BATTERY CRAZY
Whenever I’m socializing outside of the shed and electric vehicles (EVs) come up in conversation, people more often than not wrongly assume that I would be against the idea; you know, being a petrolhead and all. But in reality, I’m all for some EVs, especially in retrofits for daily drivers. Now, don’t go setting a match to the bottom of this magazine just yet — just hear me out. My dream daily is a late ’70s K5 Blazer. I’d own and be driving one right now if I could just find the right example (call me). Yes, I know it’s not the most practical daily, but I really don’t care! I don’t need it to be fast, I just want it to tow stuff and get me to and from work and other activities around the city with the least amount of stops at the pump, and grease under my nails. So you can understand my excitement when GM showcased its eCrate electricity-powered ’77 Blazer for Sema360. To me, that combination would be perfect. Yeah, yeah, there is no sound, but it’s not like I think a lazyarse, bone-stock small block Chev (SBC) is exactly a symphony. And it’s one I would certainly trade to have a daily driving ’70s SUV that made no fuel stops on the commute to the city, while also offering up modern air conditioning and exhibiting better off-the-line performance than the stock SBC ever did.
That particular eCrate package takes all its parts from the Chevrolet Bolt and makes only 200hp, but
... for way more money you can purchase a bolt-in (modified) Tesla Model S engine package from EVWest dubbed the ‘Revolt’. It slots straight onto the old small block mounts and delivers over 500hp and a massive 590lb·ft! Now, that sounds like a hell of a time to me, soundtrack or not.
I see the revolution with electric transplants as no different to what was happening in backyard sheds during any other decade; we’ve always shoehorned the latest and greatest power plants from new models into places they don’t belong. It is this premise that gave birth to all sorts of motorsport we love today, so why is this any different? Some interesting projects using wrecker-sourced EV drivetrains are already floating around New Zealand, and I’ve even spoken to a guy who is planning to put a forklift engine into an old Jeep. Bush mechanics aside, all you have to do is look at the aftermarket support that is going into this field to know that the wave of change has already taken off, and things are going to change a lot in the very near future. Companies like Holley — yes, Holley — have thrown their hats into the ring, and with so much aftermarket attention, the bolt-in EV packages are only going to become more and more straightforward for the regular home mechanic, and probably as easy as slapping in a small block over the weekend with a few mates.
This should in no way be read as professing that I’m switching sides; I will draw the line at having everything in my shed EV. Noise is a big part of what draws me to cars. Come the weekend or race night, it’s the sound of high compression that I want filling my ear drums. I’m also unsure if I could sit and watch EV racing. Imagine a full field of EV sprint cars — er, no thanks, I may as well stay home and watch iRacing. But then again, the EV rallycross machines do look pretty exciting, so that could change my mind, but that’s a sport we don’t get live here anyway.
I don’t see EVs as any sort of threat to the way of life currently. It’s simply the next evolution, or should I say ‘edition’. If you’re sceptical, get yourself into Tesla and bury your right foot. I bet by the time your brain catches up you’ll have a new perspective on EV — go on, give it a go. And if it gets more vintage tin out there in the daily commute replacing the sea of lookalike utes, then how is that a bad thing?
But back to that K5 — I’ll still love it with a small block, so call me!