Originally Posted by pawoSD

A car that gets 30+ miles per charge would just about eliminate my need for oil-based fuels for my normal driving....same for my wife.

One of my uncles converted a ford focus to electric....it can go about 40-50 miles on a charge in the winter, with a heater/lights on etc. Total cost of the project was roughly $11k....including buying the running driving Focus to begin with. It fully charges in about 6 hours on 120V I believe....less if it is not drained most of the way. If he added a generator like the Volt....it'd probably only add another $1500 to the car's cost....and would give much longer range. Pretty bad that you can build a car superior to the volt yourself for 1/2 the price. My awesome idea is to electric convert a W123....with mega size equipment.....more batteries.....bigger motor mounted underneath to the driveshaft to take the place of the tranny, batteries mounted in the front & rear to balance the weight.....perhaps a generator too if intended for long range ability....That'd be sweeet. And there's so much more room to work with in a W123 compared to a focus.