Retired plumber builds electric car

Imagine driving to work or to the grocery story without using any gas! That's the reality for a local man, who built his own electric car.

After last summer's skyrocketing gas prices, Monwell Sheley knew he had to do something.

"I told my son, this is not right, I'm going to build an electric car," Sheley told NewsChannel 15.

And that's exactly what the retired plumber did, even though he had no background with cars.

He explained, "I read books, got online, made a few mistakes."

Sheley bought a '93 Chrysler Eagle Summit for about a $1,000 thousand dollars and he spent another $10,000 thousand dollars converting it into an electric car.

Together with his two sons, Sheley took about seven months to complete the entire conversion. It looks like any other car, until you look under the hood.

"Our biggest problem was just finding the parts and tracking everything down."

But now, Sheley says the benefits are starting to add up.

"I got 1,200 miles on it and I haven't spent a penny."

The car runs on 120 volts DC and gets about 50 miles per charge. Sheley says it can even go up to 70 miles per hour out on the roads.

Where you'd normally find the gas cap, is where you'll find the plug to plug it in and it can go into any household outlet.

"I charge overnight, takes 3-6 hours," Sheley told NewsChannel 15.

And with a fresh charge, Monwell drives the car 20 miles to his job in Fort Wayne each day. It's a commute that hardly goes unnoticed.

"I do get two reactions," explained Sheley. "If I tell them I'm driving an electric car, or I built an electric car, their reaction is 'yea right' or they're excited about it."

Sheley hopes to eventually go into business selling the kits needed to convert a car into an electric one so anyone can do it.

He tells NewsChannel 15 his next project is building an electric pick-up truck.