Conversion Overview

CHAPTER 10 Electric Vehicle Conversion

Pickup trucks and sports cars are the best-selling vehicles; they are also the best EV conversions.

Whether you’ve read through the whole book thus far or just picked up the book and skipped ahead to this chapter, you’ve finally made it to the chapter that tells you how to do it. The conversion process is what ties your electric vehicle together and makes it run. You’ve learned that choosing the right chassis to meet your driving needs and goals is a key first step. You’ve also learned about motor, controller, battery, charger, and system wiring recommendations. Now, it’s time to put them all together. A carefully planned and executed conversion process can save you time and money during conversion, and produce an efficient vehicle that’s a pleasure to drive and own after it’s completed.

This chapter goes through the conversion process step by step with the assistance of a few conversion specialists. It also introduces the type of chassis to choose for your EV conversion today—the compact pickup truck. You’ll discover that after the simple act of going through the conversion process, your efforts and results will perform even better—you are now an expert.

Conversion Overview

What do you do for a fresh point of view when constructing something mechanical, even if it’s an electric vehicle? You go to a mechanic. We went to a master mechanic and machinist, Jim Harris, who has had more than 20 years’ experience, owned his own auto repair shops, and was able to offer a completely fresh point of view on how to build an EV.

What do you do first? Start with a pickup truck. Pickup trucks are the most popular single-person transport vehicle for commuter use, and are useful for carrying many other loads as well. They make an excellent platform for EVs because they isolate the batteries from the passenger compartment very easily; the additional battery weight presents no problems for a vehicle structure that was designed to carry the weight anyway; and the pickup is far roomier in terms of engine compartment and pickup box space to do whatever you want to do with component design and layout. Pickup trucks, the best-selling vehicles, are also the best EV conversions.

Figure 10-1 Jim Harris’ 1987 Ford Ranger EV conversion.

Keep in mind that, while we are talking about a step-by-step Ford Ranger pickup truck EV conversion here, the principles will apply equally well to any sort of EV conversion you do. And while the Ford Ranger pickup truck used in this chapter’s conversion is also used by other conversion professionals, the Chevy S-10 and Dodge Dakota platforms also have their proponents.

Some of the greatest results were the first one Bob Brant wrote in the first edition of a project by Jim Harris on his first vehicle—the 1987 Ford Ranger shown in Figure 10-1.

Figure 10-2 Paul Little’s electric Porsche (Courtesy of EVPorsche.com).