Racers, mechanics, tinkerers converting classic cars to EVs
DENVER — When Kevin Erickson fires up his 1972 Plymouth Satellite, a faint hum replaces what is normally the sound of pistons pumping, gas coursing through the carburetor and the low thrum of the exhaust.
Even though it’s nearly silent, the classic American muscle car isn’t broken. It’s electric.
Erickson is among a small but expanding group of tinkerers, racers, engineers and entrepreneurs across the country who are converting vintage cars and trucks into greener, and often much faster, electric vehicles.
Thomas Peipert, Associated Press
Kevin Erickson's electrified 1972 Plymouth Satellite is seen at his home Sept. 20 iin Commerce City, Colo. Erickson is part of a small but expanding group of tinkerers, racers, engineers, and entrepreneurs across the country converting vintage cars and trucks into greener, often much faster, electric vehicles.
Despite derision from some purists about the converted cars resembling golf carts or remote-controlled cars, electric powertrain conversions are becoming more mainstream as battery technology advances and the world turns toward cleaner energy to combat climate change.
“RC cars are fast, so that’s kind of a compliment really,” said Erickson, whose renamed ”Electrollite” accelerates to 0-60 mph in three seconds and tops out at about 155 mph. It also invites curious stares at public charging stations, which are becoming increasingly common across the country.
At the end of 2019, Erickson, a cargo pilot who lives in suburban Denver, bought the car for $6,500. He then embarked on a year-and-a-half-long project to convert the car into a 636-horsepower electric vehicle, using battery packs, a motor and the entire rear subframe from a crashed Tesla Model S.
“This was my way of taking the car that I like — my favorite body — and then taking the modern technology and performance, and mixing them together,” said Erickson, who has put about $60,000 into the project.
Jonathan Klinger, vice president of car culture for Hagerty, an insurance company and automotive lifestyle brand that specializes in collector vehicles, said converting classic cars into EVs is “definitely a trend,” although research on the practice is limited.
In May, the Michigan-based company conducted a web-based survey of about 25,000 self-identified automobile enthusiasts in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. About 1% had either partially or fully converted their classic to run on some sort of electrified drivetrain.
The respondents’ top three reasons for converting their vehicles were for faster acceleration and improved performance, for a fun and challenging project, and because of environmental and emissions concerns. About 25% of respondents said they approve of classic vehicles being partially or fully converted to EVs.
“Electric vehicles deliver some pretty astonishing performance just by the nature of the mechanics of how they work,” Klinger said. So it’s not surprising to him that a small percentage of people converting classic cars to EVs are interested in improving performance. He compared the current trend to the hot-rod movement of the 1950s.
But Klinger, who owns several vintage vehicles, said he doesn’t think electric motors will replace all internal combustion engines — especially when considering historically significant vehicles.
“There’s something satisfying about having a vintage car that has a carburetor,” he said, because it’s the same as when the car was new. Some enthusiasts want to preserve the sound and rumble of older cars’ original engines.
Thomas Peipert, Associated Press
Kevin Erickson walks by his electrified 1972 Plymouth Satellite at a public charging station Sept. 20 in Commerce City, Colo.
Other barriers to converting cars include the knowledge it takes to delve into such a complicated project, as well as safety concerns about tinkering with high-voltage components, the availability of parts, and the time it takes to realize a positive, environmental impact. Because classic vehicles are driven for fewer than 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) a year on average, it takes longer to offset the initial carbon footprint of manufacturing the batteries, Klinger said.
And then there’s the price.
Sean Moudry, who co-owns Inspire EV, a small conversion business in suburban Denver, recently modified a 1965 Ford Mustang that was destined for the landfill. The year-and-a-half-long project cost more than $100,000 and revealed several other obstacles that underscore why conversions are not “plug-and-play” endeavors.
Trying to pack enough power into the pony car to “smoke the tires off of it” at a drag strip, Moudry and his partners replaced the underpowered six-cylinder gas engine with a motor from a crashed Tesla Model S. They also installed 16 Tesla battery packs weighing a total of about 800 pounds (363 kilograms).
Most classic vehicles, including the Mustang, weren’t designed to handle that much weight — or the increased performance that comes with a powerful electric motor. So the team had to beef up the car’s suspension, steering, driveshaft and brakes.
The result is a Frankenstein-like vehicle that includes a rear axle from a Ford F-150 pickup and rotors from a Dodge Durango SUV, as well as disc brakes and sturdier coil-over shocks in the front and rear.
Although Ford and General Motors have or are planning to produce standalone electric “crate” motors that are marketed to classic vehicle owners, Moudry says it’s still not realistic for a casual car tinkerer to have the resources to take on such a complicated project. Because of this, he thinks it will take a while for EV conversions to become mainstream.
“I think it’s going to be 20 years,” he said. “It’s going to be a 20-year run before you go to a car show and 50 to 60% of the cars are running some variant of an electric motor in it.”
