Last summer my family and I came up with this idea. We thought about having an electric car. Since we could not afford to buy one my father decided we would build one. Now the plan was hatched. We would build a street legal electric vehicle(EV). In June 2008 we committed to building an EV. Our pet name for the project was "Code Name: Tree House" We gave it this name because the cliche summer project is to build a tree-house in the backyard. My family would build an EV. So my father, sister and I committed to the project and dedicated many hours towards its completion. We purchased a 1999 Dodge Caravan. We removed the engine, exhaust, gas tank and more. We then proceeded to convert the car into a 144 volt DC powered EV. We documented the process with photographs and journal entries with the objective of making plans so other individuals could do the same. Not only would this be good for the environment with EV producing zero emissions but it could also become a future method of recycling cars. We completed the project to a point were we could road test the vehicle. After a few modifications we are now using the vehicle regularly. The hands on application combined with seeing a project from beginning to end has taught me that anything is possible with the knowledge and effort. This is the story of our EV conversion. Gillian
Code Name: Project Treehouse
