Love them or hate them, electric vehicles are here to stay and have been adopted by more than just folks looking for a new car. Sure, there are plenty of folks buying electric vehicles from GM, Tesla, Nissan, Toyota, etc, but there are also people that don’t want a “new” car. It’s just not their thing, but they do want to go electric. The motivation for this varies, and we won’t get into the philosophical arguments for or against, but regardless of their reasons now there are options. That’s because there are more and more companies popping up that offer electric vehicle swap kits, upgrade parts, etc. So there has never been a better time to do an electric car swap than now!
If you want your favorite older car, but electric, or already own a car that you like but want it to be electric, you can do that. What’s cool is that the Volkswagen crowd has really embraced this technology and there are complete bolt in kits for them. You can also buy a complete kit for many air cooled Porsche’s as well, since they are very similar to air cooled VWs. There are plenty of others, as well as universal systems and components, but this video is all about a super clean Karmann Ghia going electric.
Starting with a car this clean certainly makes the transformation easier in some ways, since there isn’t a bunch of repairs to be made in order to get it running, but I can see starting with a wore out Bug in need of a restoration, and just going electric instead. But I wonder what other cool cars or trucks we could make electric?
If you had to choose a vehicle to make electric, what would it be?
CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE SOME OF THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CONVERSION KITS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
Questions:
What about vehicle registration and insurance for this vehicle once it’s been converted?
Do you have to lie about the fact that it’s been converted to being a full on EV to both the DMV and your insurance provider?
I’ve found that conversions like this are possible but registration, insurance AND LIABILITY are major concerns that make in not feasible.
If you’ve got no solutions to these concerns above (nation-wide) then your only telling PART of the story!
so this kit is 30-50k depending on batteries if I read the website right?
I have been silently following this site for years. I have never left a comment before and for that I feel guilty because it is filled with inspiration. “Sign me up to watch!” is an attitude that has expired thanks to this video! I chime in because I am confused about where the next generation gets their foundation. I am in the “business” like most of us on here and the rest who are inspired to be. I really enjoyed the quality of this segment. The folks at EV are motivated and probably could dominate any business they put their minds to. But I would like you to reach into your Crayola Crayon box of youth and find the shade of Scared to Death. Pull it out and break it in half. Now eat it. That is the taste in my mouth. I just realized I am a dinosaur. When I grew up, the most perfect car in the world for a car guy’s first encounter was an air cooled VW. Now that this video is floating around I am scared to death my all original 6v 1962 beetle will be hacked to death when I am dead. WHAT ARE WE SAVING THEM FOR? By the way… an LS swap kit makes way more sense….
As an owner of 2 aircooled classic vws the simple fact is that you are butchering history! I also own a 4wd vanagon synchro and every hipster that sees it has to preach to me about why it needs a Subaru motor in it??! I wmt through the minor trouble of removing the efi and installing dellortos a dist. with points ratio rockers and a custom exhaust (I live in Oregon so no smog) It runs like a raped ape and has the grunt to climb over anything….but to canabalize it (it is really rare) HELL NO!
I’ve got an old 68 auto-stick VW Bug.
Perfect for hacking to death or to cannibalize!
KNOWONE makes the parts I need for the stupid systems that they THOUGHT were a good idea when it was designed & built. I mean really, the stupid thing has a torque converter AND a clutch disc/pressure plate. The parts that activate the pressure plate/clutch are impossible to find.
Option 1 would be to convert this POS to being a stick shift, but I’d need the “cores” of an engine and tranny from another stick shift VW, which isn’t feasible for me.
Option 2 would be to go full on EV! My feasibility study found that it is feasible for around $10 K in parts but……….. Read my previous post!
I guess I could donate it to a museum or, maybe Jay Leno would buy it to restore!
Anyone out there got any other ideas or options for me?
Maybe we could get into the “way-back machine” and take it to “THE BOG” at Watkins Glen Raceway! It wouldn’t last 10 minutes there!