Electric classic cars are the EVs we need

The trend of electrifying modern automotive brands is good. EVs are not the final solution for mobility in the world, but they appear to be the next step. As automotive enthusiasts, the electric vehicle can be daunting. The new EVs will take away our manual transmissions and internal combustion engine sounds. It’s sad but true. There is some hope.

There are small automotive companies electrifying classic cars. EV West has been on the scene for a while now and electrified everything from a classic Beetle to a Pike Peak Hillclimb car. They will even sell you a conversion kit for $8,000. I discovered another EV company that looks like it will help auto enthusiasts. Electric Classic Cars is located in Newtown in the United Kingdom.

ECC’s previous projects include a VW Beetle, a classic Fiat 500, a VW Camper Bus, a 911, and a Range Rover. The Range Rover has an 80 kWh battery pack and an estimated range of 175 to 200 miles. It is also equipped with a heater, power steering, LED headlights, vacuum assisted brake system, and a hill descent mode. That is pretty great.

What caught my eye though was they tweeted about their next project. ECC is currently converting a Land Rover Defender to a fully electric drivetrain. They posted that they removed 450 kgs (992 lbs.) from the Defender.

This week they posted what they are planning to install in the Defender now that all the unnecessary bits have been removed. ECC is installing a 450 hp Tesla drive unit, a 90 kWh battery pack, a 22 kWh charger, heater, power steering, and a vacuum pump for brakes.

I’ve only driven a couple of EVs and I have yet to drive a Tesla. A classic car as an electric vehicle makes a ton of sense to me. Especially if it is your run about the city vehicle. I’ll keep an eye out for when this Defender is moving with its Tesla powertrain.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

15 responses to “Electric classic cars are the EVs we need”

  1. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    Will the Tesla drive unit connect to the front diff?

  2. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Brilliant idea, I’d take one in a heartbeat. Assuming you can put the batteries in a sensible spot and the quality of the conversion is good enough to get a fun car with basically no needs…lovely.

  3. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    I’m conflicted, to me the feel and sound of the engine and transmission is a large part of the classic experience. Putting an electric powertrain in place of the heart of the car fundamentally changes the experience. A Lotus Elan without a Twin Cam, a Range Rover without a V8, a Ferrari 275GTB without a V12, a Cuda without without its Hemi are like a Mitsuoka Viewt compared to a Jaguar Mark II There may be a case for electrifying a Fiat Jolly or Mini Moke, and a Daimler DS420 limo is a shoo in but so many car’s legend is the engine and if it’s replaced with a Tesla motor and a box of batteries, it’s no longer the legend,

    1. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      I was trying to rack my brains for best-case interpretations, and Citroen DS seems to be the best answer, maybe with an ’81-’83 Imperial as backup. Something cool looking, wafty, and powered either by an irrelevant, or bad engine.

    2. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Why shouldn’t both exist? Engines are usually not the first thing to fail, but if someone for whatever reason decides to go electric, and do it well, I think it can open up the classic/restomod-marked to a whole new crowd. People who are neither interested, nor competent nor maybe well-heeled enough to run a classic in its original configuration.

    3. Seanomatopoeia Avatar
      Seanomatopoeia

      There was another movie that had classic cars electrified. I don’t recall the title right now, but I recall Lincoln Connie’s with big rims making humming noises. I think time or lifespan was currency and the main character was a debt collector?

  4. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Electric classics that use new components and battery packs are the ultimate in tokenistic greenwash stupidity. Forget about destroying the “purity” of the car or enthusiast concerns and focus purely on their environmental impact.

    Classics are generally 2nd or 3rd cars used occasionally rather than daily driven, therefore their overall energy impact is minimal. Given that it takes around 10 years for the average long range EV to break even on overall lifespan CO2 useage vs a small petrol car, the case only gets worse when converting a vehicle that will likely cover 3000 to 5000 miles a year tops. Yes, less local air pollution, but I think CO2 which will ultimately make the planet uninhabitable absolutely outweighs statistically shortening human lifespans (even though people are actually living longer than ever) via a few extra particulates (which you’ll already get loads of from home heating anyway).

