The first car I fell in love with was a ’69 Mustang I saw at a car show almost too long ago to remember. It was red, it was clean, and it made the most delicious, delirious, devious sound when the owner cranked the 289 motor over. As much as I wanted to own a Mustang after that, I live in an area that is saturated with the classic pony car, so I went with its more obscure cousin, the Mercury Cougar. But with gas prices on the rise once again, not everybody can afford (or wants) to feed a gas guzzling V8 just to cruise down their local strip and meet up with their buddies. So then, is it heresy to take an American symbol of power and excess, remove the horsepower heart, and replace it with an electric motor? I don’t think so, and neither do the guys and gals at Duke’s Garage, who took a ’65 droptop ‘stang and put not one, but two electric motors in this ultra-classic.
And why not? This isn’t the first classic car to get an electric powertrain, and considering over a million Mustangs were made in the few few years, even purists shouldn’t have a problem with doing something different once in awhile. Lovingly restored, the Electric Pony is painted an olive green to celebrate its Earthiness, which comes from two high-torque electric motors. A 144-volt lithium ion battery pack provides power for up to 60 miles, enough juice for a night of cruising, and they sit where the engine used to. The motors sit in the transmission tunnel and some structural modifications have been done to accommodate them. The car can be charged in 8 hours through a 110 volt outlet, half the time in a 220 outlet.
Another Earth-friendly addition is the recycled foam-filled hemp seeds (hey duuude…) in a lovely tan color that contrasts nicely with the olive green. What’s more, Duke’s Garage, the proprietors of this project, are ready and willing to tackle another such electric-classic project for between $15k-$25k. Personally, I’d like a little more range, but all good things come in time. Oh, and in case you’re wondering about top speed, the Electric Pony maxes out at 65 mph. Not bad, but it looks like they have room for another motor or two in there…
Source: Denver Post
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About Christopher DeMorro
Can it be done on a ’56 Chevy??? PLEASe??? Say YES! very cool.
Can it be done on a ’56 Chevy??? PLEASe??? Say YES! very cool.
very cool and about time
very cool and about time
You should have said an « Coal Mustang ». As long as electricity is, by very far in the world, produced with coal, an electric car is nothing but “green”.
It’s far less a global solution if you imagine replacing thermic engines by electric ones without :
- reducing cars size and weight
- reducing distances
- reducing car usage
in other words : thinking *smaller*.
Just remember that a secondary energy source is, at it’s best, as clean as the primary source that permits to produce it. I dont even talk about lost energy in bad yield. Best modern coal plants have 40% output : 1 kWh of coal gives 400 Wh of electricity.
Electrifying cars is a bad answer to a bad question. One of the worst idea ever, indeed.
You should have said an « Coal Mustang ». As long as electricity is, by very far in the world, produced with coal, an electric car is nothing but “green”.
It’s far less a global solution if you imagine replacing thermic engines by electric ones without :
- reducing cars size and weight
- reducing distances
- reducing car usage
in other words : thinking *smaller*.
Just remember that a secondary energy source is, at it’s best, as clean as the primary source that permits to produce it. I dont even talk about lost energy in bad yield. Best modern coal plants have 40% output : 1 kWh of coal gives 400 Wh of electricity.
Electrifying cars is a bad answer to a bad question. One of the worst idea ever, indeed.
FrenchGuy:
Is it OK to use coal if the power is generated by a ‘clean coal’ plant that sequesters the CO2 underground?
It seems to me that if electric cars become the norm, that should usher in a PhotoVoltaic revolution to go with it.
I agree with smaller, but if you talk to any dysfunctional American, they want fast and safe. Unfortunately, they all think Big is Safe….but when you’re going fast, it doesn’t matter how big a vehicle is, it’s not safe.
I don’t believe that there will be one solution to fit our energy/transportation needs, but regionally different things should work: wind power on the coasts, sun power in the arid regions, water power around large rivers. If you’re content with funding terrorists as the status quo, then that’s your prerogative…I’d like to entertain other solutions.
