Convert your Honda from gas to electric at Carnegie Mellon University
March 21, 2011 by Katie Gatto 
(PhysOrg.com) -- The price of gas continues to climb, but the price of an electric car is a little out of reach for anyone who is not in genuine need of a new car. It kind of puts you into a classic catch-22 situation. You are paying a lot of money if you do not go electric and you are paying a lot if you do go electric.
Or, you could convert your car.
If that notion gives you the willies, it is probably because you picture yourself sitting for hours in your garage, swearing at a kit that you bought off of the Internet. Have no fear. If you own a Honda, you do not have to do it yourself. Carnegie Mellon is running a conversion project for Honda car's that will make the gas-powered versions in to all-electric powered cars. No swearing required.
The project, which has been dubbed the ChargeCar Electric Vehicle Conversion Project, is actually being run by Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. The projects first public conversion, a 2002 Civic EX four-door sedan that was converted with the help of local mechanics, will be unveiled at an open house near the university on March 25th.
Now let's go under the hood. The standard powertrain of the Civic is replaced by a 35-horsepower electric motor that will be powered by 33 lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. The batteries take about 10 hours to charge, and they will give drivers more than 40 miles of mixed condition driving, in city and on highways, with top speeds at more than 70 miles an hour. No specific number on the top speed.
This video is not supported by your browser at this time.
Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute professor Illah Nourbakhsh presents the CREATE Lab project ChargeCar, a community approach to electric cars.
The conversion costs vary, depending on the model of car you have and how much work is required for a full conversion, but some estimates are coming up at $17,000 or more. So, it may not be that much of a cost savings over buying a new electric vehicle after all.More information: http://chargecar.o … /conversions
© 2010 PhysOrg.com
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Mar 21, 2011
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The eCars-now project has been running since '07 or something like that, and they've managed to make a single showpiece car as a prototype, but it doesn't get near the miles they intended and it ended up costing more than a brand new car anyways, and they can't get it through offical inspections, although I don't think they'll even try.
It seems it was originally an open source project as well, but once they got the prototype done, they basically said FU and stopped releasing new plans.
Hope the Americans pull it through without so much handwaving and empty promises.
Mar 21, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
heh, I would like to see that too. I think electric cars suffer from the same problem as that "new" engine built at MSU (http://www.physor...l)...the one that was released in 2009...
The problem is that there are not enough parts that wear down and need to be replaced in them! Because of this there is a lot less maintenance costs and therefore less income to the car manufacturers.
Mar 21, 2011
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It could be filled from your home natural gas supply.
Mar 21, 2011
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Even though you have an electric car, you should check the brakes, suspensions and shocks regularily. Otherwise you'll be driving a deathtrap. Especially if you mostly use regenerative braking, your brake pads and discs are going to rust and the braking force in an emergency situation may turn out close to zero as well.
A car should be maintained regularily even if you don't need to change the oil and the filter each time. Check that the brake lines are okay, vacuum assist works, shock absorbers are still doing their job, steering is centered and the wheels don't point in a big V... etc.
Mar 22, 2011
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The solution is widely available swapping stations (not charging stations) where one can swap dead batteries for freshly charged ones.
You do this today with your barbecue's propane tank.
Swapping can even be done automatically using small batteries in a daisy chain.
Trying to improve motor/battery efficiency is like trying to squeeze an extra mile out of that gallon. Admirable, but misplaced.