Well... hey wow lots of replies. The Astro van wasnt set in stone, just had one available for free. I like the idea of trying a smaller vehicle first, also thanks for the links to info websites.
To be honest I am just playing around with the idea for now... looked through some of all your links you gave me and came up with about 8~11 thousand dollars for the conversion.
Anyhow... I think you'll be seeing an electric go kart around this summer in indy...
Thanks again guys,
-q