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21 Firms that will convert your classic into an EV
- nimbius 3y agoSpeaking as a diesel engine mechanic, this is a pretty trivial swap and one I absolutely find exciting. However, these firms need to be able to not only convert but dispose of some of the uglier stuff connected with these old drivetrains. Lead and asbestos and pcb's are all pretty common in old big block cars all the way to the late seventies.
- legitster 3y agoCertain cars will benefit from this more than others. Try to find a working drivetrain for an old MG or Jaguar! A EV swap is an easy way to bring those beauties to life. On the other hand, those poor old 911s. Renowned for their fine balance, it's not going to be the same car at all with an extra 3000lbs of batteries. I'd be kind of "meh" about the environmental benefits. To be registered as "classic" cars, most governments have strict annual mileage limits. That is if you even put many miles on a sports car in a year to begin with. It's probably better use of time and money to electrify boring commuter cars than garage queens.
- Retric 3y agoA 100kWh battery weighs 1,300 pounds. The engine in a 911 from the 1970’s weighs roughly 450 lb + 100 lb for the transaxle etc. So you could maintain the same weight and weight distribution and with a ~50kWh battery depending on how well the conversion is done.
- smileysteve 3y agoThe best way around the weight gain is a thin battery pack underneath the body, it lowers the ground clearance slightly, but you can distribute it evenly and it will be lowest for center of gravity.
- jacquesm 3y agoThat will not work. A 911 is super close to the ground already and the first bit of debris on the highway will kill your battery (and possibly kill you in the fire that will surely develop). You want a nice barrier between your batteries and road debris, and you want to make sure there is absolutely no way that your battery box will get scraped if you cross a traffic obstacle.
- _yb2s 3y agoI drive an older Porsche and am considering an EV conversion. I would opt to do it myself, and keep the weight and weight location (balance) exactly identical to stock. To do this, it would require using a relatively small battery with less range to keep the weight low. A Tesla Model Y has a 1700lb battery, and 300 mile range. So as a rough approximation, I could get 70 miles of range with a 400lb battery in place of the 400lb engine. That would be more than enough for me. Realistically, I could probably go even further than 70 miles with that size battery since the Porsche is a much smaller car, that weighs only 60% what a model Y weighs. I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure. Rebuilding a porsche engine properly is crazy expensive, more than the parts for an EV conversion. Here's the thing... if you're going to do all of the work and expense of an EV conversion (maybe $100k for a pro job, or $10-20k in parts plus a lot of work), you want something unique and fun to drive. Nothing is really as fun to drive as a Porsche...
- t-writescode 3y agoI'm genuinely excited for this becoming commercialized and more frequent. I very much love my car, but I'm not excited about how much pollution it introduces to the environment. Being able to have the internals rotated over to electric would be a huge benefit to me, I think!
- ars 3y agoPeople are doing this for fun basically, or if the car is otherwise non-functional. There's almost no possible way the energy involved in doing this in a working car outweighs the CO2 savings you'll get.
- fwmcbumcrumble 3y agoEspecially an infrequently driven classic car. Unless you're running no cats and drive it well over a thousand miles a year you'd never reach a net neutral emissions.
- paul7986 3y agoPersonally until driving an EV matches the exact same experience as a gas car ..I.e filling car at gas station takes three minutes & same amount of ev chargers as gas stations through the US (in same varied locations) then I have no interest in spending more money to be inconvenienced. Again just my opinion / preference yet EV sales are down and maybe not just my own preference.
- thejazzman 3y agoMost people with an EV wake up everyday with more range than they need; you're spending more "time" refueling than they are
- recursive 3y agoEVs will never be identical to ICE. But it's also true already EVs are more convenient and safe in some ways. These arguments have been hashed and rehashed, so I won't draw it out. But you can fill at home, never need an oil change, and can run the car without fumes. They're different enough that they're never going to be better in every conceivable metric. Much like how cars aren't better than horses or bicycles in every conceivable way.
