Synopsis
This book is the leading how-to resource for electric car conversions. It combines Brown's years of professional automotive experience with down-to-earth language even an automotive beginner can understand. It is not written for the engineer in the laboratory, but for the home mechanic building his own car, and for the average person behind the wheel. Brown speaks to the reader as if talking to a friend in his garage. Before lifting a wrench, Brown answers the most frequently asked questions about electric cars: how fast will it go, how far will it go, how long will the batteries last, how pollution-free is it really, and many more. The conversion process itself begins with choosing an appropriate donor chassis, and stripping it of internal combustion components. Here Brown's experience provide numerous tips and tricks to make the later conversion process easier and more successful. Step by step, Brown leads the reader through the conversion. As each component comes up, Brown gives a little background on the different types available, and the pros and cons of each. He includes tips on layout, design and fabrication at each step, and discusses different approaches for different chassis, such as front wheel drive vs. rear wheel drive. By the end of the book, every part of the conversion process has been discussed. Brown wraps up with a procedure for testing and troubleshooting, and guidelines for normal driving, charging, and maintenance. The book is salted heavily throughout with photos and diagrams to illustrate its topics, and it includes a very thorough index. CONVERT IT has been chosen by the Department of Energy and by numerous schools across the country as the textbook for high school electric car conversion projects.
About the Author
Michael P. Brown has a background that is unique in the electric car industry. He has 28 years of hands-on professional experience as an automotive mechanic. He served his apprenticeship and was dealership trained, and eventually left to operate his own auto service and repair shop for 14 years. He also spent several years building race cars. This gave him a firm foundation of real life automotive knowledge that other electric vehicle people lack. He understands the stresses that driving place on components, where failures are likely to occur, and the kinds of user abuse and neglect that are common. He also understands the kinds of problems that are likely to confuse or irritate the average driver. In 1979, Mr. Brown founded Electro Automotive, a retail supplier of conversion components and kits. Over the years, he has built numerous electric cars, and has been responsible for helping hundreds of amateur mechanics build cars of their own. He has been consulted for electric conversion projects by the Department of Energy, Stanford University, and various utilities and schools across the country. He was invited to participate in a working group for the President's Federal Fleet Conversion Task Force. Mr. Brown himself drives an electric conversion on a daily basis.
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