conversions

  • Volkswagen e-Beetle

    With a new kit—likely only for Europe—Volkswagen is showing how easy it is to turn one of its classics into a fully electric car.

  • Transition-One electric Renault Twingo II conversion
    French company makes EV conversions easy for old clunkers

    Transition One is aiming to convert older gasoline cars to electric cars in Europe—for just a fraction of the cost of a new EV.

  • Tesla Model 3 pickup truck 'Truckla'
    Tesla Model 3 transformed into DIY electric pickup

    A YouTube star turned a new Tesla Model 3 into a compact pickup, and then filmed a fake ad for it "arriving nowhere."

  • Wiebe Wakker Plugmein.com waking up in Dompu, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia.
    Driving a converted electric car from Holland to Australia, relying on gifts

    What do you do when the year you planned for your round-the-world trip in an electric car turns into two—and you still haven't reached your destination? If you're taking such an ambitious trip, it helps to have a name as whimsical as Wiebe Wakker. He's the Dutchman undertaking this adventure...

  • Genovation GXE
    Genovation all-electric Chevy Corvette sports car debuts at CES

    The idea of an all-electric Corvette is either either a wonderful marriage of American history and electric performance or complete sacrilege. Love it or hate it, it's now a reality. A company called Genovation rolled out the creation, the Genovation Extreme Electric (GXE), at the 2018 Consumer...

  • 1967 Volkswagen Beetle 'eBug' electric-car conversion, owned by Richard Hugo  [photo: David Noland]
    1967 Volkswagen Beetle 'eBug' electric car first drive

    Richard Hugo, of Carpinteria, California, may be the only Tesla Model S owner in the world who prefers to drive his other car. But it’s not as crazy as it sounds; his second set of wheels is a gorgeous blue 1967 Volkswagen Beetle that he’s converted to electric power. It gets just as...

  • French startup Carwatt converts Renault Trafic diesel van to electric power [Carwatt, Fabien Berger]

    It's a frequent question about electric cars: What happens to the battery packs after they reach the limit of their automotive life? The usual answer is that they'll have a second life as energy storage in houses or for other stationary uses. But what if that second life were in another vehicle? DON'T MISS: Renault Zoe Electric Car: First Drive Of Europe's Leaf Alternative That's the suggestion of French startup Carwatt, which has build a prototype Renault Trafic delivery van repowered with used battery packs from Renault electric cars. By far the highest-volume electric car built by the...

  • Nissan Leaf pickup truck
    World's First Nissan Leaf Electric Pickup Truck, For Shop Use Only (Video)

    Nissan adds a pickup bed to the Leaf electric car for an unusual project.

  • Mini E electric vehicle
    Want To Lease A 2009 MINI E? If You Live In Delaware, You Can

    One of the earliest electric-car prototype test fleets of the modern day was made up of several hundred MINI E two-seaters, which hit U.S. roads on two-year leases from 2008 through 2010. MINI E drivers who loved driving electric--which is to say, many of them--were offered replacement BMW ActiveE...

  • Zelectric Motors' 1963 Volkswagen Beetle electric car
    Zelectric Motors' 1963 Volkswagen Beetle Electric Car Driven

    There is a line of thinking, naturally not shared by many of our readers, that engine noise is an integral part of the experience of driving a car. Lack of it in electric cars is one of myriad reasons the average gearhead is still skeptical of EVs. You may think then that swapping the familiar...

  • 2012 Ford Transit Connect 'glider' intended for electric conversion, as offered on eBay Motors
    Build Your Own Ford Transit Connect Electric: Gliders On eBay

    Remember the now-defunct Ford Transit Connect Electric? It was the all-electric conversion of the Transit Connect delivery van that actually sank Azure Dynamics, which declared bankruptcy in March 2012 after sales fell short of projections. If you've always wanted one, now's your chance. But...

  • Chevrolet Performance's rolling Camaro chassis - image: GM Corp
    $55,000 Kit To Build Electric Camaro Offered By GM

    Home-converting a car to electric power would be so easy were it not for all those inconvenient drivetrain parts you have to remove. It's like carmakers didn't think of what people might want to do with their cars--engine, gearbox, exhaust, filters, fuel tanks--they're all just lumps of metal...

  • Classic BMW 3.0 CS

    BMW's ActiveE coupe is a great little electric car. Even more so when it's working. It looks pretty good, there's decent performance on offer, and drivers enjoy BMW handling and BMW quality without having to feed a drop of gas into it. An electrified 1-Series coupe will never be quite as cool as Mike Pethel's electric BMW coupe, though. Based on a 1970 BMW 3.0 CS coupe, Mike's car is rather more potent than BMW's own electric effort. And on style, the neat 1-Series simply can't compete with the gorgeous classic's lines. When we say potent, we mean it. First, as you'll see in the video, the...

