If you could swap a new modern electric drivetrain into your 911 as a bolt-in 100% reversible operation, would you do it? EV West in southern California is banking on just that with its drop-in Tesla conversion kits offering huge power gains without destroying the car or making it difficult to drive. This is perhaps the best of all worlds as you get to retain the gorgeous 1968 good looks of this Irish Green narrow-body with a totally radical electric propulsion system that doesn’t burn a lick of gasoline. You can try to come up with a way that it gets better, but I’d wager you’re probably wrong.
This particular 911 was built up by EV West and given away as a prize with an Omaze giveaway to benefit the Petersen museum. Check out the video below to see EV West’s Michael Bream explaining every bit of this totally awesome project. It’s a sophisticated system, but Bream manages to make it all seem pretty simple and easy. I guess if you’ve been doing this for a long time, it might be pretty simple. For the rest of us, it’s maybe a step beyond what we’re capable of.
Certainly the original 2-liter flat six with carburetors and a glorious exhaust note probably sounds better, but you have to admit that it can’t hope to hold a candle to the performance that this electric motor swap offers. If you want to smoke tires and zoom away from a stop, you’d definitely get the EV swap. This kind of performance makes this 52 year old machine match the most modern Porsches on dealership lots today. It’s pretty interesting seeing this kind of tire-shredding power in an old 911 which originally had about 120 horses. Multiply that by at least four and you’ll have a surprisingly quick car.
I love it. How about you?
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A very clever enginered and interesting swap from petrol to electricity and would be nice to have.
Great power to enjoy the only fault for me it has no soul, and what i mean by that is when you find a car you love to get in to drive and you and that car become one you feel what it is telling you and that's with a fuelled engine that sounds alive as you go through the rev's to the red line and it is telling you time to change or back off for braking something electric does not give at-lest to me.