Our 1974 Porsche 914 electric vehicle (EV) conversion debuts tonight at 9PM on Vintage Voltage, shown on Quest TV in the UK. We're excited to see how people take to our first EV build, which brings groundbreaking technology and an exciting driving experience to this vintage Porsche chassis.
Most classic EV conversions are simply electric drivetrains fitted into an older chassis. They often use the original transmissions and the weights are arranged in such a way as to substantially ashift the centre of gravity and negatively affect the already dated driving experience.
Our plan with this project is completely different. The first job was to stiffen the chassis to handle the power of a Tesla motor and torque transmitted by the Tesla transmission. We were careful in placing the battery packs as low as possible in the car to keep weight distribution as close to 50/50 as possible.
Our partner for this stage of the project was Richard Morgan at Electric Classic Cars in Wales. Richard and his team did a good job in fitting the powertrain and beefing up what was already there. We also had to develop new driveshafts, as original Porsche 930 units just break in half from the torque of this motor.
The car as seen at the end of the TV show is only part of the story. We now move into our own build and development programme, which includes:
- New 400-volt air conditioning system
- New controller and customisable fascia panel
- Electric brake servo
- Electric handbrake
- Revised steering geometry
- Comprehensive brake system upgrade
We're excited to share the build as we continue our development work. The aim is to create an electric 914 that is as good (if not better) to drive than a well-built classic 911 and substantially better to drive than a modern EV, which we have found to be fairly sterile and uninspiring compared to all of our classic cars, current and previous. Our target range is a minimum 150 miles.
Achieving this goal will not be the work of a moment, so the car remains a work in progress. We do love a project!
Tune in at 9PM Thursday on QUEST UK: (Freeview 12 / 114, Freesat 167, Sky 144, Virgin 169 or stream live / catchup on Discovery Plus - search online & register for free). Check out the car in the episode trailer below: