AutoblogGreen

I am not entirely sure, but I think that the yellow truck converted by students at Stanly Community College from gas to electric is a Dodge Ram 50, which was made by Mitsubishi and was replaced by the Dakota. The Ram 50 was a small truck which was powered by a four-cylinder engine. Not this one, though, because the gas engine was yanked out in favor of an electric motor. Not only that, but solar power has been added as a backup charger. Additionally, the vehicle can be plugged into any standard outlet for recharging. From what I can tell in the article, the vehicle not only has lead-acid batteries but seems to have some sort of capacitor storage too. Capacitors are like batteries, but they do not rely on chemicals for their energy storage and can usually deliver a good jolt of power when necessary.

This happens to be the third truck that Stanly Community College has converted to electric. The other two were a Chevy S10 and a Ford Ranger. Trucks are often chosen for electric conversions because their open bed makes a good spot to store the batteries. Unfortunately, they are usually heavier than small cars and are not very aerodynamic. This particular conversion can reach up to 90 miles per hour and can go for 70 miles on a full charge. The tally for the vehicles comes to $9,500. That's not too bad considering that they'll never need to fill 'er up with gas!

[Source: The Snap Online]