If we were to start our own electric vehicle (EV) retrofitting from home, what can be expect from a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) electric car conversion manual? Most EV manual will start off by identifying your driving pattern. Driving an electric car is totally different compared to driving a gasoline driven car. The main setback is the driving distance. For a conventional car, when you ran out of gas, there is a gas station around the corner to fuel up. The situation is different when you driven an EV. When the battery is out of juice, it will be challenging to find a power outlet to recharge.

When you know your driving pattern, you can now decide whether an EV meets your requirement. If you need a car to commute long distances to work, an EV may not provide you the driving mileage. If you only need a car to drive short distances around town for grocery shopping, an electric car may suit just fine.

Your first step in the DIY project is to select the right donor car. EV conversion manual usually will have a check list on what type of car to choose. The main criteria would be the net weight and available storage space. What we want is a light vehicle and yet sturdy. The free space will be used to store all the lead acid batteries.

If you are not familiar with automotive engineering, doing your own electric car conversion from home is not recommended. It is better for you to outsource the retrofitting work to a professional mechanic. To be prudent, you should know some basic knowledge on EV. At least you will know when you are being charge for unnecessary parts or work done on your car. Getting an electric car motor conversion manual will be helpful.