I'm looking at converting an 89 civic need advice

So I own an 89 civic with a blown gas engin, 4 speed manual trany- runs great. I have been looking fir a gas engin, but hear I could do EV for cheaper. I don't know if this is true. I new to the whole thing not sure if I understand everything correctly. I was thinking of going AC for the motor because I have some fair size hills to treck on occation, and heard they are better for the pick up. I want to be able to get at least 600km or 370 miles. I was thinking of rigging a small genorator (with a "auto shut off" when the batteries reach max charge) and wondering if I can charge the batteries fast enough to only run it when I'm parked if I'm going on long trips. I had also thought of using a hydrogen geny (as many as needed) to charge the batteries, cuz I heard I can use water to power them. But I'm not sure how practical that will be. So ya that's basically where I stand. I do have some mechanical, and electrical know how, however I don't know all the terms well, but am confident with my skills. My big thing though is cost. I need this to be as cheep as posible. Around the $600 CND others wise I'm just as far to go with gas. I want the electric for the money saving benifit, and "low maintinence" from my understanding. So ya any advice, including "run away now, far, far away" works for me. To sum it up I'm looking for cheep, simple, easy to do, and dummy English please.