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Making electric cars accessible

electric cars

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While it is certainly not impossible to adapt electric vehicles, there are a number of factors that you should consider before purchasing one. First, let’s divide electric cars into two categories: hybrid cars and electric cars designed on a fossil fuel vehicle platform, on the one hand, and electric cars, on the other hand.

Advantages

For the most part, these cars can be easily modified. With the exception of their engine, they share most of their fundamentals with standard cars, starting with the standardized 12 V power supply for electrical functions, such as instruments and turn signals. Thus, it is easier for the technician carrying out the adaptation of the vehicle to make the connection to the power supply required by any adaptations.

Electric cars also share much of their mechanical design with standard cars, including the seat mounts on the floor. This allows most seat adaptations to be installed, such as swivel seats and seat lifts.

Disadvantages

The main problem with electric cars is the location of the battery. The battery needs to be installed somewhere, and depending on the make and model, it can be positioned in a way that makes some installations impossible. For example, although installing a wheelchair winch in the trunk of a car is a very common adaptation on fossil fuel vehicles, the operation can become very difficult when the battery is located under the floor of the car. trunk of the electric or hybrid version of the car. In this case, installing a wheelchair winch there can be much more complex, if not impossible.

However, it is also possible that the location of the battery is not an issue.

Before buying a car, always check with the technician responsible for adapting your vehicle. Together, you can determine what type of adaptation you need and then identify the cars that are right for you.

Electric cars

Electric cars have the fantastic advantage of not requiring a heater, as it is already built-in. This means that a defroster is already installed in the car, which is ideal if you live in an area where temperatures are frequently freezing below.

Electric cars do not use the same type of transmission as fossil fuel cars. In other words, we can treat them like cars with automatic transmission when installing mechanical manual controls. However, some complete electrical functions can be problematic. See the “Disadvantages” section below.

Other simple mechanical modifications, such as swivel seats and transfer boards, are usually not an installation problem. However, as we said before, always check with the technician performing the adaptation of your vehicle before purchasing a car.

Disadvantages

These types of vehicles can be quite different from the cars we are used to dealing with. Ironically, locating a power source in an electric car can be extremely problematic, as these cars do not consistently use the 12 V standard. For example, the electrical functions of a set of manual controls may not be electrically. compatible with the car.

For adaptations that require a more powerful power supply, simply identifying a connection point with sufficient amperage can be a problem.

Another fundamental element that may differ is the attachment of the seats to the floor of the car. Typically, a seat is secured to the floor with four bolts; on some electric cars, however, this is not always the case. Also, while it is possible to physically remove the seat, the car’s electronics may not allow it. The ability to bypass systems like this depends on the manufacturer. Some allow certain systems to be bypassed, while others are very strict and do not even allow third parties to perform maintenance on their cars.

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