Classic cars "oil to electricity"? Is it a regression in new energy technology, or an insistence on automotive culture?

Reporter | Cheng Di

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Recently, BMW's fifth-generation eDrive electric drive technology, with its excellent endurance level and power consumption control, has refreshed the previous inherent concept of "oil to electricity".

In fact, BMW's CLAR platform, which can be well compatible with gasoline engines, diesel engines, plug-in hybrids and pure electricity and other driving forms, cannot be regarded as a real "oil to electricity".

At present, the most common real oil tram we see is actually to replace the motor on the engine part of the original fuel vehicle and replace the lithium battery on the fuel tank... In other words, this is the short-term solution that many car companies use to deal with policies today, and the emergency products launched in order to quickly seize the market have very limited development space and very low cost performance.

More importantly, most of these cars have safety and quality hazards.

For example, ignoring the difference between the chassis of the oil-modified tram and the pure-bred new energy vehicle; ignoring the weight of the battery, the overweight battery is directly laid on the chassis of the original car; ignoring the difference in the center of gravity of traditional fuel vehicles and electric vehicles, simply stuffing the battery and the motor directly; ignoring the supporting parts such as shock absorption, steering, braking, and body stabilization system, resulting in irreversible deformation of the body frame.

Nowadays, many "oil to electricity" cars around the world have many safety and quality hidden dangers, so they are also regarded as "counter-current" or retrogressive behavior that cannot exist for a long time in today's mainstream car-making environment.

However, in Europe, in recent years, the trend of "changing oil to electricity" of classic cars has become more and more intense, and even many successful cases and famous companies have emerged.

<h3>France Transition-One: 8500 euros can save a scrapped car? </h3>

The earliest successful case of "oil to electricity" in Europe that we learned about was in 2019. The successful "oil to electricity" of old cars is a newly emerging start-up company, France's Transition-One.

They bought a batch of Tesla battery modules from a parts recycling company and selected three to install in a 2009 Renault Twingo. The entire battery system weighs about 120 kilograms, about the same weight as Renault Twingo's original engine and fuel tank. One of the modules is located in the position of the original engine at the front of the car, and the remaining two are placed in the rear fuel tank. In the end, the hatchback became a pure electric vehicle with a range of 180 kilometers.

At the same time, they will also carry out certain modifications and upgrades to many parts in the car.

At that time, all the modification costs of this car were 8500 euros (it is understood that after subsidies from the relevant French departments, the cost of electric refueling for the owner was even as long as 5000 euros).

Perhaps in our opinion, it is actually dare to use second-hand batteries into private cars, and the 180-kilometer cruising range is not much different from the Hongguang MINIEV, which is not too attractive, but in the eyes of many Europeans, it is quite a good choice. Because of the different cultures and environments of car users, they have an extraordinary attachment to old cars, especially classic cars with stories.

Of course, another reason for the willingness to accept short cruising ranges is the environmental awareness of most Europeans.

They believe that the use of second-hand batteries is actually a new way out for electric vehicle batteries, otherwise these batteries will need to spend a lot of time and experience being processed and recycled.

In addition, many European old car owners do not want to change cars, and the reason why they have been insisting on driving those old cars that should be replaced or even scrapped is because they believe that the whole process of scrapping vehicles is very environmentally friendly - even if it is now in Europe, scrapped vehicles are mostly used for recycling, but in fact, the process is not environmentally friendly.

The Transition-One can currently support the "oil to electricity" surgery of ordinary small cars such as the Fiat 500, Volkswagen Polo, Renault, Peugeot 107 and Citroën C1, which can achieve a range of at least 100 km/h after modification, but the maximum speed is generally only 110 km/h.

In a way, Transition-One does cater to the idea of mainstream Environmentalists in Europe, which is to achieve the transition from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles with less money and the most fashionable way.

<h3>Italy Totem Automobili: Make 60-year-old Alfa Romeo vintage cars vintage and trendy</h3>

Compared to the French startup Transition-One, Totem Automobili is arguably a well-known italian veteran modification factory, and only loves to revive or remodel Alfa Romeo's classic cars.

Last spring, they used their own "oil to electricity" method to repair and transform a nearly scrapped 1960s GT Junior. And it seems to be much more complicated and expensive than the Transition-One.

Because Totem Automobili is not simply to repair this classic old car as old, or simply change the traditional fuel engine and fuel tank into a power unit and battery module, but to add or replace many new designs, materials and ideas.

The battery pack they are equipped with for GT Junior is 50.4kWh, and the mileage is converted into kilometers of about 320 kilometers, but the newly matched motor is very Alpha Romeo, which is reported to reach 518 horsepower and 940Nm!

