DeLorean EV Comes Back To The Future
Old cars, the ones that are no longer roadworthy, usually end up as scrap or a pile of donor parts. It’s a sad fate that awaits most vehicles that are no longer financially viable to keep on the road. Thankfully, there are EV conversion companies that provide conversion kits that fit in place where the old internal combustion engine parts used to be.
These kits have helped breathe new life into all kinds of classic cars from Land Rover Defenders, Mini Coopers to Volkswagen Beetles. Now, Electrogenic, a company from the UK that specializes in such conversions has taken a crack at a cult classic, the DeLorean.
Made popular by the Back To The Future movies, the DMC-12 was a wedge shaped sports cars with iconic gullwing doors. Conceived by former GM executive John DeLorean, the car was designed in partnership with Lotus and built in Belfast during the 1980s.
It had an all stainless-steel body and a mid-mounted Renault V6 engine that produced just 130bhp. The car had substandard performance and various other problems that didn’t help its reputation. That coupled with lack of proper funding, manufacturing issues and various other misfortunes, doomed the project.
Despite this, the car continues to occupy a special palace in the hearts of fans of the Back To The Future movie franchise. In fact, it’s said that three-quarters of all DeLoreans ever made (more than 9,000 examples were built) are still on the road today.
Thanks to Electrogenic, the DeLorean may outlive us all. They have dropped in a fully reversible conversion kit that replaces the V6 engine with an electric motor that produces 220bhp. It’s mated to a fixed-ratio gearbox that transfers the power to the rear wheels.
It also has a 43kW battery pack that’s placed where the fuel tank used to be, under the front luggage compartment and above the motor. When powered by the Renault V6, the car could sprint from 0-96km/h in 10 seconds, but with its electric powertrain the DeLorean EV can do it in under 5 seconds.
The car is also fitted with launch control to help ensure that it accelerates off the line as quickly as possible. Electrogenic gave it adjustable regenerative braking and selectable drive profiles that range from Eco to Sport. This gives the 40 year old car the performance and driveability of a modern EV, allowing it to fit in well on today’s roads.
Inside, the car is fitted with modern features that bring it up to the current times, including a touchscreen infotainment system that supports Apple CarPlay. It has a display on the dashboard that shows the various drive modes, battery usage, and charge status. Keeping things true to the movie, the EV retains the infamous flux capacitor.
Surprisingly, the EV gets vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality that allows owners to use the electricity from the car’s battery pack to power a fridge, charge a laptop or another car. This gives it the capability to act as a power source when camping or powering vital appliances during a blackout.
Electrogenic also offers conversion kits for various other classic vehicles including the Porsche 911, Citroen DS, and Rolls-Royce Phantom II. It’s an impressive achievement to be able to transplant an EV powertrain without needing to drill or modify the vehicle’s body. This will help breathe new life into old cars, keeping them on the road for much longer.
