I guess that it started about a year ago and I got sick of wildly fluctuating gas prices AND giving m
y 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 a
way 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.
