mattW: June 2008 Archives

Last week I said that this blog would be part journal, part guide to the conversion process but I've decided to separate those two categories by having a build thread for the bike with pretty pictures and having this blog as a sort of step by step guide. I'll still give you updates here but primarily the build thread will be about how I'm doing it and the blog will be about how you can do it. Step one in that process is making your plans, what do you need to know in advance before you start in order to make the process go smoothly? What parts do you need and how much will it cost?

I have been researching Electric Cars since September last year, in that time period I have gone through many plans and thrashed out many budgets as I worked out how a student could make a satisfactory EV. I have planned an RX7, CRX or Civic and pick-up conversion, even to the point of being outbid on eBay for a donor.  I started my own mini EV project as documented on this Blog, but since it was going to be just a toy, that I couldn’t fit in and didn’t feel comfortable giving away without testing, I decided it wasn’t worth putting money into and donated the peddle car to family friends. But recently I’ve been planning a project that was easier to do well, while on a budget but was useful enough to be worth investing in… An Electric motorcycle. And two weeks ago I became the proud owner of this 1984 Suzuki GSXR 400 off Ebay for the grand price of $495.