Good job , like the stage sheep ... good luck with the venture. I drove a proper Electric Motorcycle in USA a couple of years back and was very impressed. Have been in i3 and i8 - different and nice in a way ... classic cars .... good idea.
I am seriously considering converting my old 124 Merc to electric. Think it would be a helluva lot of fun do drive. Cost in South Africa is prohibitive however.
If the owner loves what he's done to the car that's great on his end, but this is horrifying to watch on my end because I love the sound and mechanics of the flat four in mine.
+Jared Tennant I can understand where you are coming from Jared. Just to note the engine is kept after the swap and the mods can be undone if required, without harm to the bodywork.
my only criticism of this otherwise beautiful project is the giant white decal on the back. It takes my eye away from the elegant and classic look of the car . I understand the pride and desire to share the info with everyone though. I think that a nice subtle decal with a different font and complementing color would not only look awesome, but also serve its purpose without taking anything away from the classic feel. thanks for the video its very well done
+TheProfezzional Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it😎 I believe the decal was just to promote the car at shows so could be removed. It did stand out alright and perhaps a smaller more subtle decal might have worked.
I would need more than 100 mile range to convert. How do you power the lights and radio. Is it a separate 12v battery how do you keep those charged on a run.
+Take to the Road I don't how such a small channel has such quality videos! if you guys posted more often, your channel would inevitably become massive
+MrJewripper Thank you very very much! We are humbled by your comment😊We are a small channel but are working hard to ramp things up a notch. Stay tuned!😉👍
electric is ideal for an old beetle. i would love to have one. i owned a heavily modified 63 beetle, it looked and sounded amazing, and had a good amount of power, but the maintenance on it sucked and i seized a motor which i spent so much on because the engine made so much power and heat (especially how i drove it) that the oil got so hot as it didn't have adequate cooling from the stock oil cooling system, which i believe was none, and it just burst out of the oil filter and seized up the motor. i was going too fast at the time to do anything about it. even tho i had a killer 4 tip flared exhaust and big cams which made it barely idle, and sounded so sweet, i would gladly trade it for the quiet power and reliability of an electric motor. only i would prefer a bit more range than this one has.
What do these conversion cars do for heat? Surely that cuts down on battery life, as well as terrain. Going up hills will shorten battery life too. What about radio, wipers, etc.
A heater can be specified with the car, this Beetle didn't have one. Obviously using electrical items in the car will use up the battery, in the same way that using similar items in a petrol car use fuel. Regen on down hill does replenish the battery. Not a massive amount but enough to help the range. As the technology improves, this will get better.
For now and in the near future, I just don't see any demand for something like this particularly in areas like mine where we have lots of hills and cold winters. The cost to convert just doesn't make sense for a car that will have a limit of about 70 miles or less. Maybe in places where it's flat and warm year round there might be a market for them.
They will appeal more in cities. Cities with not many hills 😉 For places like London, I can see the appeal of an electric classic. It looks cool but doesn't have any of the mechanical bits to worry about. And it would be exempt from the city congestion charge. An expensive way around the charge as these builds aren't cheap. But there is a market for them. And its only going to grow.
how mutch does it cost to go over to electric ? i once had a plan to do has well to a mutch bigger old school car but once i found out my state demands me to go and have a shit load of paperwork done and then check ups and so on.... it doesnt sound so good idea after all, i might need to go to Sweden or gods know where and get the job done there so i could drive it back at my homeland
Richard charges around £30,000 for an electric conversion. The price depends on the car and your requirements as well. You could try building an electric classic yourself. Drop Richard an email. He'd be happy to talk you through the options.
Thanks for watching Bill👍It’s hard to price a custom Beetle like this since it is so personal. It would be north of £10,000 at least. Maybe even the £20,000 range.
Hello Richard, thanks for your reply. I would have thought that Bert the Bug would have had a much higher value, I bet if you put him up for sale he would sell fast.
Sorry Bill it was me Niall the filmmaker who replied not Richard. And I mistook the question for the other Beetle film I made (the RUclips Creator app isn’t the best). With regards to prices for the conversions you’d better check Richards website. I think the Beetle was over £30,000.
