Image: benteen
There are some electric conversions that are just too interesting to pass up. We’ve talked about a 16 year old who built his own electric truck and the EcoModder co-founder’s $672 electric car, but we’ve yet to look at a car like this one. It’s not the car in the picture (the original story did not come with any images), but it’s the same model of kit car, the Bradley GT.
For decades (the pictured GT is a ’71) the Bradley GT has been one of the standbys of kit car builders. Not only is it light and cheap, but it looks pretty good. It was no doubt this combination that led Lucas Laborde to choose the Bradley GT II as the basis for his electric car. It was purchased off of Ebay with a few thousand miles on the original VW engine, but all of that was promptly stripped out to make way for an all electric drivetrain.
The specs on the car are a little sketchy, but here’s what the original article has to say about the range and top speed:
The car uses the Bradley’s original transmission, a manual four-speed, but the clutch is no longer needed to change gears. The car has a top speed of about 45 mph — plenty fast for in-town commuting and lots of low-end torque.
The motor doesn’t make any sound, but Laborde inadvertently makes the rear tires chirp when he steps on the accelerator a little too hard while backing the car out of his father’s shop.
“It has a lot of power,” he says sheepishly.
These aren’t overly impressive, but considering the low cost of the conversion (the electric parts only cost an additional $5,700) and the low weight of the donor vehicle, they seem fitting. Of course, the most important thing is that the car fits Laborde’s needs and will be yet another rolling advertisement for electric cars.
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Anybody can toss a motor and batteries behind the tranny and create an electric. The problem is that you end up with an electric car. A useless
piece of junk.
what ever happened to the hybrid that was featured in mother earth news back int he 80’s. The plan calls for an electric motor from a forklift, a 5 hp gasoline engine that turns a generator to keep the batteries charged. according to the article it was great and averaged around 75-80 mpg
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