If you're reading this blog, odds are that you are either a personal friend of mine, or someone who is interested in electric car conversions. Either way, I hope the blog is both informative and motivational to you and whoever you may share it with. This blog will follow my progress in the conversion of my 2002 Honda S2000, and although it may be unachievable, I am anticipating a completion date of about 6 months. As time passes through the next 2 weeks - month, I will address multiple aspects and components of the electric car, ranging from the motor choice, to the BMS (Battery Managment System). It will surely be a tough, and interesting (to say the least) journey from internal combustion gas guzzler, to speedy electric sports car, but I am itching to get started.
Anyway, about me; I'll try to be relatively terse here. I am a 16 year old attending Spruce Creek High School, enrolled in the IB program. I don't have very much of a background with cars, since this electric car will be my first. I've never changed oil, or replaced a tire; the most I've ever done is fill the water for the windshield wipers. That said, I am fairly practical by nature, and if I devote myself to something, I can generally complete it within a couple of months. My main motivation in life is in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and at school, I have more friends than I can count on 2 hands, that are encouraging and interested in the project.
One last thing I will address in this post; what is the point of creating an electric car?
1. Efficiency: The average car uses about 20% of the potential energy of the fuel in useful motion while wasting the other energy as heat, noise and pollution. Electric cars use upwards of 80% of their 'fuel', a percentage which can be increased relatively easily as most of its losses are electrical. So in essence an ICE car is a heater with the side effect that it can move people from A to B.
2. Economical: This is a no brainer, America imports more oil than any other country. Not only that, but a lot of people don't realize how subsidized it is. The gas station up the street is currently selling premium for $4.05 a gallon. However, in Italy, where it is subsidized but not as much, the price of a US gallon, is $6.00.
3. Enviromental: Most people are informed of global warming, and how our cars are inundating our world in CO2. Electric cars emit no hydrocarbons, and now toxic gases whatsoever.
And finally, for the people who say, "well, the electricity for electric cars comes from huge complexes that are still killing our earth."
Well, you guys are right, to a point. Even if all cars become electric, we will need a source of energy, but that doesn't mean that it has to be from harmful and inefficient fuels. We have solar farms, water turbines, and wind turbines, that could, in the near future, produce enough energy for electric cars. Also, coal and nuclear power, although they have negative externalities, are cleaner, cheaper, and domestic compared to foreign oil. Gas cars only use about 25% of the energy in their fuel, and electric cars are capable of using 99.999% of their energy, something gas engines cannot achieve.
One last aspect is that, electric cars are the way of the future. Why? Because all the types of green and upcoming energy sources will be incompatible with gas engines. Internal combustion engines need a combustible liquid to function, and petrol basically has the best combustibility of anything else. If we were to change to Hydrogen Fuel cells, everyone would have buy a new car, since you can't just put a hydrogen fuel cell in a gas engine. On the other hand, if we all invested in electric cars, the hydrogen fuel could be converted to electricity at our local power plants, and then used when we plug our cars into the wall outlet.
I'm not saying that the gas car you are driving sucks, and that you need to get rid of it, but rather that there are better ways of running cars, that I, and many others, hope will catch on soon.
