AC Propulsion: Making Gas Cars Electric

Okay every one is saying "$55,000 I WISH I could afford that" but think about it, they're taking already manufactured cars, and by hand turning them electric, not only that but they're using laptop batteries. if a big company like ford started making cars like these it would be wayyyyy cheaper. They could mass produce them and when they would then that would mean mass producing the batteries which would make their price go down too.

a star in the making. hmmmmmm, would that be the girl or the car? nicely done.

Wow very cool technology but $55K is as much as a house...hope the price comes down to like $5K

Well yes i would like to keep my old gas guzzling truck and have it converted over but why would i want to pay $55,000 and for laptop computer batteries??
I could convert a gas car to electirc and it wouldnt cost more than $5,000. 90 percent of your cost in this project is labor.
The professor in berkeley had a more economical way of converting his volkswagen by using an ac generator.
There are more economical ways out there to convert to electric if you dont have the bucks.
I'm not saying it isnt a good idea it is but not at that price.

If Tom Hanks does it, I'm in!

Nice piece.

I'm confident that once a company starts to mass produce a design of this battery the price will drop substantially. Maybe a little support from Obama? I'm sure Howard Hughes would agree it's the "way of the future"! ; ) Thanks Kristen!

What is the top speed of the car after the conversion?

Horrible video. Tom Hanks oughta be embarrassed. This is all fake. Doesn't really work. It's all a scam.

hanks was always eco friendly he was also on earth to america

Yes- just like smokin is banned in most places...smoke from cars should be as well. :D

Interesting piece... I'm sure everyone would much rather go with this option than paying for gas. Unfortunately, until this cyclical downturn in the economy is over, I just don't think it's feasible. Cars are a luxury, anyway... I mean don't get me wrong, if I could afford it, I would be right there along with Hanks, but I just don't think this is at the top of everyone's list right now... especially those who can't even afford their car payments anymore.

This is an awesome idea and would revolutionize Detroit and the American market. A possible shot in the arm for the manufacturing of American automobiles, and possible economy saver!!!
How much was that 40 Billion ?- something like that; the government "loaned" to Chrysler and the lot...

Awesome! Unless you don't have $55,000. In that case check out the link below for another way to save gas money and haul stuff if you don't have far to go. Great way to stay in shape as well.

http://acewarloch.jalbum.net/BikeTrailer/

Yes we already know that electric it is great technology. Car makers and special conversion dealers needs to make that more affordable. That it is the next step through to make it work. Do not elite(ze).

I have been driving a production all-electric vehicle for
eight years. I never stop celebrating the fact that I don't have to go to the gas station. AC Propulsion's Ebox takes the features that are good on my 2001 RAV4 EV and makes them even better!

This is an interesting piece because offers people another choice in personal transportation; a choice most people know nothing about. Excellent job!

The price it is out of range. Maybe if we wait it will drop out.

That's really great. :D

Brilliant! If I had the money, it would be a done deal for us -- certainly a huge benefit to us all. Kudos to the great Mr. Hanks for sharing this with the world. Very informative & facinating story.

I would LOVE to get one of these. Hopefully the more people know about it, more people will mak ethem and teh price will come down. Then everyone will go electric!!!!!!

$55,000!?!?! god damn..... I definitely would do it if I had that kind of money, but i'll just have to rely on my 02 altima until that day comes

Awesome. Amazing idea and coverage of the topic. I need one now.

Thanks for the great video! As an AC Propulsion Engineer, let me just add my (perhaps biased) two cents. We are very proud of the work that we are doing. We have been working to convince automakers to bring electric cars to market for over 16 years and today they are finally starting to understand. We just supplied BMW 500 drive systems for their MINI E and we are talking with many other manufacturers about similar projects. This is the commitment required to make new technologies affordable. Many of the things we take for granted today were once out of reach for most people: consider computers and cell phones. We do all we can to keep the price of the eBox as low as possible, but not at the expense of quality or performance. We could not continue making them if we priced them any lower. Our customers are taking a great step for all of us by investing in the technology and keeping us going while we work to make these products better and more affordable. For some, the desire to stop using oil outweighs the economic incentive.
As for hydrogen, I too believed it was the solution until I discovered that a hydrogen car requires four times the energy to drive the same distance as an electric car. That means four times the pollution considering the energy comes from the same place (or four times the solar capacity). There are also major technical hurdles regarding storage and transport of hydrogen while technologies for storage and transport of electricity are available today and widespread across the nation. Well, back to work. There's still much to do.

Good to know its available...to the extremely rich or eco-stupid. $55,000 is just not a good investment IMO.

This is absolutely fascinating! I had no idea this was even possible. Great video!

ok tebular scares me hehe but ya lets turn things around for our planet 55 grand if that isn't the biggest joke what is? That company should be ashamed of themseleves offering a wonderful idea to rich only when you all know they could have trimmed that down by like 1/2 with a not so extensive job and keepin your parts they pull. Ac Propulsion gets my JOKE award.And this should not be a descision by them it should be mandatory. It should be subsidised by our never doing what the people want governments of canada and usa. .....yesterday

Great video! I'm sure everyone loves the idea, but until the cost comes down, it's just not a practical option for most people. Oh, and for $55,000 I had better get me more than a 1 year warranty! What happens in an accident? Does insurance cover replacing those thousands of batteries strewn all over the road? What happens when the batteries wear out and need to be replaced?

Sadly, I think we are stuck with gasoline for quite a while, and with the supposed Hydrogen infrastructure on its way, we'll still be stuck buying gas, just a different kind of gas. Less pollutant, sure, but it's still expensive to produce. But even that is being worked out. The solar powered hydrogen generators all over the place would be awesome! Let's start mass producing those suckers for cheap!

Besides hydrogen being cleaner, I think all electric vehicles are definitely the way to go, but for long range driving it's still not practical until they can increase the distance per charge. I would also love to see a bill offering tax incentives for apartment complexes to install 220v lines in parking garages! For all of us L.A. apartment dwellers, an all electric car just wouldn't work without a place to plug in at night.

I love this! I didn't know this was possible. Thank you for doing such an informative piece at such an important time for our planet. I hope this catches on!

Tubular.

Anything that takes a step into direction of saving our planet is interesting :)

If I had the money to switch, I would right now.

It's great to see informative pieces like this, speading the word that alternatives to gas guzzling cars are becoming more and more available to us. Thanks!

WOW UNBELIEVABLE. When it becomes affordable with a mainstream price, count me in.
ACE

electric cars could be the wave of the future-we would be less dependent on foreign oil-i only ope that if it becomes more popular, it will become more affordable. very interesting topic and video.

Great informative piece. I hope it becomes more affordable in the future.

let's not kill the electric car... let's hope washington agrees, finally!

This is really awesome!

This is a very cool report. Anytime you can have alternative fuel it's progress. Let's hope Detroit sees this. Well done!

What a fascinating report... I would for sure be interesting in getting something like that if it would be affordable...
Great report, Kristin....