DISCLAIMER

   This is my hobby project, and as such, it does not have to comply to any codes or built to any standards. As long as it is street legal and passes DMV inspection I am happy. The construction and materials chosen are ones available to me and what I feel comfortable with. Duplicate at your own risk. I have mechanical skills and as an electrical engineer I understand well all principles and implementation of the hardware. Therefore many usual challenges associated with an EV seemed easy solved, but your mileage may vary. This is my second EV conversion, and before I started the first one 6 years ago, I ambitiously thought that I would do it without any major mistakes. First EV turn out OK but I killed 2 packs of batteries, re-welded frame 3 times to accommodate new battery boxes and rewired electrical system countless times because wanted to get it in service as quick (and inexpensive) as I could, so I failed to make it all easily accessible or upgradeable. EV conversion is major undertaking associated with dangerous aspects such as deadly voltages, nasty chemicals or heavy weights. Be careful with those. You almost guaranteed to make human error sooner or later. Triple check critical components so your error will not be fatal or lead to unrecoverable injury. Please take care of environment around you while working with chemicals! While I am not responsible for your future results and cannot guarantee that there are no human errors in these pages, I believe they are quite accurate, and wish you luck in your own project. One advise: if you intend to convert the vehicle to save overall money on gas, maintenance etc., reconsider now. It probably won't happen (at least with current gas and batteries prices); you will spend on the battery packs about as much as on the gasoline over the same period of time. This has been debated many times and I have heard opinions on both extremes. All I can report to you is my own practical experience. Before you will learn how to drive while taking care of your batteries you will murder a pack or two, it's been "welcome to the club" tradition. So especially in the beginning you probably will spend more money for your learning experiences than later on. We make these cars because we love the concept even if it cost more. Be prepared.

You are entering difficult  but rewarding path to cleaner future and literally impact environment around you. Have fun building your own electric vehicle and anticipate lasting wide "EV grin" you will inevitably experience as soon as your creation will move first inches propelled by the clean energy, and you join great team of thousands EVers who already have done it.

Best wishes,

Victor Tikhonov

July 4 2001