Hey everyone! I'm u/TraditionSalt1153, one of the founding moderators of r/EVBuilders and the founder of electr0motiv.

This is a new community for everyone interested in building, learning about, and helping advance EV conversions.

There are more capable motors, controllers, battery options, components, and open-source tools than ever before. Talented builders and conversion shops are doing incredible work. But EV conversion knowledge is still scattered, the learning curve can be steep, and many people are trying to solve difficult problems on their own.

We think we can make progress faster by connecting builders and learning together.

r/EVBuilders is a place to share projects, ask questions, solve problems, compare components, document what works—and build the collective knowledge that helps all of us.

But we're also trying something bigger

I'm building electr0motiv, a cooperative network designed to connect EV builders not just online, but with other builders in their own regions.

The idea is simple: imagine you're interested in converting a car and discover that five, ten, or twenty other people near you are interested in doing the same thing.

Instead of everyone working alone, a local EV Builder Cluster can emerge.

People can bring different skills and resources:

🔧 Mechanical and fabrication skills
⚡ Electrical and battery expertise
💻 Software and controls knowledge
🏗️ Shop space, tools, and equipment
🔋 Parts and component knowledge
📚 Research and lessons from their own builds

A cluster can share knowledge, tools, hands-on help, and accountability. Someone who has already solved a problem can help the next person avoid starting from scratch. Builders can collaborate on projects while documenting what they learn for the wider network.

Local clusters learn from each other, too. A solution discovered by builders in one region can help someone working on a similar problem somewhere else.

That's the model behind electr0motiv: a growing network of regional cooperatives, connected by shared knowledge and tools.

How it works

1. JOIN 🧭
Find a cluster near you—or signal your interest if one hasn't formed yet. Connect with other builders and introduce your project.

2. PLAN 🤖
Use electr0motiv's tools and AI Coach to explore your vehicle, estimate costs, learn the conversion process, and begin planning your build.

3. BUILD 🔧
Collaborate with other builders. Share skills, tools, labor, knowledge, and milestones as projects move forward.

The goal isn't to replace existing builders, shops, forums, or communities. It's to connect more of them—and make it easier for more people to participate.

What to post here

🔧 Your EV conversion project or build log
🔋 Batteries, motors, controllers, charging, and components
❓ Questions—whether you're just curious or deep into a build
💡 Problems you're trying to solve
🧠 Tips, discoveries, lessons learned, and resources
📸 Photos and videos of great builds
🤝 Ideas for collaboration and local builder groups
🎓 Training, education, tools, and anything that can help create more EV builders

Help us build it

If this idea appeals to you, I'd love for you to join the network at electr0motiv.com.

See whether there's a cluster forming near you. If there isn't, let us know where you are—because enough builders in one region can become the beginning of the next cluster.

And because we're still building electr0motiv, I especially want your feedback.

What are we missing? What tools would actually help you? Where do you get stuck? What would make EV conversion easier? And what would make you want to connect and collaborate with other builders near you?

The people who join now can help shape this from the beginning.

Start here

Introduce yourself in the comments:

What are you building—or what vehicle would you love to convert? And where are you located?

Maybe the next great EV Builder Cluster starts with finding a few other people right here.

Thanks for being part of the first wave.

Welcome to r/EVBuilders**. Let's build this together.** ⚡🔧

I've been building the new version of electr0motiv.com/conversionnet for the last month, and it is live now. The new platform includes local clusters, like the one for the Northeast we launched a few days ago (That's the Leaf motor going in my 1971 BMW 2002).

https://preview.redd.it/gtk807ni8zfh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=395f84e9affa96c72e5ef29fa47a51c7e97234fc

That seemed to capture imaginations and enough people joined to spawn two new clusters in New England and the Pacific Northwest. The Mid Atlantic is the next closest to forming.

If you find the cooperative conversion model appealing -- or our mission as a Guild to advance the craft of conversion -- you are most welcome to check out the new, expanded site.

https://preview.redd.it/5vg5wlft7zfh1.png?width=1720&format=png&auto=webp&s=112d06a9deafb70ff56fe55cf8ee55d85127dc79

I’m converting a BMW 2002, but always musing about what I would do next. What are your other top prospects?

I am testing a few options for https://electr0motiv.com hero message.

The first one is the original. The second a new alternative. #3 is current

1. ​​Classic Cars. Electric Futures.
2. The Vehicle You Love. Meets the Electric Future.
3. EV Conversion for the Rest of Us

Here is a bit more context on electr0motiv's story:

Most people who want to convert a car to electric face the same problem: professional shops that handle it end-to-end charge $50,000–$100,000, which is out of reach for most. But doing it completely alone — sourcing the right components, getting those systems to work together reliably, making sound technical decisions across a complex multi-phase build — is more than most people can take on without support.

electr0motiv is built for the space in between. It's a membership platform built around the idea that the knowledge to do this well already exists in thousands of documented builds, and that making it personally useful — organized, trustworthy, and specific to your situation — is what makes the difference.

For someone still figuring out whether conversion is right for them, it's a research and discovery tool: what would it cost, what has it looked like on your specific car — drawing on documented build series and aggregated intelligence from conversions of the same vehicle — and what do you need to know before committing. For someone ready to build, it generates a complete project plan — every phase, every component, a timeline — backed by an AI Coach that draws on that body of documented experience to guide decisions at every step, and generates a personalized learning curriculum: structured modules across safety, electrical, mechanical, and planning topics, sequenced to the member's skill level and the demands of their specific build. For someone already in a build, it's the resource that keeps the project moving when obstacles come up.

The platform also addresses the sourcing problem directly. Finding the right components — ones that work together for your specific vehicle and budget — takes months of research done individually. The platform provides vetted vendor access and group purchasing across the member network, so members benefit from pricing that individual buyers can't access. For a project involving thousands of dollars in components, the savings on a single group purchase can more than cover the cost of membership.

Every recommendation Coach makes can be reviewed and validated by human experts. That matters in a domain where the stakes — financial and safety — are real.

Around all of this is a global community of builders at every stage of the same journey. Every build documented on the platform makes it more useful for the next member — the knowledge compounds over time in ways no forum or standalone tool can replicate. The community also stays with members after the build is done — when something goes wrong on the road, there are people who know how conversions like yours work. Where enough members gather in a region, physical clusters become possible: shared space, tools, and hands-on support for the stages that benefit from it.

We are researching what people might pay for this as monthly or annual membership. For a project involving thousands of dollars in components and hundreds of hours of work, the value is in better decisions, less time wasted, and guidance that's been tested against real builds.

What might it be worth to you?