My Car Insurance Life |

Michael Drover asked:


Have you ever worked out how much money you spend every month, and every year on gas? If you spend $50 a week, that’s $2,400 a year. Of course, there are electric cars and hybrid vehicles on the market that you can buy. But they cost as much as a new car and you often have to pay a premium for electric technology. Electric car conversion kits were supposed to end all that. But if you’ve priced one out lately, you know they are surprisingly expensive-$10,000 or more-and complicated.

Well fortunately, that’s a thing of the past. Converting your current motor vehicle turns out to be a much less costly route to follow. Now you can buy a guide that show you step-by-step how to convert your car to electric yourself for a fraction of the price of pre-assembled kits.

Before you start ripping your car apart, here are some general tips and facts about converting your car to the electricity.

* Electric car conversions have been used successfully by many people. Guides are available on the internet and are usually complete with all the essential directions, schematics, components lists, and parts sources.

* Even if you are not a master mechanic, you will be able to convert your car yourself. The tools needed are probably in your garage already or at your local hardware store, and the kit will be a step-by-step guide to demonstrate exactly how the job should be done.

* Generally, you can expect to pay around $300-$500 to complete the conversion of your car if you’re willing to be resourceful. The best guides give you sources of low-cost or no-cost supplies. You’ll need to pick them up.

* On a single charge, you will be able to travel over 100 miles and reach highway speeds, at least 60 mph.

* It will still be your car, and you can install the new power source in a way that will keep the car looking and working much as it did before. When you want to go, it goes, when you want to stop, it stops.

* Last fact to keep in mind-your current vehicle must have a standard manual transmission. Automatic transmissions don’t work with electric motors.

So converting your car to electric power is finally a reality. Your best bet is to use a guide from someone experienced with conversions rather than buying a new electric car or electric car conversion kits.

Michael Drover asked:


Converting your car from gas to electric is a trend that will only continue to grow. But you need to do it intelligently if you’re going to save money and save the planet. Here are the top five things to know about converting your car to electric power.

1. Gas remains an undependable energy source. Gas is expensive, non-renewable, and unpredictable. Everyone knows there’s a finite supply of fossil fuels. Eventually prices must go up as supply dwindles, but even now, it’s an unpredictable resource. Factors such as financial speculation, war, and swine flu can suddenly threaten availability and distribution.

2. Hybrid cars take too big a toll. The manufacture of hybrid cars creates a huge “carbon debt” that requires several years of hybrid driving to make up. While a car that’s already in existence can be converted to run on electricity without incurring the carbon debt that the manufacture of a brand new hybrid (or other new car) would produce.

3. An electric car conversion kit isn’t the deal we thought it was. They’re not cheap. Prices are anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000. It takes at least a mid-range kit to convert a car into an electric car that performs well enough for general purposes. If you plan to buy a prefab kit, you need to understand the basic concepts involved so you’ll be able to choose one that is adequate for your needs.

4. You can do-it-yourself easily and better. You can convert your own gas-powered car to run on electricity for about 10% of the cost of a prefabricated conversion kit. There’s nothing magical about making a car run on electricity. You can do it for $500 or less and end up with a car that looks great, does 60 mph, and has a range of 100 miles or better on one charge.

5. Do-it-yourself conversions pay off fast. Driving a car you’ve converted to electricity can save thousands of dollars in fuel. If you’ve been spending $50 a week on gas, you’ll pay off your conversion in less than 90 days.

In the early days when conversions were experimental, an electric car conversion kit made sense. Now that there are experienced mechanics who are willing to share expertise and sources of cheap parts, do-it-yourself is far cheaper and the more responsible way to go.