Zoomi Life

This is the final installment of our 3-part series on the Gas2Electric package of EV conversion books from George Christodoulou. In our past reviews, we covered the two main books in the package, Gas2Electric and Build Your Own Electric Car or Truck. In this review, we’ll be covering the bonus materials included in the package.

• Electric Car Conversion Guide Review: Gas2Electric (Part I)
• Electric Car Conversion Guide Review: Gas2Electric (Part II)
• Electric Car Conversion Guide Review: Gas2Electric (Part III)

These extras are awesome and I’ve seen many of them before as stand-alone products. As I mentioned in Part II of this series, I’m a big fan of the Oke’s and their great series of DIY off-the-grid books. One of my favorites is included in this package, “How to Build Your Own Homemade Wind Generator.”

I bought an earlier version (it’s been updated) of this book a year or so ago and used it to build a small wind generator I mounted to a tall fence post on my property. They go step-by-step through the process of sourcing materials, designing the system, and putting it all together. They claim a budget of $100, but I built my smaller one for about $30, but a quick look at some of the purchased parts for this system on eBay shows that $100 might be a little hopeful (think closer to $200). Otherwise, it’s all there.

Another Les and Jane book included in this bonus materials folder is their “How to Build Your Own Solar Panels” book which is heavily detailed and just as useful as their other books are. It’s a great one and well worth having.

In fact, the whole Les and Jane library is included here: “The Complete Biodiesel Fuel Guide,” and “Living Off the Grid.” All of these are excellent books that are worth way more than the price of the Gas2Electric package.

Another extra book in this bonus section with Gas2Electric is “Building a Long Range Hybrid Trailer.” This is mainly a picture book with some basic information on how the author (who’s unnamed) took a Volkswagen Jetta and cut out the “car” parts leaving only the engine compartment and the very rear-end (for lights). It’s a cool concept, but I’m not so sure about the “pusher” trailer idea’s safety. Otherwise, this is a great range-extender for an electric car.

This book is good for ideas and gives the basic information that a skilled converter would need to put the trailer together on their own. It’s only 11 pages long and is mainly photos with descriptions.

A bonus pamphlet of cheap electric car parts dealers (nationally) is also included in the bonus materials as well as the infamous “What Your Mechanic Doesn’t Want You To Know” by Austin C. Davis. This book is an excellent expose’ of a lot of the scams the automotive repair industry likes to pull as well as simple repair and diagnostic information that many people don’t know and spend hundreds to find out.

If you haven’t guessed already, overall I’m extremely impressed with the Gas2Electric manual and bonus materials. The $49 is extremely well spent for this and it’s definitely something I think everyone who wants to live alternatively needs to own. I highly recommend it to everyone.

You can buy the Gas2Electric Electric Vehicle conversion guide here.