Build Your Own Electric Vehicle

I've read several books on Electric Vehicles and this is, by far, the definitive resource for the DIY Electric Vehicle designer. It provides details and pictures on every topic necessary to design and build an electric vehicle from an existing gas vehicle.

I read the book because I was interested in converting a car. At times, it became waaay more technical than I bargained for. But it gave me the confidence to go ahead with my project.

I later learned that what I wanted to build was going to be so expensive, that I would not be able to afford it. This led me to see the book on a different light. For example, I would have liked it to be more specific info on the ranges and speeds one could get with a certain system. I did not find that... maybe I skipped it when I blew off the extremely technical info.

But other than that I thought the book was AWESOME. I would not recommend anyone to start a project like this without first talking to people who have done it already. (That is how I found out that I was being too ambitious).

I have not converted a car yet, since I decided to wait until batteries get better so I can get the range and speeds I need. But when the time comes, I going to pick up this book again. This puppy is NOT going to the used-book bookstore.

This book was written in the early 90's. It's so out of date that it's almost usless. Whish I had know before I spent $$$.

In general I found this book of value as a technical reference volumne but was extremly disappointed in the bias shown toward hybrid vehicles and larger cars of all types and the attitude that EV'S are for short shopping runs and you should use an ICE for anything else. This attitude has been what has slowed the uptake of EV's and kept the creation in the hands of mainly gifted amateurs. Yes I certainly will be using the formulae in the book but will be looking beyond the USA most of the electrics and electronics for my electric touring car

I liked this book a lot, it reads well, it provides the "how to" information in the title but also a lot of background information. The only real defect I can find in it is the date of last update (1993). Suprisingly, most of what is said is still valid, but there are some things missing which did not exist then or were not mature enough. Some recommendations actually got even better: the "AC propulsion" system, which is already much praised in the book, went on to even greater success in the Tesla roadster. Just get someone (the author, if still active, or someone else) to update it for 2008 new technologies.