- thebruce87m 3y agoIF you can charge at home it’s fine. You have to change your thinking. Those 3 minutes you spend filling up are saved. You might then spend some of them on long trips. I have spent the same amount of time waiting for my mobile phone to charge as my car - 0 minutes, it charges when I sleep. On long trips it’s normally a 15 min charge every 2 - 3 hours and I’ve normally went to the toilet or grabbed something to eat anyway so it’s not really extra time. It’s just different. Lots of people are incapable of planning or research which is the biggest issue for the masses. They haven’t quite “idiot proofed” the whole process.
- zoover2020 3y agoAgreed. This whole discussion is really fueled (ha!) by a lot of ignorance on the subject. Going into my third year as an EV owner and am really happy
- gnicholas 3y agoDoes electrification generally result in regenerative braking being possible? I would think the easiest way would be to leave the legacy brakes, but that means that range wouldn't be as good (especially around town).
- djbusby 3y agoLoads of kits I see include regen braking.
- smileysteve 3y agoIf you're rebuilding the wheel hubs, it's irresponsible to not add (at least front) disc brakes, they brake so much faster and safer than drums + shoes.
- _yb2s 3y agoMost of the desirable classic european sports cars have 4 wheel discs even back into the early 1960s.
- ajross 3y agoSurely, at best, only on the power wheels. So unless you're kitting out an AWD "classic" you still need mechanical brakes for safety.
- gnicholas 3y agoYeah I wondered about this. How do they coordinate between the two types of braking? Maybe the easiest way would be to have relatively high regen by default (approaching 1-pedal driving), and then leave the actual brake pedal alone? Otherwise it would be a bit complicated, and risky.
- ajross 3y agoYou don't really have to. If the default state with the accelerator released is to regen at a reasonable rate, the car remains very controlable. That's the way all Teslas work by default. So the car slows down as you release the accelerator and you can use the brakes to stop faster as needed.
- rgmerk 3y agoIf I were doing a conversion like this I’d be tempted to have a go at a luxury sedan from the 70s or early 80s, something like a W126 Mercedes S-Class or a Series III Jag. Firstly, these are big and heavy cars (at least for their time) and can cope with the weight of a battery pack a lot better than a Porsche 356 or 911. Second, they are still reasonably common and you’re not going to feel guilty for chopping up an incredibly rare piece of automotive history. Third, an EV conversion is likely to result in a car that’s better for its intended purpose (except perhaps for 100mph+ autobahn cruising, which isn’t an issue unless you’re in Germany) than the original vehicle. An electric 911 conversion is almost certainly not a more fun canyon carver or track car than a petrol one, but an electric W126 Mercedes would be a very pleasant way to cruise.
- neilv 3y agoOr, if the intended purpose is cruising around Hawaii, the ideal shell is an early '80s red Ferrari 308 GTSi.
- jolmg 3y agoAs someone that's not all that into cars, what's the connection between Hawaii and the Ferrari?
- gedy 3y agoOld TV show, "Magnum PI" set in Hawaii
- neilv 3y agoThe "Magnum, P.I." TV series, set in Hawaii, featured a Ferrari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_XcSRWzq2s&t=1m36s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_XcSRWzq2s&t=1m36s
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- throwaway019254 3y agoI believe it's "Magnum, P.I." reference,
- dave78 3y agoThis immediately made me think of the commercial in Back To The Future 2 where they're advertising hover conversions for older cars. And the price was "only" $39,999.95 which is probably pretty close to what these places are charging.
- mike_hock 3y ago8 years too late and they don't even hover!
- mab122 3y agoDoes anyone have list for EU?
- 0xbadcafebee 3y agoI'd prefer them convert my truck into an EV. For a 9mpg truck with a 35gal tank, that's a $140 fill-up for 315 mile range. Not even counting the maintenance on ICE trucks, that's decent savings over time. I'm confused why "small" (1/4 to 1 ton) truck EV conversion isn't a market. Buying a used truck and converting it should be cheaper than buying an EV truck, and there's classes of trucks with no EV alternative at all.
- gedy 3y agoI plan to DIY this with an old VW Beetle I have. There are cheap conversion kits available from Alibaba[0], but need to do further research. [0] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Conversion-kit-for-VW-Beetle-1965_1600492506469.html https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Conversion-kit-for-VW...