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!
I like the Honda Element idea in the photo above. I owned one for a while. There’s enough space underneath for a HUGE battery pack. It’s almost like they designed it for a battery pack and then just didn’t install it. Plus, despite its ugliness, it was the most versatile vehicle I’ve owned. The only downside I could think of, it would likely need some suspension upgrades to handle the additional weight, but that’s easy.
My philosophy is that the best cars for electric conversion candidates would be those that are beautiful but mechanically complicated, unreliable, or otherwise problematic.
At one extreme, there’s no point in converting a 2015 Camry to electric because it does its job just fine as designed. It’s easy to keep running with simple maintenance and plentiful parts. Don’t fix what’s not broken.
At the other extreme, there are cars that simply can’t be driven anymore because replacement parts have been out of production for decades or their mechanicals are just too finicky to get working properly even for a drive down the street to Starbucks. An electric swap would breathe new life into such a vehicle.
Somewhere in the middle of those two extremes is the fun weekend cruiser. Its owner may have enjoyed tinkering with it in the past but now has other responsibilities or has lost interest. Instead of just letting it rot away in a garage, he can now get in electric swapped. It’ll require much less attention, range won’t really matter since he’s not using it for a commute or for road trips, and he won’t even get dirty looks from pedestrians or other motorists because it’ll be quiet and smoke-free.
Personally I’ve always liked the idea of electrifying already grille-less cars. Beetles (even though they violate my note above about not electrifying cars that are easy to maintain with plentiful parts), Karmen Ghias, Avantis — all would be cool as electric cars. Or how about an electrified Toyota Sera? I’d feel like I came from the future driving something like that around and then stepping out of those amazing butterfly doors.
I bet an old Citroen SM where someone blew the engine, or one such car in need of massive restoration work, would be a great candidate. It’s more slippery than a 1st gen Honda Insight, although heavier, and has more room for batteries. You could probably fit a 50 kWh pack of Model 3 cells in it, a modern switched reluctance AC drive system with a transmission delete, and exceed 300 miles per charge highway at 75-80 mph while remaining near stock weight. And you’d be able to seat 5.
Yes! That’d be a really good one!
There are futuristic EV studebaker avantis in the movie Gattaca
A 1980s XJS v12 fits the bill. Design perfection and a drivetrain that can drive to other places than the shop? I’ll take two.
I’d love an electrified Previa, the engine is so inaccessible, and it has room for a diff-motor housing at each axle, not to mention the cavernous drivetrain box under the floor. The Space Egg deserves it.
I really want to EV convert something old and small. Ford Escort Mark I or II, 70s Corolla or 120Y, E30. Something simple
The Late Brake Show on YouTube featured converted Range Rovers to hybrid and maybe future EV conversion. That’s one way to get rid of Lucas’ gremlins!
If you’re looking for a lightweight sports car, a Triumph GT6 is a great candidate for EV conversion. I have a 20.8 kWh pack of CALB LiFePO4 batteries in mine, and it weighs slightly less as an EV than it did running on gasoline. I retained the transmission. If I upgraded to a more modern electric drive system, used a 40 kWh pack of batteries from a Tesla Model 3, and did a transmission delete, and installed some rudimentary aerodynamic modifications, it could potentially end up weighing under 1700 lbs, offer a 300 mile highway range, and run 11 second 1/4 miles, while having a roll cage fitted in it. Can’t go wrong with a Spitfire, either.
A Honda Insight with a failed engine or battery is also an excellent conversion candidate. Stock-bodied, it will need about 150 Wh/mile with a modern EV drive system. Other efficient donor candidates include a Honda CRX, Geo Metro, all generations of Toyota MR2, Opel GT, Porsche 914, old VW Beetles, VW Karmann Ghias, Fiat Spyders, I could go on and on.
Avoid converting old Jeeps. Their aerodynamics suck and you will get very poor range per dollar spent.
“Avoid converting old Jeeps. Their aerodynamics suck and you will get very poor range per dollar spent.”
How about as dedicated off-roaders though? Aerodynamics don’t matter when you’re crawling over rocks but torque does.
