Today, electric cars are expensive because they
have very high development and production costs. They are sold in very small
numbers to ensure payback and profit to their manufacturers, and the most economical solution in
case we want to obtain an electric car
is to convert a conventional car to an electric one.
The conversion of a conventional car to electric consists mainly by the replacement of the internal combustion engine with an electric motor of equivalent power, as well as the installation of a rechargeable battery pack which acts as an energy source for the electric motor. Conventional vehicles converted to electric vehicles use lithium batteries and their cost of conversion is related with the number and cost of the batteries, as they are the most expensive part of their equipment.
The autonomy of lithium batteries powered converted electric car reaches an average of about 100 km, its operation is completely silent, it does not pollute the environment and the only thing the driver has to worry about is to be near a socket every 100 km in order to recharge it. On the other hand, lithium batteries have a lifespan of 300-500 thousand kilometers making them much longer-lived than the lifetime of a car, and their charging takes about 3 hours (usually done during the night).
The basic features of the electric motors are their silent operation since their unique rotating part is the rotor, as well as the abundant torque from the start of their operation, thus eliminating the gearbox. In the case of switching to reverse gear, rotor rotation is simply reversed by changing the polarity of the current. The cost of converting a small car to electric car is estimated at $5,000-$7,000, while the cost of use and maintenance is estimated to be less than $1 per 100 km without the slightest environmental pollution. The payback of the conversion is estimated to take place into 2 years with an average car use of 30,000 km per year.