I thought the EV was for jenny and not you? Boo.

Outta the way! I'm doing 5mph here!
 

I'd drive my old EV to school, but it would take me about an hour to get there and it might get stolen in the parking lot :p :
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If making EVs for 4-year-olds was possible in the late 80s, making an EV for grown people in the 2000s shouldn't be a far stretch!

Or someone could walk into it and get a nasty scrape on their shin.

A friend of mine converted a VW Rabbit pickup about 15 years ago. He used lead acid golf car batteries and had to put on heavier springs. The motor drove through the standard transmission. I drove it and it would easily do 65 mph but the range was only about 30 miles.

Q

If the regular commute is 3 miles, and the roads are safe for cycling, what about looking at buying/converting a bicycle to electric? It'd only be good for part of the year, but it'd be a lot more efficient and way cheaper.

(EDIT: plus you don't have the hassle/expense of inspections, insurance, parking, licence plates etc.)

I wonder if they make those in Metro or Saturn version.:p

The only problem with gen sets as range extenders is emissions. I'm guessing the low end ones aren't very good in that regard, and aren't emissions one of the reasons for going electric?

EDIT: I don't know about bioidiesel emissions. Just talking about gas here.

She actually rides her bike in the spring/summer/part of the fall. She's opposed to getting an electric bike though... something about it being too "dorky."

Maybe I should just convert my spare mountain bike to electric for runs to the grocery store.

If you want to do that kind of range on a budget, you're going to need a small, efficient car to keep battery cost per mile of range down. The batteries will be your largest budget component.

You're definately going to need a lightweight car, with lots of efficiency modifications. A heavy, unaerodynamic pickup truck will drive the battery costs for 60 miles range over your budget.

Try to throw out a few specific vehicles, and I might be able to recommend some setups to you. You will definately be doing a lot of scrounging for used surplus starter-generators and you will need to learn how to build your own contactor controller. It's pretty simple to make a battery charger with a bridge rectifier circuit as well.

One of your N600s looks like a great choice of donor, but you might have to remove the back seats to get enough battery room. And its aerodynamics aren't very good; you'll need aeromods. Even at a modest 30 mph, they will make a pretty noticable difference in range. LRR tires can extend range greatly as well.

Use the crXXX!