    It makes far more sense to either keep the original engine or at least do an engine swap from a newer scrapped/crashed vehicle. I’m not talking about some homebrew thing using a crashed Tesla or whatever, it’s the growth of these turnkey packages that’s dumb, feeding more into banning older vehicles from ULEZs (ultra low emissions zones), even though their overall impact is minimal.

    This stuff is purely so wealthy hipsters can drive the same boring old selection of predictable instagram friendly classics (LR Defender, VW Bus, Mini, Beetle) into urban areas “guilt free” and is pure nonsense.

    Stop it Hooniverse, Stop it…

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      I wasn’t even considering the environment, tbh…only economics and reliability.

      1. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        To be honest, I think even that’s a copout sell by anyone pushing EV conversions, because, he sure, you’ve upgraded the drivetrain, but everthing else is still 20 to 50 years old. You’ve still got rust, worn suspension components, steering, dashboards, etc. It’s not a panacea for the disinterested or mechanically non-inclined. Now they could do an extensive restomod of the whole car, but you can do that and put in a modern combustion engine in too (like an MGB with a Duratec) and I’d wager even a new crate engine conversion based restomod probably has a lower bill of materials in terms of eco impact that a new battery pack/motor.

        1. mdharrell Avatar

          “…rust, worn suspension components, steering, dashboards, etc.”

          Okay, I’m interested. How much are you asking?

    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      The “pollution of EVs versus gasoline cars” has so many variables it’s hard to make clear-cut statements. Is the electricity made from coal or from solar panels on your own house? Is mining of lithium bad? Yes, but so is “mining” of crude oil/refining it/sticking it in leaky pipes and tanks and then burning it. Even more so if the crude oil comes from tar sands. Do you count the wars fought to secure/maintain access to oil versus the lack of wars to maintain access to lithium (so far)? All of these change the answer somewhat.

      Yes, changing your daily driver to EV helps more than changing your collectible, but on the other hand that collectible pollutes the air even when sitting because it’s not exactly a PZEV. But to me the deciding factor NOT to upgrade my Corvair comes from weight: adding just the weight of a full Tesla battery pack is so much I’d also have to upgrade the suspension, brakes etcetera. So at that point it makes more sense to just put a Corvair body on a Tesla, at which point it’ll feel like driving a Tesla only without the crash safety.

      1. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        For regular cars, it can be hard, but for classics, I think it’s a lot easier to be be clear cut as you use so little fuel over the course of 10 years so materials becomes a much bigger part of the equation. Converting classics to run on ethanol (which in Ireland anyway, is made from dairy waste and would provide enough for the needs of classics, while at the same time reducing the CO2 impact of dairy farming, and helping keeping waste out of the water table) or developing synthetic fuels (e.g. fuel made from carbon extraction from the atmosphere) is arguably the most sustainable path forward for classics. Even for non-classics, I think maintaining a certain amount of the overall vehicle fleet as ICE (say 20% – and mostly small light vehicles, exactly the sort of car we are unwittingly killing off with fleet CO2 targets that have no exceptions based on vehicle weight) is probably better overall. I think the 100% EV adoption idea that is pushed in Europe is flawed on the old rule that 80% of the result takes 20% of the effort, but the final 20% takes 80% – while at the same time I think a mix would complement each other in terms of reducing overall CO2 if car useage and spatial planning patterns also got a huge overhaul.

      2. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        For regular cars, it can be hard, but for classics, I think it’s a lot easier to be be clear cut as you use so little fuel over the course of 10 years so materials becomes a much bigger part of the equation. Converting classics to run on ethanol (which in Ireland anyway, is made from dairy waste and would provide enough for the needs of classics, while at the same time reducing the CO2 impact of dairy farming, and helping keeping waste out of the water table) or developing synthetic fuels (e.g. fuel made from carbon extraction from the atmosphere) is arguably the most sustainable path forward for classics. Even for non-classics, I think maintaining a certain amount of the overall vehicle fleet as ICE (say 20% – and mostly small light vehicles, exactly the sort of car we are unwittingly killing off with fleet CO2 targets that have no exceptions based on vehicle weight) is probably better overall. I think the 100% EV adoption idea that is pushed in Europe is flawed on the old rule that 80% of the result takes 20% of the effort, but the final 20% takes 80% – while at the same time I think a mix would complement each other in terms of reducing overall CO2 if car useage and spatial planning patterns also got a huge overhaul.