There are none that are available. A RAV4 was sold on ebay awhile ago, that is a vehicle that can go 100+, but you can't get them. The Tesla would work too, and be quite stylish, but it is $100,000 and could not be had for over a year. The Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV) cannot do the highway speeds required. The only viable option was a home conversion. After many conversations, it was decided there was a good chance we could do it, hence the EV conversion project.
The EV conversion project was planned over the summer of 2007. I was to do the planning, most of the legwork, and John and I would do the build. Julie and John were going to put up the funds, and own and use the vehicle in the end. It was decided to convert a Toyota Xtracab pickup into a long range EV by removing the internal combustion engine (ICE) components and adding a technologically advanced 3-phase AC motor and 40 lead-acid golf cart batteries. I was in the Peace Corps in Kenya a few years ago, where I gained great respect for the structural strength of Toyota pickups! Twenty people (me being one, at times) are regularly stuffed in the back of the already loaded Matau just like the one pictured below... our batteries will weigh less!
A 1990 Toyota was found and bought, and all major parts and batteries were purchased in the summer. The parts were scheduled to arrive in September, and the installation and conversion was to take place in Montana over the month of September.