So you replaced the lightweight durable, long-life VW engine with several tons of short-lived batteries? I predict a time when the kerbside will be littered with parked-up, non functioning electric cars because the cost of renewing the batteries is uneconomically viable. Meanwhile my "68 aircooled Beetle will still be ticking along as it has for 50 years! Good vid but electric cars have a long way to go before I'll be convinced.
Thanks for the feedback on the vid Martin. It is still early days but the technology is improving all the time. The same could be said for early cars. A conversion like this isn't to everyone's tastes but the pressures are there now on the automotive sector and it is bound to trickle down to the classic car world.
Fantastic video and worth the watch! Would love to do the same thing to a classic!
Thank you very much and thanks for watching! Apologies for the slow reply to your comment, it wasn't flagged up until now. RUclips gremlins ;)
Same here would love to do that to a classic car and would still to make electric cars of my own design
I'm truly fascinated by people who have such mechanical ability. This is a great way to rejuvenate a classic car.
Thanks for watching👍 it is the future for many Classics and a great way to future proof them for the coming electric age.
Dude, you should rename it as the Voltzwagen Beetle.
Griffin fiveonethree or just Volkswagen E-Käfer
Griffin fiveonethree Voltzwagen wins the best name award of the day
+Rekn Cycles Sure does! 👍
Good job , like the stage sheep ... good luck with the venture. I drove a proper Electric Motorcycle in USA a couple of years back and was very impressed. Have been in i3 and i8 - different and nice in a way ... classic cars .... good idea.
+Alan Courtney Thanks Alan! Glad you enjoyed it😎
This is brilliant. Great job, mate.
Nice job Mate; now to complete the Illusion add 2 chrome exhaust pipes under the rear bumper...!
I think customers can actually order an exhaust. Just for fun and confusion.
Love the colour also
Looks and sounds great......
+LAZAROS ANTONIADIS Cool! Thanks for watching 👍
Only one word, awesome!!
+John Beeforth Cool😎Glad you liked it👍
John
I am seriously considering converting my old 124 Merc to electric. Think it would be a helluva lot of fun do drive. Cost in South Africa is prohibitive however.
Great video work!
+Stefan Smuts Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it😎👍
I want one! Take my money, please!!!
+Theodore Vasilopoulos (Ted) Thanks for watching! I think quite a few people will want this👍😎
If the owner loves what he's done to the car that's great on his end, but this is horrifying to watch on my end because I love the sound and mechanics of the flat four in mine.
+Jared Tennant I can understand where you are coming from Jared. Just to note the engine is kept after the swap and the mods can be undone if required, without harm to the bodywork.
Really interesting.
my only criticism of this otherwise beautiful project is the giant white decal on the back. It takes my eye away from the elegant and classic look of the car . I understand the pride and desire to share the info with everyone though. I think that a nice subtle decal with a different font and complementing color would not only look awesome, but also serve its purpose without taking anything away from the classic feel. thanks for the video its very well done
+TheProfezzional Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it😎 I believe the decal was just to promote the car at shows so could be removed. It did stand out alright and perhaps a smaller more subtle decal might have worked.
I'm pretty sure he only put these decasls onto his own vehicles, not customer ones! :)
+Kniffel101 Yes I expect the new owner has taken the glass decal off (the Bug has been sold now).
I'm 20 and I want this! Not just to show it off, but because I *always* wanted to have my own "Herbie"! =P
+Kniffel101 Cool! Why not eh. Herbie always has been such a iconic and cool car. With attitude 😉
I would need more than 100 mile range to convert. How do you power the lights and radio. Is it a separate 12v battery how do you keep those charged on a run.
just amazing!!!
+André Luiz Barbosa Cool! Thanks for watching😎👍
Yes.
It would be cool to see one in a Speedster !
Check out evtv.me. They've done a few Speedsters, and a Spyder, and an Escalade, a Mini, a Thing, a Ghia, a Doca... :-)
I wonder how much the burgundy speedster sold for Nick? And if they have improved on the distance it can travel?