Either way, 15 cargo ships pollute more in a year than all the vehicles in the world… truly belittling anything people are trying to do about car emissions.
FrenchGuy:
Is it OK to use coal if the power is generated by a ‘clean coal’ plant that sequesters the CO2 underground?
It seems to me that if electric cars become the norm, that should usher in a PhotoVoltaic revolution to go with it.
I agree with smaller, but if you talk to any dysfunctional American, they want fast and safe. Unfortunately, they all think Big is Safe….but when you’re going fast, it doesn’t matter how big a vehicle is, it’s not safe.
I don’t believe that there will be one solution to fit our energy/transportation needs, but regionally different things should work: wind power on the coasts, sun power in the arid regions, water power around large rivers. If you’re content with funding terrorists as the status quo, then that’s your prerogative…I’d like to entertain other solutions.
Either way, 15 cargo ships pollute more in a year than all the vehicles in the world… truly belittling anything people are trying to do about car emissions.
Gret project, we are currently working on an Alfa Romeo project and will covering a late 50′s Mercedes 190 one.
As far as the tired refrain of the current state of coal powered electricity, the offset from 0 emission tailpipe to the utility has already been proven effective and as more and utilities spruce up their alternative energy, will be even more relevant.
Then again, what’s a world without naysayers?
The Electricnick.com team.
Gret project, we are currently working on an Alfa Romeo project and will covering a late 50′s Mercedes 190 one.
As far as the tired refrain of the current state of coal powered electricity, the offset from 0 emission tailpipe to the utility has already been proven effective and as more and utilities spruce up their alternative energy, will be even more relevant.
Then again, what’s a world without naysayers?
The Electricnick.com team.
This is a wonderful idea to take a gas powered classic and make it not only more environmentally friendly but also effectively extend the life of the vehicle.
This ‘Stang now has a new lease on life and I bet the owner is proud.
To answer Cathy, yes you can convert any vehicle to electric drive. Niel Young converted a Lincoln Continental (not a light vehicle by any stretch of the imagination) and now it runs on volts alone. Check it out on youtube “lincvolt” or http://www.lincvolt.com/
If anyone feels that the larger vehicles we supposedly love can’t be run on electricity at least part of the way check out this info about a Hummer that was converted to run on electric power alone for the first 40 miles and if you need to drive any further then a gas engine starts up to run the vehicle from there on. Most people don’t drive more than 40 miles per day anyway. http://www.rasertech.com/media/videos/hummer-fuel-economy-explained
Sorry for the long winded post but it’s important I feel for the future of our country and our children and grandchildren. No more oil wars!
This is a wonderful idea to take a gas powered classic and make it not only more environmentally friendly but also effectively extend the life of the vehicle.
This ‘Stang now has a new lease on life and I bet the owner is proud.
To answer Cathy, yes you can convert any vehicle to electric drive. Niel Young converted a Lincoln Continental (not a light vehicle by any stretch of the imagination) and now it runs on volts alone. Check it out on youtube “lincvolt” or http://www.lincvolt.com/
If anyone feels that the larger vehicles we supposedly love can’t be run on electricity at least part of the way check out this info about a Hummer that was converted to run on electric power alone for the first 40 miles and if you need to drive any further then a gas engine starts up to run the vehicle from there on. Most people don’t drive more than 40 miles per day anyway. http://www.rasertech.com/media/videos/hummer-fuel-economy-explained
Sorry for the long winded post but it’s important I feel for the future of our country and our children and grandchildren. No more oil wars!
Oh, I forgot to add…
On the coal plant for our electricity, Duke Energy one of the largest owners of coal power plants states that the 2 plants they are currently building WILL BE THEIR LAST.
The utility companies hear the overwhelming majority of people do not want any more dirty coal plants. Clean coal (aka Carbon Capture and Sequestration – CCS) is not yet ready for deployment and may not be for another 10 or 20 years if ever.
