Electric Ford Ranger

dwinmac · Jun 11, 2008

It's hard to believe but it is over a year now since I bought the 1987 Ford Ranger in South Carolina and took it to Rhode Island to convert it to an electric vehicle. We had it running last fall but didn't do much with it over the winter. It is up and running now( registered and inspected) in Rhode Island at my brother's house. He has been driving it to work.

We ended up putting a new master cylinder and vacuum booster as well as adding a vacuum reservoir to get it to pass inspection.

If you want to check it out see photos at http://web.mac.com/doug1939.

If you have any questions you can email me at macdonalddw@usa.net

Doug

bluovaldude · Jun 11, 2008

Thats a purty clean truck you got there. Do have any pulling power or anything like that or is it mainly to just drive ?

And just one other courious question, if you do not mind me asking, How come you did not put the batteries under the bed ?

Bob Ayers · Jun 11, 2008

I just talked to a friend of mine in Va. He just converted a 1999 Mazda pickup to electric. I believe he said he used parts from the same company: evamerica.com

Loanranger · Jun 11, 2008

So many questions.. First let me commend you for your patience in building this. With gas prices the way they are, I have been brain storming something like this for an "eco wheeler" basically an alternative powered 4 wheel drive vehicle. But I don't see myself having the patience to carry through with it in this way. I am amazed that you took the time to take care of the little details like the heater and such.

For the questions, "clutch pedalless, not clutchless" What exactly do you mean? You still have a clutch, just no way of disengaging it? Or did you make some other way of disengaging it?
What is the runtime between charges? Miles?
I'm sure I'll have more questions after looking again.

Will · Jun 11, 2008

I'm looking at a kit like that. The one I am seeing has 80ft# and bolts to your transmission. It's not expensive really, but it doesn't come with batteries. Batteries are not cheap though. Or light. And for batteries to last a long time, you can only discharge them a small amount. And the range of these is fairly small.

I've been thinking about this seriously. I have the money to do it, but the costs are going to have to work out or I won't. I don't need another hobby. My investigations shows me that if you are a single person with a very small car, you could do a 30 mile round trip drive to work in a tiny car converted to electric and it would pay off. The crucial thing is how far you discharge the batteries. A 20% discherge and the batteries would live for 8 years--and weigh 8,000#. A 50% discharge and they will last 3 years, weigh 2,000# and a 40mpg car would have been better left with an internal combustion engine.

A Prius does really well because all the battery is used for is snipping off the points of a gas engine that don't do well. It is used very sparingly, and it is recharged constantly by braking. It is used for a few seconds while initially accelerating--where a gas motor isn't efficient. It only has enough battery power for a 2 mile drive if you were out of gas. These electric cars shoot for 40. The hybrid is mch better, if it were cheap. because we don't have a good enough battery for a 100% electric car to be cost effective.

Electric Ford Ranger

dwinmac

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