Electric dreams
ELECTRIC cars have been much in the news lately, with the government announcing its intention to end the sale of conventional petrol and diesel engine cars just ten years from now. I was talking to Dave the landlord and he suggested I should try building a battery-powered Series Land Rover. I’m probably too old a dog to start learning new tricks at this stage, and in any case I can’t see classic Land Rovers being legislated off the road in my lifetime, but there is no doubt that over the next 20 or so years it will become steadily more difficult to drive a vehicle with an internal combustion engine in our big cities. In October 2021 the London Ultra Low Emissions Zone will be massively expanded: vehicles more than 40 years old are exempt for now, and I am getting a fair few enquiries from people wanting to know how well a Series III will cope as a daily driver in London traffic. (Answer: the vehicle will cope, but the owner may struggle.)
In the next few years I can foresee many people looking to convert old Land Rovers to battery power just so that they can continue driving them in urban areas. There is already a burgeoning classic car electrification sector and I have had a look at a few of their conversions, including some Land Rovers. The engineering is impressive, but I get the strong impression that the people behind them are electric vehicle enthusiasts rather than classic car enthusiasts. “Look! We built this car that looks like a VW Beetle but drives just like a Tesla!” Actually, if I own a Beetle I want it to drive like a Beetle. Classic cars aren’t just about the shape: the entire driving experience is important.
Right now the cost of batteries makes a classic electric vehicle conversion hideously expensive, which means that you have to be pretty committed to the idea of electrically powered vehicles to consider it.
Ten years from now things could look very different, once battery cost and size comes down. I rather like the idea of a Series II with an electric motor under the bonnet, driving the wheels via the original four-speed gearbox and clutch, electronically controlled to replicate the throttle response and power delivery of a two and a quarter, with the fuel gauge telling you how much battery range you have left. Maybe even have the motor “idling” when the vehicle is stationary, and build in a bit of imbalance just so that it feels alive. Sound effects? Why not? Electric vehicle enthusiasts will be horrified at the sheer inefficiency of such a device, but it will still be fun to drive, and that is what counts.