Converting classic vehicles to electric power is a topic that carries as much controversy as, say, a German theologian nailing his 95 theses to a church door. Heresy! Take away that combustion engine and you’re taking away a beloved icon’s beating heart, leaving an appliance behind that has no more soul than a toaster.
In some cases, the purists have a point. Yes, converting a Ferrari 355 to battery-electric might make it more reliable and bring down servicing costs, but it’d completely ruin the charm of one of the greatest mid-engined V8 sportsters to come out of Maranello. But would such tears be shed over losing the 1.8L lump out of a vintage MGB? That cast-iron four-cylinder made all of 95 hp, and actually weighed more than the Rover V8 that got put in some of the GT ‘Bs.
RWB, a company based in the U.K., swaps out the MGB’s four for 43 kWh worth of batteries and a 188-hp electric motor that transforms the classic British roadster into something new and fresh. Admitted, part of the joy-slash-misery of British-car ownership should properly include hitting the oily bits with a hammer while swearing, but you can’t fault RWB’s blend of vintage look and modern power.
This got us thinking: what other classic machines could benefit from an EV swap? We mean ones that not even the purists could complain about — machines that are just crying out to be improved with a battery pack and electric drive. Here are seven picks for EV conversions that have the potential to be not only un-heretical, but positively divine.
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II
“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.” This famous tagline, penned in the 1950s by ad-man David Ogilvy, is as good as they come. It’s also basically a lie, as a 1950s Rolls looks graceful, but is only genteel when compared to its rough-and-tumble contemporaries.
With Rolls-Royce having embraced the modern EV age in the form of the Spectre, what could be better than a battery-powered vintage Roller? Rolls could even pull this off itself, building a gorgeous restoration using its in-house craftspeople to create flawless wood, leather, chrome, and paint, then installing an EV powertrain for gliding around London’s low-emission zone.
Citroën DS
The DS is French elegance personified, a car of such peerless grace that saying its name aloud – déesse – is to invoke the French word for “goddess.” Unfortunately, under its curving sheetmetal is a series of four-cylinder engines that are as boring as onion soup.
Instead, imagine gloriously gliding away from a Parisian curb as the air suspension elevates the car into supple isolation. It’d be wonderful, and you could perform the same trick with the later CX model, too, now celebrating its 50th birthday.
Even Citroën seems to think it’d be a good idea, as it’s just shown off an electric-powered reimagining of the SM coupe, cousin to the DS. Though I’d argue that particular classic should keep its Maserati-derived V6 powertrain.
Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
The Karmann Ghia is beautiful. It is stylish. It is handmade and sporty-looking. It’s also slower than a contemporary Volkswagen Beetle, upon whose platform it rides.
That rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive chassis is the perfect layout for conversion to electric. Simply bolt your electric motor to the rear axle, dump a battery pack up front where the fuel tank used to be, and off you go. EV conversion specialists like EV West in California have been doing this swap for Beetles for years. They even built one for Ewan McGregor.
Who wouldn’t say, “Hello, there,” to a classic Karmann Ghia that finally has the straight-line performance to match its slippery looks? And, as the Ghia is common (not quite as common as the Beetle, but still) there’d be plenty of sluggardly air-cooled ones for those who are into that sort of thing.
Aston Martin Lagonda
Nightmarishly unreliable if you don’t know what you’re doing, the futuristic-looking Lagonda saloon did come with a proper V8 under its angular hood. But that doesn’t mean it was powered by eight cylinders — rather that it was occasionally powered by seven, or three, or none at all.
This means that, with a few notable exceptions, Lagonda owners just look at them instead of driving them. Imagine though, a twin-motor Lagonda with performance like a Tesla Model S, combining those peak-1980s looks with the ability to jump to plaid speed like Spaceball One. It’d be a complex conversion, but not really that much more work than keeping a combustion-powered one on the road.
Cadillac DeVille
Yes, that Cadillac. The Boss Hogg one, triple-white with longhorns up front and party in back. How great would cruising around town in this kind of land-barge be? The only thing that could make it better is not having a massive, emissions-choked V8 swilling down the gasoline and while delivering as much horsepower as a hand blender.
Any Cadillac from the 1970s would do here, an Eldorado or a Fleetwood Brougham. Or we can also throw the door open to chief rival Lincoln, and invite one of its football-field-sized personal luxury coupes to join the EV party.
Think Neil Young’s 1959 Continental “Lincvolt” conversion, just served up with some 1970s excess. Grab a couple of friends, drop the top, and hit those city streets in style. That’s not driving, that’s sailing.
Volkswagen Westfalia
Part of the drawback of converting a classic to EV is how much the conversion costs, which is why people only do it for more valuable cars. Good news, then, if you’ve seen how much a Subaru-powered restomod 1980s VW Westfalia goes for.
Granted, electric conversion of a Westy might come with less roaming range than the gasoline-powered versions. However, having all that reliable onboard juice would make for a much better camping experience, with an actually functioning fridge, cooking surface, and proper LED lighting at night.
It’d be a return to pop-top mini-RV bliss, and if you end up spending a little time at fast-chargers on your road trip, well, you’re in a home-on-wheels anyway.
DeLorean DMC-12
Oh, yeah, 1.21 gigawatts of power! Well, maybe not, but turfing out the DMC-12’s 2.85-litre V6 in favour of an electric motor will make hitting 88 mph a lot faster. The ‘6 only put out a measly 130 hp, and while the DeLorean isn’t as heavy as its stainless steel body might have you think, battery-electric power would finally give this 1980s icon the performance it deserves.
Doc and Marty would love it, and there are of course already people doing this conversion. No-one gets mad about ditching the original V6, not even online. Because it might seem wrong to lose something like the flat-six soundtrack from a Porsche 911, but cars like the DMC-12 deserve the EV conversions that’ll keep them from running outta time.
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