According to a recent report by the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA), an increasing number of electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts in the country are converting their own petrol-fuelled cars to run as electric.

In reporting that a growing group of Australian EV enthusiasts is circumventing electric carmakers to ‘electrify’ their petrol cars, the AEVA has disclosed that the number of home-built EVs in the country has touched approximately 300 vehicles.

As per the AEVA, the fitting of batteries into petrol cars is a comparatively much cheaper alternative than the outright purchase of an EV. The AEVA has also said that the conversion of petrol cars to EVs does not require any specialised know-how.

With the conversion process basically involving the removal of a car’s petrol parts and fitting it with electric components, Graeme Manietta -- Chairman of the AEVA branch in Queensland -- said that there has been a notable surge in interest from people who want to learn the process of home-building their own EVs.

About the reasons behind the growing interest in home-built EVs, Manietta said that people want to convert petrol cars into EVs because “(a) it's cheaper than buying an off-the-shelf unit, and (b) they've got something unique, so they might pick an older vehicle or maybe a classic and they will convert that to electric.”