Convert Your Gas Car to Electric

Anybody who lives in Los Angeles knows that you are dependent upon your car. You eat, drink, put on your make-up, write your emails, text your friends, and make your business phone calls all while stuck in your five-mile/45 minute commute. Imagine if you could do all that in your Mercedes or BMW and not have to burn one ounce of gas.

Well, that is a possibility. I came across this company called AC Propulsion. They have been taking gas-fueled cars and converting them to electric. They have converted Volkswagens, BMW's, and pick-up trucks, but their most popular conversion has been the Scion xB to the eBox. The eBox looks exactly like the gas version of the Scion xB on the outside, but the internal parts are very different.

AC Propulsion takes out the gas tank, exhausts system, entire fuel system, and engine and replaces it with an electric motor, power electronics unit, and a big battery. That's it. All of a sudden you are driving an electric car. What sets these electric cars apart from the others is the range.

"The eBox can easily go 120 miles on a full charge. That's just driving it normally on the street or freeway. If you're a really good driver, careful driver, and efficient driver, the record so far is 170 miles," says AC Propulsion's CEO Tom Gage.

One of the problems with other electric cars is that on a full charge, the range was only about 50 miles. The eBox is able to go the extra mile because of regenerative braking, which is similar to the system in a Prius. This basically means that the car slows down by using the electric motor, which then generates electricity and recharges the battery. I was actually able to drive one of these cars, and at first I felt like the worst driver in the world because it takes a minute to get used to not having to ever use the brake. But after five minutes, it's as if you have been driving that way your whole life.

The eBox uses laptop computer batteries to make up the main electronic unit. These are the best and cheapest batteries because they are made at such a high volume.

Tom Gage says, "These batteries have a lot of energy, they're very light, they give very good power and they don't cost too much compared to other batteries... and we take 5,000 of those and put them in a certain specific way so that they're strong and all connected."

Probably one of the best things about the eBox is how easy it is to charge. The car plugs into any household jack. If you get stuck somewhere, you could pull into any store or gas station, plug in your vehicle for 30 minutes and get enough power for 50 more miles.

Eco-friendly actor, Tom Hanks, is one of the only celebrities to have this car. He was also one of the first people to own this car.

"I have almost 5,000 miles on this car and that's 5,000 miles without a penny going to an oil company or out of my pocket," Tom Hanks says. "I don't want to pay money for gas. It's as simple as that. A huge number of households in America are 2 or 3 car families, such as mine. Why wouldn't one of those be an electric car, which you never pay a dollar for gasoline? The only reason you stop at a gas station is to get a big gulp or beef jerky."

Electric cars are extremely reliable. There are only three moving parts. Not much can go wrong with only three parts except for a possible glitch in the software somewhere. That means less money and hassle for you in long run. Imagine never having to go to a Jiffy Lube ever again? Freedom!

There are some people out there that believe that driving an electric car or hybrid isn't actually helping save the planet or "going green" because of the batteries. Once the batteries die, what happens to them? Contrary to popular belief, companies are focusing on ways to recycle them. One example is with the Tesla's Electric Roadster batteries. According to treehugger.com, the batteries were made in Japan under very strict environmental laws. Technically, they could be land filled, even though they are not. They do not contain any heavy metals or toxic materials.

Treehugger.com says, "In practice, the cells are sent to a hammer mill that turns them into pulp. They then separate the elements and re-use what can be re-used (cobalt, aluminum, nickel, and copper, etc). So the battery pack saves thousands of gallons of gasoline/diesel over the life of the vehicle, it is less toxic than the lead-acid batteries that are in regular cars, and at the end of its life it is recycled."

The eBox uses computer batteries, which are more eco-friendly than your generic AAA battery. It may just be the cleanest car out there.

Unfortunately, it's pretty expensive to convert your car. It costs $55,000 for the conversion, but that includes a one-year warranty. Just like anything else in this world, if the demand is high, the price will lower. Obviously the average American can't afford to convert their car, but there is a lot of interest in it. Numerous people have said that they would convert their car in a second if it were more affordable.

The majority of the planet is not going to be driving electric cars next year or even in 20 years. So for all those gas companies, auto shops, and car part manufacturers who are worried about going out of business, it's not going to happen anytime soon. There's no reason to kill another electric car.

Watch this story with video here.

Comments

[Givethemhellharry]

One point not made in the article is that electric cars require electricity that is often generated by fossil fuel burning plants and thus are not solving the pollution problem.

