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Build Your Own Electric Vehicle | 
 enlarge | Authors: Seth Leitman, Bob Brant
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $19.77
You Save: $10.18 (34%)
New (32) Used (8) from $14.96
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 15174
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Pages: 327
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.3 x 1
ISBN: 0071543732
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.2293
EAN: 9780071543736
ASIN: 0071543732
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Go Green-Go Electric!. Faster, Cheaper, More Reliable . While Saving Energy and the Environment . . This new, updated edition of Build Your Own Electric Vehicle contains everything that made the first edition so popular while adding all the technological advances and new parts that are readily available on the market today. . . Build Your Own Electric Vehicle gets on the expressway to a green, ecologically sound, cost-effective way that even can look cool, too! . . This comprehensive how-to goes through the process of transforming an internal combustion engine vehicle to electric or even building an EV from scratch for as much or even cheaper than purchasing a traditional car. The book describes each component in detail---motor, battery, controller, charger, and chassis---and provides step-by-step instructions on how to put them all together. . . Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, Second Edition, covers: . - EV vs. Combustible Engine Overview.
- Environmental and Energy Savings.
- EV Evolution since the First Electric Car .
- Current Purchase and Conversion Costs.
- Chassis and Design.
- Today's Best Motors .
- Battery Discharging/Charging Styles.
- Electrical Systems.
- Licensing and Insurance Issues.
- Driving.
- Maintenance .
- Related Clubs and Associations.
- Additional Resources
. . . . .
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Want to build an electric car ? Not real easy. May 16, 2003
Alan McFarlane (Aberdeen, SD United States)
41 out of 50 found this review helpful
I think Bob Brant really wants to help you build an electric vehicle. I feel, however that his engineering background causes him to "talk down" to the reader, who thinks " It can't be really as complex as all this ! All these formulas , etc ! " How do we know the "flux level" for a motor we buy at a garage sale ? I am too old to get an engineering degree !
Lots of "shade tree" mechanics ( like me ) will have to look further for more practical information.Such as - a 10 HP motor in a Geo Metro will be fine for trips to the grocery store but no good for highway use. Also errors have crept in, and the schematic diagrams are incomplete and puzzling. Of course, the book was published nine years ago, and technology has advanced in the EV industry, as in everything else
EV reference...has all the ins and outs April 30, 2006
B&D
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
This book is a great reference for anyone interested in the trade offs when creating an electric vehicle.
This is focussed on someone who wants to convert an internal combustion car to an electric vehicle, but if you are interested in understanding EV's in general it is a good resource, though it is pretty detailed and technical.
If you are not technically inclined you shouldn't despair, though it is clear that if you are not handy, EV conversion might be VERY difficult. This book will allow you to at least begin to understand the tradeoffs and how to create a conversion system.
All around great reference.
 A comprehensive guide to the components and systems of EVs August 29, 1995
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
This 310 page book is more than its title implies. It is an excellent source of information, even if one is just interested in learning more about the subject of electric vehicles. Mr Brant's credentials include a degree in engineering, and having worked on the Lunar Rover. He begins his book by exploring the appropriateness of the electric vehicle from an environmental standpoint. He then quickly reviews the history of the EV, from the mid 1800's to the present. He does a good job of surveying the current (as of late 1993) crop of electic vehicle producers, as well as the plans of the major auto makers for electrics. Brant devots a chapter to the options available to the person who wants to own an electric vehicle today: Buy a ready to run car from a manufacturer or converter, have one built or converted for you, or do the conversion yourself. One option that he seems to largely discount is the option of buying a used EV. Although such vehicles can be somewhat hard to find, especially away from large cities on the coasts, they can put a person into an EV for much less money and work than any other alternative. As you might expect from the book's title Brant favors the self-conversion option. He compares the various types of motor vehicles as conversion options; passenger cars, vans, and small pickup trucks. His conclusion, that a small pickup truck might be the easiest to convert, while giving the best range, seems a valid one, as long as a small pickup meets your needs, and suits your style. Chapter 5 is an excellent reference listing suppliers, EV clubs, and various converters and manufacturers. With Chapter 6 Brant begins the real meat of the book. He presents formulae and charts that allow you predict the performance of the vehicle you choose for conversion, and pick the size of motor and batteries that you will need. The next chapters are devoted to each of the unique systems of an EV in some detail: Electric motors, controllers, batteries, and chargers. To this reviewer, these chapters are the most valuable, and make this book useful to anyone with an interest in Electric Vehicles. The current state of the art is reviewed for each of these systems in some detail and with an eye toward practical maintanence and selection, and upcoming technology is also covered. Surprisingly, only one chapter of the book covers the actual conversion process. Although there is probably enough detail here for the experienced home mechanic or mechanically inclined individual, someone who has never pulled an engine out of a car, or done other major repairs on his own, will probably need more help; especially if his conversion is not of a small pickup truck. All-in-all there is a lot of good information in this book, and it is a vital addition to the library of any would-be electric vehicle converter, owner or pipe dreamer..
 Useful (but biased) information June 14, 1999
12 out of 17 found this review helpful
'Build Your Own Electric Vehicle' is an easy to read book, with a lot of good information on everything from the history of electric vehicles to estimating performance of your own EV. Where I was disappointed was with the, at times, heavy biases in Mr. Brant's writing. At times, his 'save the world by driving an EV' rants almost convinced me to return the book. Mr. Brant brings up many tradeoffs with EVs - buy/convert/build from scratch, 6-volt/12-volt batteries, truck/car/van, etc. In each case, he compares the pros and cons and proceeds to say 'The best choice is ...' If there are tradeoffs involved, there probably isn't a 'best choice'. Instead, a more appropriate summary might be 'If range is your primary concern, X is better. If acceleration is what you want, then go with Y.' Perhaps I would have a higher opinion of the book if I hadn't read it from start to end. If you are looking for specific information (How can I estimate the range/current draw for my EV?), this is a good book. If you want a general overview of EVs, I would look somewhere else.
Not too bad, but I don't think it is for beginners November 20, 2000
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
If you can't do maths a large part of the book will be greek to you. Many things are repeated over and over. Even exact lines are repeated. It looks like the book could have been a little bit smaller if all the repetitions where taken out. If you don't know electronic stuff it might also be a problem for you. When the author gives a definition of a component he uses other components to describe it, but if you don't know what the other components are you will not understand the definition. If I didn't read the posts on the EV list I would probably not be able to understand half of the book. The book also uses the American system in the maths. If you are not American it is even more difficult to understand. I can't find the age of the book, but it looks like it is rather old.
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