The image of electric vehicles (EVs) as sleek and futuristic is changing.
I also really like the ultimate recycling idea of converting old classics to redundant EV chassis, including the batteries.
When a Nissan Leaf or other EV is being written off, perhaps through a rear shunt, rather than scrapping the whole car, specialist British firms – the ones else – have designed all of the front mechanical assembly along with the batteries that fit into old vintage cars that make them as environmentally friendly as the donor car.
In a garage under a railroad arch in Vauxhall, a company is replacing the internal combustion engines in vintage cars with electric motors and batteries that would otherwise be scrapped.
The company is currently charging around £ 20,000 per conversion, so not cheap.
However, the company plans to cut that cost to £ 5,000 to make it affordable to more people.
“It is a disaster wasting millions of old gasoline and diesel cars on our roads, and government discounts on electric vehicles encourage scrapping,” they say.
“The government must offer affordable retrofits for cheap old cars to use the scrapped EV batteries – the raw materials of which are still skyrocketing,” he added.
There are incentives to buy new electric vehicles, but that means throwing an entire car away when you could just change the engine.
“Retrofitting vehicles with batteries is an emerging market and we are working with researchers on green travel,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport.
Classic cars that have been converted to electric are now associated with some financial incentives.
Like all classic cars – currently classified in the UK as built before January 8, 1981 – road tax is exempt.
A classic car insurance is usually cheap, at least if the vehicle does not cover a lot of kilometers.
However, if you convert your vehicle to electric drive, you must inform your insurance company.
Converting an old car to an electric drive causes less CO2 than producing a new electric car.
That makes sense now.
