Fri 11 Jul 2008
Electric Car Conversion Information
Posted by Mark under DIY Projects
I still really want to make an electric car. The main argument against electric vehicles I’ve heard recently is that they deliver an environmental mess courtesy of the batteries. From what I’ve read tonight, that just isn’t the case. According to the Electric Auto Association:
The Battery Council International reports that 93% of all battery lead is recycled. A higher recycling rate than newspapers (55%) or aluminum cans (42%). Typical new lead-acid batteries contain 60-80% recycled lead and plastic. A true recycling success!
Also the consensus seems to be that batteries will last 3-4 years depending on usage. Most of the articles I found tonight were a year or more old, so I’m hoping that there is new battery technology now, or coming in the near future. When I am ready to start on my electric car I will do some more in-depth research.
The article that got me all excited about electric cars again can be found here on the website Treehugger.com Please let me know if you have any better information on new and improved batteries.
July 11th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I suppose it’s typical that the biggest worry a would be EV-converter has is whether teh batteries are environmentally “benign.” The more important questions are : do you realy want to turn a gas burner into a coal-powered car, because that’s what’s producing most of your electricity, since the environmentalists blocked the construction of nuclear power and caused global warming?
Do you really want to turn a car that can take you anywhere you want anytime you want to go into a vehicle that can do neither?
Will your insurance company indure this little lead-acid filled bomb?
Do you feel comfortable subjecting the public to a dousing of acid in the event of a crash? Do you really want to be sued for the rest of your life by someone whose face your acid has disfigured in an accident?
July 11th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Those are some very good questions. I hadn’t thought about the insurance angle. I’m going to have to look into that.
On the question of turning a gas-burner into a coal-fired car, I think it is still an improvement. While it is true that the vast majority of electric power in the United States comes from coal, with an electric car you at least have the option of using renewable power sources like wind or solar. Also, my understanding is that by switching to electricity from a power plant, regardless of how it’s made, you are benefiting from the strength of scale. A large power plant is just more efficient at making electricity that an engine of the size that’s in a car. Plus, you have the innate efficiency that comes from a car that doesn’t continue to use energy and emit pollution while stuck in traffic.
You are correct that it is time to take another look at nuclear power, and I think society as a whole (even the environmentalists) are changing their minds about it. Despite the fact that people are changing their minds about the value of nuclear power, it is not a fair leap to say that the environmentalists caused global warming. We are all responsible for that. It took a lot more than coal power plants to get us where we are today.
At this point, converting a car to electric is not something that you do in order to replace a gasoline car. Modern gas-powered vehicles work extremely well, and the truth is that battery technology to make electrics serious competitors just isn’t there yet. The reason to do it now is to learn, and to get the ball rolling. There is no way to know what technology will be running our vehicles in 200 years, but from what we know now there is no way it will be gasoline. I see an electric conversion project as an interesting challenge, and my hope is that by making one and driving it I can have less of an impact on the environment, and maybe even be a tiny, little help in the transition to whatever power-source is going to fuel our cars in the future.
You also brought up the question of the ethical and social responsibility involved in driving around with all that acid in the batteries of an electric car. That’s a very good question, and something I know little about. My hope for a while now has been that I would be using a Prius battery if I could get one, and get it to work in my electric. I figure that by using an existing product in the way it was intended (almost) I would benefit from all of the safety testing that Toyota has already done. I have no idea yet if this is a practical idea though. The ethical and social responsibility of an electric car is a very important question for sure. Thanks for bringing it up.