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Personal Electric Vehicles

Plug-in electric vehicle related news, resources, and build guides for PEV building DIYers.

PEVs are becoming more and more commonplace. That shift is tied closely to the falling cost of lithium ion battery cells and the growing practicality of electric drivetrains at scale.

More electric vehicles are showing up on the road and people are starting to see the benefits of going fully electric. Electric vehicles usually cost significantly less per mile to operate than their gasoline counterparts.

Articles in this category are about high-energy battery packs, high-density battery packs, battery cooling techniques, and motor controllers.

This category page is meant to collect the older article context the Next.js frontend used to carry so readers landing from search have a quick explanation of what belongs here before they jump into a post.

If you just want the newest material in this topic, start with the featured article below and then work down through the rest of the posts.

How to Install Dual Batteries on an Ebike

Personal Electric Vehicles

How to Install Dual Batteries on an Ebike

Adding a second battery to your e-bike is a great way to boost your range. However, it's not as easy as it may seem in some cases and comes with some important considerations. This guide will help you figure out how to add a second battery in either series or parallel.

How To Build A Precharge Circuit

Personal Electric Vehicles

How To Build A Precharge Circuit

Hooking your battery up to a load and experiencing a shock can be a little jarring. Luckily an anti-spark circuit also known as a pre-charge circuit can fix that. Check out our guide on how to build one yourself!!

How to Best Store Lithium Batteries and Cells

Personal Electric Vehicles

How to Best Store Lithium Batteries and Cells

It's extremely important to make sure battery packs and cells are being stored safely. Storing packs and cells can seem like an annoyance but a fire can be much much worse!

Which Metal To Use For Building Battery Packs

Personal Electric Vehicles

Which Metal To Use For Building Battery Packs

When building a battery you will need to decide the best conductor to use for connecting your cells together. The main options used are copper, nickel, nickel-plated steal, and a copper-nickel sandwich. We go through all the choices to help you make the right one.

How To Identify And Fix A Broken Battery

Personal Electric Vehicles

How To Identify And Fix A Broken Battery

If you have a battery pack that is no longer working correctly, then you might want to know how to identify and fix a broken battery pack. Lithium-ion batteries are used all over the world every day to power all of our gadgets and gizmos. Whether it's your smartphone, your laptop, or in some cases, your vehicle, lithium-ion batteries are at the heart of it all.

How To Test A Battery's Capacity

Personal Electric Vehicles

How To Test A Battery's Capacity

Testing a battery’s capacity is one of the best ways to determine the health of a battery cell. indicator of a battery. To test the capacity of a battery cell, you have to fully charge and fully discharge the cell while precisely measuring the energy in at least one direction.

How To Build A Lithium Ion Ebike Battery DIY Style

Personal Electric Vehicles

How To Build A Lithium Ion Ebike Battery DIY Style

The battery is generally the most expensive component of an e-bike, so building one yourself saves you hundreds of dollars. Building a e-bike battery is not a simple process, but it's not rocket science either.

Building A Lithium Battery Pack From 18650 Cells

Personal Electric Vehicles

Building A Lithium Battery Pack From 18650 Cells

Lithium-ion is currently the best battery chemistry that humanity has. It is one of the best choices when building a battery pack from 18650 cells. Our helpful and informative how-to build guide lays out a clear, concise path for something that can otherwise be overwhelming.

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