From the April 2022 problem of Car or truck and Driver.
It has 21 home windows but is nevertheless challenging to see out of. The driving position is an enforced slouch, and the front crush zone is two stamped headlight buckets reinforced by tibias and fibulas. The suspension teeters along as if it experienced been tuned by Christian Louboutin. And but, it really is a ton of two-tone enjoyment that’s decently rapid. It is a 1966 Volkswagen Form 2 electrified by EV West.
Jessica Lynn WalkerCar and Driver
Inside of EV West’s store in San Marcos, California, aged-car zapifications are in various stages of progress. Outdoors, the parking large amount is full of wrecked Teslas currently being rehabilitated or mined for pieces. This is a put in which electric goals, nostalgia, and lithium ions are soldered into drivable things. Publish a significant check and EV West will place batteries into any toy.
Born in 1950, the Style 2 is a metallic box created atop Style 1 Beetle items. None other than Ferdinand Porsche set the basic suspension structure back again in the 1930s. It really is not archaic, it can be Pleistocene. That suggests diabolical swing axles in again and a odd torsion-arm procedure in front. The manual recirculating-ball steering and drum brakes aren’t substantially superior both. Moreover, this Bus rides on slender 165R-15 Coker Common tires. Established managing anticipations appropriately.
In put of the first 53-hp air-cooled flat-four, EV West has plopped in a NetGain HyPer9 electric powered motor rated at 120 horsepower and 173 pound-toes of torque. Six scavenged Tesla battery modules feed it electric power. The inventory four-pace guide transmission is retained.
Arms out throughout the flat steering wheel, the driver hunkers down so as not to stare instantly at the windshield header. You can find no explanation at any time to use 1st equipment, and the clutch is superfluous when a gear is picked. EV West says the electrical transformation additional about 200 lbs, and the Bus sort of hustles, for far better or even worse. Bus stops call for intentionality and concentration.
This EV conversion runs about $55,000 further than the near-six-determine worth of this beautifully restored beauty. (EV West also has conversion kits with a lot less strong motors starting off at $7598, not which include battery or installation.) The vary, suggests EV West, is about 95 miles—great for a family working day trip to the beach or using visitors all over the manse. With this a great deal energy, the Type 2 is about at its mechanical limits. It is really also fully lovely.
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