Why would anyone take the flat-12 out of a Ferrari Testarossa? In the first episode of Plugged In, EV Powered's new long-form interview podcast, we head to mid-Wales to meet Richard Morgan, founder of Electric Classic Cars. Since 2015 his company has converted more than 100 classic cars to electric power.
We talk in the back of a customer's 1966 VW split-screen camper that has just been converted. Richard tells us how seven years in the British Historic Rally Championship, a bored spell in the workshop and a wheelie-pulling electric Beetle in America led to his first conversion. After that red Beetle went down the road, he says: "Petrol's dead for me."
He explains why around 80% of his builds use reconditioned Tesla drive units, and how a Jensen Interceptor lost 650kg of old drivetrain yet came out with more power and the same range. He also covers his work with the DVLA and the HCVA on safety standards, and why the UK conversion market can still be "the Wild West".
He also shares his favourite builds: a 1973 Beetle that does 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds, a Land Rover Defender that Paddy McGuinness called "bonkers" on Top Gear, and three Ferrari Testarossas rebuilt to handle "like a Lotus Elise". He also has some choice words for the keyboard critics, and for hydrogen.
In this episode:
- How Electric Classic Cars began as an engineering side project in 2015
- Why the conversions ended up in Ferraris, Porsche 911s, Range Rovers and Maseratis
- Why Tesla drive units, and how they are rebuilt with Quaife limited-slip diffs
- Weight, handling and range: how classic EVs compare with the originals
- UK regulations, R100 safety standards and choosing an HCVA-member converter
- Skateboard chassis and the next generation of electric classics
- Why Richard thinks EV conversions open up classic cars to a new generation of drivers
About Plugged In
Plugged In is a new podcast from EV Powered and the Everything EV podcast team. We sit down for long conversations with leading figures across the electric car industry, and we also run deep dives into the topics that matter to EV drivers. For weekly EV news and reviews, subscribe to Everything EV, and read more at evpowered.co.uk.
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