If you were to convert any car to electric…

what would it be and why?

Question following on from a comment on the “Next generation of EV” thread. I have always wanted to do some classic to EV conversions.

old 911 would be an easy one (plenty of US kits) but maybe an AC cobra as a daily driver or Lotus Elan (mk1 but mk2 could be cheap if you can squeeze a leaf motor and transmission in). More modern i reckon an RX8 or Nissan 350z would make a good donors and can be had for peanuts.

Meanwhile, back in my world… If I could have a Berlingo with a £60:00 500 mile range, with charging facilities dotted around my local and not so local areas (South and Mid Wales) I’d be happy.

If I could have my old Citroen CX with an electric power plant it would only add to the experience I reckon. If it could make Jetson style hover noises as well, I’m sure I’d believe it was actually floating.

Otherwise a nice NSU Ro 80 with a broken engine must be a good candidate.

An old Bentley. Go cheap as chips, and big enough to carry a heap of batteries.

I’ll go for a Citroen too, SM this time though.

Z1, but I’d put one of them kids handlebar gadgets on it that you rev and it makes it sound like a motorcycle should….sort of.

Our old Mazda Bongo

There must be loads of space where the engine used to be for batteries, you could put solar panels on the lifting roof and tilt them towards the sun when you stopped, and you could pootle round the nicest bits of the country in silence, it would be awesome.

When I was MUCH younger, I used to have a poster of the Z1 on my bedroom wall, next to the posters of the Guzzi Le Mans, Lamborghini Countach and the chick playing tennis…

As for converting classic cars, the GT6 from the other thread looked fab, although I always loved the sound of the Triumph straight six and the gearstick button for the J-Type overdrive, so probably wouldn’t.

I reckon any old sports car from the 80s or earlier must be a good candidate, cast iron engines that weigh loads, swap that for a motor and just enough batteries and you’d have an awesome hill climb car.

Dodge charger, it would have to be a fairly powerful electric motor to continue the muscle car heritage, and I would want the brakes and suspension etc upgrading as well. But just think how menacing a near silent dodge charger would be.

Classic Citroen shouts are on the money…Jetsons style and self levelling suspension to deal with the upheaval of removing lumps of engine and adding stacks of batteries 🙂

The only challenge would be balancing it so it can still do its party piece of driving with a wheel missing…

Why? Well just look at it! Would probably be a crap drive unless all the suspension etc. was done to but I have a short commute so I could live with it…

How would re-registering the car as electric work?

Our old Mazda Bongo

Exactly what I came here to say! Always thought it might be a good project to convert my Bongo one day.

Quite fancy doing the old camper type conversion. One of those corrugated iron Citroens would be fun. Has anyone else been following the Young French couple driving round the world in a Tesla powered VW campervan?

Either a T3 Doublecab Syncro or a Citroen DS.

Finding either of those in good condition is a challenge these days and doing the EV conversion on either would be even more financially painful, but one can dream

Talking of old citroens – a H van. Sod a berlingo.

Welshfarmer, this is what you mean? ^

doing the EV conversion on either would be even more financially painful

You can get all the kit for an 80 mile range EV conversion for about £7k (if you want a Tesla battery and 200 miles it’s an extra £20k…)

95% of the journeys I do are less than 60 miles round trip so a £7k EV conversion would be fine for me.

Thanks @welshfarmer for that vid, given me some inspiration.

I would love to convert my camper van into a hybrid. It’s mainly a MTB shuttle bus so I use it on long journeys to where the decent hills are for biking and I don’t have the ability to charge it at home so I don’t think a pure EV system would work for me. But a hybrid system to help cut down on diesel usage while in town would be great.

Hmmm … goes of in search of EV conversation companies …

@wwaswas, can you give me a link to where I can find such a kit please? thanks.

