Friend of mine’s dad, back in the 90’s, ran a small shop converting VW bugs to electrics w about a 40 mile range using just a bunch of car batteries. The shop went under after a little bit, not enough interest. But, it’s very possible.
The problem with batteries then was the only affordable ones were lead-acid, which just don’t have the energy density for such an application. Doing exactly what he did then, but now with lithium batteries, would yield 2x-3x the range.
VW Bugs were so easy to modify. I had a friend in highschool that put a pinto engine in one. It had open headers and the gas tank was a 2 litre Sprite bottle strapped to the frame. We took it off-road with no seats. It was loud as hell and painfull when jumping hills.
Friend of mine’s dad, back in the 90’s, ran a small shop converting VW bugs to electrics w about a 40 mile range using just a bunch of car batteries. The shop went under after a little bit, not enough interest. But, it’s very possible.
The problem with batteries then was the only affordable ones were lead-acid, which just don’t have the energy density for such an application. Doing exactly what he did then, but now with lithium batteries, would yield 2x-3x the range.
VW Bugs were so easy to modify. I had a friend in highschool that put a pinto engine in one. It had open headers and the gas tank was a 2 litre Sprite bottle strapped to the frame. We took it off-road with no seats. It was loud as hell and painfull when jumping hills.