As a well-known modification expert in Europe, Totem Automobili in order to make this old car run as long and fast as possible, as well as to offset the new battery pack, the extra weight brought to the vehicle, they tried to reduce the weight of the extra decoration of the vehicle as much as possible. For example, the material of the fenders, trunk cover and door part of the front and back of the body was changed to carbon fiber covering, and the rest of the body was made of aluminum in a large area. Even to make the car lighter, they chose not to paint it, but to directly expose the very punk naked carbon and aluminum metal nature.

At the same time, in order to strengthen the overall rigidity of the body, so that this nearly 60-year-old body can adapt to the powerful power output brought by the new motor, the modification experts used the Bilstein shock absorber in the front suspension to adjust the multi-stage damping;

It is understood that in order to integrate the motor, multi-link independent suspension and the subframe, the rear suspension of this car has changed even more. Moreover, the chassis of the whole vehicle only retains ten percent of the original model, and the whole vehicle is wide-body processed.

In addition, Totem Automobili also renamed the GTJunior to Alfa Romeo Totem GT electric, directly pointing out the new attributes of this car.

Many overseas car fans believe that although this car already looks quite different from that year, it still has the spirit of Elfa Romeo.

<h3>British RBW EV Classic Car: Direct reproduction of a pure electric MGB sports car</h3>

In fact, there are many similar "oil to electricity" modification companies in Europe, and the way we change oil to electricity can be described as diverse, and each country has its own characteristics. Moreover, they are better at "modifying" their own models.

Take, for example, the RBW EV Classic Cars in the UK.

However, unlike the Previously mentioned French Transition-One, RBW EV Classic Cars is not directly modified with ready-made classic cars, but on the original appearance of those classic cars, launching a new electrified prototype.

In May of this year, the company carried out a "new replica" of the MGB, one of the most classic affordable sports cars of the 1960s under the MG brand, after oiling and electricity.

The car's exterior design remains largely unchanged, but the core is a new all-electric powertrain – six to eight lithium batteries can be placed in the original engine position to provide power to the 70-kilowatt electric motor. It is understood that in order to strive to achieve the performance of this car and the same year, first the body was changed to a lighter aluminum material, and then in order to balance the weight of the front and rear and retain the rear-drive feeling of the old car, they set the electric motor to the rear.

Therefore, the speed of this pure electric MGB is nearly 130 kilometers per hour, and the acceleration of 100 kilometers is 9 seconds, which is almost the same as the fuel vehicle of the year. Of course, more importantly, the cruising range reaches 260 km and 322 km, depending on whether you choose six or eight lithium batteries.

It is understood that although the interior of pure electric MGB is not much different from the original, it still has a clear modern atmosphere. For example, a 7-inch central control display was added, and the traditional gear shift lever was changed to a knob that adjusted the front and rear of the seat.

To be honest, the car's central control display with a few metal knobs below has the feel of a small TV set in the 1980s.

It is understood that the pure electric MGB is not a production car, only limited to 30 units, each priced at least 90,000 pounds - and this car is not the first work of RBW EV Classic Cars. They are very fond of redesigning the classic fuel vehicle into a new energy electric vehicle. In particular, he loves to transform the classic cars that represented the British industrial level, such as Jaguar, Aston Martin and MINI (before being acquired by BMW, MINI was the ace product of the British car company BMC).

<h3>Volkswagen of Germany: Another resurrection of the Beetle and T1 vans</h3>

In fact, many OEMs have also found this unique "way to make money".

For example, Germany's Volkswagen Group released an "oil to electricity" e-Kafer similar to the classic Beetle Infinity at the beginning of this year.

It is reported that this "oil to electricity" Beetle shell is derived from the classic soft-top convertible version of the Beetle in 1972, which is called e-Kafer, which is derived from the German version of the Beetle name.

Unlike the traditional fuel version of the Beetle's rear-engine rear-wheel drive, e-Kafer directly took Volkswagen's first small pure electric vehicle E-Up launched in 2009! Electric powertrain - E-Up of the year! It uses a front-facing front-drive layout, an electric motor with a maximum power of 82 horses and a maximum torque of 210 Nm, and a battery pack with a range of only about 150 kilometers.

Yes, E-Up! The performance is what this e-Kafer is. To make matters worse, the e-Kafer's mileage after a charge is not as good as the same fuel Beetle after a refueling.

There is a clear "reason" for volkswagen to do this.

First of all, even if there is such a huge gap with today's electric vehicle status quo, the performance of e-Kafer is still stronger than the 1972 version of the classic fuel car - and fans who love the classic Beetle will not care about the performance of this car.

Secondly, although we are on E-Up! Extremely unfamiliar, but in Germany, E-Up! The model technology is quite mature. e-Kafer directly takes it can greatly reduce the cost of research and development, so that the mass production feasibility of the "oil to electricity" classic car is much more feasible. Of course, the most critical problem is because of the Beetle's own limitations, because the body is small, so it is impossible to install a larger battery pack.

