Converting gas-powered cars to electric remains cost prohibitive

[Shawn Knight]

Forward-looking: Come hell or high water, EVs are likely going to replace combustion-powered vehicles in the not-too-distant future. One pressing question still unaddressed is, what to do with the many millions of traditionally fueled autos already on the roads and those that'll remain in service for decades to come. One solution already being explored by enthusiasts is conversion – that is, removing the petrol-based power plant from existing vehicles and replacing them with electric motors and batteries.

We have profiled several gas-to-electric builds over the years including this all-electric 1968 Mustang, a 1980 Toyota Celica transformation done by a teenager and a classic Ferrari owner that traded out the Italian engine for an electric powerplant but as The Guardian highlights, this route has and will likely continue to be limited to those with deep pockets for a while longer.

Zelectric Motors, a San Diego firm that specializes in electrifying classic Porsches and Volkswagens, notes on its website that conversions start around $78,000 and can scale to well over $100,000. CEO David Benardo told the publication that electric conversions are expensive in part because – at least today – they are done on a case by case basis.

"It's not a $5,000 to $10,000 retrofit that's going to save your old car," he added.

The door is wide open for a major automaker to jump into the conversion game, but it may not make a ton of financial sense right now.

Chevrolet has been teasing a conversion package for years; with any luck, it will arrive sometime around the middle of 2023. Earlier this year, Toyota showcased a pair of AE86 concept vehicles that had been retrofitted with electric powerplants.

Most other automakers are focusing on transitioning new cars to electric power as that is no doubt where most of the money is to be had right now. And even then, manufacturers are struggling with production issues.

What does your long-term automotive roadmap look like? Have you made the jump to an EV yet or are you looking to hang on to a gas-powered vehicle for as long as possible?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97622-converting-gas-powered-cars-electric-remains-cost-prohibitive.html

 

[3volv3d]

They will be for enthusiasts and the rich who can afford the fuel. They won't go away. Electric cars are for the rich right now, no new driver can afford one. Not here, not with insurance and costs of upkeep.

I feel like theres so much about electric cars, they are pointless, 90 articles, all click bait

 

[amghwk]

What will happen to gas cars once EVs take over?

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will go back to the dark ages and they will become the nomadic barbarians they once were. Islamic caliphate will be further strengthened from there. Meanwhile, Russia will invade more neighbouring countries to grab their resources once Russia's dependence on oil depletes. And the Brunei king might need to sell off his Rolls Royce cars one by one off from his collections, once the country couldn't sell the oil enough anymore.

Just saying.

Ohhh... you were asking what will happen to the gas cars, eh? Let me think...

 

[SRB]

Define "not too distant future". We don't have the enough raw materials, we don't have enough grid, we don't have enough power generation, we don't have enough chargers.... the list goes on. Just one time I'd like to read a REALISTIC article about this so called EV revolution. And if they succeed? Let's see, oil wells capped, exploration stopped, refineries shut down. At which point jet fuel, diesel, plastics, all get exponentially higher in price. Look at what cutting off leases and denying drilling permits have done to the cost of driving. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. EV's will be mainstream when it becomes practical, not before.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will go back to the dark ages and they will become the nomadic barbarians they once were. Islamic caliphate will be further strengthened from there. Meanwhile, Russia will invade more neighbouring countries to grab their resources once Russia's dependence on oil depletes. And the Brunei king might need to sell off his Rolls Royce cars one by one off from his collections, once the country couldn't sell the oil enough anymore.

Just saying.

Ohhh... you were asking what will happen to the gas cars, eh? Let me think...

Actually it's the Europeans that are going back to the Stone Age. The Saudis have plenty of cheap energy.

Germans are looking to firewood for energy as natural gas prices soar

Skyrocketing prices for natural gas have Europeans scrambling for alternative energy sources.In Germany, where households face a 480 euro rise in their gas bills, people are resorting to stockpiling firewood.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Vanderlinde]

You either design a "bolt on" kit per model, or start shredding and reusing the millions of gasoline powered cars raw material.

