I guess that depends heavily on what you consider cheap… And how fast it’s supposed to go.
A friend of mine started scrounging up various battery packs from e-bikes and e-scooters. For some reason these battery packs “degrade” to the point where you have to replace it to continue to use your e-transport thingy, but all the cells inside are still perfectly healthy, so he built a battery backup for his house out of scrapped e-bikes batteries.
Apparently many bike shops have stacks of the out back that they basically give away for free as it saves them a trip to the recycling station.
The motor is probably not going to be terribly cheap, and the motors on e-bikes and such are likely not powerful enough…
You obviously also need a lot of knowhow about electronics and loads more materials to actually build a car.
There are however also people who take old gasoline cars and convert them to electric cars.
Man, people are living in places where they get free batteries and am here living in hell, half of me buried in the desert sand and the other dead and hopeless in a place where they would sell tetanus ridden rust if they could.
It’s rather horrifying to grasp how much of a buy-and-throw-away society the wealthier parts of the world have become.
Perfectly good printers gets ink refills so expensively that it makes sense to throw away the whole printer, including the perfectly good stepper motors and and they get locked down in software to the point where they are practically broken. Making people just throw away the whole printer and buy a new one…
Bike batteries that are still perfectly good with maybe one dead lithium cell gets throw away in bulk because no one bothers to disassemble and see which cells are still good.
I recently bought an serger sewing machine second hand. Perfectly good machine, powerful motor, all the gears and levers are all in sturdy metal. But the knife and the overlooper was missing. Buying just a new replacement knife and overlooper (3 small pieces of metal that are less than 1cm by 3 cm, and only a couple of millimeters thick) costs more than buying the whole machine (including those parts) brand new.
It’s atrocious that we don’t repair our stuff better, or at the very least give it to countries that would actually care enough to either repair it or strip it down for parts.
give it to countries that would actually care enough to either repair it or strip it down for parts.
I remember watching a documentary about how many European countries that act like they care about e-waste management just ship their electric garbage to third world African countries to be buried underground.
My brother has knack for fixing stuff and it would be dream to be given all these broken quality stuff to repair. Here too, it’s more of a throw it if it broke but since it’s mostly cheap Chinese stuff so it’s hard to salvage anything of them and yet he still manage to do it.
Buying just a new replacement knife and overlooper (3 small pieces of metal that are less than 1cm by 3 cm, and only a couple of millimeters thick) costs more than buying the whole machine (including those parts) brand new.
Yeah, this is why most people throw their stuff. If the required pieces to fix it costs so much without even adding the cost of the labour then it goes in the dump. I mean, that limit is generally 1/5 to 1/3 the price of buying it new, so if it cost more than the thing just forget about it.
I was looking at a diy electric motorcycle and worked it out roughly to six grand canadian not including the frame, it was planned up be able to get up to a hundred kilometers an hour with a range of eighty kilometers I think but that would still leave room to upgrade them later
Where were you sourcing batteries in Canada? I have a cute little electric car from the 70s that I bought for very little, and installed a heavy, expensive, low capacity lead acid pack like it was originally designed for. Unfortunately this means the range is about 15 miles. I use it as a farm runabout but it can’t make it to town and back.
It would be a great car if I could source some used Tesla modules or similar but they are very hard to find here at the prices you see in the USA! Nominal pack voltage is 72v, i.e. 6s 12v lead acid.
Economies of scale are huge for vehicles. A single prototype vehicle like a model y or mach e often costs several million dollars. A custom car might not be that much, but it’d still be a ton.
Ask a local engineering university if they want to get rid of their old electric baja. I don’t know how much they cost the university, and they’re probably not street legal, but if they’re making a new one each year you might be able to get the old one for cheap.
Let’s just say the quality of education in our universities are below subpar. I don’t think they ever made anything. All that is taught is theories.
Also, for some reason car went x3+ their prices since 2015 and still going up.
Yeah, i meant something with a body made of tubes of aluminum , a seat and a motor with some batteries that can go to 50km/h (30miles/h?) for doing some rides in the desert.
Not a solar one like the thing pictured, LOL. There simply isn’t enough W/m2 for solar panels to power anything less light and spartan than a World Solar Challenge car.
Aside from that, the cheapest way to build a custom [battery, not solar] electric car is probably to salvage parts off a wrecked commercially-built electric car.
I’m a fan of Aging Wheels and SuperfastMatt on Youtube, both of whom are building custom EVs from used Tesla parts.
If it were worth it, commercial electric cars would be festooned with solar panels. They aren’t. (I think there might be one EV that has a solar panel embedded in its roof, but it’s just a gimmick.)
In other words, no: the amount of range solar panels could add to a two-ton electric car with performance and comfort up to the standard expected of a modern car is basically negligible.
Frankly, if you really want solar, you should be thinking more in terms of an electric bicycle towing a trailer with a solar panel on it. And even then you’re still probably talking about merely extending range, not being able to travel all day without having to pedal.
Can a cheaply made custom electric car be even made ? With good enough range like a 160km (100miles) or so.
