earthling3 07:46 PM 8/15/08

   Skeptics, cynics, pessimists and depressives, brace yourselves and prepare for the unsettling reality of the heartening, resplendent dawn of the electric-car age, to stay, that is looming upon us and to take earnest hold in 2009 and 2010 with the arrival to the car marketplace of a variety of moderate to long-distance plug-in all-electric and hybrid gasoline/flex fuel-electric vehicles, some of which are reasonably priced at the outset. See the blog Capitalism with a Conscience for a briefing on this: in the space following the explorer "e" at the top of the web page type in capitalismwithaconscience.blogspot.com/2008/05/citizen-insurgency-for-new-car.html to access this blog that is a diamond mine of electric car and alternative energy news and thought. Read the sections relating to the future of fossil fuels v.s. clean and green energy and the post script that comes after the blog; the beginning of the blog is interesting but largely moot with the product fulfullment of the blog's product wish cited in the blog's post script. Disregard the political commentary at its very end.

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5. 5. earthling3 in reply to selrachj 09:15 PM 8/15/08

   Good news. Read earthling3's comment.

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6. 6. jamast 02:13 PM 8/16/08

   when you're in canada electricity as a means of power makes some sense, it's cheap and available...but in any cold climate there is a point you're missing; heat .. or lack of it, electric motors produce very little heat because they're efficient, so when you wake up in saskatoon or montr�al on a balmy -30C you will need to produce some heat to take the chill out of your bones...where do you get it?? an electric heater would dramatically reduce the efficiency of your new found environmental friend, this is a major problem that people are ignoring while ogling those cute and cuddly transportation alternatives...a few ways out would be to simply stop driving in canada in the winter months or use a hybrid and use more fuel.

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7. 7. Paul Scott 04:51 PM 8/16/08

   As one who has been driving a production EV for almost 6 years, I'd like to confirm the previous comments and offer some more.
   
   I was one of the lucky few who were able to buy a Toyota RAV4 EV back in 2002. We had recently installed a 3 kW PV system on our house, so all of our electricity came from sunlight eliminating any pollution well-to-wheel for our car.
   
   The RAV has needed zero maintenance for over 61,000 miles until last month when I had my first repair, a new pair of rear shocks.
   
   Many of the RAVs that were saved from Toyota's crushing program are well past 100,000 miles with the longest well over 150,000 miles. Those vehicles are starting to experience range degradation, but can still allow as much as 90-100 miles per charge. My car still gets the 120+ miles I got when it was new.
   
   The experience of driving an EV is fundamentally better than gas in all aspects save range. However, the range issue has rarely been a problem since 120 miles is a long way, and rarely do we need to go further in a daily drive cycle.
   
   While our car utilizes a proprietary charging system (small paddle inductive), virtually all of the EVs and plug-in hybrids in development will charge from any 120V or 240V plug. Several companies are developing metered charging stations that will offer 120V and 240V options with prepaid cards for payment. In the not too distant future, we'll have charging stations replacing parking meters, stations placed in every parking garage and plugs even located at the curb for apartment dwellers who don't park in garages. Time of use rates will discourage day time charging, or municipalities will offer renewable energy charging with wind credits or parking carports shaded with solar PV. I've been using these in LA for over 5 years and they work great.
   
   The benefits of driving on electricity are many. None of your money leaves the country since all of our electricity is domestic (OK, a small amount goes to Canada and Mexico, but you get the drift). You don't give any of your money to our enemies who buy the bombs and bullets that kill our soldiers and you don't contribute to the need to fight wars over oil. We've never fought a war over electricity and we never will.
   
   You can generate all of your power from sunlight. Our 3 kW system generates enough power to run our house, our EV and a great electric motor scooter I have called a Vectrix. Our electric bill for all of last year was a mere $44.08. At this rate, the PV system will pay for itself in under 8 years (about 2 years to go!) and the system will last 50 years.

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8. 8. cars4jessica 10:50 AM 8/17/08

   i think it's a simple matter of supply and demand. if there were hundreds of EV's to choose from you would find many more out there, and of course many people would be the proud owner of an EV, and finally stop 'pumping' their money away.
   
   today there are only a handful of companies good enough. goss132 for starters, then maybe phoenix (still pricey though), and then tesla which isn't for must of us. it's really just another fast toy for the rich.
   
   goss132 has a sedan (right up my alley) at about 23,000. i would trade in
   my altima right now for one of those. probably the best EV company hands down! i can also have the batteries replaced by anyone as new ones come out! is that awesome or what?? check them out www.goss132.com when you get the chance.

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9. 9. nfiertel 11:16 PM 8/18/08

   In Canada we already have a more or less universal charging system in place as we need to plug in our gasoline powered cars to allow them to start during frigid conditions. We are in other words, half way there. Now all we need are some cars with sufficient batteries or possibly a system such as the Volt prototype that might give us distance AND EV when possible. Now, all they have to do is actually deliver it at a price we can afford to pay and that means not a 35k car to be sure.

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