EV conversion: a question of sustainability

This transition is of course linked to the UK government’s plans to ban the sale of all petrol and diesel-powered vehicles by 2030. But it is not just about banning the sales of traditional transport, or even simply upgrading to an EV regardless of government intervention: many engineering companies are offering to convert users’ ICE cars to electric cars.

This article looks at how this process can be achieved and whether a case can be made for it to become a sustainable solution to meet the increasing demands for transport electrification.

More on classic cars being converted to EVs

While many people will be surprised that turning a conventional vehicle into an electric one is even possible, let alone happening right now, the truth is that such a retrofitting process is a lot more doable than it sounds.

Or, at least, recent developments suggest that it isn’t as challenging as one may assume. While the level of difficulty in engineering the process used to depend on the intricacies of each vehicle (consider that some vehicles have more space around the engine than others, for instance), Zero Labs Automotive offers a more universal solution.

With the tagline, ‘The past remade for the future’, Zero Labs is, to quote its website, “an automotive … design, technology and engineering firm with a focus on developing Premium Classic Electric Vehicles”. And while there are plenty of other electric vehicle transformation companies already on the market, what makes Zero Labs stand out is that it doesn’t carry out EV conversions in its own dedicated workshop – as does its counterparts, such as other major companies like Electric Classic Cars. Rather, it offers a conversion kit to its customers.

Regardless of where the process takes place, the engineering behind an EV conversion is as follows: the car’s internal combustion engine is removed, that ICE is then replaced with an electric motor, and the required battery technology is then installed. According to sustainability site treehugger.com, the process may cost the customer $6,000 in parts and anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 for the batteries and the installation.

Is this process sustainable?

This is perhaps the biggest question of all, because it depends on how you define 'sustainable'.

In the sense of being a long-lasting, relied-upon solution to bringing electrification to drivers without them having to buy a brand new EV, it definitely appears to be sustainable. If only for the fact that many road users will eventually have to give in to the demands of the 2030 motorised vehicle ban, it is viable that they will love their classic car too much to get rid of it. Especially with companies like Zero Labs offering a purpose-built kit for the very process of EV conversions, we may well find that EV transformation really is sustainable inasmuch as it will be a sustainable business venture: it will be sought after and offer a service to those who want a classic car but with a modernised energy storage system.

After all, we are already seeing people who have had the classic cars of today enjoying the benefits of EV transformation processes: after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s converted blue Jaguar was popularised in 2017, the EV model (Jaguar’s E-Type Zero) was then planned to go into full production.

However, in terms of the cost (in the thousands of dollars, as mentioned previously) and the uncertainty about how long a repurposed vehicle can last, that is a much more difficult question in terms of defining sustainability. Will people find it expensive to the point that they’d rather buy a new electric vehicle? And will the existing classic cars-turned EVs prove to be short-lived, and therefore enormously wasteful, in their retrofitted state? These are just some of the questions that may become clearer after the petrol ban comes into force.