Build Your Own Electric Vehicle

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.2293
EAN: 9780071543736
Edition: 2
ISBN: 0071543732
Label: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 327
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Publisher: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
Studio: McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics

Features:

ISBN13: 9780071543736
Condition: New
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Editorial Review:

Product Description:

Go Green-Go Electric! Faster, Cheaper, More Reliable While Saving Energy and the Environment

“Empowering people with the tools to convert their own vehicles provides an immediate path away from petroleum dependence and should be part of the solutions portfolio.” – Chelsea Sexton, Co-founder, Plug In America and featured in Who Killed the Electric Car?

“Create a superior driving experience, strengthen America, and restore the planet’s ecosystems…that’s the promise of this book and it’s well worth a read!” – Josh Dorfman, Founder & CEO – Vivavi, Modern Green Furniture Store; Author, The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living.

This new, updated edition of Build Your Own Electric Vehicle contains everything that made the first edition so popular while adding all the technological advances and new parts that are readily available on the market today.

Build Your Own Electric Vehicle gets on the expressway to a green, ecologically sound, cost-effective way that even can look cool, too!

This comprehensive how-to goes through the process of transforming an internal combustion engine vehicle to electric or even building an EV from scratch for as much or even cheaper than purchasing a traditional car. The book describes each component in detail---motor, battery, controller, charger, and chassis---and provides step-by-step instructions on how to put them all together.

Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, Second Edition, covers:

EV vs. Combustible Engine Overview
Environmental and Energy Savings
EV Evolution since the First Electric Car
Current Purchase and Conversion Costs
Chassis and Design
Today's Best Motors
Battery Discharging/Charging Styles
Electrical Systems
Licensing and Insurance Issues
Driving
Maintenance
Related Clubs and Associations
Additional Resources

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Few changes from the first version
This is a great guide and the first edition would be rated much higher by me. I consider this to be the best book on conversions. But I was really hoping this second edition would be updated with the many improvements we have seen, especially in battery technology. Unfortunately the authors gave just superficial coverage on new lithium batteries and AC systems. I would say 98% of the book is the first edition.

Rating:

- Pretty good
This book is pretty good. It covers the basics of EV building. My main issue with it is that it has become woefully out of date. In the years since it was published, controllers, batteries and motors have all changed for the better. The EVs you could build with this book are too old-school.

I am all for the home builder doing their thing, its just that this book needs some updates and links to where you can find the best new controllers, motors, batteries out on the web. If you were wondering what it would take to convert that old 4 banger car into an EV vehicle this book will get you started in the right direction basically.

From there you can probably find what you are looking for out on the web. So its a decent source, just realize its a bit dated.

Thanks for reading my review.

Rating:

- Electric Vehicle
Fast delivery. Very deltailed and percise. A recommended read for the person building an electic vehicle.

Rating:

- Poorly edited, but convincing and comprehensive...
I picked up this book because I was curious. I am a car guy who loves working on his cars, and loves motor sports, especially dirt track racing. I am probably not the target audience for this book.

Still, my thinking on ecology has been seriously challenged by my Church (I am Catholic, and Vatican City State is the world's first carbon neutral country, and the Pope has been adamant about our duty to be good stewards of the planet). This has challenged my thinking. Also, the national security implications of our addiction to foreign oil has also challenged my thinking. I have decided it is time to begin the process of weaning myself and my family off of fossil fuels. After composting and planting a garden, making the house more energy efficient, and adopting a generally more green lifestyle, this is the next step.

I dug into this book, and loved much of it. However, it is in desperate need of a competent editor, and may be a little difficult to wade through as a result, but the content is excellent and is there for you if you are willing to dig a bit.

Let me address the strengths of this excellent book first:

1) The section on the history of the electric car, its technology, and its strengths and weaknesses is comprehensive and very convincing. I was somewhat skeptical at first but after reading this book I am convinced that a) electric cars are the wave of the future, b) my concerns about them were largely misplaced, c) it is probably my patriotic duty to drive one, both because I love the US and support Israel, and d) the environment, and our pocketbooks, NEED us to move away from the internal combustion engine.

2) The mathematical sections, while difficult to wade through and in desperate need of a good educator/editor to make the material more understandable, are actually quite strong if you really stick to them. However, there is so much help out there on line now that you really don't need to do any of these mathematical formulations. Kits for conversion are now commercially available and there are experts out there willing to answer questions for free. This book needed an editor to keep reminding the authors to "keep it simple, stupid."

3) This topic is just fascinating, and it would be difficult for any remotely competent author to mess it up.

4) Despite what you may think about complexity, EV's are actually REALLY simple and elegant, and you are not being ... Read More

Rating:

- Build Your Own Electric Vehicle
D.C. electric cars only get about 40 miles on average per charge. This book still promotes the D.C. electric car.
It has no new noteworthy info on how to get down the road in an A.C. induction multi phase motored car. No gains in the new edition compared to the old. New cover same old story.