Donor car found

After deciding that I wanted to do an Electric Vehicle (EV), I needed to pick what I would convert. Nearly all home conversions use an old ICE (internal combustion engine) auto. So I was looking for a car with a blown engine, that wasn't too old, had a curb weight of less than 3000 lbs, manual transmission, lots of space for batteries, and a GVWR of 1000 lbs more than the curb weight for the added battery weight. A Jetta seemed to fit the bill. I really like the Mark 4, but the likelihood of finding a 5 year old car that is not worth repairing the motor was slim. I looked at a Mark 2, but it smelled old on the inside. I eventually found a good shape Mark 3 with a blown diesel engine in October 2006. The seller was a nice guy and he dropped the price if he could keep all the engine parts as he wanted to a Toyota diesel conversion later. So for $1000, I got myself a 1998 Jetta TDI with front disk brakes, a sunroof, pretty nice sound system, keyless entry, electric door locks, and A/C. I think it a bit ironic that I ended up with a diesel even when going electric.

Since my friend Norman (who affectionately calls the eVdub the death trap) has a Ford F250, he was recruited to pull the eVdub across Houston to its new home. Since I was on crutches from blowing out my knee again, I had Trey (who I ran into playing basketball when my ACL tore) come along, too. I wish I had pics, but it took longer than we thought and it was getting dark. I've got a little body work to do, but she'll be pretty silently rolling down the SW Freeway.

The funny thing about the pic below is that near the end of 2006 we received a letter from our Home Owner's Association letting us know about a (barely) sagging gutter and that we needed to get it fixed within the week. Little did they know that directly below that 'hideous' gutter was a car with only HALF an engine. he he

"Guess what crazy hobby my husband is into now...."

The title is a typical saying of what my wife says when I start something new. It's not that she doubts me, but rather my hobbies are so esoteric, that she's never heard of them before. See here and here for another, what my Rice labmates called, "crazy" hobby of mine.

I guess that it started about a year ago and I got sick of wildly fluctuating gas prices AND giving my hard earned money to Dictators who hate America. I first investigated going straight grease, aka SVO or WVO, in a diesel car or ginormus truck. I was basically resigned to either driving a 25 year old Mercedes with all its quirks and needed rapairs or a $20k Ford 250 with 150k miles. Either way, if it breaks down, I'm hosed and out a bit of money, as I'm not mechanically inclined (I've never even changed my oil before). I also looked into making my own biodiesel, but you must be very precise in measuring and mixing chemicals or your engine is toast. I don't like chemistry; I'm not that precise. The other thing that took me away from SVO and biodiesel is that in order to at least not get behind financially, you have to go to mom-and-pop restaurants and get their old waste grease. Messy and yucky.

Trey, a friend at work suggested an electric car, but I quickly dismissed him. But it got me thinking, I essentially have a minor in electrical engineering, and if I could remove 60% of the moving parts in a vehicle, I would be that much better off. After pondering it a bit, the only thing holding me back was "how am I going to mate the electric motor to the transmission?" The Internet is a beautiful thing, as I found a company who does just that ElectroAutomotive. They have many templates for common conversions, and if they don't have your pattern, you can send them your bell housing and they'll make one for you.

Now that I convinced myself that my alternative fueled (read: not giving money to terrorists) vehicle would be electric, I needed to find a suitable donor car. My major criteria were: 1) it had to be cheap and 2) my wife wanted a car that she won't be ashamed of (ie not a 1980 Ford Escort) sitting in the driveway every evening.