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MetaEfficient has an excellent blog post illustrating and describing how you can convert your car to an electric vehicle. It’s written for an American audience, but there’s no reason why much of the advice cannot be applied to car owners in the vehicle.

It appears to be a simple enough process, but it requires several thousand pounds in start-up capital, which might dissuade the more risk-adverse car owners.

“Basically, electric conversion involves removing the entire internal combustion engine from a vehicle, installing an electric motor in its place, and also adding a large bank of batteries. A conversion will cost you about $6000 in parts, and about $1000-$3000 for batteries and installation. But, for this up-front  expense, you’ll get a zero-emissions vehicle that costs only a few cents per mile to run. Your electric car will also be more reliable and require much less maintenance that a conventional one. Remember that gas-powered cars cost the owner about $1800 per year on average for fuel costs alone, and there is the addition expense of engine maintenance and oil changes.”

Is this a realistic option? There are three major problems with this conversion. The first is the capital, it requires good faith that an electric vehicle is cheaper in the long-term than an internal combustion engine. Second, batteries cost between $1000 – $3000, and need to be replaced every 3 – 4 years. This eliminates much of the fuel savings. Finally, the car has a range of 60 – 80 miles, yet needs 8 – 12 hours to fully charge. This significantly restricts the use of the vehicle.

Our verdict? At the moment it’s best for owners of extremely light-weight, short-journey, keen-greens only. More likely, the same people who are already cycling these distances to work anyhow.

There is a lot in the news at the moment about the Government’s green taxes, fuel protests, the price of oil and Gordon Brown’s meeting with oil chiefs to resolve the problem. If you’re a little overwhelmed, or just plain busy, here is a simple explanation.

The price of fuel is rising to such an extent that if the Government goes ahead with additional green taxes it will force many companies out of business. However, if the government fails to push ahead with these taxes it will signal that the environment features relatively low on the government agenda and is likely to be pushed further down any time we have a crunch. So it really is quite the predicament for our beleaguered Prime Minister.

What it means for you:

Well, if you bought a gas-guzzler since 2001, or plan to buy one in the future, you might be hit with a tax charge of up to £200. Alternatively, the charge might be dropped and bigger environmental problems, and taxes, will arise in the future.

It’s a rather academic debate mind. Oil is a fossil fuel, it’s going to run out. The less oil that remains, the more it’s going to cost. So any protests based on the price of oil is short-term. Whether now or next year, the price of oil will rise. The less oil we have, the more it’s going to cost.

Our view? Keep the taxes. Companies that want to survive will innovate, become more efficient, lobby for research on renewable sources of energy. Companies that don’t want to survive, wont.

And we’re live.

Welcome to the MoreEco blog. This is the place where those behind the MoreEco green shopping gateway can riff on the green community here in the UK.

Over the coming months we’ll be bringing you plenty of green news, information, opinions, interviews mixed in with some lovely green features like who’s our Green Champion of the week, what the papers are saying and our Big Green Friday Roundup.

Let me know if there’s anything you would like to know in the coming weeks, and we’ll try to cover it.

Enjoy reading, and stay Green.