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Someone recently asked a similar thing yesterday, so, see some of our comments there:
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196402
Also, another great resource for nomad stuff in general (though the EV knowledge tends to be threadbare) is http://old.reddit.com/r/vandwellers . It's terrible in the sense of an archive, as everything fades immediately and there search is useless, but it's good in the conversation sense.
Feasible, absolutely. Sensible, ehn, that's the challenge.
If you're the kind of nomad to move 4 or 5 times a year but mostly travel around on national parks land, occasionally working, then just save yourself the trouble and keep a gas engine. You can circumnavigate the entire United States for around $1000 in gas. That's remarkably cheap.
The crippling pain, where you have to work no matter what, is vehicle insurance. Compared to insurance, which is probably $2000/year... even if your traveling cost was zero (solar/free electric), you're only cutting the cost of your vehicle ownership by 33%/year. So you don't buy yourself much economic freedom by going EV.
Despite the easy misconception, I don't think nomads actually put on that many miles in a year. People who put on a lot of miles are those with 9-5 jobs that commute 30 minutes each way 5 times a week. That's 5 hours in the car. Then with their driving-heavy lifestyle, it wouldn't be abnormal to spend 10 hours a week behind the wheel. That's 520 hours a year driving for a commuter. Enough to circumnavigate the United States 3.5 times! Commuters are looking at like, $3500/year in gas, so those are the ones that benefit from modest EVs the most.
Generally, nomads and vandwellers are looking to live cheap and minimalistic. So if you're looking to reduce costs as much as possible, EV probably isn't the way to go, especially with a heavy vehicle. You'll never pay off the initial expense.
But... this isn't the Don't DIY Electric Car Forums, so...
Motor you can scrounge for free. No problem there.
Controller you can scrounge for a crappy one (might need a couple), or build a good one for $600. That's decently affordable.
Batteries are where you'll get murdered. You just won't get any range, and you're going to have to plan very carefully how to travel to even find enough places to plug in to mooch power. You'd be looking at thousands of dollars investment for 60-80 miles between charges at best.
Honestly I'd just keep the gas engine and spend your money on solar and enough batteries to live off, but not travel off of. It'll be like, I dunno, 1-10% of the battery requirements as traveling. You get all the independence and free living, and the only cost is traveling.
I wouldn't mess with the vehicle's 12v system. Don't create problems to solve, just throw a normal battery on there.
...
City busses tend to be really, really beat to shit by the time they're retired and you kind of need to be a specialized mechanic to work on them.
If you want something big-bus sized, go with a retired schoolbus. They'll be equally beat to shit but you can get an entire engine swap for a couple hundred bucks in any town, and no shortage of wrenchers who know how to work on it. And they're cheap as soup.
But I wouldn't go that big. Drive something you can drive in traffic and park anywhere, otherwise, for a "nomad" you'll find yourself hesitant to actually ever move around and you'll wish you had a second vehicle. A Sprinter sounds about right. You'll probably learn more about what kind of nomad you want to be, so I suggest your first vehicle you go as cheap and small as you can tolerate, live the lifestyle 6-12 months to learn what bothers you and what doesn't matter to you, and then decide what to buy next. Until you've been at it a year, you'll just be committing to things you might not want.
My two cents. Good luck.
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196402
Also, another great resource for nomad stuff in general (though the EV knowledge tends to be threadbare) is http://old.reddit.com/r/vandwellers . It's terrible in the sense of an archive, as everything fades immediately and there search is useless, but it's good in the conversation sense.
Basically, I'm wondering if it's feasible or sensible to convert such a heavy vehicle into an EV.
Feasible, absolutely. Sensible, ehn, that's the challenge.
If you're the kind of nomad to move 4 or 5 times a year but mostly travel around on national parks land, occasionally working, then just save yourself the trouble and keep a gas engine. You can circumnavigate the entire United States for around $1000 in gas. That's remarkably cheap.
The crippling pain, where you have to work no matter what, is vehicle insurance. Compared to insurance, which is probably $2000/year... even if your traveling cost was zero (solar/free electric), you're only cutting the cost of your vehicle ownership by 33%/year. So you don't buy yourself much economic freedom by going EV.
Despite the easy misconception, I don't think nomads actually put on that many miles in a year. People who put on a lot of miles are those with 9-5 jobs that commute 30 minutes each way 5 times a week. That's 5 hours in the car. Then with their driving-heavy lifestyle, it wouldn't be abnormal to spend 10 hours a week behind the wheel. That's 520 hours a year driving for a commuter. Enough to circumnavigate the United States 3.5 times! Commuters are looking at like, $3500/year in gas, so those are the ones that benefit from modest EVs the most.
Generally, nomads and vandwellers are looking to live cheap and minimalistic. So if you're looking to reduce costs as much as possible, EV probably isn't the way to go, especially with a heavy vehicle. You'll never pay off the initial expense.
But... this isn't the Don't DIY Electric Car Forums, so...
Motor you can scrounge for free. No problem there.
Controller you can scrounge for a crappy one (might need a couple), or build a good one for $600. That's decently affordable.
Batteries are where you'll get murdered. You just won't get any range, and you're going to have to plan very carefully how to travel to even find enough places to plug in to mooch power. You'd be looking at thousands of dollars investment for 60-80 miles between charges at best.
Honestly I'd just keep the gas engine and spend your money on solar and enough batteries to live off, but not travel off of. It'll be like, I dunno, 1-10% of the battery requirements as traveling. You get all the independence and free living, and the only cost is traveling.
I wouldn't mess with the vehicle's 12v system. Don't create problems to solve, just throw a normal battery on there.
...
City busses tend to be really, really beat to shit by the time they're retired and you kind of need to be a specialized mechanic to work on them.
If you want something big-bus sized, go with a retired schoolbus. They'll be equally beat to shit but you can get an entire engine swap for a couple hundred bucks in any town, and no shortage of wrenchers who know how to work on it. And they're cheap as soup.
But I wouldn't go that big. Drive something you can drive in traffic and park anywhere, otherwise, for a "nomad" you'll find yourself hesitant to actually ever move around and you'll wish you had a second vehicle. A Sprinter sounds about right. You'll probably learn more about what kind of nomad you want to be, so I suggest your first vehicle you go as cheap and small as you can tolerate, live the lifestyle 6-12 months to learn what bothers you and what doesn't matter to you, and then decide what to buy next. Until you've been at it a year, you'll just be committing to things you might not want.
My two cents. Good luck.