It seems more and more people are getting excited about electric cars these days. With cars like the new Tesla Sports Car which does 0-60 in 3.9 and can drive 220 miles on each charge I’m pretty excited about the idea myself… although the 6 figure price tag slows that excitement down pretty quick. How far away are we from plug-in cars that are affordable and priced reasonable? Are the “evil” oil companies really buying up all the new technology, slowing the progress, so they can keep oil above $4 gallon? I don’t know and after watching too many movies I partly believe men in black suits are out there and might find me “expendable” if I start theorizing about that. I will tell you there are many people, tired of waiting for Toyota or GM to figure it out, are building their own electric cars and motorcycles. All over the country people have formed Electric Car Clubs while others share their projects on websites like Instructables or make their own sites like www.driveev.com.
Coptool.com probably isn’t the first stop for most people when they are planning their great EV build. We do however get many questions about the Monster Garage episode which ran a few years ago where Jesse James and the guest crew turned a 1962 Chevy Bel Air into an electric car drag racer which ran solely off Milwaukee V28 Lithium Ion Batteries. Unfortunately there is no footage from that show on youtube. Here is Milwaukee’s short clip of the show (If anyone knows where the full show can be watched online let us all know). Some quick math on the cost; 384 V28 Batteries at $150 each from Ohio Power Tool = $57,600 for the batteries alone but I’m sure you can get a volume discount if you call.
This type of build might be out of your price range but there are dozen’s of applications power tool batteries do prove very useful. The Milwaukee V28 ($150) and Bosch 36 volt ($142.50) are good candidates, also there is a Milwaukee V18 kit with 2 batteries and charger for $179.
For more info on the Milwaukee V28 Bel Air here is another good blog post with some details on the systems including pictures from Brian the “Power Tool Geek” View Post Here. Also the original Milwaukee Tool Press Release can be read in full below.
02/03/2006 – Milwaukee Press Release
Jesse James and the Monster Garage re-power a 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air with Milwaukee V28™ Lithium-Ion batteries!
Milwaukee’s V28™ lithium-ion batteries are getting noticed in more than one way at recent trade shows. Contractors and builders from across the nation checked out Monster Garage’s latest mechanical marvel, a 1962 Chevy Bel Air that has been re-powered to run off of 384 V28™ lithium-ion batteries.
The car made its first public appearance at the International Builders’ Show held recently in Orlando and will be featured on the cable TV show, Monster Garage on Monday, April 10, 2006. (Show airs on The Discovery Channel at 9:00 PM Mondays, Eastern Time)
The car was designed and re-built in five days by cable TV’s car-star Jesse James and his crew at his Monster Garage in Long Beach, California. It did standing quarter-mile runs in 14.533 seconds at 93.3 miles an hour, says Jon Zick, Milwaukee’s chief engineer of new concepts. With racing tires, he says the Milwaukee-red, cool-looking car could do the quarter mile at over 100 MPH!
The batteries in the car were connected in series to produce about 336 volts at 3,000 amps. The batteries drive twin electric forklift motors.
In every day life, the batteries drive Milwaukee’s new line of V28™ cordless tools that includes a portable band saw, impact wrench, Sawzall® reciprocating saw, circular saw and hammer-drill. V28™ users can expect up to 40-50% more power and up to twice the run time when compared with 18-volt NiCd batteries.
Milwaukee will introduce a V18™ 18-volt Li-ion tool system later this summer that will retrofit on existing Milwaukee 18-volt NiCd cordless tools.
View Milwaukee’s original Press Release