Homemade Electric Truck: Why a Pickup is the Best Donor Electric Vehicle

More and more people are beginning to appreciate the electric car. In mid-2008, crude oil prices were at an all-time high and many car owners were having a hard time coping. Some have chosen to leave their vehicle at home and use public transportation instead. Others have decided to find a cheaper way to travel by exploring the electric vehicle (EV). Unfortunately, a new EV is still quite expensive. One way to have an affordable electric car is to convert an existing gasoline vehicle to run on electricity. The best donor car for EV conversion is actually a pickup truck.

The idea of ​​an electric car conversion is to remove the internal combustion engine and replace it with an electric motor. To generate torque, the motor is connected to the existing transmission unit. A series of deep cycle batteries are used to power the motor. An average EV would require 10 to 15 battery units. This is where a pickup truck is an excellent candidate for EV conversion.

A truck has a flatbed at the back and that’s perfect for storing batteries. All you need to do is build a box to keep the batteries safe and dry. An average electric vehicle will be able to travel up to 150 miles per charge. The total range of mileage will depend on the weight of the car and the rated power of the engine. If the vehicle can carry an extra number of batteries, it will travel a longer distance before it needs to be recharged. With the cargo capacity of a pickup truck, you won’t have to worry about not having enough space to store the extra power unit.