EV Conversions in Seattle?

by Anonymous
(Seattle)

Is there a place in or near Seattle that does EV conversions? Is it possible to convert a compact sedan (98 Mercury Tracer, automatic)?

Hi, Anon!
As a matter of fact, there's an EV conversion class at South Seattle Community College. It's 800 dollars, lasts 6 days, and you'll be learning from some truly knowledgeable folks - the owners of Electro Automotive.
As to the rest of your question?
You can convert anything you want. If you look through the pictures at the EV Photo Album, you'll see that people have converted everything from lawnmowers to giant buses; )
There's conventional wisdom, which says that a light car requires less energy to move than a heavy one. Considering that the lead-acid golf cart batteries you'll probably be putting in your EV conversion are heavy, too...lighter is better.
Automatic? There are going to be folks who say it can't be done, and there are going to be folks who have already done it successfully. Today's automatic transmissions are controlled by computer, and can be re-educated to adapt to an electric motor.

Regards,
Lynne