eBay Find of the Day: 1973 Porsche 911 electric conversion
Click above for more shots of this Porsche 911 EV conversion
Sometimes, we find various electric vehicle conversions on eBay to share with our readers. In many cases, the cars are in pretty sorry condition and the work which was done is highly suspect. In the case of this 1973 Porsche 911, though, everything done to the vehicle has been well documented in an online diary. There are also over forty pictures of the completed vehicle including every single dent and paint scratch. Most impressive. The EV conversion was officially started in late '93 and officially finished in late '96. Three years went into the removal of the engine and its related bits along with the addition of a DC electric motor along with 96 volts of lead-acid batteries. A bit later, the voltage was increased to 120, which yielded almost ten miles of range. Yeah... that's bad.
The good news, if it could be called that, is that the brakes were and are dragging, which is not helping performance at all. With a little work and some new batteries, this Porsche EV could be back on the road and getting somebody to work. Take a look at all the pics in our gallery, read the entire diary here and see the car's dedicated website here. Thanks for the tip, Dustin!
Gallery: Porsche 911 EV conversion
[Source: eBay Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil L. 10:23PM (7/16/2008)
Great looking car - but it's going to take quite a bit more than "a little work" to make it useful.
Losing the pack after only 357 EV miles is a sign that there are some problems with the approach used for this conversion. Yeah, he didn't drive it enough to keep the batteries healthy. With such a limited range, not very many people could use it as a daily driver. It will take more than fresh brake caliper seals to fix that.
However, I hope someone can take on this project and turn it into a practical EV. Personally, its current range would *just* make my short commute - but with no margin for error or weak batteries. I wish interesting projects like this showed up a little closer to my east-coast US location...
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Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle 11:58PM (7/16/2008)
I wish people would stop converting these cars. I'm all for electrics and hybrids, but certain cars, especially pre-impact bumper Porsches, just shouldn't be messed with.
Heres a 912 that was converted to electric and works a little better than the one currently featured on ebay.
http://993c4s.com/cars/an-electric-1967-porsche-912/
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MikeInNC 8:31AM (7/17/2008)
Yea, I can see converting a '74 (2.7) but not a '73 for goodness sakes!
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Phil L. 9:03AM (7/17/2008)
Hmmm - Little love for the accordion-trim bumper 911s here!
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Phil L. 11:42AM (7/23/2008)
Wow - I just noticed the seller's recent comment update:
"This was an electric car. To be one again, a lot of work is needed. If it was me, I would redo the whole thing using modern batteries and components."
This helps explain the poor performance of the original conversion, the real challenges awaiting a new owner (a whole lot more than a new set of batteries), and that the bidding has stalled at about $5K...
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Phil L. 10:04AM (7/30/2008)
Well, it sold for $10100. Hopefully, it will show up on-line somewhere and we'll find out what the new owner does with it.
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