This young Alaskan EcoGeek has just hit the electric vehicle market with something a little unorthodox. We're used to the sleek, shiny, and not-quite-ready EVs from major auto companies. And then there's the straight-up peculiar offerings from the little EV startups. But Bart Grabman has converted a POS 1971 Beetle to an all-electric vehicle.
The car charges some old, used lead acid batteries via a wall socket, and the batteries power an Advanced DC 8" 203-06-4001 Series Wound DC motor. For now, the vehicle gets him around town, but we don't imagine those batteries will last him much longer. In any case, a little Alaskan ingenuity might just be what the rest of this country needs.
Via AutoBlogGreen
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Comments (8)
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written by Joe, September 25, 2007
That thing has to weigh a ton for a small car. Maybe a better bet would be to convert a lighter small car. Maybe like a Geo Metro or something?
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written by James, September 25, 2007
If a similar conversion was made on the positivly slim Citreon 2CV (approx 600kg with the std engine). I think performance wouldn't be too bad, especially for nipping around town.
I wonder how much the components cost for that project?
I wonder how much the components cost for that project?
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written by Brian Green, September 25, 2007
Hey, at least he did it. I'm not going to get into how he can get the best performance. What matters is that he took a vehicle that ran on fossil fuels and converted it to an electric vehicle. That deserves applause not ridicule. ;)
Well Done!
Well Done!
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written by Joe, September 27, 2007
I wasn't ridiculing him, I still think it's cool. I'm just speaking on future projects that others might do. It might make more sense, in the future, to use a lighter base car.
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written by TKopp, May 02, 2008
actually the vw beetle is extremely light. almost as light as a metro in fact. So well done to the man and i hope to join you in the building of my own electric beetle
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written by Wake up and smell the coal burning, June 16, 2008
This is a great start...but the comment about fossil fuels does not really apply. He is using plug power to charge the batteries. When doing these projects, please include solar (or any non-pollute source) power to charge the batteries. We need to clean up the coal powered power plants (just displacing the pollution) before the Greens will take this activity seriously.
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written by marty, June 24, 2008
more people need to get into this kinda stuff.
shut up, wake up and smell the coal, at least he's doing something besides talking. people like you just talk. people like him get rich.
anyways, Nikola Telsa discovered wireless electricity in 1899. the whole electric company coal burn thing is a scam anyways. but if the two were combined
shut up, wake up and smell the coal, at least he's doing something besides talking. people like you just talk. people like him get rich.
anyways, Nikola Telsa discovered wireless electricity in 1899. the whole electric company coal burn thing is a scam anyways. but if the two were combined
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