Engine controller
The closest you would come to this in a petrol car would be a combination of the Engine management module and the carburetor/fuel injection system. Basically it controls the amount of power being delivered to the electric engine and therefore how fast you go.
Electric Motor
This is the heart of the car. A direct replacement for the old petrol engine.
Motor adapter plate
Most electric car conversions will maintain the original manual gearbox and you will need to build or obtain an adapter plate to allow you to mount the electric motor on to the gearbox. The simplest mounting is achieved by removing the clutch and directly connecting the motor to the gearbox. Check out our EVAust 1 conversion to see how we made our mounting plate.
Batteries
This is the equivalent of the fuel tank.
Battery Charger
There isn’t really a direct equivalent on a petrol car, the closest is probably the fuel cap, basically the bit in-between the petrol dowser and the fuel tank. In an electric car it converts the 240 volt AC mains power to charge the 120 volt DC battery pack.
Battery Box
If you are using lead acid batteries then you will need to ensure that the driver’s compartment is safe from acid spillage in case of an accident. This means that you will most likely need a sealed box made out of non corrosive material to contain your batteries. With most lead acid batteries you will also need an exhaust fan to remove hydrogen fumes while the batteries are charging.
DC – DC Converter
Because the main battery in the EV is 120 Volts we need something to provide us with 12V to power things like the lights etc. In our case we are using a small converter that will charge a small 12 volt battery.
Cables and Connectors.
There are a number of cables and connectors required. Due to the high current DC involved these are not cheap and need to be wired up very carefully. Most of the high voltage cabling will consist of high current welding cable.