DIY Electric El Camino Is All Kinds of Awesome (Homebuilt EVs on the rise)

[The Straight Story]

DIY Electric El Camino Is All Kinds of Awesome

Homebuilt EVs are damn-near mainstream these days, with backyard tinkerers throwing electric motors into small, light and — dare we say it — cute cars like the Porsche 914 and VW Rabbit with almost monotonous regularity. Tom Leitschuh went for something a lot cooler.

An El Camino.

The electronic controls engineer from Franksville, Wisconsin, electrified an ‘81 Chevrolet El Camino, a poster child for the darkest days of American automotive design and a car with enough steel to shrug off a collision with a Sherman tank. We called Leitschuh to ask, “Why?”

We thought we caught him at a quiet time in the office until he said, “Can you hear it? I’m driving it as we speak!”

electro-camino-07Of all the cars he could have picked to convert, why did Leitschuh choose the mongrel offspring of a Chevrolet Caprice and a pickup truck? Simple. He needs to haul stuff. Besides, why not convert an El Camino?

“The Civic would have a bit more range,” he said. “But which would you rather drive?”

....

Leitschuh figures the Electro-Camino costs just over a penny a mile, but he keeps that penny in his pocket. Electro-Camino is truly green. That’s right, all you EV naysayers, there’s no long tailpipe on this car and it’s truly zero-emissions. Leitschuh gets all his power from his wind turbine and 12-kW solar-barn, which he claims is the largest privately owned solar array in Wisconsin.



http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/electro-camino/

[tridim]

1. I've already promised myself that I'm building an electric Fiat X1/9

But not until the price of batteries drops by at least half. Battery tech is getting better by the day, but I don't think we've quite reached the magic price/performance ratio yet.

[The Straight Story]

2. Get some duracells, duct tape, and a radio controlled car motor (or ten)

And you are all set.