- With over twice the power and torque of the original, this electric Ford Model A pickup is considerably quicker.
- It retains the original manual gearbox, which produces the same gear whine as the original, so much of the audible experience remains unchanged.
- The complete kit for this conversion cost a little over $17,000, with everything except labor included.
Ford never made an electric vehicle in the 1920s, but battery-powered cars were still around at the time. That’s why something like this 1928 Ford Model A pickup converted into an EV isn’t as far-fetched as it may first appear. However, it has considerably better performance and range compared to EVs made nearly a century ago.
This interwar pickup EV conversion project was done by retiree Dennis Thompson, who used a Hyper 9 kit by Flash Drive Motors. It includes a 120-horsepower (90-kilowatt) electric motor and everything needed to turn any old car into an EV. The battery pack is made up of 5 6.3-kilowatt-hour battery modules out of a Tesla Model S, which give a total capacity of around 33 kWh.
Like with many similar kits designed to work with classic cars, some of which may be very expensive and potentially lose value when their engine is removed, it is designed to be easily removed. Therefore, you can very quickly reinstate the combustion engine, although in many cases (this Ford included), the EV conversion improves the vehicle. Whether it improves something like a classic Porsche 911, though, is debatable.
You don’t lose much of the 1920s driving experience by doing this conversion. The electric motor sends its power to the rear wheels through the original three-speed manual transmission, which has straight-cut gears and still makes plenty of noise. So even though there’s no engine noise, the gear whine does a lot to keep it sounding authentic, and you’re free of the noxious fumes that a vehicle this old would produce.
It also still rattles like an old truck that is nearly 100 years old, and it’s considerably quicker than stock, with about twice the power of the most powerful engine it came with from the factory. You could, therefore, raise some eyebrows at the traffic light grand prix as you chirp the tires powering away from unsuspecting impromptu opponents who think your old truck doesn’t stand a chance.
The Hyper 9 kit costs about $17,300, and it includes everything you need. All you have to do is find a suitable donor vehicle and put in the work to convert it yourself. It took Dennis over a year to complete his truck, but it’s a cool project, and it definitely was worth the time he spent creating it.
