The Electric Vehicle Discussion List, founded in 1991 by EV enthusiast Clyde Visser PE, is a forum for the exchange of information on electric vehicles. (Just to be clear here, the EVDL is a forum in the traditional sense of the word. It's not an Internet forum or bulletin board, but rather a mailing list.)

Most of our participants are hobbyists who have built, or are building, their own EVs. Most use conventional liquid-fueled (gasoline / petrol or Diesel) vehicles as a base. A few brave souls - and not just professionals - actually design and build electric vehicles from the ground up.

The list's charter, written by the founder, says:

The EV Electric Vehicle Discussion Mailing List is intended to provide a forum to discuss the current state of the art and future direction of electric vehicles. It is not intended to discuss either EV appropriateness or comparisons with other transportation primary drive modes such as the venerable internal combustion engine. Those discussions are best relegated to the appropriate usenet newsgroup. An electric vehicle is any vehicle which uses an electric motor as the primary or sole motive force. The energy storage device used to drive said motor can use any technology including, but not limited to, solar electric, electric battery, fuel cell, internal combustion engine coupled with a electric generator (hybrids), or any combination of these. Production electric vehicles are currently available. Internal combustion engine vehicles can be converted to electric power. There exists a number of companies who perform this conversion. There is also a number of manufacturers of equipment allowing you to "do it yourself."

This is what the EVDL can do for you:

• Help you determine whether an EV will suit your needs
• Help you decide where and how to start finding or making an EV
• Encourage you on the project if and when you run into challenges
• Support you when something goes wrong with your finished EV¹

The EVDL is the Internet's oldest and most comprehensive resource supporting EV hobbyists. We have hundreds of members all over the world, many with dozens of years of EV experience. Some have built (or are building!) EVs for a living. Others sell, design, and even manufacture such EV components as controllers and chargers. It's very possible that you'll find one or more of our members living near you.

If you'd like to see what sorts of issues are discussed on the list, check out our archive before you subscribe.

We hope we'll see you online!