Other utilities are getting the message:
“The extra cost of CCS may make rival, non-fossil fuel alternatives such as wind and solar competitive, said Steve Lennon, managing director of corporate affairs at South African utility Eskom.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54P1LG20090526
Oh, I forgot to add…
On the coal plant for our electricity, Duke Energy one of the largest owners of coal power plants states that the 2 plants they are currently building WILL BE THEIR LAST.
The utility companies hear the overwhelming majority of people do not want any more dirty coal plants. Clean coal (aka Carbon Capture and Sequestration – CCS) is not yet ready for deployment and may not be for another 10 or 20 years if ever.
Other utilities are getting the message:
“The extra cost of CCS may make rival, non-fossil fuel alternatives such as wind and solar competitive, said Steve Lennon, managing director of corporate affairs at South African utility Eskom.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54P1LG20090526
Clean Coal is nothing but an over-hyped media myth. The current obsession with CO2 is a distraction. Coal is impure carbon. Pure carbon, in the form of graphite doesn’t burn. Expensive coal has a higher carbon content and less impurities and cheap coal has more impurities. These impurities include sulphur compounds which contributes to acid rain, volatile hydrocarbons which help the coal to burn, mercury arsenic, beryllium and cadmium which are all deadly toxic heavy metals, and Uranium and Thorium which rain down on crops that we eat, irradiating our food supply. It is reported that people living near coal burning facilities are 900 times the national average risk of developing cancer. So called “clean coal” plants sequester impurities as well as carbon and put them into settling ponds. After settling through successive ponds, the toxic waste is extremely concentrated. But when these DIRT walled unregulated settling ponds break open, the toxic waste enters directly into the surrounding environment in a far more dangerous way. Just this last Decemeber one of these settling ponds burst in Tennessee spilling over 1 BILLION gallons of coal fly ash slurry into the Tennessee River. This spill was 40 times the size of the Exxon Valdez incident, and as I said earlier is a NUCLEAR spill possibly including Thorium and Uranium and yet it was largely unreported by any national media and even local media here in NC has completely forgotten about the Country’s WORST CHEMICAL spill in decades. I guess the rest of the US figures screw the hillbilly’s right? The Tennessee River flows from Tennessee through several mid-western states before joining with the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico… so a toxic mess this bad doesn’t just effect us up here in the sticks, but the entire central region of the United States. Too bad nobody cares.
Clean Coal is nothing but an over-hyped media myth. The current obsession with CO2 is a distraction. Coal is impure carbon. Pure carbon, in the form of graphite doesn’t burn. Expensive coal has a higher carbon content and less impurities and cheap coal has more impurities. These impurities include sulphur compounds which contributes to acid rain, volatile hydrocarbons which help the coal to burn, mercury arsenic, beryllium and cadmium which are all deadly toxic heavy metals, and Uranium and Thorium which rain down on crops that we eat, irradiating our food supply. It is reported that people living near coal burning facilities are 900 times the national average risk of developing cancer. So called “clean coal” plants sequester impurities as well as carbon and put them into settling ponds. After settling through successive ponds, the toxic waste is extremely concentrated. But when these DIRT walled unregulated settling ponds break open, the toxic waste enters directly into the surrounding environment in a far more dangerous way. Just this last Decemeber one of these settling ponds burst in Tennessee spilling over 1 BILLION gallons of coal fly ash slurry into the Tennessee River. This spill was 40 times the size of the Exxon Valdez incident, and as I said earlier is a NUCLEAR spill possibly including Thorium and Uranium and yet it was largely unreported by any national media and even local media here in NC has completely forgotten about the Country’s WORST CHEMICAL spill in decades. I guess the rest of the US figures screw the hillbilly’s right? The Tennessee River flows from Tennessee through several mid-western states before joining with the Mississippi and into the Gulf of Mexico… so a toxic mess this bad doesn’t just effect us up here in the sticks, but the entire central region of the United States. Too bad nobody cares.