It is reported that in order to comply with the current European traffic regulations, this e-Kafer has also improved the chassis, brake system and headlights, in addition to the classic appearance and interior features of a Beetle, basically have not been changed too much.

I don't know if it's the public laziness, or if it knows what it means to maximize the originality.

Of course, the e-Kafer is not the first classic car modified by Volkswagen in Germany. Last summer, they applied to the European Union Intellectual Property Office for the registration of an e-Samba trademark — something that veteran drivers familiar with Volkswagen's history should have heard of, the original name of the famous Volkswagen T1 model. Volkswagen added the prefix e on this basis, no doubt trying to reproduce T1.

As things stand, the e-Samba trademark is likely to be used in volkswagen ID.BUZZ that will achieve small-scale mass production in 2022. According to the concept car diagram that flowed out before, ID.BUZZ is a "oil to electricity" product that Volkswagen pays tribute to its classic model T1.

It is expected that the ID.BUZZ will be completely different from e-Kafer's "repaired as old" style, it will only have a retro shell, which is likely to be equipped with THE SEAALEVEL 3-level automatic driving system, which will be built on Volkswagen's newly upgraded MEB pure electric vehicle platform, and the battery pack capacity and mileage will be closer to today's actual situation, or will reach 600 kilometers.

<h3>LEC UK: Let the old MINI embrace the electrified spring</h3>

Also committed to mass production of classic cars "oil to electricity" is the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEC, London Electric Cars), which was born in 2017.

It designed and began to provide a complete set of electric modification packages to help this classic old car achieve mass electrification, and the "oil to electricity" time of each old MINI was one and a half months.

It is understood that LEC's routine is actually very similar to the Previously mentioned French Transition-One, using recycled motors and batteries. However, they took into account the actual weight and size of the MINI, so they adopted a more suitable Nissan Leaf accessory – in this regard, more mature than the previous French company.

However, due to the similar size of the MINI to the previous e-Kafer, the standard battery pack that LEC can modify for the old MINI has a capacity of only 20 kWh, which can only allow the vehicle to last from 100 km to 112 km. However, it is understood that if the user is willing, you can also try to install a larger battery pack.

Currently, excluding taxes, shipping costs and the cost of the car itself, the kit is priced at £25,000. And, as long as you really want to, LEC can also give you a one-stop service - that is, to help you purchase an old MINI before "oil to electricity".

The original intention of LEC is also very similar to Transition-One, that is, to revitalize the old car that is about to reach the end of its life and make a contribution to environmental protection. Moreover, as far as the current price of old European cars "oil to electricity" is concerned, the cost of LEC, although not as good as Transition-One, is already much lower than that of other companies.

At present, LEC's "oil to electricity" orders for MINI have been scheduled from the end of this year to the beginning of next year.

In addition to the old MINI, the company can also provide a full range of "oil to electricity" accessories for other classic classic models, such as Morris Minor, Morris Traveller, and Land Rover Defender.

<h3>brief summary:</h3>

For Chinese car owners, spending tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to give their old fuel cars a pure electric modification that keeps pace with the times is really not cost-effective, it is better to buy a new new energy vehicle.

Indeed, in the past two years, there have also been domestic independent brands and modification factories that have seen the special needs of many car owners, using their own new energy platforms and classic car shells that have passed the patent protection period - such as the Eulabunk cat that appeared at this year's Shanghai Auto Show, and the modified version of the Volkswagen T1 launched by loose locomotives.

However, compared with those modified car factories and OEMs in Europe, the new energy vehicles that have been re-engraved with classic cars in China are better than those "oil to electricity" old cars in Europe in terms of new energy and intelligent travel, but they are more like the popular net red retro drinks in convenience stores today. It looks quite like the style of the past, but in fact, it is only a shell and is full of different novelty, but the old taste is not much retained.

After all, many old flavors now seem to be outdated or even outdated, such as the acceleration of 100 meters does not break 100, the maximum speed is only 120 kilometers per hour, and the energy consumption of not being able to run much road... It is still impossible to stop those European companies that engage in "oil to electricity" and are doing things that are somewhat disconnected from the current and future automotive industry environment.

The reason is simple.

In addition to the concept of environmental protection carved into the bones, there are different car cultures.

Take the most important central control in the car, for example. It is only a matter of time before the traditional mechanical dashboard is replaced by a screen, and people are already more interested in the screens spliced together. But those "old things" that seem to have little use can create a more advanced style, aesthetic and sense of story.

Perhaps, this is also the real reason why those European factories insist on doing "oil to electricity" for fuel classic cars.