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by seynb 4039 days ago
Thinkin' the same thing. Actually, it is very feasible and affordable for a low-range city car. The major factors are the cost of batteries, and range anxiety. You can do conversions with in some cheap lead-acid batteries generally for a total build cost <$3-4k. Cons: limited recharge cycle, weight, not practical for >30km range (~18mi).

Lithium batteries are the best (either LiOn or LiFePo), super expensive though. Tesla Model S 85kWh uses 7104 3.1mAh Panasonic 18650 cells. They probably have a special purchase agreement ala Apple with Samsung NAND. If you wanted to buy enough for 100mi range I crudely estimated the retail cost at $15167.58 (vendor Orbtronic).

But there are people who spend $20k+ on conversions. Check out http://www.evalbum.com

Also at http://www.forkenswift.com they did a conversion for $672CAD on a Geo Metro