Approximate costs for my conversion.
| Motor | $1500 |
| Speed Controller | $1000 |
| Batteries | $1500 |
| Battery charger | $1500 |
| Adapter plate, Coupling and Engine mounts | $1000 |
| Various other components ( see below ) | $1500 |
| Total | $8000 |
The various other components are:
Vacuum pump, cables, potentiometer, vacuum reservoir, vacuum switch, AMP meter and shunt, other mounts for battery's etc.
The short answer is with lead-acid batteries the answer is no, but with lithium-ion batteries, yes.
There are many things to consider when determining how green something is. Petrol powered cars produce not only carbon dioxide, there is also a whole range of other pollutants to consider as well. Pollutants such as Carbon Monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, fine particles and various oxides of Nitrogen are the main offenders. As it's quite difficult to get comparisons of the other pollutants for now I am only going to consider CO2 but if anyone out there has any information please let me know and I will include comparisons of the other pollutants in future.
Obviously the electric car as it is recharged from the mains electricity supply is also a contributor to pollution. The car before it was converted would generate approximately 160 kg of CO2 for every 1000 km travelled ( assuming it is kept well tuned ). As an electric car it takes approximately 8 kwh of electricity to cover 50 km or 200 kwh for 1000 km. If we assume 1.39 kg CO2 for every kwh this works out to be approximately 280 kg of CO2 for every 1000 km travelled. With lithium-ion batteries the the figure of 280 kg could be halved although I haven't had a chance to test this out. This figure will vary depending on the way electricity is generated where you live. Where I live I have the option of buying some of my electricity through a green power scheme which would further reduce the amount of CO2 produced, or methane which is actually a more potent greenhouse gas.
This has only scratched the surface of this issue there are so many more dimensions to this question such as the eventual environmental cost of recycling the batteries and other components at the end of the cars life, unfortunately to do a thorough comparison would take more resources than I have at my disposal at this time.