Electrifying Classic Cars

[DonkeyApple]

ghgunning said:

Everytime I see talk of electric classics my mind just jumps to 3D TVs. Super expensive when they first gained prevalence and really quite clunky (the glasses, the lack of content etc). Wait a few years and they were half the price for double the experience (no crummy glasses and more content).

The same will happen with electrifying classics in 5 years.

I don’t think the analogy works as the end product remains 100% usable regardless of how tech or trends change.

And as costs fall, given the large number of old cars that don’t have anything special or interesting under the bonnet the number of conversions is more likely to rise.

One aspect to consider is that viable EV conversions would result in a lot more old cars being saved. No one really cares about a lot of stuff because the power plant is unremarkable but an affordable EV conversion changes that.

[croissant]

I stumbled across these guys recently who just launched what appears to be a pretty good value conversion kit for classics.

https://webshop.swindonpowertrain.com/index.php?ro...

[singlecoil]

croissant said:

I stumbled across these guys recently who just launched what appears to be a pretty good value conversion kit for classics.

https://webshop.swindonpowertrain.com/index.php?ro...

Information underload on that website.

[a8hex]

Henry_b said:

NO SEPARATE PHEV SCALE!!

How much of 2020's 17% EV sales are PHEV I hear you ask! Half pretty much it was a split so if we split the difference for the sake or argument we have 8.5% PURE EV, and 8.5% PHEV.

I saw an article a year or so back which reported that the vast majority of leased hybrids were returned with the charging leads never having been used. The implication was that the tax incentive was in having a plugin hybrid not in using one.

[DonkeyApple]

a8hex said:

I saw an article a year or so back which reported that the vast majority of leased hybrids were returned with the charging leads never having been used. The implication was that the tax incentive was in having a plugin hybrid not in using one.

Easy to imagine in London. Why bother with the faff. My neighbour didn’t. And few minicab drivers can run a lead from the garden shed near Heathrow they live in. Not that the car is sitting outside but handed over to the next shift driver.

Edited by DonkeyApple on Wednesday 26th August 21:45

[RobDickinson]

Its no surprise. People got their petrol funded buy not home electricity, got tax incentives to buy but not use.

if you buy a phev with your own money and pay for your own fuel you will charge it.

[DonkeyApple]

RobDickinson said:

Its no surprise. People got their petrol funded buy not home electricity, got tax incentives to buy but not use.

if you buy a phev with your own money and pay for your own fuel you will charge it.

Why? The advantage of a hybrid in London is that you can drive and park places an ICE car is no longer allowed and not pay the daily taxes. Why then also faff about plugging the thing in, especially if you don’t have offstreet parking etc.

Minicabs don’t park for long enough to ever be charged, not that the drivers have driveways and arguably many don’t even have electricity in the garden sheds they are kept in.

[JohnBRG]

Still chewing over electrifying my MGB GT. Engine and gearbox are knackered anyway....

@blib, did you have any hassle with DVLA when re-registering your car as electric? Did you lose your MOT exempt status?

[Blib]

JohnBRG said:

Still chewing over electrifying my MGB GT. Engine and gearbox are knackered anyway....

@blib, did you have any hassle with DVLA when re-registering your car as electric? Did you lose your MOT exempt status?

You've reminded me.....

We sent it off several weeks ago, with a covering letter from Electric Classic Cars. We have not heard back and a quick check on the DVLA website shows as far as they're concerned it's still powered by a 650cc ICE.

[JohnBRG]

Blib said:

You've reminded me.....

We sent it off several weeks ago, with a covering letter from Electric Classic Cars. We have not heard back and a quick check on the DVLA website shows as far as they're concerned it's still powered by a 650cc ICE.

Interesting. It is one area I'm a little concerned about.

[SlowAndDull]

I thought I’d follow up with my friend’s progress - his TR6 build was in its early days when your 500 went off, but it’s now complete and looks stunning. I haven’t got down to see him yet for a drive in it, but have seen a few vids.

If anyone is looking to get a classic converted in Surrey, definitely worth getting in touch - he’s a mate, but all loyalties aside I can wholeheartedly recommend his output and attention to detail: https://petersonev.co.uk/

[NDNDNDND]

ghgunning said:

Everytime I see talk of electric classics my mind just jumps to 3D TVs. Super expensive when they first gained prevalence and really quite clunky (the glasses, the lack of content etc). Wait a few years and they were half the price for double the experience (no crummy glasses and more content).