 

[toooooot]

So what? When or if gasoline cars become much less practical, they will just vanish like every other thing. Sometimes when I drive, I like noticing old cars, and patterns in which some last much longer than the other. There were plenty not very old cars that were so terrible that they became obsolite in a sense and it happened way faster than other cars.
They will all go to car heaven.

 

[igotheals]

I did make the jump to an EV and I love it! As much as I would've loved to take in my old Subaru and have them convert it to an EV, I think the difficulty with converting ICE cars (and why it's so expensive for this company to do it) is integrating the driving experience of an EV vs an ICE car. You would have to swap out a considerable number of components in order to make it work, and whatever's left in the car would need to be able to integrate with the various subsystems that an EV has. In the end it's just cheaper to make and sell new EVs and leave the conversions to boutique owners and collectors.

 

[Puckmanoz]

Cool, we’ll just quadruple the amount of cobolt and other minerals in the next how many years……..

 

[dob_1]

I can't quote the numbers but an article recently showed that to use renewables like solar and wind, and replace all internal combustion engines with Electric the world would need many multiples of the known reserves of copper and a number of other rare metals. At some time in the near future scarcity of these resources will cause prices to sky rocket.
In addition EVs are fine for short commutes or even highway runs where you can pause for an hour every couple of hours, but some form of liquid or gaseous fuel will still be needed for transcontinental transport across thousands of km of barren land (as in Australia). Maybe it can be hydrogen or a compound, maybe biodiesel, but something that doesn't need copper wires will be required and nothing seems to be there yet.

 

[Tantor]

The electric motor is easy. Electric motors are smaller than IC engines, and you can probably dump the transmission.

The big problem is the battery. To get any decent range you need to add about 1000 lbs of battery to the car's mass. That's going to seriously affect the suspension and other structural components. And where do you put it? In the trunk?

There is no environmental benefit to be gained by swapping in an electrical propulsion system. That's because EV batteries have a gargantuan carbon footprint. It takes the average EV over 60k miles before the net carbon footprint is the same as an IC car. Whereas an old IC car has already paid its carbon footprint dues.

I'm not opposed to EVs. But the battery problem is still not solved.

 

[Tantor]

I can't quote the numbers but an article recently showed that to use renewables like solar and wind, and replace all internal combustion engines with Electric the world would need many multiples of the known reserves of copper and a number of other rare metals. At some time in the near future scarcity of these resources will cause prices to sky rocket.
In addition EVs are fine for short commutes or even highway runs where you can pause for an hour every couple of hours, but some form of liquid or gaseous fuel will still be needed for transcontinental transport across thousands of km of barren land (as in Australia). Maybe it can be hydrogen or a compound, maybe biodiesel, but something that doesn't need copper wires will be required and nothing seems to be there yet.

True. Here's an excellent video on the 'Energy Transition Delusion'. The lecturer Mark Mills was a mining engineer and CEO of a high tech battery company and is very familiar with the issues. He says EVs and other upcoming technologies are expected to increase mining demands by over 4000% by 2040. Copper, Cobalt, Lithium, etc. Minerals are not a 'renewable resource'. He says it's not sustainable and will have a devastating effect on the earth. It sure makes you think.

 

[JamesBlond]

Not only is a total joke that this is a thing, but there is nothing currently in the world to replace Petrol / Diesel power per square foot of fuel.
The cost to make electricity is 30x more expensive, we have hope, but unfortunately, the truth remains the world will be gone by the time they find a solution to power from Electric cars good enough to replace petrol.

 

[takaozo]

I would convert a VW Golf MK2 to electric powered but with a micro nuclear reactor instead of batteries.

 

[PanfiloTexas]

We need to add, it takes oil for those windmills to operate, plus we need oil to make all the plastic for those cars. People who think oil is going to go away in our lifetime do not have a grip on reality, just a grip on their plastic phone, plastic MacBook and plastic water bottle.

 

[yannus]

Conversion is cost prohibitive because they want cars to be tracked in real time and remotely shut down, something that wouldn't happen with conversion. Anyways why would anyone prefer electric to gasoline ?

 

[Impudicus]

They will not take over, it's not sustainable and incredibly expensive.