What we have come up with is a different solution. Basically we use a cars electricity generation capability to generate and store electricity as the car is being driven. When the car reaches its destination the system is plugged into the home and the electricity is then used for lighting, TV etc. This is free electricity as the vehicle is being driven anyway. With a billion cars on the roads of the world that could be retrofitted in 2 hours max with the PowerStation, a major new source of electricity is available today to meet needs.No need for new generators or transmission facilities that take years to develop. The electricity can be used anywhere a car travels. Works great on any sive vehicle. Been in development and testing for 2 years and works great. About an hour of driving provides power for 4 to 6 lights and TV for up to 6 hours. Literally the least expensive alternative energy solution. For more information see www.aaes-ltd.com

[Overtone]

Revolutionary new energy conversion devices can make practical cars that need no engines, batteries, or any variety of conventional fuel or recharge. Devices without moving parts are comparable to an inexhaustible electric battery. One prototype was analogous to the early work on the transistor, which led to the creation of Silicon Valley.

Generators we are developing will demonstrate replacement of the plug needed by a plug-in hybrid car, within a year. This will be a harbinger of automobiles that need no conventional fuel. With normal progress, prototype new energy conversion systems are anticipated to replace an automobile engine within three years or less. These will open a path to mass production of vehicles that will never require fuel.

Cars can become a source of income! Vehicle to grid (V2G) power was demonstrated during 2007. It was recently estimated that selling power to the grid from future hybrid electric cars might earn the vehicles" owner $4,000 each year. This assumes that power will be drawn by utilities from the parked car"s batteries, by means of a two-way, plug. In the future, cars powered by new energy conversion systems are expected to earn much more, as these generators are anticipated to replace both batteries and car engines. Therefore, they are expected to produce far greater amounts of electricity. No plug will be required. Auto makers will be able to sell cars that need no fuel and may be able to pay for themselves. That could kick-start economic recovery!

[felixkramer]

The availability of practical conversions is still in early stages. There are many small shops that pull everything out of internal combustion engine cars and turn them into all-electric. CalCars did the first conversion of a Prius, and a network of small companies now offers that service. See http://www.calcars.org/howtoget.html for details.

We're spotlighting some of the companies converting larger cars to plug-in hybrid at http://www.calcars.org/ice-conversions.html . The main point here is for large carmakers to offer new plug-in cars and eventually, to "bless" safe, affordable aftermarket conversions.

-- Felix Kramer, Founder, The California Cars Initiative (CalCars.org)

[KillTheMessenger]

Can we see some maintenance data on these vehicles? It's one thing to do the conversion, it's an entirely different thing to make it last.

[ACPEngineer]

AC Propulsion's electric vehicles have travelled over 100,000 miles. One of the eBoxes in our fleet has already covered over 30,000 miles since its remanufacture to all electric drive two years ago. It is running on the same lithium-ion pack that it has always had. It is driven daily by our staff and has been featured in many videos and print media. The only maintenance performed has been to replace all four tires and fill the washer fluid.
We work with major auto manufacturers to bring electric vehicles to market today. The most recent example is BMW's MINI E, using an AC Propulsion motor, controller, and battery. These are very exciting times for alternative energy vehicles and we are proud to be a part of it.

[Xebra]

The problem with conversions is that they can be carried out only on some and not all models of cars. So it is just as well that cars like the Xebra and its truck version are available in the market for people who dont want to or cant convert.

[DMSmith]

Let's take a hunk of bail-out money and subsidize detroit makers in making such cars for sale at normal prices...our car companies would soon rule the world, and the cost would tumble into affordable ranges.
THAT is the kind of answer we need.
I drive a diesel mercedes so I can run it on bio-diesel. I often see cars I'd love to have, but that aren't diesel. This would open up a whole new world of choices for me. As it is...I still use no petroleum already!!

[KillTheMessenger]

They are using laptop batteries? Wow... laptop batteries have approx. 100 charge/discharge cycles before they start deteriorating. So that should make about one to two years of operation at light load before the vehicle needs a new battery pack. So, indeed, the one year warranty will work, for them. But it won't do any good for you.

Thanks. I pass.

[Kings124]

Tom Hanks has had the car for over 3 years now and has had no problems with the batteries. How do you explain that?

[KillTheMessenger]

He does not drive it. He has only 5000 miles on the car, so he's got 5000 left before it falls apart. NEXT!

[ACPEngineer]

That may have been true many years ago, but if modern laptop batteries were capable of only 100 charge/discharge cycles, they wouldn't last 1 year, assuming you used an average of 1/3 of your laptop battery capacity on a daily basis. Laptop batteries also operate in extreme voltage and temperature ranges that tend to reduce cell life. The eBox pack is monitored and conditioned to prevent extreme charge and temperature conditions.
In the video, Tom Hanks mentioned that the eBox is his favorite vehicle. He suggests that he uses it regularly and that his daily usage is about 30-50 miles. That's over 10,000 miles per year, which at 120 miles per charge is still less than 100 cycles.
Batteries only get better with increased interest and development.

[Stilts9]

Yaaaaaaaaay!