While our mates in the auto industry fumble about in their efforts to create electric car concepts & prototypes, a growing number of ordinary people are giving up waiting, and have begun converting gas-powered cars to electricity themselves.
I know from my own experience that the process is straightforward and can be done cheaply depending on the converter’s level of creativity and resources. But still the effort and time required – which can be several months if laziness sets in – can put people off the idea. But there is a solution – albeit an expensive one.
There are several garages available which are solely dedicated to converting gas-powered vehicles to run on electricity alone. The good ones will offer a warranty on their work and use only quality, proven parts. Some conversion garages have the entire process down to one week in duration depending on the simplicity of your requests, so in theory you can drop your car off Monday morning, then by Friday afternoon you’re driving home on cheap & clean electricity.
It’s not too good to be true, as these places really do exist, though perhaps you’d better read this next part sitting down.
Expect to shell out around $15,000 US Dollars for a complete drive-in; drive-out professional conversion. The reason it’s so expensive is simply down the amount of labor. Obviously the parts themselves make up a large portion of the final price but a professional converter will be buying parts in bulk at a reduced rate. That means approximately 60% of the total cost is made up from labor.
We know professional converters have to eat too, however the prices of their conversions often force electric cars out of reach for the masses. Many consumers would argue that for $15,000 US they could instead buy a gas-powered car for $5,000 then use the leftover $10,000 to pay their gas bill for the next 5 years, rendering a professionally-converted electric vehicle as a poor short-term investment – from a purely financial aspect anyhow.
Many will state that there’s much more to driving an electric car than just the financial rewards, therefore I suggest to anyone thinking about ditching gas to do exactly what I did and try it out for yourself.
The process can take anything from 5 days to 5 months depending on your time & creativity, yet it can be surprisingly straightforward. The world’s unofficial EV owners album www.evalbum.com seems to be growing every day and there’s a phenomenal amount of resources available on the Internet.
If a professional conversion fits into your budget then I say go for it. Ditch gas and let someone else do the work. However if you’re like me (and most others) and you’re not dripping with cash, then you have nothing to lose by trying it yourself for less than half the cost. A few weeks later you could be gas free, never having to visit a gas station again – except to put air in your tires of course.
