El Ohmbre Electric Vehicle Project Donor Car El Ohmbre electric vehicle logo El Ohmbre First Drive

Welcome to the home of El Ohmbre™

An Electric Vehicle Conversion Project

Living with an Electric Vehicle


EV Project Journal

EV Project Pictures

EV Conversion Details

Community

Why an EV?

EV Links

Contact Me

 

 

 

El Ohmbre is a 1985 Cheverolet S-10 pickup. My name is Tom and I decided on August 23, 2008 to tackle an electric vehicle conversion project. On May 10, 2009 I took the first test drive. This website documents the electric vehicle conversion project and now serves as a journal about driving an electric vehicle. So far (December 2016) I have put over 13,000 miles on the electric vehicle conversion. The batteries are more or less dead at this point. They were supposed to last about two years and it's now past seven years. The last few years the range has been just enough to run local errands. I think now is the time to upgrade to new batteries and hopfully, I'll be able to use Lithium Ion batteries this time.

May 10, 2017 After eight years the batteries are more or less completely gone. Range is down to a mile and it's not worth the effort to charge. I received some advice on an Electric Car Forum that the modules from a Nissan Leaf pack could be reconfigured to power a conversion like mine. I picked up a complete Leaf Battery Pack from a wrecked 2013 Leaf and I'm in the process of trying to make them work in my car.

Visit the EV Conversion Details page to see list in one place the various parts that went into my EV conversion, how I made the decision to select them and how they have each worked out for me. This is a summary organized by EV component from the information I put on the EV Project Journal on a more or less regular basis.

Visit the Community page and help to build the electric vehicle community and visit the EV Links page and check out links to electric vehicle related sites. Here is how my project unfolded.

I learned that the Chevy S-10 pickup makes a pretty good "donor" car for a first time project. So, I found an old S-10 with a straight frame and a reasonably nice body. Read the Project Journal to follow my progress on this project.

I know I should have take more "before" pictures but I got excited and wanted to get started. I had the car weighed the weekend I got it and it weighed 2,680 pounds with 1,600 on the front wheels and 1,080 on the rear. Check out the EV Conversion Project Pictures page to see the pictures along with a brief explanation of the phase of the project.

Follow me on the electric vehicle conversion project and make a link back to this site so you see what problems I run into, how I resolve them, how long this project actually takes, how much it costs and how well the finished product actually serves my needs as a daily commuter in Los Angeles.

EV Conversion Project Pictures Here are a few pictures of the electric vehicle conversion project. I should have taken a lot before pictures but I was anxious to get started so there are only a couple of them. Obviously, I'm no photographer.

Electric Vehicle Conversion Project Journal This section is updated as I complete and begin new phases of the project.

Electric Vehicle Conversion Project Community In order to help build the online electric vehicle conversion community, please consider adding a link back to this site from your own site. We will be happy to add a link to your site in our link section.

Electric Vehicle Conversion Project Driving Log I record the mileage as I drive and try to measure the voltage and specific gravity of one battery cell before each charge along with any notes that may be relevant. Hopefully, I will see patterns to help in extending the range.

Electric Vehicle Links The Internet is about sharing information. This page contains a few of the links that I used to get started. It's a lot of work to keep up an index so there are just a few here, but they helped me get going in the beginning. Feel free to link back to this site of course.