Great news! Your petrol/diesel car could be converted to clean, zero emission, electric propulsion for less than £1,000, New Electric hinted. How? Via a kit that you purchase and install yourself (with help from the company). A BMW 3 Series was recently converted at home for £900, for example. Instead, New Electric could convert any car – to your specification – at greater expense.
How electric car conversion works
Let us consider an example. Perhaps you own a vehicle that is essentially decent. The bodywork looks smart, for instance. The interior is in good condition. The mileage is fairly low. However, a fluke failure means that the vehicle needs a new, expensive engine and that problem could send it to the scrapyard prematurely.
An alternative is to replace the old engine with a clean, zero emission, electric motor and the batteries to power it. Such components might come from a fairly new, low mileage, fully electric vehicle that was written-off. Your combustion powered vehicle therefore becomes electric. The potential benefits include:
- electric motor produces more power (including torque) which makes the vehicle more responsive, faster, and nicer to drive
- no need to buy expensive petrol/diesel
- car cannot emit pollutants that cause health issues and damage the environment
- vehicle can be refuelled at home rather than on a forecourt
- keeps the vehicle relevant and extends its life.
Company founder comments
New Electric founder, Kevin Sharpe, explained that electric car conversion is far easier than in the past. He said: ‘When we started this, back in 2008, it was all bespoke. Every car we did was like starting again. Now, it is getting to the point where it will be a bolt-in solution for many vehicles’, Mr Sharp emphasised.
He further confirmed that so many cars get scrapped before their time. His company recently bought a Lexus GS450 Hybrid, for example. ‘It cost £500’ and is ‘absolutely immaculate’, Mr Sharp explained. ‘It was basically being written off because it had a battery issue. ‘But you can remove the internal combustion engine’ and replace it with a ‘fully electric drivetrain’ that has 300 bhp.
The entrepreneur further hinted that the conversion cost could be minimised or eliminated. ‘You sell the internal combustion engine’, he explained. ‘You sell the catalytic converters. You can sell the old battery which can go up for solar storage. So you could actually end up with a car for free and some money in your pocket’.