The same will happen with electrifying classics in 5 years.

And I guess much like 3DTV, despite being lauded with much fanfare, people will realise in a couple of years it's a pointless gimmick and will stop bothering with it.

Besides, many of these converted cars won't be driven far enough to offset the CO2 generated in manufacturing their batteries, so they'll probably end up being net worse for the global environment than if the original car had been left alone.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

(Blib's 500 is a good example of how it can work, as the battery is so tiny the carbon footprint can be offset in about 10,000 miles or so)

[DonkeyApple]

Yup. At the moment it’s about sending a relatively valuable car to a foreign country to have the most expensive Tesla motor and Tesla batteries installed. But it’s pretty much a given that within time, local enterprises will offer the conversion using Chinese motors and batteries at a fraction of the cost.

But it’s at that point that the trend won’t disapear but probably massively expand. Old cars that no one currently considers classics will be seized upon and converted.

I don’t see this as the destruction of the matching numbers end of the classic market but an option to do the classic engine conversion at the normal end but the really interesting bit is the quirky stuff that will happen. There are millions of old, worthless diesels of zero merit still operating in this country. This early EV conversion market offers an insight as to what people younger than us might end up doing with the worthless junk their parents bought to save £1.50 on VED.

[DonkeyApple]

£500 for a solid 15 year old very practical car that could easily be converted and have a modern entertainment system fitted to yield an ultra cheap and fun runabout. That’s where this is probably headed.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010024...

[Blib]

Blib said:

JohnBRG said:

Still chewing over electrifying my MGB GT. Engine and gearbox are knackered anyway....

@blib, did you have any hassle with DVLA when re-registering your car as electric? Did you lose your MOT exempt status?

You've reminded me.....

We sent it off several weeks ago, with a covering letter from Electric Classic Cars. We have not heard back and a quick check on the DVLA website shows as far as they're concerned it's still powered by a 650cc ICE.

An update on this.

Electric Classic Cars' letter did not cut the mustard with the DVLA. They required full details of the work carried out and an insurers' inspection report.

Luckily, ECC's invoices included a full explanation of the conversion process. They'd also posted a walk around You Tube video of the car. Our insurers did not require an inspection. Instead, we had the car MOTed. I scanned the documents off to the DVLA, along with a link to the YT video.

All that information did the trick and Mrs B's 500 is now kosher.

[DonkeyApple]

As an already exempt car was there a specific need to have it registered as an EV with the DVLA or was it just a matter of finishing things off properly?

[Blib]

DonkeyApple said:

As an already exempt car was there a specific need to have it registered as an EV with the DVLA or was it just a matter of finishing things off properly?

It seemed to me to be the correct thing to do. Besides, ECC provided the original covering letter to the DVLA and advised us to inform them.

The car presently resides in Suffolk. However, it could return to our home in London sometime in the future. Being "officially" electric could have CC and/or ULEZ ramifications.

Indeed, I'll type the reg in to their websites and see if it's exempt.......

ETA.

I just checked and what a flipping faff to do that. Currently, the car is not ULEZ exempt. I assume the same applies to the Congestion Charge.

Edited by Blib on Thursday 8th October 14:25

[pingu393]

Blib said:

DonkeyApple said:

As an already exempt car was there a specific need to have it registered as an EV with the DVLA or was it just a matter of finishing things off properly?

It seemed to me to be the correct thing to do. Besides, ECC provided the original covering letter to the DVLA and advised us to inform them.

The car presently resides in Suffolk. However, it could return to our home in London sometime in the future. Being "officially" electric could have CC and/or ULEZ ramifications.

Indeed, I'll type the reg in to their websites and see if it's exempt.......

ETA.

I just checked and what a flipping faff to do that. Currently, the car is not ULEZ exempt. I assume the same applies to the Congestion Charge.

Edited by Blib on Thursday 8th October 14:25

From what I've read, ULEZ and CC exemption only applies to cars that are registered as electric from new.

Please let us know if you find out anything different.

[Blib]

Will do. Though, I probably won't bother going in to it unless and until the car's return to London.

[AstonZagato]

Not sure about ULEZ but for the CC, TfL require a scan of the V5 with the CO2 emissions - even for a brand new Tesla. TfL's website also says they want a certificate of conformity but they didn't insist on it for a 2017 Tesla or a 2019 Range Rover PHEV.