Man converts pickup to electric power

The dreamer in Mike Phillips took more than a decade to mull it over.

The engineer in Mike Phillips took just seven months to do it.

The result: “Sparky,” an electric-powered pickup, constructed on the bones of a dinosaur-sucking 1997 S-10 Chevrolet.

The transformation of the ordinary brown truck was spurred, in part, by the challenge of building his own battery-powered vehicle.

“There were some nonbelievers who asked me why I was doing this,” said Phillips, an electrical engineer with Welkin Sciences. “Because I can. Why climb Mount Everest? Why do anything?”

His journey into the future began in 1995, when he became intrigued with the idea of building his own electric car. He bought a book detailing how to do it using a small Chevy pickup. But he decided such a vehicle wouldn’t give him the driving range he needed to get from his then-home in Black Forest to his job downtown.

Life changes saw him settled in town in 2005 with his second wife, Tina. One day the two were moving boxes and they came across his old manual on how to convert a truck into an electric vehicle. His wife said she’d always wanted an electric vehicle, too, and encouraged her husband to give it a try.

“It had always been in the back of my mind,” he said. “With oil skyrocketing, I said, ‘It’s about time.’”

In January 2006, he bought the S-10 for $4,000. In April, Phillips and his mechanically inclined buddy Dean Gacita pulled the engine and transmission out of the truck. Phillips immediately sold the engine, so there was no turning back.

“Can I really do this?” Phillips asked himself. “And there was some doubt.”

Over the next six months, working most every weekend, Phillips, his wife, his 16-yearold son Chris and a cast of neighbors, friends and suppliers built a vehicle Detroit tried briefly to do and then crushed.

Jeff Goodwin and his crew at Bud’s Muffler installed extra leaf springs in the rear to handle 1,300 pounds of batteries. Goodwin and his team also donated their time to pull the pickup bed off and construct bar-steel boxes to hold 16 of the 20 deep-cycle, six-volt batteries that give the truck its juice.

They also installed a simple lift system for the bed so Phillips could get to his bank of batteries.

Then, into an engine bay stripped of most of its components went the 150-pound, 75-horsepower electric motor, of the type that powers forklifts. The motor was mated to the original five-speed transmission by a special plate, and the clutch and pedal were removed since they are not needed in an electric vehicle. The original wiring harness was yanked out, since none of the sensors for the internal combustion engine were needed.

Then came the electrical stuff: tying the batteries together with finger-thick cables and building a bright-yellow control board under the hood.

On the board is a controller that takes the 120 volts produced by the batteries and controls the motor. Phillips also had to install a vacuum pump to run the brake booster system and figure out a heater system since no coolant flows in the truck anymore.

There were glitches and technical hurdles to overcome. But by November 2006, Phillips was ready to take his baby for a test ride. And it was good. Not quick, but good.

The final touch was a coat of electric-blue paint, done by Maaco at a discount because the painters were intrigued.

Phillips knew the truck would have a limited range. He’s only driven it 38 miles before a recharge, but it’s designed to have a 60-mile range.

What he wasn’t quite prepared for was hills. He said because of the gearing in the transmission, the truck struggles to do much more than 30 mph up the hilly streets leading to his home.

But that’s OK, he said. He’s in no hurry; he stays in the slow lane and folks seem to give him the space he needs once they read the signs on Sparky saying “100% Electric Vehicle.”

“I see people in the rearview mirror getting in the other lane, but no one’s flipped me off yet,” he said.

But on a flat road, Sparky can move. Phillips has hit 60 mph on Powers Boulevard.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than driving something you’ve built,” he said. “I understand car guys now.”

All told, the conversion — not counting his time — cost $12,000.

Figuring in the $1,800 he spent for the batteries and the kilowatts used during the six hours needed to recharge the truck, Phillips reckons his cost per mile is 12 cents. His other car is a Chevy Blazer, and the cost to drive that beast is 20 cents a mile.

There’s also an attractive side benefit: He will, over several years, be able to deduct 85 percent of the $12,000 he spent from his state income tax.

Still, he said, Sparky isn’t for everyone.

“It’s definitely a second car,” he said. “I have to think about where I’m going. I can’t just jump in and run a bunch of errands.

“But this is a good, dependable vehicle for someone commuting in the 10- to 15-mile range. It was an intellectual exercise. I’ve reduced my dependency on foreign oil, and I’ve helped the environment a bit.”

He also gained something in the project that can’t be put into dollars and cents, kilowatts or miles per gallon — the admiration of his wife:

“He is not a guy to blow his own horn,” Tina Phillips said of her husband. “But I think what he has done is remarkable. . . . I’m so proud of him.”

Is that electricity in the air?

FROM GAS TO ELECTRIC: THE DETAILS

Mike Phillips has constructed a Web site that details how he converted his Chevy S-10 pickup into an electric vehicle. The site also lists resources and suppliers of equipment. www.sparky-ev.com