Unless you’re just emerging from a cave you stumbled into back in the mod-2000s, you’re already aware electric power is the future. For years now, lithium batteries have had the energy density required for practical long-range electric power in full-size automobiles and trucks, and battery technology continues to improve. More and more EV models are being announced from new and legacy brands. Charging networks are growing, and heck, it looks like we’re landing on a standard plug. You can even embrace the electric revolution without giving up your favorite engine-powered machines, thanks to EV conversion kits like these:
With enough ingenuity and know-how (or the bucks to pay someone with them), we reckon virtually any ICE car could be converted to electric power. Some make a ton of sense, like the Honda Element in the top shot. Says Jason, “The Element makes an excellent EV conversion option because that was never a car defined by its motor. Anything that propels that thing in the direction of your choice is just fine, electrons or pistons. And the size and ride height of the Element should adapt well to packaging batteries without eating up too much internal space.” True! Whoops, wait, he’s not done. “Plus, it has the sort of look that can adapt well to fat cables snaking around it, if needed.” Yes, also nice!
And some cars, like our Lamborghini Miura example, make little sense as EV conversions. What’s a Miura without its snarling, mid-mounted, transverse V12 engine just inches behind you, rattling your fillings loose?
And so, The Autopian Asks:
Which Cars Are Ripe For EV Conversion? Which Should Absolutely Never Be Converted To Electric Power?
To the comments!
First generation Toyota MR2.
I actually owned an electric version back in the 80s and it was the greatest car I’ve probably ever driven. Admittedly it was 1:20 scale, so incredibly cramped, and had a remote control instead of proper steering, but even with those drawbacks that thing was just plain fun.
Like mentioned with Air Cooled VW’s, I strongly considered an EV swap for my 1970 Squareback project. All the same quirks of beetles but with less readily accessible info online, and a good percentage the parts are significantly harder to source. If the swap wasn’t $15k+ it would have been plenty enticing.
As for other cars that should be swapped, honestly, I’m a believer in whatever it is you desire. 70’s 911? Your car, your cash, go crazy, although I would argue making it reversible (ie not chopping up the body, etc) is a very good idea just from a car value standpoint.
The Citroen SM. The car that always looks like it’s in the future.
The Element seems like the obvious choice. From the design to the name and target market for the vehicle, this would sell. Do it Honda. I dare you.
Any Hummer is a bad choice for an EV. Semi trucks also. The diesel engine is not the problem. Petroleum based fuel is.
Cool bio Peter.It seems most writers autopian hires have a good sense of humor 😀
Never?Vintage race cars! 90% of their appeal is in the dramatic sound they make.
Ones worth converting?Anything old that looks cool,but isnt super rare or valuable.
Any car where the engine itself is iconic, or a major factor in the car’s uniqueness/historical importance and driving enjoyment should never be converted. Any car where it’s importance and experience always relied on something other than the engine, and the mechanicals were always pretty ordinary/generic corporate parts bin stuff is fine for conversion.
I’d say Nissan’s Pike cars are good examples of the latter, their significance is their quirky retro styling, the powertrain is just ordinary 1980s Nissan stuff shared with a lot of the company’s models and also not all that substantially different than what was being built by competitors at the time.
A Porsche 911, though, would be the former, since the air cooled flat 6 is such a huge part of what makes a 911 a 911, swap out the drivetrain, and what’s the difference between it and any other coupe that’s been electric converted? The styling didn’t change much over the years in part because the appeal of the car was supposed to be based on a lot more than just styling
italian sports cars with those engines that are supposed to make it 5000km between rebuilds and need thousands of dollars of specialty parts and yet make like 200hp. Bonus point if all the rest of the drivetrain including the gearbox is kept in
I’m planning to convert MY Honda Element to EV as soon as the K24 engine dies.
So…it looks like I won’t be doing the conversion in the foreseeable future.
V8 or larger = no conversion
Everything else = conversion
Sorry, but you are suggesting swapping air-cooled Porsches, straight six BMWs, V6 Alphas, turbo V6 Buick GNXs, among other fab <8s. No can do.
Hmm OK you make a good point.
4 cylinder or under with 1:20 HP to weight or worse = yes
Anything else = no
Good – MGB product, I want to see an EV leak oil,
BAD – 1920a Duesenberg
Pre OBDII compact pickups with manual transmissions.