  • 1965 Mercedes-Benz SL electric car conversion [Images: eBay listing]
    Converted Mercedes SL Electric Car On eBay Is A Real Beauty

    Imagine your dream car. It would have to be beautiful. Classy, too, and utterly elegant and tasteful. No superfluous detailing, timeless lines, and a badge that demands respect. Oh, and it would be electric, making it as clean as any other electric vehicle on the road. For some, the 1965...

  • Amp Electric Jeep Grand Cherokee
    AMP Electric Vehicles Stops Car Conversions, Focuses On Trucks

    Ohio-based AMP Electric vehicles will no-longer convert gasoline cars to electric, it announced yesterday. Instead, the company announced on a conference-call yesterday, it aims to focus on converting medium-sized commercial vehicles to all-electric operation. “People told us how surprised...

  • MTSU's Plug-In Hybrid conversion kit (Image: MTSU)
    Convert Your Car To A Plug-in Hybrid? All You Need Is $3,000

    Not everyone can afford a new hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric car, but those who still wish to drive such a vehicle can still take the conversion route. Electric car conversions have been around for many years, and many people have converted their regular hybrids to plug-ins too, but a team at...

  • Carnegie Mellon University's ChargeCar electric Honda Civic conversion
    Electric-Car Conversions: Do They Really Stand A Chance?

    One of the first experiences many of today's electric car drivers had with EVs may well have been with a home-built conversion. With comparatively few factory-built electric cars available until quite recently, conversions and low-volume production models were the only ways into electric vehicle...

  • 2012 Fiat 500
    Karabag, Linde Make Electric Fiat 500, Reduces Running Costs

    With only a 1.4-liter engine and a relatively low purchase price, the regular 2012 Fiat 500 isn't what you might call an expensive car. German electric vehicle maker Karabag thinks it can make the little Fiat even cheaper though, and has installed an electric drivetrain into the car to prove it...

  • '39 Pontiac Electric Car Conversion (© Roanoke College)

    For as long as electric cars have existed, enterprising individuals around the U.S. have sought to convert gasoline cars to electric power. Over the years, we’ve seen everything from classic British sportscars through to SUVs and pickup trucks converted to run on electric power, with conversion budgets running from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. These days, thanks to Nissan, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and Tesla, electric car conversions have taken a back seat to more capable, impressive production vehicles. But car currently undergoing conversion to electric power at Roanoke...

  • 2011 Ford Transit Connect Electric
    Azure Dynamics Bankrupt, Built Ford Transit Connect Electric

    Well, that's not particularly good news: Azure Dynamics, the company that converted a handful of Ford Transit Connect small commercial vans to electric power, filed for bankruptcy on Monday. It laid off about 120 employees at a variety of locations in MIchigan, Massachusetts, Canada, and the United...

  • Ford F-750 Class 7 medium-duty work truck, plug-in hybrid conversion by Odyne
    Ford F-750 Plug-In Hybrid Work Truck: Not Your Little Leaf, Sonny

    Retail car buyers have to juggle a lot of factors in choosing a car, including image, family approval, and maybe-one-day-I'll-drive-across-the-country dreams. That may preclude a battery electric vehicle like a Nissan Leaf, with its 73-mile range. Commercial fleet buyers, on the other hand, look at...

  • GE WattStation Electric Car Charging Station
    Electric-Car Tax Credit Safe For Now, But Others Expiring Now

    For now, the electric-car purchase Federal income-tax credit remains safe. As we've written before, though, December 31 is the last day in which you can install an electric-car charging station and be able to deduct some of the costs from your income taxes. That credit allowed private individuals...

  • Amp Electric Jeep Grand Cherokee
    AMP To Bring All-Electric Jeep Grand Cherokee To Detroit

    The venerable Jeep Grand Cherokee, one of the longest-running SUV brands on the market, will be coming to the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as an all-electric car. But it isn’t heading to Detroit as an official release on the Chrysler stand. Instead, it will be there...

  • Volkswagen Beetle
    Want a Retro Electric Car? Firm Plans All-Electric VW Beetle

    When El Rey -- the final Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle to ever be made -- rolled off the Mexican production line on July 30, 2003, many Volkswagen fans around the world mourned the end of a 60-year production run. And with over 21.5 million original Volkswagen Beetles made, the VW Bug still holds the...

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