+elderwood111 That would be cool! We'd love to see an install in a Karmann Ghia as well👌
They are located @ Dukes Garage. Seems like they have improved distance to 100 miles per charge.
God Damn I love this channel!!
+MrJewripper Thank you very much😎👍
+Take to the Road I don't how such a small channel has such quality videos! if you guys posted more often, your channel would inevitably become massive
+MrJewripper Thank you very very much! We are humbled by your comment😊We are a small channel but are working hard to ramp things up a notch. Stay tuned!😉👍
electric is ideal for an old beetle. i would love to have one. i owned a heavily modified 63 beetle, it looked and sounded amazing, and had a good amount of power, but the maintenance on it sucked and i seized a motor which i spent so much on because the engine made so much power and heat (especially how i drove it) that the oil got so hot as it didn't have adequate cooling from the stock oil cooling system, which i believe was none, and it just burst out of the oil filter and seized up the motor. i was going too fast at the time to do anything about it. even tho i had a killer 4 tip flared exhaust and big cams which made it barely idle, and sounded so sweet, i would gladly trade it for the quiet power and reliability of an electric motor. only i would prefer a bit more range than this one has.
Brilliant
+James Lipman Thanks for watching James😎👍
Awesome
Cheers David!
What do these conversion cars do for heat? Surely that cuts down on battery life, as well as terrain. Going up hills will shorten battery life too. What about radio, wipers, etc.
A heater can be specified with the car, this Beetle didn't have one. Obviously using electrical items in the car will use up the battery, in the same way that using similar items in a petrol car use fuel. Regen on down hill does replenish the battery. Not a massive amount but enough to help the range. As the technology improves, this will get better.
For now and in the near future, I just don't see any demand for something like this particularly in areas like mine where we have lots of hills and cold winters. The cost to convert just doesn't make sense for a car that will have a limit of about 70 miles or less. Maybe in places where it's flat and warm year round there might be a market for them.
They will appeal more in cities. Cities with not many hills 😉 For places like London, I can see the appeal of an electric classic. It looks cool but doesn't have any of the mechanical bits to worry about. And it would be exempt from the city congestion charge. An expensive way around the charge as these builds aren't cheap. But there is a market for them. And its only going to grow.
how mutch does it cost to go over to electric ? i once had a plan to do has well to a mutch bigger old school car but once i found out my state demands me to go and have a shit load of paperwork done and then check ups and so on.... it doesnt sound so good idea after all, i might need to go to Sweden or gods know where and get the job done there so i could drive it back at my homeland
Richard charges around £30,000 for an electric conversion. The price depends on the car and your requirements as well. You could try building an electric classic yourself. Drop Richard an email. He'd be happy to talk you through the options.
It's the Herbie of the future.
Perfect VW Bug. This is the car for me. What would you value this new age vintage Beattie at?
Beetle
Thanks for watching Bill👍It’s hard to price a custom Beetle like this since it is so personal. It would be north of £10,000 at least. Maybe even the £20,000 range.
Hello Richard, thanks for your reply. I would have thought that Bert the Bug would have had a much higher value, I bet if you put him up for sale he would sell fast.
Sorry Bill it was me Niall the filmmaker who replied not Richard. And I mistook the question for the other Beetle film I made (the RUclips Creator app isn’t the best). With regards to prices for the conversions you’d better check Richards website. I think the Beetle was over £30,000.
ok
So you replaced the lightweight durable, long-life VW engine with several tons of short-lived batteries? I predict a time when the kerbside will be littered with parked-up, non functioning electric cars because the cost of renewing the batteries is uneconomically viable. Meanwhile my "68 aircooled Beetle will still be ticking along as it has for 50 years!
Good vid but electric cars have a long way to go before I'll be convinced.
Thanks for the feedback on the vid Martin. It is still early days but the technology is improving all the time. The same could be said for early cars. A conversion like this isn't to everyone's tastes but the pressures are there now on the automotive sector and it is bound to trickle down to the classic car world.