1982 Range Rover converted to electric
Sami Grover samigrover
CC BY 2.0 Land Rover MENA
Here's one for the wanna-be environmentalist petrolheads among us.
When Fully Charged showcased an all-electric conversion of a classic Beetle, many TreeHuggers were enthused. There's something about recycling these older, admittedly beautiful but often quite polluting vehicles that just appeals—even if, like me, you don't consider yourself a car nerd.
So I'll be curious to see what the TreeHugger community makes of this latest Fully Charged video, which features another conversion from Electric Classic Cars. This time, the subject matter is a 1982 original Range Rover (yes, I know, SUVs are taking over the world!), which has been souped up with fifteen Tesla batteries to offer a total capacity of 80 KwH. The goal was to get similar power to the original, and to get somewhere between 150 and 200 miles of range. (A recent range test scored 175 miles of range with ordinary day-to-day driving.)
I admit to be torn on stories like this. On the one hand, few of us really need a giant tank to drive around in. And we also don't need to be tearing up Welsh bogs in the interests of recreation. Indeed, we'd be better off if we were all riding eBikes all of the time.
But given that people do drive around in tanks, and given that some people do like to go off roading, I would much rather they do so in an all electric vehicle. And let's not forget that when a big, inefficient vehicle goes electric, it's saving more total emissions because the starting point is so much higher. Also, interestingly, this vehicle might look like a tank—but in absolute terms it's lighter than a Tesla Model S.
As always, if you like the video and support what Fully Charged is doing, please consider offering a financial contribution through Patreon.
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