That is true, but you’re at best only going to be getting 2 miles per kWh of battery. If you want decent range on the street, your Jeep is going to be very heavy. Going to a lighter offroad machine isn’t going to help a whole lot either, like say, a Suzuki Sidekick or Samurai or Jimny, but it will allow you to lose some weight.
A fiberglass body cj-2 or cj-3 would not weigh much and you want to be done driving the things by the time the battery is drained. they are only fun in short durations.
Thank you for using the Miura photo I took for Wikipedia (they are indeed free to use), but why did you mirror it?
I think Ford should hire me to EV convert a 60s Thunderbird along with custom modern suspension. It’s a big car with very cool styling and interior, and an underwhelming engine/chassis. It’s character suits EV power. What shouldn’t be converted is stuff where the engine is part of what makes the car, classic Ferraris, Porsche (except 912), things like that. Especially if a particular weight distribution like in a 911 is compromised.
T-Bird! I couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly. Especially if you could get your hands on an Eluminator – https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9000-MACHE – Ford’s electric crate motor.
Any and all malaise-era land yachts/personal luxury coupes. Cordobas, Mark V/VIs, Delta 88s, etc. ’50s/60s cruisers would be good too, but anything with 180 horsepower out of 400 cubic inches needs a better power option for sure.
Lots of room for batteries too. Plus dat fine Corinthian leather!
Came for this! Some of those land yachts had style for days, and you could jam a lotta batteries under that mile-long hood.
Don’t stop with the Mark VI, VIIs and VIIIs would be even better candidates due to lighter weights and better aero. A Mark VIII with its tiny grille would make an excellent ev.
Blasphemy!
I’ve often thought that a mid-90s 2nd Gen Eagle Talon would work (I prefer the styling of the Talon to the Eclipse). If you removed the AWD drivetrain and fuel system, you might have room for batteries, controllers, and a rear motor. Batteries and electronics under the hood, batteries in the transmission tunnel and back seat area, and a motor in the rear diff area. Or maybe motor and controllers up front, batteries in the back, and retain AWD.
I would like an EV that’s fun to drive yet practical. In my opinion the best way to make any car fun to drive and practical is to make it a sporty 2door hatchback. An old 80s hot hatch converted to electric (I’ll take an ’88 Mitz Starion EV in black please) would suit me perfectly fine.
A modern EV in 2door hatch configuration with range and zip would fit the bill too. Remember when the internet was filled with Model 2 Performance rumors last year? Or some mythical ID.3 GTX? I’d take either of those too.
The Nissan Figaro! And a whole bunch of tiny Kei class cars, cool vans, and trucks could benefit. They are all cool and useful, and only held back by the tiny engine constraints (which they need for the Japanese tax issue, but not over here!), would be great to zip those along on an electric car’s skateboard base.
Personally I’d like an assortment of electric hot hatches, but realize that will always be a niche crowd.
Honestly, I wouldn’t exclude any car from electrification, but I’d particularly go for some of the big, body-on-frame boats from the 50s. Love to have an Eisenhower era Eldorado Biarritz to cruise the strand, top down without needing to take out a second mortgage every time I filled the tank.
Now, don’t ask me why my mind wanders in the direction of an electric 60’s 500,
but instead ask my why it doesn’t wander towards an electric Probe.
Good Idea:
David’s idea of an EV Jeep FC is still a sound idea, IMHO. Similarly, any other body-on-frame pickup would be relatively easy to work on and stow batteries because of the unused space between and below the frame rails.
Bad Idea:
Any ICE motorcycle. Locating the batteries in/on such a small platform would be a nightmare. Similarly but almost as bad would be any unibody vehicle designed for ICE. Exceptions would be toy vehicles where range isn’t an issue, such as sports cars.
The #1 car for an EV conversion is a 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible.
was going to suggest that, on plaid configuration it would be mindblowing to watch that land yacht fly by in total silence
This is exactly correct.
I’m thinking of cars that were made in huge numbers, had models without a noteworthy powertrain, and is a candidate for a thorough restomod would look great cruising around almost silently.
