Frequently Asked Questions
Our 18.4 kWh lithium based battery pack provides up to 50 miles of range under normal conditions. However if you accelerate aggressively, your range will be reduced.
How can I travel further?Our standard pack contains 96 of the 60 amp-hour cells. eeVee Motors offers a 27.6 kWh battery-pack upgrade consisting of 90 amp-hour batteries, to allow you to travel up to 70 miles per charge.
How fast will the car go?An eeVee Motors car comfortably reaches and maintains a speed of 75 mph. Many other electric vehicles are limited to 25 mph (NEVs), and are illegal to drive on freeways. Our battery pack produces over 300 volts, to achieve better performance than the neighborhood electric vehicles having battery packs of less than 100 volts.
How long does it take to charge?If a 220V outlet is available and your battery pack is completely depleted, it will take 7 hours to charge the batteries fully. However, if the vehicle still has a substantial amount of charge, the charge time will be shorter. If using a 110 V outlet, charging will take up to 10 hours.
Can you plug it in?Yes, the plug for the car is where you'd expect it, right in the fuel door where you normally put in gasoline every few days.
Can you charge while driving?
In an internal combustion vehicle, the alternator charges the 12 volt battery while driving. This does put an aditional load on the engine, but few people notice it.
For an electric vehicle, there are many more batteries involved and charging them with an alternator would create a very noticeable load (drag) on the electric motor. There are times when this is actually a good thing and this is known as "regenerative braking".
Instead of using a separate alternator, our AC motor and controller can automatically generate power whenever the vehicle is slowing down. In apition to putting energy back into the batteries, this reduces the need for regular braking and increases the life of the brake pads.
Other schemes that use wind generators or other generators mechanically connected to the car will cause the braking to occur all the time - which is undesirable. The regenerative braking is only desirable when you want to slow the car down and re-capture some of the energy that was used to get the car moving. If the generators are on all the time, it is like driving with one foot on the brake and one on the throttle.
In general, it is more efficient to coast when traffic allows, rather than to automatically regenerate when not accelerating. The energy re-captured by regenerative braking is only about 10% to 30% of what was needed to get the car moving. So once the car is moving, it is best to not slow it down by regenerative braking unless you need to slow down the car anyway.
Another workaround is to carry a generator that runs on gasoline to recharge the batteries. This would require a large generator and a tank of gasoline. This defeats the purpose of building an electric car. Then you're building a hybrid with all the problems of the internal combustion engine, as well as carrying around the weight of that engine, decreasing your electric vehicle's efficiency.
eeVee Motors uses the latest battery technology, the lithium-ion battery. These batteries are rated at 2,000 charges at 80% depth of discharge, and 3,000 cyles at 70% depth of discharge. Under normal conditions, this battery should last 10 years or longer.
Does the conversion affect the vehicles safety features?No. In fact, that is one of the benefits of buying a converted electric vehicle vs. a new concept vehicle. The Honda Civic is one of the safest and most reliable vehicles in America. In apition, it has been one of the best selling cars in America for over a decade. A conversion of the Civic does not affect the structural integrity or safety features of the vehicle. A conversion simply makes it a more environmentally-friendly vehicle.
Are electric vehicles covered by auto insurance?Yes.
Does the car have heating and air conditioning?Yes, this is a late model car, with all the electronics and accessories that came with the original car. In fact, since the original liquid heating system is replaced with a ceramic heater core, you will no longer have to wait 5-10 minutes for the car to warm up. The ceramic heater provides instant heat. Air conditioning is included, however, if desired, it can be removed for a cost savings to you.
What's the difference between an EV and a hybrid?A hybrid's only source of power is gasoline. Electric vehicles (EVs) do not have an internal combustion engine. The batteries are recharged from the electric power grid. Hybrid vehicles have both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. Typically, the internal combustion engine either powers the drive system directly or is used to recharge the batteries. Therefore hybrids, while more efficient than standard cars, still use petroleum products. And since they need to carry around a gas motor and all it's required subsystems even when they aren't in use, they will never be as efficient as a fully electric vehicle.
How much does an eeVee Motors electric car cost?eeVee Motors offers one of the best deals available today. At only $36,000 eeVee Motors beats the competition by 50% - 65%. That's right—vehicles with comparable AC-motor and Lithium-ion battery technologies are priced at more than twice the cost of an eeVee Motors vehicle.
I've seen some EVs that cost $10-15,000. Why is an eeVee Motors conversion more expensive?Conversions that cost less than an eeVee Motors vehicle most likely use a less efficient DC-motor, and lead-acid batteries that need to be replaced as often as every two years. Lead-acid batteries are very heavy, and affect the ride and handling of the vehicle adversely. These vehicles also have a much shorter range, typically 25 miles or less. Our lightweight lithium batteries give the best range and have no adverse effect on the handling of the car.
How do EV mileage costs compare with those of a gas vehicle?
The short answer is, an electric vehicle costs significantly less to operate on a daily basis. It will cost less than a dollar per night to charge the car.
Our battery pack is sized at 18.4 kilowatts of power, which when bought from the grid, would cost approximately $0.05 per Kilowatt hour off-peak from PG&E; multiplying that figure with our 50-mile range, you can expect to spend less than 2 cents per mile to drive your car. Compare this calculation with that of the Civic which would average about 15 cents per mile to drive as a gas powered vehicle.
What kinds of maintanence will I need to do on a regular basis for the car?
In comparison to a conventional gas powered car, very little. One of the advantages of electric vehicles is that they don't need any maintanence over the long term.
What about pollution created by electricity production? Isn't the pollution just moved from the tailpipe to the power plant?Fortunately, no. Utility companies use a combination of clean energy technologies along with coal and natural gas to generate electrical power. Your utility company might even allow you to buy all of your power from renewable sources. An electric car never creates emissions. It just gets cleaner as your utility grid gets cleaner.