Conversion companies like Amp Electric, profiled today in The New York Times "Wheels" blog, will take certain existing vehicles and customize them to electric power. Amp, for example, converted a 2010 Chevy Equinox LX to batteries, gutting the gasoline drivetrain and adding a 37-kilowatt-hour air-cooled lithium-ion-phosphate battery pack imported from China and two rear-mounted Remy electric motors -- the same used by General Motors for its dual-mode hybrids -- to put out 214 horsepower. The results? The company claims a top speed of about 90 mph, a zero-to-60 mph time of less than eight seconds.

Getting into the ground-up build game for EVs ain't cheap (according to Amp Chief Executive Steve Burns it would take about $2 billion and five years) and conversion allows for companies to play in the EV playground for far less financial outlay -- though the same isn't necessarily true for the consumer's wallet. The Chevy Equinox conversion is priced at $32,500 on top of the vehicle's sticker, though the federal EV tax credit of $7,500 is still applicable. Having GM produce "glider" versions of the targeted vehicles -- that is, without the gasoline drivetrains installed -- would reduce the conversion price significantly, but Burns says the manufacturer doesn't know what to make of third-party converters like Amp Electric. According to the source article:
"GM doesn't know if we are friend or foe," Burns said. “They’re trying to figure it out.”

Read the whole story here.