Alaska teen converts his own electric car, a 1971 Super Beetle
There's a fairly underground movement among teenagers that bubbles up now and again here on AutoblogGreen. These high school students are working in shop classes, civics classes and after school groups - and sometimes on their own - to actually do something to help the environment by working on (or to promote) cleaner cars. The latest entry comes to us from Anchorage, Alaska, where Stellar Secondary School senior Bart Grabman has, following lots of Internet research, borrowed a bunch of money from his mom to buy EV parts. Grabman is a member of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA), where he heard a visiting speaker talk about self-converting a truck to electric; this gave him the idea in the first place.
The direct information on Grabman's EV-conversion project comes from an article by fellow senior Erin Britton. As students are always learning, I'll advise Britton to include details on what kind of car Grabman is working on in any future articles. Thankfully, via Austin EV's amazing collection of electric cars under construction, we can see that Grabman's vehicle of choice is a 1971 VW Super Beetle. Also on that page, Grabman explains which parts he's using for the project: the motor is an Advanced DC 8" 203-06-4001 Series Wound DC and eight 12-volt lead acid batteries. The batteries are old, he says, but for now they hold a charge, and that's enough to keep him going.
[Source: Austin EV, Erin Britton / McClatchy Newspapers via EV World]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Azrael4h 1:24PM (9/25/2007)
Why does no one comment on this? It shows a great deal of ingenuity, as well as intuition on the part of the young man who started to build this car.
I wonder what the cost of the electric motor is, top speed, and range. I wouldn't mind such a vehicle, but I have a long commute over the highway, and need at least a 100 mile range, if not 150. I'm sure, using old batteries like he is, it's not an astounding range, but still.
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500 1:41PM (9/25/2007)
Hey I'm all for teens spending their time and energy on something constructive like this. I'm sure it'll also give him a much-needed reality check on just how difficult it is to make a viable electric vehicle. And we'll see if he ever even completes the project.
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Bart 4:35AM (9/26/2007)
This is Bart Grabman (the student with that car). Right now, I'm still working on it, and, although it's not pretty, it's not far from functioning. After I get everything up and running, my plan is to purchase some Deep Cycle Marine batteries and replace the ones I have now, most certainly increasing the range.
My driving needs are pretty manageable most days - from my house to school, running/skiing practice, and a trip to the bank, post office, or store is usually less than 20 miles a day.
In response to Azrael4h, 100-150 miles would not be possible on this car, but with improving battery technology (a Texas-based? company claims to have 500+ mile range batteries for electric vehicles coming out in the next year...), who knows what the possibilities are.
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electrabishi 11:32PM (12/10/2007)
The motor Bart is using can typically be found used for
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electrabishi 5:25PM (10/23/2007)
The motor Bart is using can typically be found used for
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electrabishi 7:59PM (10/23/2007)
The motor Bart is using can typically be found used for
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electrabishi 8:00PM (10/23/2007)
Why is this thing truncating my messages??
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Chris M 2:15AM (12/11/2007)
Electrabishi: I suspect you've inadvertently inserted a "control character" in your post that is causing the truncations. Did you have some special symbol where it was cut?
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