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Carnegie Mellon project offers EV conversions ... for $24,000

Let's just say this one's for both the environmentally conscious and the nostalgic.

That's apparently the target audience for the ChargeCar project launched by Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, which helps convert old Honda Civics to electric vehicles, according to the Mother Nature Network.

ChargeCar offers an all-inclusive conversion kit for 2001-05 Honda Civics – hey, there are a lot of them out there – that includes an electric motor, batteries, controllers and an in-car display, all for $24,000. The kit can be installed by a mechanic in less than three days, the publication says. Of course, you have to provide the Civic as well as the 24 large. Oh, and conversions don't qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit.

So, financially, this isn't the best way to drive an EV, but ChargeCar is offering one more way for consumers to drive electric vehicles and further help out the environment by using an existing car to do so. MNN says the kit allows for about 40-miles of single-charge-range driving. And all without that new car smell.

Honda Civic Information

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