3: Car

My Probatron !

Which car should you choose? If you fancy the idea of converting a car to electric and you don't already have a car to convert then here are some thought starters.

• Will you feel good, cool, respected and proud of your ride
• Will it look good in all situations
• Will it be light enough
• Will it satisfy your functional needs (2 seats / 4 seats, 4x4, sports coupe etc.)

It is important that having read the previous blog about budget that you understand that you are going to spend a lot of money on the conversion. The cost of the car itself doesn't need to be excessive, but don't use an old crapper because it is already sitting in your back yard or at the end of the conversion it will be an electric old crapper. Quite often these are better scrapped for the weight of metal to go towards a car that you convert for the reasons shown above.

My story goes like this; around 2005 I was discussing about converting a car to electric with my wife and I said that I would get a little Fiesta or something else that's going cheap. My wife asked me if that was a good idea and that I should feel proud of what I am driving, not just adequately satisfied, and certainly not embarrassed. One thing about owning an electric car that has been converted is that you need to expect to show it off regularly. So my wife said why don't you get something a bit sporty looking, but can sit 4 people so we can go out as a family. I have a daughter so I would need 3 seats at least. She suggested a Ford Probe and I had liked the look of these for some time. So I started looking. I wasn't too worried about a noisy engine or leaks as all this would be removed. So that gave me a lot of scope for haggling. In the end I picked up a 1996 Ford Probe 2.5L V6 for £700 (about $1120). I knew it would be some time before I could start the conversion as I needed to build up some finances. I ended up driving the car for 3 years and it was coming up for it's annual MOT test and the road tax and insurance was about to run out when the exhaust fell off. That was the time I parked it up and took it off the road ready for the conversion to start. I always said that I would squeeze as much out of this engine as I could and ended up naming my car Christine as it just wouldn't die. Apart from topping up the oil and water from time-to-time I did nothing to the engine and it was still going strong when the exhaust broke. I also managed to sell a load of the engine parts on eBay and weighed in the block.

You can read the rest of the story at http://www.probatron.blogspot.com/ where the conversion is described in great detail with photos etc. I shall re-use some of these photos in this blog.

Land Rover Defender

My personal preferences are towards sporty looking cars or rugged types. The problem with rugged types is they are normally quite heavy and don't get the same performance as some of the electrical energy is used just to get the extra weight moving. I have considered a Land Rover Defender or mk1/mk2, but these are either rusty on the frame or really expensive. Other cars that I looked at were the Toyota MR2 or Celica Supra, Nissan 300zx or 200sx, Mazda MX6 or RX7 and the Audi TT. It is unfortunate that there aren't many home grown English cars that were suitable and affordable, but most are ordinary family cars or hatchbacks. The Japanese cars seem to have the most indulgence in cheap sports cars that mimic some top brands like Ferrari, Jaguar and Aston Martin. Even the Ford Probe was made on the same production line as the Mazda Mx6 and 626. The Haynes manual covers all three cars.

My best advice is to choose a car that uses only a small part of your budget and you would be proud to show it off as an electric conversion.

Leave comments about your choice of car and your reasoning. I cannot say there is a right answer that suits everybody (except maybe the Tesla Model S), but I am happy to help with discussion about your ideas and preferences.

Tesla Model S