SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM
This Cortina proves that electric cars don’t have to be soulless appliances
Swith ILENCE. That’s what gets you electric cars. Stomp on the throttle you’re flung forward at surprising and but your senses aren’t properly rate, suck, satisfied. No trace of the familiar no squeeze, bang, blow of combustion; tickle the grin-bringing exhaust music as you by, silence is redline. When a Tesla whisks what about a 1965 Ford Cortina expected, but
Mk1 humming along like a spaceship? Welcome to the world of electro-modding. classic Cortina’s traditional 1500cc Gone is this a 100kw/235nm Kent four-pot; in its place is battery electric motor fed by a 31kwh Tesla 180km. pack giving a driving range of about spraying In pubs around the land, beer is should be “Valuable and rare collectible cars but there is maintained for their historical value, resurrected a raft-load of classics waiting to be road. These that otherwise wouldn’t be on the and be are the ones I want to bring back enjoyed.” found an So, how’s it all been done? Tim a good unfinished project Mk1 Cortina with as a project body but toasted engine. His job fastcharging manager at Evie – an electric vehicle him on to network – had turned converted electro-modding. He’d seen some Cortina EV VW Beetles and Morris Minors, so a vehicle had appeal. “I really appreciate electric the thrill of drivetrains – their efficiency and taken them,” he says. “But I’m not necessarily
Outrage! from the mouths of the disgusted. on. What Sacrilege! Burn the witch! But hang meant it if converting a classic car to electric daily driver? went from being unused to being a if nothing’s Surely that’s a positive. Especially motor being been modified to prevent a petrol the track. dropped back in at some point down Harrison, The Cortina’s owner, Brisbane’s Tim Quite the is not some soulless tech nerd. previously opposite. He’s one of us, having and a 1960 owned a 1971 Valiant VG hardtop cars, but is Holden FB wagon. He gets old electric. incredibly happy his Cortina’s now purists who “There’s always traditionalists and be touched, don’t believe any old car should he says. and I agree with them to a degree,” on-board charging and battery management and found a systems. “I then upped the ante
100D,” he written-off 2018 Tesla Model X to use in the says. “I salvaged the battery pack of it. Using Cortina, but only about one-third be way too the full pack would have meant it’d and I’d need heavy, deteriorating performance, to upgrade the suspension.” specialist Brisbane electric car conversion motor Traction EV did all the battery work, Suzi Auto integration and installation, while and totally Services balanced the driveshaft over the top, reconditioned the diff. Tim “hovered and doing the interface between the displays headunit the driver interaction pieces”. An Android compromise screen is a required modern
MODEL X 100D AND SALVAGED 2018 I FOUND A WRITTEN-OFF TESLA THE BATTERY PACK TO USE IN THE CORTINA
so a classic with all the new EVS on the market, nobody had Cortina was a good challenge, as done one before.” car history Appreciating Lotus road and race lightweight and the fact that the Mk1 Cortina is a
Tim’s legend thanks to its Lotus association, a wrecked first experiments began. He bought little 2011 Mitsubishi I-MIEV (a horrible hope he overpriced electric city car) in the and battery could do a direct electric motor “software transplant. This was thwarted by on the limitations and modern OEM controls ECU and drive unit,” he says. already a In the States, electro-modding is Netgain in thriving business, so Tim turned to motor and the USA for its off-the-shelf Hyper9 manual – mounted just above the long-throw
Pro app, gear-shifter – and it runs the Torque the likes giving a suite of digital gauges to show motor of power, rpm, regeneration kw, amps, temp, battery temp and inverter temp. cars Interestingly – and unlike modern electric gearbox has – the Cortina’s four-speed manual been retained, although this is a reconditioned Mk2 version upgraded with a high-performance or an clutch. “You can drive it like a manual motor, automatic,” Tim explains. “The electric can shift when it idles, is not spinning, so you using the to any gear when stationary without the motor’s clutch. When you’re on the go and shift through spinning and accelerating, you can the gears just like a normal manual.”
I’ve driven nearly every electric car on today’s market, and practically all are single gear ratio. All the motor’s torque arrives instantly – that’s the fun part – but not having any gears to move through seriously dilutes the driving experience. In Tim’s Cortina, having a clutch to dip and that lovely long-stalk gear shifter to stir feels so much more involving, even if you don’t actually need to do it.
As a bonus, when stuck in city traffic and feeling lazy, you just stick it in third gear and drive it totally clutchless. “It’ll do zero to 100km/h in third gear without touching the clutch, and it’ll never stall, as it’s an electric motor,” Tim said.
Lack of noise aside, it drives very much like a 1960s Cortina. The strawberries-andcream front bench seat – beautifully restored – means you have to hang on to the giant original steering wheel when cornering.
Up front, Ultra Low King Springs coils have been fitted, helping with handling and stance. Original Cortina leaf springs are retained at the back, but are due an upgrade or reset, as they’re a bit compressed due to the weight of the rear battery box. It handles quite sweetly, helped no doubt by a low centre of gravity from those heavy, low-down batteries.
Unlike every modern electric car, this Mk1 Cortina doesn’t feel lardy. Its finished weight is just 1007kg – only 100kg over an original
Cortina Mk1, so it pulls away from standstill in an eager, light-footed way. It’ll hit 100km/h in around 7.5 seconds and on to over 130km/h, meaning it’d outrun even the iconic Lotus Cortina of the era, and wipe the floor with the Ford-powered family sedan version.
As for sending some charge back to the battery, there’s a switch just beside the oversized steering wheel to control regenerative braking. You can simply select Hi, Lo or Off depending on your drive.
Lift off the throttle and the car feels like it’s braking for you, all the while adding extra driving range. A lovely touch is the repurposing of the Cortina’s original analogue fuel gauge, converted now to display battery capacity.
Also repurposed is the Cortina’s rearmounted fuel filler. This now has a
Type 1 AC socket for home charging, giving zero-to-100 per cent charge in around 10 hours.
A public DC fast charger does the job in around 60 minutes, and Tim can bank on a range of around 180km with a full battery.
One of Tim’s goals in undertaking this project was to make this conversion totally reversible. There are no modifications to the Cortina’s original body and no welding or cutting. The only compromise needed was to remove the original fuel tank from under the boot floor (won’t be needing that anyway) in order to house the high-voltage components.
It’s a flush job, and it means the boot still has its as-standard capacity.
“I didn’t want it to be compromised as a car,” Tim says. “I needed it to fit luggage, and be safe enough for our two kids. We’ve fitted modern seatbelts and two child seat anchor points.” Imperative for a Queensland summer, a highvoltage compressor runs off the main battery pack to work the electric air conditioning. Regardless of one’s thoughts on electromodding classic cars, all should appreciate the quality of work here. And Tim’s keen to change people’s perspectives – even the most hard-nosed purists: “Electrification takes away the reliability issues and maintenance, as
IT’LL HIT 100KM/H IN AROUND 7.5SEC AND ON TO OVER 130KM/H, MEANING IT’D OUTRUN EVEN THE ICONIC LOTUS CORTINA OF THE ERA
servicing is much simpler and easier,” he says. “They’re easier to drive and you can focus on just enjoying them.”
With an electric conversion such as this costing in the region of $30,000-$40,000, it’s certainly not cheap. That said, many spend this and even more on a classic car’s engine and drivetrain rebuild. An electro-mod should prove far more reliable too – there really are very few moving parts – giving more opportunity to use such cars as daily drivers. It may not make the sound you’d expect from a Mk1 Cortina, but it’s a beautiful sight to see on the roads.
FOR more on Tim’s classic electric
car projects, visit chargedgarage.com.