Zoomi Life

One of our favorite websites is ecomodder.com, which features a lot of awesome, green, do-it-yourself stuff for modifying existing automobiles to make them more efficient. The site now has a great 5-part series on some DIY electric cars that people have built.

Most of the cars are converted using small/compact vehicles like Geo Metros and Volkswagen Bugs and used forklift parts. That and some ingenuity and a set of wrenches. I love this kind of stuff.

Two Geo Metros were converted, one for about $1,200 and another for just under $1,000. A 1971 VW Beetle was converted for $2,200. As ecomodder puts it, you only have to be a “motivated tinkerer” to get this done.

The first article in the series features a nice comparison chart that breaks down the Tesla Roadster (at $109,000) in terms of cost-per-mph and per range in miles. The sums are pretty hefty. Averaging their DIY cars, the cost per mph and mile/range are much more realistic at well under $100/each.

Of course, none of these DIY cars will beat the Tesla on the track (or the road) and none of them will be making any cross-country trips anytime soon either. But they were less than a tenth the cost too.

America is full of do-it-yourselfers and not all of us are Tim the Toolman either.  Some can actually make stuff that works.  For me, I need better range (it’s 45 miles each way to the nearest Wal-Mart) and performance (those are freeway miles). On the other hand, if you can get a hold of an old car that isn’t running for cheap or free, it would make a great around-towner or just a fun project.

At any rate, we applaud ecomodder for the great article series and hope to see more of this kind of thing in the future.

Here’s a great video about the Electric VW Bug conversion: