It's not really a new problem. It's always been hard to find someone
interested in buying a conversion, except, perhaps, from with your local
EV interest group.
One of the members of our local EAA chapter converted a 1998 Ford Ranger
in 2007. 120 volt, 24 6-volt lead-acid batteries, Russco Charger, DCP
Raptor controller and 9" motor. He spent about $15,000 including the
truck and used it to commute 22 miles to work. In the winter, though,
his range was insufficient so he had to drive his ICE car. He replaced
the pack in 2012 for another $2500 or so. When the Leaf came out he
bought one and it served all his commuting needs to he put the truck up
for sale for $12000. 18 months later I bought it for $6000.
I have no interest in lead-acid weight, I drove it for a few months then
took it apart to put lithium in. While I thought it would be easy--take
out one set of batteries and put in another--in the end I ended up
replacing everything except the motor, controller and vacuum pump and
added a lot of things to make it much less of a science experiment. I've
invested about $10,000 above the purchase price.
Would anyone here give me $16,000 for it? Even $10,000? Sadly, I doubt
it. And while it's a very nice near-factory-quality EV now, it's still
17 years old. Last week I had a brake line fail and when I pulled the
rear drums off I found one full of oil from a leaking axle seal. $1300
later I have brand new brakes and lines on the whole rear of the truck.
But who knows what's next.
--Rick
On 06/14/2015 08:42 PM, Lawrence Rhodes via EV wrote:
This is the state of used home built EVs. No interest. The parts in
this vehicle are worth 10 k. What a shame. With the right pack this
vehicle out range and perform any factory EV. It will also be better
when the factory EV is broken as it will be fixable by the owner or
any ev converter. The factory ev will cost big bucks to fix. When
people realize this conversations will rise in value. Lawrence
Rhodes
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