The conversion of a 1988 Mitsubushi MightyMax pick-up from gasoline power to electric power.
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The EV conversion was a success
The truck moved under its own power on 10/10/09. First driven on the road on 10/17/09 and now has over 950 miles on it in its new life as an electric vehicle. Here are some links to newspaper articles about it.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/850/story/1151661.html
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/truck-39936-charge-electric.html
The concept....
The process of converting a vehicle from gasoline to electric starts with removing the engine and most of its support systems such as the air intake system, radiator, fuel tank, exhaust systyem, ect. Anything that the engine needed to make it run, you probably wont need for the electric motor system. You will need to keep the manual transmission, driveshaft and rearend. Some suggest using the clutch and flywheel, but I decided to go "clutchless" to keep the weight of the truck lower. Weight is something that you want to keep in mind during the planning phase and while the conversion is in progress.
In the beginning.....
 | This is what the engine compartment looked like when the truck was purchased on 10/31/08 |
A week later it looked like this.
| With the engine, transmission, exhaust system and cooling system removed. |
A pile of parts.
| These are the parts that were removed at the beginning of the project. They were sold for $300, with the exception of the clutch disc which was used to make the motor to transmission coupler. |