Non-rare but cool 90s-early 2000s cars/trucks should be good candidates, simpler drivetrain/electronics to rip out the better to cram all the EV guts in and have it work ok. But decent suspensions and some modern conveniences. So like a Dodge Stealth not many will weep over, Dodge Viper folks may get a little touchy about. Or like 5th Gen Mustangs, yay, and AEM has done a few, Ford GT nay.
Also if it genuinely improves the car via reliability/power, like older British or German cars with great handling but meh powertrain.
All these bubbly ev sedans remind me of the third gen Taurus so I’d like to convert one of them. I’m not sure of the drag coefficient of them or how efficient it would be but it’d be a fun little runabout.
Aerodynamics are terrible but I still want to swap a LEAF motor and batteries into a Nissan compact pickup. Unfortunately, I’d have to retain the driveshaft and rear diff, so there wouldn’t be much room between the frame rails for the batteries.
I wish those EV solid axles were available in compact truck size.
There’s an electric SxS from Polaris, that kind of unit might work. Also there must commodity solid axles with motor units being produced in China for their compact agricultural utility trucks?
Americans would throw all their money at Toyota if Toyota made an electric Camry. It would convert a ton of skeptics.
Toyota’s in-house skeptics aren’t converted yet.
Personally I don’t think any vintage car should be converted, but I have a rabid aversion to any type of restomodifications. If you want a new car with modern tech, get a blankety-blank new car with modern tech!
How do we define vintage… if it has chrome bumpers and whitewalls were a factory option. Anything newer than that, sure, why not. But also, why?
the alternative option there would be if you could drop the tailshaft out, stick an electric motor on the back of the gearbox, and a new shorter tailshaft, then put the battery/inverter box in the boot.
that way, you keep the same old original engine and drivetrain, but with a hybrid assist to potentially making it faster, more efficient, quieter, and minimising wear on the old engine. it would also be pretty much completely reversible, if that car does become a priceless museum piece.
If the choice is between sending it to the crusher and doing an EV conversion, which should we choose?
I randomly found a channel on Youtube called Electric Classic Cars, and they do a whole boatload of cars. Ferrari’s, Range Rovers, Fiats, and some other odd classics. They had a recent video where they went over their current projects and there are some classics in there. https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/past-projects
I always thought a hatchback Saab 900 Classic (non-turbo) would be fairly ideal given their longitudinal fwd engine arrangement limiting torque-steer.
Electrify a Ford Tempo. Nobody would know or care.
I like this idea, especially if it has 300+ horsepower in it and can accelerate from 0-60 mph like some exotic supercar. Torque steer out the ass though, in something like that…
Something like the ~900HP rusty old Ford Escape being built by “Aging Wheels” on youtube?
Yes, but in 80s Ford Tempo form. Keep it looking stock. Bonus points if it’s beige. It would be a most excellent troll.
Hot take: the BMW i3 REX.
Remove the engine and gas tank, and give it the bigger battery that it never had. An i3 with 250+ miles of range, that is what I want.
If the top comment is DeLorean I don’t even want to live in this world. The engines and transmissions were all kind of crap anyway, and the retro future ev retrofit totally vibes with the back to the future cyperpunkness of the car anyway.
As long as the electric motor is powered by a fusion reactor, I’m ok with it.
Fission is also acceptable. The original model was powered by a fission reactor, hence the need for plutonium.
Ripe: an EV Citroen DS. The engine was the only thing about the car that wasn’t tremendously avant-garde when it came out, so a modern EV powertrain swap seems fitting, and fits the car’s vibe.
I’d go further and suggest just about any 60’s-80s Citroen. SMS, CXs, and the like.
I would love to do a kei-truck EV conversion. A Suzuki Carry or Honda Acty – something solid, just on the bright side of the 25-year import rule. I think the small, cabover profile is an ideal platform for batteries, motors, etc. It’s not something I would ever use for long trips, so I could live with shorter range in exchange for a little more hauling capacity, lowered center of gravity, and being able to reliably take it on the highway.
Driving a Kei cabover in regular traffic is terrifying, I can’t imagine doing so on a highway.
Any old Volvo, would love to see an Amazon or a P1800 electric!
The answer is clear:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jRoeTzvuI14
Its already got atomic batteries, its even got a home nuclear reactor recharger! Just replace the turbines with electric motors and you’re good to go.