Converting Gasoline Powered Classic Cars Into Electric Cars: The “Greenest” Move Ever?

It reduces carbon dioxide generation and minimizes the environmental impact of end-of-life disposal, does converting your classic car to an electric car the “greenest” upgrade you can make ever?

By: Ringo Bones

Back when Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was still doing its run in the movie theaters, critics of the so-called electric car were very busy stating the fact that even though they don’t emit carbon dioxide during their commute, they do have the same carbon footprint as a gasoline or diesel powered car during their initial production. But what about converting a much-loved gasoline or petrol powered classic car to one that runs on electricity? Would it be the most environmentally move one can make ever? I mean it avoids the eventual disposal of a classic car to some scrap heap and also turns it into a driving machine that produces virtually zero carbon dioxide during its commute.

Matthew Quitter of London Electric Cars recently got press attention after one of the classic cars that he successfully converted to run on rechargeable batteries - a 1953 Morris Minor Series 2 – was admired not only for its beauty, but also of its true-blue “green credentials”. In his Vauxhall based company, Matthew Quitter had managed to convert various quintessentially British classic car models to run on rechargeable batteries, from classic Minis to Land Rovers.  

On average, it takes 3-months of shop work to convert the average petrol-powered car to one that runs on rechargeable batteries. And even the modifications made by Quitter’s London Electric Cars can easily reverted back to petrol I bet nobody would ever go back given the advantages one gains in the conversion. Zero carbon dioxide emissions aside, a classic car converted to run on rechargeable batteries and dedicated electric motor produces on average three times as much torque than its original petrol-powered engine version. And when it comes to running costs, such modified cars are currently exempt from London’s congestion tax, making them the ideal city car. Given such benefits, I wonder if Quitter’s London Electric Cars already has clients who want their Lancia Stratos, Alfa Romeo Carabo and other classic supercars converted to run on rechargeable batteries.