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Siroggaa // Shutterstock
In 2022, the average age of a vehicle on the road in the U.S. surpassed 12 years—a record high. The rising age of American cars is a longtime trend—the average age of automobiles in operation in the U.S. has grown by about 45% since 1995—that gained momentum in the last five years due to a constellation of changes within the automotive industry ranging from a decline in inventory to rising prices for new and used vehicles.
The General collected data from official government and various private sources to understand how the age of vehicles operating on U.S. roadways has changed. Sources include the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, IHS Markit, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Industry analysts and the dealerships servicing many of our cars and SUVs credit technical advancements for our longer relationships with vehicles. Suspensions are more rugged today, while engines are more fuel-efficient and can last longer than ever: Reaching 200,000 miles on your odometer without major issues is no longer unheard of. But new vehicles have also increased in price as manufacturers have produced fewer models yearly since 2017.
In 2018, the automotive industry saw a shift from a U.S. market saturated with new vehicles. Automotive sales had been slumping due to the Great Recession, but Americans emerging from it took advantage of the low-interest rates set by the Fed to take out loans. New car sales, in turn, soared.
An aging vehicle's owner might incur more maintenance costs as the vehicle racks up miles on the odometer. But eventually, the car loan is paid off and upkeep, insurance, and fuel become the main costs of owning the vehicle. Since a car typically loses value as it ages, an older vehicle also tends to be cheaper to insure than a new car. These factors can make holding onto a paid-off, aging vehicle—rather than trading up for a new ride—a solid proposition these days for everyday transportation.
Plummeting vehicle affordability since the onset of the pandemic threatens to add yet another factor to extending vehicle ownership. The biggest spikes in recent history for the cost of new and used vehicles jumpstarted in 2021, as computer chip shortages and supply chain troubles plagued manufacturers already hit hard by COVID-19 disruptions. Soaring demand and lower supply pushed prices to unaffordable levels for many prospective buyers.
Popular mainstream vehicles such as the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, which were affordable as recently as 2019, are now out of reach for the average consumer, according to a recent analysis by the used vehicle search engine iSeeCars.
The average monthly car payment for a new vehicle hit an all-time high of $648 earlier this year, according to Edmunds. While a five-year vehicle loan used to be common, consumers are more commonly signing six- and seven-year notes for new vehicles. Read on to learn more about how the length of car ownership has changed in the U.S. over the last few decades.
Siroggaa // ShutterstockIn 2022, the average age of a vehicle on the road in the U.S. surpassed 12 years—a record high. The rising age of American cars is a longtime trend—the average age of automobiles in operation in the U.S. has grown by about 45% since 1995—that gained momentum in the last five years due to a constellation of changes within the automotive industry ranging from a decline in inventory to rising prices for new and used vehicles.
The General collected data from official government and various private sources to understand how the age of vehicles operating on U.S. roadways has changed. Sources include the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, IHS Markit, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Industry analysts and the dealerships servicing many of our cars and SUVs credit technical advancements for our longer relationships with vehicles. Suspensions are more rugged today, while engines are more fuel-efficient and can last longer than ever: Reaching 200,000 miles on your odometer without major issues is no longer unheard of. But new vehicles have also increased in price as manufacturers have produced fewer models yearly since 2017.
In 2018, the automotive industry saw a shift from a U.S. market saturated with new vehicles. Automotive sales had been slumping due to the Great Recession, but Americans emerging from it took advantage of the low-interest rates set by the Fed to take out loans. New car sales, in turn, soared.
An aging vehicle's owner might incur more maintenance costs as the vehicle racks up miles on the odometer. But eventually, the car loan is paid off and upkeep, insurance, and fuel become the main costs of owning the vehicle. Since a car typically loses value as it ages, an older vehicle also tends to be cheaper to insure than a new car. These factors can make holding onto a paid-off, aging vehicle—rather than trading up for a new ride—a solid proposition these days for everyday transportation.
Plummeting vehicle affordability since the onset of the pandemic threatens to add yet another factor to extending vehicle ownership. The biggest spikes in recent history for the cost of new and used vehicles jumpstarted in 2021, as computer chip shortages and supply chain troubles plagued manufacturers already hit hard by COVID-19 disruptions. Soaring demand and lower supply pushed prices to unaffordable levels for many prospective buyers.
Popular mainstream vehicles such as the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, which were affordable as recently as 2019, are now out of reach for the average consumer, according to a recent analysis by the used vehicle search engine iSeeCars.
The average monthly car payment for a new vehicle hit an all-time high of $648 earlier this year, according to Edmunds. While a five-year vehicle loan used to be common, consumers are more commonly signing six- and seven-year notes for new vehicles. Read on to learn more about how the length of car ownership has changed in the U.S. over the last few decades.
