Electric Conversion

Converted plug-in Prius – Click above for high-res image gallery

In the "Can I convert a gas vehicle to electric" installation of our Greenlings series we featured a video of a very sweet '57 Porsche 356 Speedster reproduction from Special Edition that had an electric drivetrain installed in place of its original gas-burner. Jack Rickard, the man behind t

The Australian company behind the evMe has announced plans to expand their conversion-concept horizons to the European market. Energetique has made the trip from Down Under to Germany and signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with vehicle development firm RLE that will see the partnership develop an adaptable and afforda

There are all kinds of reasons why one might want to drive an electric vehicle (EV). Perhaps you're concerned about the environmental damage done by oil exploration, recovery, refining, and the eventual burning of carbon-based fuels. Maybe you just hate handing money over to huge companies with seemingly no ethical integrity. Whatever your reason for oil animosity, one way to quench your desire to be free of the stuff is to drive an electrically-powered vehicle. Whether they have two, three or f

Converting a liquid-fueled vehicle to electric drive is nothing new, but, if you've never done it before, then everything can be fresh and totally overwhelming. For those of you interested in trying a conversion project, the fine folks at Electric Cars Are For Girls are here to help. The site is getting ready to put EV conversion classes online using the same materials and demonstrations that they use in local classes. The project is called EV University, and they are currently running a survey

Many people love classic cars; but if you're concerned about your environmental impact, how can anyone enjoy driving one? For some, the answer may be having the drivetrain converted to all-electric power and Duke's Garage just Domenick Yoney

Click above for a gallery of the electric Honda Civic on eBay

Click above to enlarge Lennon Rodgers' electric motorcycle

If you don't want to wait for a traditional automaker to put an electric car on the road, a conversion of an existing vehicle is one way to achieve gasoline freedom. Using the Mazda 2 as their chassis of choice, Energetique has done just that with their evMe. While it's not the first new-car conversion from Down Under, it is the best looking and it offers some good performance numbers a

Don't want to wait for the Chevrolet Volt? Don't feel like spending tens of thousands of dollars on a new green car? Combine your thrift, environmental consciousness and affinity for wrench turning by building your own electric car. Canadians Darin Cosgrove and Ivan Limburg have electrified a Geo Metro for less than $1,000 and you can too! Starting with a Metro helps set expectations, as the converted car is not fast and suitable only for low speed in-town tripping, but the original was no parag

Click above for more shots of the 1971 Duster EV

Dale Vince of Ecotricity has posted some musings and video on his Zerocarbonista blog about the progress his team have made with his wind-power Exige we we're telling you about a few months back and things seem to be coming along quite nicely. His team seems to be more than up for the challenge of turning the gas-power

The amazing Daryl Hannah is set to reprise her role from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill as the woman behind the wheel of that superbad 1980 Trans Am. Well, except for the deranged assassin and gas guzzling part. This time it's not a movie but real life and her ride is going to be eerily quiet as it gets its punching power from batteries instead of gasoline. Yes, this talented spokesperson f

Click on the image for more high-res shots

Taking an older vehicle, gutting the powertrain and converting it to operate solely on electrons is certainly not a new phenomenon. It's been done many times and many ways with varying results. Fairleigh Dickinson University graduate engineering student, Sai Sankar, is a relatively new to the art of EV conversions. Sankar started with a 1994 Chrysler minivan for his project. According to Edmunds, you can get one in running order for about $1,500. Of course, for a project of this type a non-runni

A project in Finland is aiming to use the power of open-source to gather a critical mass of people interested in converting cars to electric power. The idea is get enough people who are interested in doing the project so that the cost can be brought down to a point where it becomes affordable. Whether the target of 500 orders is sufficient make the cost of a converted Toyota Corolla comparable to the price of the original car is debatable. It seems like they would need much larger volumes than t

If you're like me and you live near Lemont, Illinois, there's a small company called Pioneer Conversions that can convert your ozone-eating, oxygen-depleting, daisy-choking, baby seal-killing gasoholic car into a clean green driving machine. They specialize in Cavaliers, Saturns and small pick-up trucks, but that isn't stopping them from working on a Porsche Boxster o

Recently, I posted a Myspace video of Tom Hank driving his eBox, a Scion xB converted to run on electricity. That video is no longer working but I found Tom Hanks' MySpace page with the video, so now you can watch it below the fold. Tom also has a video introducing his MySpace page and a trailer for his newest movie, Charlie Wilson's War, which