Mazda 323

Aside from as a learning experience, just wondering why you'd bother? Most people would just junk it and buy a Nissan Leaf if they wanted a hatchback EV- a used one from California can be had for $7,000 USD...

The 323 was a competent little car but nothing to write home about. Not sure it's worth the effort of a conversion, but if it's special enough to you to spend more money converting it than it would cost to just go out and buy a used Leaf, have a look around the Wiki and various build threads here and you'll get lots of ideas. The thing to do these days is to use batteries out of a crashed Leaf, Volt or perhaps modules from a Tesla- the prismatic LFP batteries most of us used in our conversions are more expensive and have a lower energy density than the ones you can get from one of the 2,000,000 EVs on the road today.

As a learning experience, the 323 should work about as well as other typical compact front-wheel-drive cars. It will also be as unsuited to EV conversion (there's no space designed as a battery compartment), but that can be handled the way everyone else does it.

If you use a motor that doesn't come with a transmission (gearbox), or needs a multi-speed transmission, the 323's transaxle can be used... if it is a manual.

For examples of what other people have done with this specific car, since you're unlikely find other 323s converted (there are none in the DIY Electric Car Garage, for instance), you could look for Ford Escorts (or whatever they were called there) of the same vintage - it's the same car under the skin: the Mazda BG / Ford CT120 platform.