14 DAY TRIAL // Given today's economy, most of the people who are truly concerned about the environment and who would love nothing more than to give up on their old, polluting vehicles in favor of a more environmentally-friendly option find themselves unable to do so for one very simple reason: money.
As is always the case with state-of-the art gadgets and technologies, the first to buy them are those who can afford to let go of considerable amounts of money.
Now, since most people are middle class, it's no wonder that it takes quite a while before the majority of the population manages to get their hands on “the good stuff.”
Apparently, this is also the case when it comes to electric vehicles: for the time being, purchasing one means making a substantial financial effort, and thus many individuals are simply forced to give up on the idea.
However, as green.autoblog.com reports, this no longer has to be the case: Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University launched a project, entitled ChargeCar, which allows for the conversion of old Honda Civics into electric vehicles.
Thus, those interested can buy an all-inclusive conversion kit – electric motor, batteries, controllers and an in-car display included – for only $24,000 (roughly €19,000).
Besides its user-friendly price, this all-inclusive conversion kit poses one other major advantage: it doesn't take a rocket scientist to install it on your car. On the contrary, is seems that any mechanic can successfully carry out this operation in about three days.
As well as this, official reports state that, with this kit in place, your dear-old Honda Civic can run for about 40-miles on a single-charge-range.
All in all, it seems to us that the ChargeCar project is a more than welcomed endeavor, and we are honestly looking forward to when such conversion kits will also be available for other car types.