I love cats of all sizes, meow :)

I have a BIG one and it's GR-R-REAT!
Cool tail ;})

nice job on your Beetle. I like your avatar...very cool to have a cougar with you!

Thanks Michelle, my kitty loves to ride around with the window down looking for lunch.

Wayne

Very Nice!
I am considering a VW project and am curious about the suspension and brake upgrades you did for the extra weight. Do you feel they were sufficient? Where did you get your parts? I gathered you converted to front disk brakes and added the overshock coil springs. Did you do anything else?
Glen

Thanks Glen. Disk barkes, coil over shocks and torsion bars are necessary, they work very well.

Wayne

Great job on the bug. I have a 68 Porsche 912 with a tired engine and was considering going electric. After seeing your bug, I am even more electricly inclined. Any suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated. As I have just begun my research into this technology.I am not sure if an AC or DC motor would be better, andI understand there are different types of batteries available. Your thoughts on the pros & cons of these, would be appreciated.
Thanks for making your site available, I am inspired!

Mike,
Bellingham, Washington

Electro Automotive has everything you need to complete your electric car conversion, including excellent kits. Electro Automotive will also review your project at no charge.
http://www.electroauto.com

Hi Wayne , Great job! I have a 67 bug that I'm considering doing the changeover on. I live on Kauai where the speeds are 50 mph down to 35 and 25 in towns .do you think iI could get enough mileage to go to lihue, about 35 miles one way, and home it is pretty flat most of the way. going in is a little uphill now and again but that means that it is more downhiill on the way back . What about using a ducted fan setup (mini windmill as it were)to a generator for charging on the road? My commute to work is only 12 miles round trip

An electric car equipped like mine can be driven 35 miles, then charged for 9 hours on a 120 V outlet and driven another 35 miles.

Motors and generators operate with an efficiency loss of about 20 % each. That means connecting a generator to a motor produces a net power loss of 40%.

If you installed a 7 foot diameter wind generator on top of a 65 foot tower and had a steady wind speed 22 MPH, it would take over 30 hours to charge the battery pack after a 35 mile drive.

I drive about 15 miles a day, which only 22% of my range.

Wayne

Thank you for your journal here. I am converting a 71 superbeetle myself and have derived a lot of my information from your input here. The car looks great and I only hope that mine can turn out to be a similar quality beetle!

Thanks

Just seen your work on the Beetle and was wondering if you would share your wiring prints?
Thanks and it is an great job.

If you would like to build an electric car these two books will provide detailed information about the process.

Convert It! By Michael Brown
Build Your Own Electric Vehicle By Bob Brant

Thanks for this wonderful resource!!! i know you have posted the link for conversion cists/estimates, but how much should one expect to pay for a conversion of a bug like yours. Without the heater or radio? THANKS AGAIN!!!

Electro Automotive sells a kit for $6,425, plus $1,700 for batteries.
Electro Automotive has everything you need to complete your electric car conversion, including excellent kits. Electro Automotive ships worldwide.
http://www.electroauto.com

Wayne

I am from South Africa. This is nice; I want to know where I can to do this conversion in SA. I am exited to see that there is something we can do to reduce the petrol (Gas) fumes.

Thanks

Electro Automotive has everything you need to complete your electric car conversion, including excellent kits. Electro Automotive ships worldwide.
http://www.electroauto.com

A great step in the right direction. To take it a step further would be to charge it using solar power - after the initial cost of setup, which might be paid off pretty quickly - the "juice" would be free and goodbye to fossil fuel (- ideal world scenario!!) ! How about the suspension with all the added weight ?

The return on investment (ROI) for a solar charging system would be hundreds of years. If the money for a solar charging system costing $30,000 were placed in a CD, the current interest would yield about $3 per day after taxes. A 25 mile trip in my EV cost about 50 cents for power. Fossil fuel is used to manufacture and transport the solar charging system. If the EV were used during the day to commute, the EV would not be located at the solar charging system during the productive sun light hours.

Hello, OUTSTANDING !! Now do you sell parts , kits & other items for retro fitting Bugs ??

Electro Automotive has everything you need to complete your electric car conversion, including excellent kits.
http://www.electroauto.com

looks like you did a great job. You should add this to http://evalbum.com/ I and I am sure others would love to hear more about it. How long does it take you to recharge?

Charging at 25 amps would require about 5 minutes of charging time per mile driven. Battery charging efficiency decrease as charging time decreases. At 15 minutes of charging time per mile driven, my charger efficiency is 72%.

See more details about my EV at http://evalbum.com/1798

Fantastic!! Just what we're looking for. My brother and I are going to convert a Classic VW to a GT body-electric.

Two Bradley GTs undergoing conversion and restoration.
http://www.electricar.us/the_journals

Electro Automotive has everything you need to complete your electric car conversion, including excellent kits.

Would like to drive an ELECTRIC PORSCHE? http://www.electroauto.com/index.html

Electro automotive also has a free project feasibility review service to help you evaluate your planned project before purchasing components and beginning construction.
http://www.electroauto.com/projrev.shtml

W!
You've already tread the path I'm going down- I've got a seldom used 6 volt 1965 VW type Uno that I'm going to convert, hopefully, over the next year.

You've got some nice pix here, thanks for that. Maybe we can drag race some day. Though I live in SF and Oakland (long story) my brother lives in SJ near the Blossom Hill Ctrain station and I visit him often.

All the best

Tony

Send me an email at wsj@garlic.com

Hello,

Please sign my Guest Book and let me know what you think of my Electric Beetle.

Thanks,
Wayne