Conversion Process
The first aspect of this conversion was sourcing a suitable car. The Mirage was picked for its aerodynamic integrity, light weight and overall suitability for conversion. It was essential that the rear seats were retained so that it's carrying capacity was the same as the original vehicle.
Electric Mitsubishi Mirage Conversion
This Mirage is a 2003 manual model. Choosing a vehicle with a good body and overall mechanically sound was important. The internal combustion engine and its hundreds of associated parts would be discarded so were not considered in the assessment of the vehicle.
The engine, cooling system, fuel system, exhaust system, petrol tank were removed as the first steps. The lithium batteries came from Thundersky in China and the Netgain Warp 9 electric motor was sourced from the U.S. A custom built battery pack was installed in the boot effectively reducing the storage space by 50% - a necessary sacrifice.
Apart from the environmental benefits of this vehicle such as zero emissions (it runs on Green Power), the big plus is the miserly cost to run - 100 kilometers for a mere $2.50. The average Australian car uses 11 litres of petrol to travel 100 kms at a current cost (May 2011) of $16.00 plus.
Update: "driving this vehicle over the past 9 months has been a pleasure. It's performance is equal to that of the petrol version and although limited in range this has not been an issue. The few seconds it takes to plug it in to recharge are inconsequential and a lot less hassle than filling up at a petrol station. Checking petrol prices on the daily drive is now a thing of the past!" owner, Leo Kerr.