I keep seeing 24kwh leaf batteries for about £4-5k. Two of those, albeit heavy, would give you at least 150 miles range. Or build that battery trailer with one…although as someone who tows a lot I would hate to have a trailer on when I didnt absolutely need it.

jairaj – “I would love to convert my camper van into a hybrid” – That’s a whole new level of complexity – most conversions rely on plugging an electric motor into where the engine or gearbox output shaft would go. Trying to piggy back one on to an existing IC engine powered vehicle is far more complex (from a packaging point of view, if nothing else as you’re not freeign up any space by removing engines and fuel tanks etc)

conversion kit:

https://zero-ev.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Tesla-Small-Drive-Unit-Kit.pdf

https://zero-ev.co.uk/ev-conversion-kits/
(sans battery and this is Tesla based which pushes costs up – I’ll have a look for a Leaf based one).

Daf 44, like the one we had when I was a kid.

I’m going to propose this. I’d fill the floor with batteries and keep the V8 for charging purposes, with today’s current tech solutions I reckon I could get 500miles out of it to enable at least one end-to-end journey.

Although there are some decent companies doing decent conversions out there you have to ask what’s the point. I love an old 911 as much as the next guy, but not sure i’d enjoy a converted electric 911. Part of the 911 experience is the engine, its short comings in power delivery, the vibration, the noise, the smell. Also stick a big heavy electric motor and battery pack in there and you completely change the weight distribution and dynamics of the car…another flawed, but endearing quality of such a car. So for me it sort of defeats the object of the point of the car in the first place. I’d much rather just have a modern electric car. The days of cars that are as much of an experience as a practical tool are over. The future of cars is boring, efficient, practically tools…white goods not for fun or enjoyment. So all the more reason, if you have an old classic car, to retain the originality and enjoy it for all its flaws. A bit like vinyl lovers.

This guys YouTube channel on converting a bmw to EV on a budget is pretty good;

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8sR7IAMOHKV-S_oz3JH3qw

A Mini 1275 GT but it would be known as a 1275 DC.

T4 obs

why would you want to ruin a classic car by converting it. The engine and handling is part of the experience.

I’m going to say a Bond Bug, but I don’t know how much EV stuff you’d get in place of a 50cc engine and it’s probably tiny fuel tank.

Volve amazon
Volve 262 with the chopped roof
Delorean

And a hillman imp for a runaround

joshvegas
…Delorean

Very difficult to get a big enough Flux Capacitor for that conversion…

The engine and handling is part of the experience.

I can understand the engine noise bit but with cities increasingly going for low emission zones that preclude the use of older IC engines alot of people will need to look at EV’s.

Handling’s unaffected if you do the install right (the weight of the battery plus motor install int he lectric E-types matches the XK enjine and sits in the same place in the car. Same for the new plug in/plug out DB5 Conversions aston martin now offer.

the AM DB5 one looks good – it’s a days labour to swap and it’s designed to go in and out as needed – so keep the EV for local use and bung the petrol one in for a track day/tour – best of both worlds.

MK1 MR2 for me. Quirky enough but even more of a laugh with electric torque.

80inch trials land rover. I’d like to have a motor mounted onboard of each hub, all controlled by some clever electronic gubbins that allows ‘total’ 4wd. Would be awesome and need its own new class it would be so capable. Could lose weight of engine, gearbox, transfer box, fuel tank, propshafts, diffs, and in trialling unsprung weight is quite advantageous.

Would also make an awesome rock crawler.

Another vote for a Delorean as quite frankly the factory fitted engine is crap, underpowered and very poor MPG.
Plus it might then have the clout to suit the looks.

thank you, @wwaswas

A Renault 5 GT Turbo.

It would go fast, whilst simultaneously not breaking down every three miles.

Range would be four or five times that of the petrol original.

I would have said Caterham 7, but they did that already themselves.

Late 60s mustang convertible. one of the few cars that looks better sans roof.
A car for cruising, not speed already (assuming you don’t butcher a hot one), most were auto so interior is OK, no dummy gear stick or redundant clutch (I assume the original gearbox is also removed in the conversion)

My lifted 02 Subaru outback. It’s built like a tank,has loads of room, goes where I want it to but lacks in acceleration.. 0 to 60 in less than 5 seconds would be fun. & There’s plenty of room on the roof for solar panels 😁