By: Johan Young
electric truck
More and more people are starting to appreciate the electric car. Back in mid 2008, crude oil prices were at its highest and many car owners were having a tough time coping. Some have chosen to leave their vehicle at home and use the public transportation instead. Others have decided to find a cheaper way to travel by exploring electric vehicle. Unfortunately, a new electric vehicle is still quite expensive. One way to own an affordable electric car is to convert an existing gasoline driven vehicle to run on electricity. One popular donor vehicle for electric conversion is a pickup truck (electric truck).
The idea of a homemade electric truck is to remove the internal combustion engine and replace it with an electric motor. To generate torque, the motor is connected directly to the transmission unit. To power the motor, a series of deep cycle batteries are used. This is where a pickup truck is an excellent candidate for electric truck conversion. A truck has a flatbed on its back to store the batteries.
An average electric truck would require 10 to 15 units of batteries. On a full charge, the electric truck will be able to travel up to 150 miles before you have to recharge. An electric truck would have ample storage space on its back. All you have to do is build a covered box to keep the battery safe and dry.
If you are not well versed with the inner workings of an automobile, it is not recommended for you to start your own electric truck conversion. Most of the work will involve electrical wiring and machine tooling. Since some of the components are not available off the shelves, certain important parts have to be custom made. In this case, a better solution is to outsource the whole conversion process to a professional mechanic. This will save you a lot of time and headache.
Get some electric truck knowledge before you start to send your gasoline driven to a professional workshop to be conversion. There are many electric truck conversion eBooks on the web.
