(In October we will publish a series of stories about the “future security” of collector cars and about the future of apparently all vehicles through the use of electric drives. As always, your comments are welcome and if you have converted a classic car to electric drive, we would love your story share with others. Contact us at journal@classiccars.com.)
Two events are likely to be recorded by future automobile historians as groundbreaking moments in “safeguarding the future” of the collector’s car. One was the wedding on a Saturday in mid-May 2018 of the British Prince Harry and the American actress Meghan Markle.
For the drive to their wedding party they used a Jaguar E-Type Roadster from 1968, the Jaguar Land Rover Classic from its factory-installed 4.2-liter in-line 6-cylinder petrol engine to a 220 kW electric motor with 40 -kWh-Lithium had converted -Ion battery.
The E-Type had become the E-Type Zero, like zero pollution. The powertrain switch also reduced vehicle weight by about 100 pounds, and the EV version was a full second from 0 to 60 mph, reported Jag LR Classic.
But the more significant coverage was from news media around the world covering not only the royal wedding but also the news about the electric mod Jaguar.
The tZero was perhaps the first electric vehicle to be powered by batteries otherwise used in laptops and camcorders. 6,800 such batteries enabled the car to sprint to 100 km / h in 3.6 seconds | AC drive photo
But even earlier, the other transformation instead, albeit with a smaller but also influential audience.
In the late 1990s, engineers Alan Coccini and Tom Gate started a California workshop called AC Propulsion and worked on developing better electric motors and controls, and at some point decided that instead of traditional lead-acid batteries in things like laptops could be a better way be. So they installed 6,800 of them in a fiber optic kit car and called it the tZero.
Even at such a volume, the batteries were relatively light and could accelerate the car to 60 mph in just over 3 1/2 seconds. In addition, they have almost tripled the range of the vehicle.
Not only was the car a sensation at one of Michelin’s Challenge Bibendums, a global showcase for cleaner, greener automotive technologies, but Elon Musk was invited to ride in one of the few tZeros produced at some point and has the experience that inspired his involvement with Tesla.
Ironically, it’s Tesla’s electric powertrain which is often used when converting classic cars to electric mods. But more on that in the upcoming stories in our series.
