Electric GT6.....Why would you?

[Topic63]

Out of curiosity more than anything, I thought I would see how much it would be to convert a Mk3 GT6 to electric?

At the price quoted, how could you possibly justify this conversion or even recoup any of the costs if the car was to be sold.

Anyone else had better quotes or even carried out an EV conversion?

[DVD3500]

I have said elsewhere on the interwebs (but I don't think here) that I find their prices a bit on the high side. Unless they are including something like 10 years of free electricity!

I know they use a  lot of Tesla tech (from the show Vintage Voltage ) which has its pros and cons.

The guy 5 miles down the road converted his '74 MKIV Spitfire for around 20k€.

It can get up to 100 miles on a charge (though 80-90 is more realistic). It weighs the same as before, weight distribution is about the same (mild understeer on slippery surfaces)  charges in under 2 hours if completely empty from an 11 KW charger (what most chargers are).

He has to limit the speed and torque so it doesn't shred his 3-rail gearbox and 3.89 diff!

His conversion came about because his 1300 engine gave up the ghost after nearly 100k Miles on it and he needed a whole new engine (it blew a piston ruining the case and the head).  So he kind of rushed things and he would do things differently to get better range if he did it again.

Before he drove it maybe 400 to 500 miles a year. He his put over 15k miles on it since the conversion in in March 2020. He drove it to Greece and back...

My 6th sense tells me that Electric Classic Cars is just too busy so they are pricing people out to avoid taking on work they know they can't get to...

 

[Topic63]

2 hours ago, DVD3500 said:

I have said elsewhere on the interwebs (but I don't think here) that I find their prices a bit on the high side. Unless they are including something like 10 years of free electricity!

I know they use a  lot of Tesla tech (from the show Vintage Voltage ) which has its pros and cons.

The guy 5 miles down the road converted his '74 MKIV Spitfire for around 20k€.

It can get up to 100 miles on a charge (though 80-90 is more realistic). It weighs the same as before, weight distribution is about the same (mild understeer on slippery surfaces)  charges in under 2 hours if completely empty from an 11 KW charger (what most chargers are).

He has to limit the speed and torque so it doesn't shred his 3-rail gearbox and 3.89 diff!

His conversion came about because his 1300 engine gave up the ghost after nearly 100k Miles on it and he needed a whole new engine (it blew a piston ruining the case and the head).  So he kind of rushed things and he would do things differently to get better range if he did it again.

Before he drove it maybe 400 to 500 miles a year. He his put over 15k miles on it since the conversion in in March 2020. He drove it to Greece and back...

My 6th sense tells me that Electric Classic Cars is just too busy so they are pricing people out to avoid taking on work they know they can't get to...

 

Exactly my thoughts, I expected a conversion cost of around £20/25k but certainly not up to £70k that’s just ridiculous 🤷‍♂️🤪🤪

I’d agree that they’re pricing people out of the idea due to a 2 year waiting list and enough work on to keep them going, there are a few out there that would do it much cheaper at a guess?

[Steve P]

Thank god i won`t be around long enough to be forced to turn my lovely 2.5 Vitesse into a soul-less electric hair dryer in order to 

comply with some bonkers cobblers that won't make a goose fart of difference to "climate change"

S

 

[Nick Jones]

Similar thread on TSSC forum

https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/9195-electric-herald/

And this is what I wrote there:

I’ve looked into this in some detail as the thought of converting my GT6 won’t leave.

I’ve even spoken to “Moggy” of Vintage Voltage fame about it. He wanted £60k for a turnkey job or £35-40k in parts.

That's definitely well on the high side, but unless you take the route of cobbling something together with old fork lift motors, home-brewed controllers and lead acid batteries (which is entirely possible), you will be looking at at least £10 - 14k in parts alone.

Nick

 

To try to answer the “why would you?”, in my case it was (and to an extent still is) the following.

I had a knackered engine and gearbox anyway

The challenge; extending my tinkering skills into new areas.

Finishing up with a genuinely useful vehicle (albeit in a slightly different way to the original).

The time may well be coming when this is the only way we’ll get to use our classics except in very restricted ways.

I still find the idea won’t quite leave….. however, having now driven nearly 2k miles in my GT6 in a form largely as Triumph intended, I rather like it as it is. And the cost…… that’s a biggie!  Though potentially that will improve as more EV parts become available on the used market. Though from what I’ve seen to date the designers have completely failed to take any future use in old Triumphs into consideration.

Nick

[Topic63]

1 hour ago, Nick Jones said:

Similar thread on TSSC forum

https://forum.tssc.org.uk/topic/9195-electric-herald/

And this is what I wrote there:

I’ve looked into this in some detail as the thought of converting my GT6 won’t leave.

I’ve even spoken to “Moggy” of Vintage Voltage fame about it. He wanted £60k for a turnkey job or £35-40k in parts.

That's definitely well on the high side, but unless you take the route of cobbling something together with old fork lift motors, home-brewed controllers and lead acid batteries (which is entirely possible), you will be looking at at least £10 - 14k in parts alone.

Nick

 

To try to answer the “why would you?”, in my case it was (and to an extent still is) the following.

I had a knackered engine and gearbox anyway

The challenge; extending my tinkering skills into new areas.

Finishing up with a genuinely useful vehicle (albeit in a slightly different way to the original).

The time may well be coming when this is the only way we’ll get to use our classics except in very restricted ways.

I still find the idea won’t quite leave….. however, having now driven nearly 2k miles in my GT6 in a form largely as Triumph intended, I rather like it as it is. And the cost…… that’s a biggie!  Though potentially that will improve as more EV parts become available on the used market. Though from what I’ve seen to date the designers have completely failed to take any future use in old Triumphs into consideration.

Nick

Hi Nick,

I can see why you would have considered it having a blown engine in any case but still a big decision, especially to take it on yourself 💪👏👏

The cost in my opinion is still astronomical and electric cars is not the answer going forward, costs may decrease given time but probably will be for used parts with little history or longevity?

I was just shocked at the conversion price quote and why would you given the EV cars available at much less new.

[yorkshire_spam]

If we ever get a (even nearly) new car it'll be an EV, plug in not hybrid. 

I'd love a classic converted to an EV, but if I had 20K to 60K to indulge my hobby it wouldn't be on a conversion.

Edited November 22, 2021 by yorkshire_spam

[carlton x]

1 hour ago, Steve P said:

Thank god i won`t be around long enough to be forced to turn my lovely 2.5 Vitesse into a soul-less electric hair dryer in order to 

comply with some bonkers cobblers that won't make a goose fart of difference to "climate change"

S

 

Well said , to me its sacrilege, i just think driving classic cars isn’t just a look it’s an experience a feeling, my car is from 1965 I was born in 1966 and I’m a big fan of the 60s music fashion etc so every time I’m in my car It just takes me back to that bygone age , electric classics what’s the point 🤔

[thescrapman]

Give it 10 years and the scrapyards will be full of EV's, smashed up ones and more likely ones with knackered batteries (nothing like a throw-away society)

There will suddenly be lots of info about on how to scour for what parts and the conversion will be much cheaper.

And then I can go screaming past you at full chat with the exhaust howling. 🙂

[Nick Jones]

29 minutes ago, yorkshire_spam said:

If we every get a (even nearly) new car it'll be an EV, plug in not hybrid.

Not a particularly light watch (!) but interesting and thought provoking. And not the conclusion you are likely expecting 

Nick

[Nick Jones]

6 minutes ago, thescrapman said:

And then I can go screaming past you at full chat with the exhaust howling. 🙂

Always assuming you can a) find something flammable to put in the tank b). Afford to buy it……

Reckon I’ll be keeping at least one noisy, smelly old car in IC form for similar purposes.

9 minutes ago, thescrapman said:

more likely ones with knackered batteries

The cars may be lying there but the batteries won’t, too many valuables inside to be left to rot.

[Nick Jones]

Here’s one in build. Being done the way I’d like to do it. I’m watching with interest!

https://sideways-technologies.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/8863-ev-spitfire-345v/
 

(He also does fitting kits for R160 diffs)

[DVD3500]

Thanks for sharing!

[Nick Jones]

On 22/11/2021 at 20:12, Topic63 said:

I can see why you would have considered it having a blown engine in any case but still a big decision, especially to take it on yourself

I'm of the mindset that all things are possible until proven otherwise.  But I'm also a skinflint, which is a serious disability in this context!  I have considered the forklift motor route, but so far I'm feeling it involves efficiency & function compromises that spoil the point of the project and could well not actually turn out cheaper for the first-timer finding their way. 

Another thing that has put me off a little is that my brother has been working on a battery safety enhancement project for a major UK car manufacturer and has some eyebrow-raising "war-stories".  The scope for major mayhem and life changing/ending injury is significant when working with high power battery packs.  Apparently their shipping container based test area has been pretty much ruined.  He observed that knowledge gained on this project has made him alot more picky about whose EVs (or even hybrids) he'd be prepared to own or even travel in.

Nick