’60’s & ’70’s Ford Thunderbirds. Particularly 1963.
Any 1960’s slab sided Lincoln Continental.
Almost (good lord not 1986–1993) any post 1963 Buick Riviera. Anything that looks space-age or atomic-age. Anything with big ass fins that came with a huge lump of a V8 and a ginormous gas tank.
Blasphemy!
Thank goodness anti-blasphemy laws are unconstitutional. 🙂
I think the Karmann Ghia and VW bus are are two of best options. The Ghia looks like it should have always had performance, and the VW Bus is just a dog with the standard engine. I would not swap a Beetle, which seems odd given my other choices. Somehow the Beetle to me is just supposed to sound like it does. Jags, Triumph, original Mini and MGs are also cars I think would be cool EVs, if it could be done without wrecking the look of the cars.
I’ve thought about EV 80 series. The weight loss from the huge cast iron block would support a LOT of batteries. Horrid efficiency, but lots of room and payload for batteries. Drop the fuel tank and engine/trans and you are looking at nearly 1000 lbs. Thats between 60-80 Kw/hr worth of batteries alone. plus its a HUGE front volume to put them in and its built to handle that kind of weight. You also have 1600 lbs of payload so you could nearly double that if you can find room for the batteries and still have about the same payload as a wrangler.
Plus there are no expectations for it to be fast, so you don’t have to put in a huge motor. The 150 KW motor from something like a Bolt would be more than enough.
You would never get back to the range it had with a gas engine, but you could get pretty close.
I think the first-gen Honda Insight is a great contender for an EV conversion. Lightweight, aerodynamic, yet with ample space to fit a motor, batteries, and all the assorted hardware required for EVs due to its ample trunk space. Plus imagine the insanity of dropping a 1000+ hp Model S Plaid drive unit into the back of one lol
This is one of the best choices around, from an efficiency standpoint. You’ll get a lot more range per dollar spent on batteries than almost anything else.
I want an EV SAAB sonnet. There are so many older usually British convertibles with sketchy engines that would be cool to EV.
Especially the 1st and 2nd gen. Drag coefficient was only 0.29, small frontal area, very light. Stock-bodied and keeping it at or below GVWR, this is a car that will only need about 150 Wh/mile with a modern AC or brushless PMDC drive system.
Also can’t go wrong with an old Saab 96 if you need to seat 4 people. These can get about 180 Wh/mile.
I feel like anything body on frame would be a good candidate. Put the motor where the transmission is, stuff battery packs in the engine bay and where the gas tank was, and up between and next to the frame rails. An electric ’59 caddy or ’63 continental would be a dope boulevard cruiser. Silent and menacing.
I would simply go off of whether or not the powertrain is special. If it’s an Iron Duke 4 popper or something, swap away. If it’s a Porsche flat 6, Coyote V8, turbo 5 from an Audi, etc.? Hell no! Leave it be.
It seems to me like anything not purchased for its resale value is a candidate. Like, a thousand-mile garage queen with all original equipment might be an investment, but a 1983 Ferrari Mondial with a hundred thousand miles, replica wheels and contemporary tires, and scuffed paint wasn’t purchased to be anything other than a sweet ride. If conversion enhances its drivability and longevity, why not?
The VW Bus makes a lot of sense to me.
All Porche 924/944s, Most Porsche 928’s (except for later models with manuals).
I’m curious– why? I get that many 928’s are beyond repair at this point and the v8 is way over complicated. I also get that most 924’s originally had a weird audi derived engine rather than a porsche unit. I don’t get why the 944 and 924s are included in your list- both had rather nice simple porsche motors that are fairly easy to keep going.
The rear tranxaxle in all of those models lends itself better for EV motor packaging. JB Straubel (original CTO at Tesla) got his start electrifying a 924/944. And even though I’ve never owned one, all I’ve heard from people that purchased a project 924/944 is that they are a pain to work on and parts are super expensive and/or difficult to find for a car that doesn’t have the resale value to justify it (like any air cooled 911).
928 is pretty much the same story, but I do have a soft spot for the last versions with the 32v v8/manual combo.