RANT: Electric Conversions, Not what you think...... Options

[KaptKaos]

There's a fellow selling a motor in the classifieds. Here's the link:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=92077

Seems normal enough. I assume, maybe wrongly, that this person is using the car for an electric conversion.

I have no issue with people converting their cars to electric motors. However, I am wondering if it is reasonable to ask or inform the people that are looking to do this to please try to use '76 cars? This is particularly important in California, as the smog checks in California aren't required on Pre-76 cars.

There are two counter arguments that I can think of and they are:

1) '76 cars are fairly rare, and therefore either more expensive and/or harder to find.
2) The point of an electric conversion is to reduce emissions, so using a car that has higher emissions makes more sense.

I am not sure if this is practical/possible/reasonable/feasible, so I figured that I'd ask.

Am I out of line here?

Please note that I mean no ill will to the seller above.

[rick 918-S]

Until battery technology makes some serious strides I think an electric conversion is a waste of time and money. The only batteries worth using are priced higher than the national debt. Lead acid batteries are heavy, short duration, and cause more polution to manufacture and dispose of than all the gas you could burn for the next two years. (the life of the batteries) So IMHO electric is not green and should be taken on as a fun hobby and not a serious life style change.

[Root_Werks]

Until battery technology makes some serious strides I think an electric conversion is a waste of time and money. The only batteries worth using are priced higher than the national debt. Lead acid batteries are heavy, short duration, and cause more polution to manufacture and dispose of than all the gas you could burn for the next two years. (the life of the batteries) So IMHO electric is not green and should be taken on as a fun hobby and not a serious life style change.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Rick hit the nail on the head. The motors and controls are easily there, but batteries for the layman folks like us are not.

My 914 is close to 40mpg, very close and pretty much all stock. It would take hundreds of thousands of useful miles from batteries before I'd ever see a break even from a conversion.

[PThompson509]

Until battery technology makes some serious strides I think an electric conversion is a waste of time and money. The only batteries worth using are priced higher than the national debt. Lead acid batteries are heavy, short duration, and cause more polution to manufacture and dispose of than all the gas you could burn for the next two years. (the life of the batteries) So IMHO electric is not green and should be taken on as a fun hobby and not a serious life style change.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Rick hit the nail on the head. The motors and controls are easily there, but batteries for the layman folks like us are not.

My 914 is close to 40mpg, very close and pretty much all stock. It would take hundreds of thousands of useful miles from batteries before I'd ever see a break even from a conversion.

All that is probably true for your car. <rant>How long do you think will take when gas reaches $5/gal? Or $6/gal? Those prices are coming. </rant>

That being said, you can get a nice battery pack for $8k (roughly) and a really nice motor (80kw) for $6.6k. When I started my conversion, I was guessing about $20k to $25k for parts. Now the price is from $15k to $20K, and will continue to drop.

Cheers,
Peter