I guess that depends heavily on what you consider cheap… And how fast it’s supposed to go.
A friend of mine started scrounging up various battery packs from e-bikes and e-scooters. For some reason these battery packs “degrade” to the point where you have to replace it to continue to use your e-transport thingy, but all the cells inside are still perfectly healthy, so he built a battery backup for his house out of scrapped e-bikes batteries.
Apparently many bike shops have stacks of the out back that they basically give away for free as it saves them a trip to the recycling station.
The motor is probably not going to be terribly cheap, and the motors on e-bikes and such are likely not powerful enough…
You obviously also need a lot of knowhow about electronics and loads more materials to actually build a car.
There are however also people who take old gasoline cars and convert them to electric cars.
Man, people are living in places where they get free batteries and am here living in hell, half of me buried in the desert sand and the other dead and hopeless in a place where they would sell tetanus ridden rust if they could.
Yeah… The world is a pretty bleak place…
It’s rather horrifying to grasp how much of a buy-and-throw-away society the wealthier parts of the world have become.
Perfectly good printers gets ink refills so expensively that it makes sense to throw away the whole printer, including the perfectly good stepper motors and and they get locked down in software to the point where they are practically broken. Making people just throw away the whole printer and buy a new one…
Bike batteries that are still perfectly good with maybe one dead lithium cell gets throw away in bulk because no one bothers to disassemble and see which cells are still good.
I recently bought an serger sewing machine second hand. Perfectly good machine, powerful motor, all the gears and levers are all in sturdy metal. But the knife and the overlooper was missing. Buying just a new replacement knife and overlooper (3 small pieces of metal that are less than 1cm by 3 cm, and only a couple of millimeters thick) costs more than buying the whole machine (including those parts) brand new.
It’s atrocious that we don’t repair our stuff better, or at the very least give it to countries that would actually care enough to either repair it or strip it down for parts.
I remember watching a documentary about how many European countries that act like they care about e-waste management just ship their electric garbage to third world African countries to be buried underground.
My brother has knack for fixing stuff and it would be dream to be given all these broken quality stuff to repair. Here too, it’s more of a throw it if it broke but since it’s mostly cheap Chinese stuff so it’s hard to salvage anything of them and yet he still manage to do it.
Yeah, this is why most people throw their stuff. If the required pieces to fix it costs so much without even adding the cost of the labour then it goes in the dump. I mean, that limit is generally 1/5 to 1/3 the price of buying it new, so if it cost more than the thing just forget about it.
I was looking at a diy electric motorcycle and worked it out roughly to six grand canadian not including the frame, it was planned up be able to get up to a hundred kilometers an hour with a range of eighty kilometers I think but that would still leave room to upgrade them later
Where were you sourcing batteries in Canada? I have a cute little electric car from the 70s that I bought for very little, and installed a heavy, expensive, low capacity lead acid pack like it was originally designed for. Unfortunately this means the range is about 15 miles. I use it as a farm runabout but it can’t make it to town and back.
It would be a great car if I could source some used Tesla modules or similar but they are very hard to find here at the prices you see in the USA! Nominal pack voltage is 72v, i.e. 6s 12v lead acid.
never got super far into the batteries beyond vague pricing out
Economies of scale are huge for vehicles. A single prototype vehicle like a model y or mach e often costs several million dollars. A custom car might not be that much, but it’d still be a ton.
I meant More like A buggy. Nothing fancy just bare necessities.
Ask a local engineering university if they want to get rid of their old electric baja. I don’t know how much they cost the university, and they’re probably not street legal, but if they’re making a new one each year you might be able to get the old one for cheap.
Let’s just say the quality of education in our universities are below subpar. I don’t think they ever made anything. All that is taught is theories.
Also, for some reason car went x3+ their prices since 2015 and still going up.
Yeah, i meant something with a body made of tubes of aluminum , a seat and a motor with some batteries that can go to 50km/h (30miles/h?) for doing some rides in the desert.
Not a solar one like the thing pictured, LOL. There simply isn’t enough W/m2 for solar panels to power anything less light and spartan than a World Solar Challenge car.
Aside from that, the cheapest way to build a custom [battery, not solar] electric car is probably to salvage parts off a wrecked commercially-built electric car.
I’m a fan of Aging Wheels and SuperfastMatt on Youtube, both of whom are building custom EVs from used Tesla parts.
I know they wouldn’t run the can but don’t they add a bit of range ?
If it were worth it, commercial electric cars would be festooned with solar panels. They aren’t. (I think there might be one EV that has a solar panel embedded in its roof, but it’s just a gimmick.)
In other words, no: the amount of range solar panels could add to a two-ton electric car with performance and comfort up to the standard expected of a modern car is basically negligible.
Frankly, if you really want solar, you should be thinking more in terms of an electric bicycle towing a trailer with a solar panel on it. And even then you’re still probably talking about merely extending range, not being able to travel all day without having to pedal.
Thanks. In hindsight , It does make sense since 1m² at best can output 300w/h.