El(ectric) Camino takes to the road in Wisconsin
For the last month, Tom Leitschuh has been cruising around Racine, Wisconsin in a 1981 Chevrolet El Camino without a single worry about his emissions or the price of gas. The reason is that his El Camino has been converted to all electric power and he generates electricity using wind and solar panels at home. This means he doesn't care what the utility rates are, either. Sounds good, doesn't it?Leitschuh bought the car on eBay and spent a total of $30,000 on the project. A local electric parts company, Quick Cable, donated some pieces as well. The El-ectric Camino uses 46 lithium ferrite batteries, which Leitschuh says are "the safest batteries in the world, and they'll work down to zero degrees." These electron carriers give him a 200-mile range (if he drives carefully) and go about 100 miles on an average driving cycle. All sorts of details on the conversion itself – including a failed motor, how to pack in the four dozen (almost) batteries and Leitschuh's simple economic reasons for swapping gas for electronc – are available here.
[Source: Journal Times, Quick Cable]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mike 7:20PM (8/31/2009)
"work down to zero degrees"
... in Wisconsin ?
So he can drive it like June through early September then....
hahahahahah....
... 'cause it is cold in wisconsin.....
hahahahahah.....
I crack me up.
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FitFan 11:52PM (8/31/2009)
Nice conversion.
I was relieved to see the update where he moved 20 of the batteries to the back of the vehicle. Before that change there was *zero* crumple zone up front.
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SavinGreen 3:38PM (9/01/2009)
Well, it is still good that this type of grass roots approach is being fostered. These types of projects receive a lot of attention and rightfully so. The fact that a guy can build this on his own and have an EV capable of up to 200 miles is very impressive. His learnings will be studied by a lot of people who will be responsible for making EV technology mainstream and just maybe they will learn something from him.
Solar Charging
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DasBoese 12:29AM (9/02/2009)
Great build, this is extremely encouraging!
$30,000 for the whole process is very much on the affordable side for the hobbyist... after all, people regularly spend that much on audio equipment, faux carbon fiber parts and bodykits.
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