The El Camino was destined to be a giant, thirsty, gas-guzzling devil. And as Autopia puts it, “a poster child for the darkest days of American automotive design and a car with enough steel to shrug off a collision with a Sherman tank.” Enter Tom Leitschuh, who challenged the gas guzzling destiny of an El Camino and built himself an electric car from the (former) gas guzzler.
The 1981 Chevrolet El Camino was converted into an electric vehicle rather quickly and skillfully. It took Tom 200 hours over six weeks to complete the transformation. He hired some people for help with welding and fabrication, and received some help from QuickCable to complete his $30,000 project. The car runs on 46 lithium-ferrite phosphate batteries located over the front and rear axles, and with a power output of 33kWh.
These batteries supply juice to a 100hp DC motor, which can possibly take the car to 85mph. It has a three-speed transmission. Leitschuh expects the range of the vehicle to be in the neighborhood of 200 miles, when running after a full charge that takes nearly 10 hours. A software keeps tabs on the batteries and relays their status through a display. Just to make the pot sweeter, this El Camino is completely clean, not only does the electric vehicle produce zero emission, Leitschuh uses his wind turbine and solar barn to charge the batteries.
Via: TDL Electronics/ Autopia
