Fully Charged takes out an all-electric 1965 ‘Voltswagen’ Beetle for a spin

With our recent piece about the converted VW Karmann Ghia, we thought it would only be appropriate to share with y’all the experience that Fully Charged had with the all-electric converted 1965 VW Beetle from Electric Classic Cars, which they nicknamed the ‘Voltswagen.’

Electric Classic Cars, based out of the United Kingdom, is headed by two individuals: Graham Swann and Richard Morgan. Swann, who has an electrical engineering background and experience in industrial control and automation, applies his knowledge of high power and AC & DC drives to the vehicles, while Morgan contributes his classic car knowledge and experience from working in the energy efficiency industry for around 20 years.

In the video with Robert Llewellyn from Fully Charged, Morgan states the following:

“The concept of Electric Classic Cars, is to take existing iconic classic cars and leave them as they were […]

From the outside and the inside, you wouldn’t know that it was electric at first look.”

Morgan made some additional comments about how he and Swann are wanting to focus on converting iconic cars from the 60’s and 70’s i.e. possibly a Fiat 500, Volvo P1800, and even a Porsche 911. Further, I was able to get in contact with Richard, and while he stated in the video that the conversion could be done in about a week, it took him and Swann about 2 months overall to complete, but if condensed into just the time spent on the vehicle, it came out to about 2 weeks total. According to him, most of the time was spent on upgrading the brakes and suspension, as well as restoring the car to the level seen in the video.

Some details and photos from their conversion are down below:

• 22 kWh battery (split between the front and back for weight distribution)
• From empty to full, it would take about 7 hours to recharge using the 3 kW onboard charger
  • An optional 7 kW charger or CHAdeMO is offered if a customer wishes
• ~100 mile (160 km) per charge
• ~30 hp (22 kW) brushless AC motor for HPEVS along with a Curtis controller
• 0-60 mph (0-100 kmh) in under 10 seconds
• Two driving modes: power and eco
  • Power mode has faster acceleration, decreased range
  • Eco mode has softer acceleration, increased range
• Upgraded disc brakes, suspension, rear camber compensator and a thicker anti-roll bar
• Price of £35,000 ($45,000)

The motor

Charge port behind the license plate 

The gauge

With a beautifully done conversion, Llewellyn was impressed. He ended off the video (down below) stating that it is “an amazing, amazing car. I absolutely loved driving it.”

You can check out other vehicles that Robert Llewellyn has covered on his Fully Charged YouTube channel. Additionally, he wants as much support to go to Electric Classic Cars as possible, so you can take a look at their webpage or glance at their fact sheet on the car.

Let us know what you think about this conversion down in the comments!