Some of you may be aware that I’ve already dismissed the notion of building an electric car for less than $300. Even if you somehow found all the parts you needed for free, you’ll still have some fees in either fabrication or compliance etc. In short, it’s just not possible.

However, after watching one of my less ethical competitors try to entice (I had another word in mind) customers with this bogus claim on a popular electric car forum, I thought it was time to investigate just how near you could actually get to the magical $300 mark.

The closest anyone’s ever got to it is at www.ForkenSwift.com, where Darin (a very nice guy I should add) converted his Suzuki Swift/Geo Metro into a fully-electric vehicle using dirt-cheap forklift components and second hand batteries, hence the name “Forkenswift”.

After many months of bargain hunting, donor car juggling and ingenuity, Darin achieved a completely road-legal electric car for just $1000. I even refer to some of Darin’s great cost-cutting solutions from his conversion in my tutorials.

Admittedly the top speed of Darin’s car is only around 45 mph in ideal conditions, so what about the rest of us?

Well, let’s assume like the Forkenswift crew that you got your major components for only a few hundred dollars from one of the many sources mentioned in my tutorials such as forklift wreckers, second-hand parts dealers, and of course the many internet trading sites.

You’ll then have to get things like a DC-to-DC Converter (though not always necessary if you have a little patience), and a vacuum pump & vacuum switch for your brakes. These little toys are normally around $200 each brand new.
However, as with just about every part of a conversion there are ways to cut costs if you’re creative, such as using a 12v tire pump mounted inside a large sealed vacuum reservoir with the nozzle poking out, pumping out the air inside and creating a vacuum.

Then there’s the idea of using a Lovejoy coupler, for your gearbox-to-motor connection. Using a Lovejoy ready-made coupler instead of having one fabricated will shave a good chunk of cash off your total conversion price.

It’s little things like these that the cash-strapped converter can harvest in order to shave hundreds (or thousands) off his or her conversion. If I were to list all the corner-cutting methods I’ve seen over the years this article would be 100 pages long and there’d be blood on my keyboard!

So if you’re serious about starting a conversion, don’t panic. While a $300 EV isn’t going to happen any time soon, you can still do it cheaply. All you need is creativity, patience, and the right knowledge & resources and you’ll be driving silently past the gas stations before you know it.