At the beginning of winter, Ken Macken took the highway out to Chinchilla in Queensland's Western Downs to buy a 40-year-old ute — a dodgy-looking Datsun upholstered with strips of carpet and sheet metal.

By the time spring arrived, Mr Macken had converted the retro clunker into a snazzy little electric vehicle (EV), able to surge to 100 kilometres per hour in under six seconds (something the petrol version would have never achieved). 

He dubbed the two-door electric runabout the "Dasla".

"There's a lot of people out there who love their classic cars, but don't want the issues of internal combustion engines," he says.

"Old cars look beautiful and new cars all look the same."

In place of greasy, soot-stained parts, they're installing banks of lithium-ion batteries and small, but powerful, electric motors.

Though not cheap, EV conversion, or "Electro modding", is booming in popularity.

Often, it's a way of breathing new life into beloved older models — a way of having a classic car without the fumes and breakdowns.

Some hope this change is just the start: they look forward to a time when conversions can be done cheaply and at mass scale. They believe that at least some of the petrol cars being sold today may see out their time on the road as converted electric ones.

So what does conversion cost and could it work for your car?

Interest in EV conversions rising

For years, people weren't interested in EV conversions. The change seemed to happen overnight, about 18 months ago, says Russ Shepherd, a director of a Melbourne EV conversion garage.

"We kept getting asked and asked and asked," he says.

These weren't the usual hobbyists who "want to put a forklift motor into their Hyundai Getz", but people after "high-end conversions".

"These are customers who want an alternative to Tesla, but with the mod cons."

At the same time, James Pauly from Caboolture in Queensland was noticing a similar phenomenon.

His converted VW Beetle was suddenly getting a lot of attention at car meets. There were more EVs on the roads, too. A tipping point was reached; a novel gizmo became the future of cars.

"People realise this EV thing is serious, it's not going away," says Mr Pauly, who runs a business converting EVs.

As he points out, replacing a petrol engine with an electric motor is just another form of hot-rodding; incorporating a newly released auto-technology into a classic car, as a custom modification.

"I don't usually get customers who aren't a car enthusiast," he says.

"One of my latest customers came to enquire about a VW Beetle conversion kit and they arrived in their bright orange V8 hot rod."

So what does this all cost?

It's not cheap, warns Chris Jones, national secretary of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA).

"If you want something that goes more than 150km to a charge and maintains a highway speed, you're going to be spending north of $30,000," he says.

"If you want to do a really good conversion of an old car, you're going to spend as much money as buying a new electric car."

Mr Macken, for instance, spent about $40,000 on batteries, the electric motor and other parts to both restore and convert his Datsun ute.

"That's restoring a car back to brand new," he says.

The Dasla has a range of about 180km, or less than half that of a $44,000 new EV.

The biggest cost, says Tim Harrison, who's converted a 1965 Ford Cortina in Brisbane, is the batteries, which are in exceptionally high demand right now.

"I sourced my own batteries by salvaging them from a wrecked Tesla Model X that I bought, but not everyone can do that," Mr Harrison says. 

"If I had to source them elsewhere, the conversion would have added up to about $30,000."

Mr Harrison expects the cost of conversions will fall as batteries get cheaper and new EV sales swell the supply of second-hand parts.

"In theory, everything points to it getting cheaper," he says.

Which cars are best to convert?

Not all cars are suitable for conversion, according to Mr Jones.

The key consideration is weight: if you start with a heavy chassis, you'll need to install more batteries to get enough range.

For this reason, many classic Australian cars, like Holden Kingswoods or Toranas, are considered unsuitable.

"Old Australian vehicles are not light," Mr Jones says.

Japanese-made cars (like the Datsun) are among the most sought-after.

"Eighties or '90s cars are ideal because they're modern enough to not be complete pieces of crap, but dumb enough to not have computers to circumvent," he says.

To be compliant in Australia, the gross mass of the converted vehicle cannot exceed what the car was designed for.

Small, lithium-ion batteries might weigh a lot but their weight, plus the engine, typically balances out the weight of the removed combustion-engine parts.

"It's a good idea to engage with a compliance engineer before you get started," Mr Macken says.

Another consideration is historical value, says Mr Harrison. Ripping out the engine of a rare Porsche may be a bad idea.

VW Beetles are a popular option, says Mr Pauly, who has converted three in his workshop, and sold about 20 conversion kits with batteries and motor for owners to do the work themselves.

Choosing a model that has been converted before can save time and avoid unseen complications.

"We can convert a Beetle in less than a month," he says.

Australia's only electric Commodore?

But some people are happy just to convert the car they have.

In the best tradition of DIY self-belief, Les Cook, a 74-year-old retired Queensland dairy farmer, has converted a 2001 Holden Commodore.

"I live in the country where there are cattle and kangaroos on the roads and I don't like to be out driving in a Toyota Corolla or a Nissan Leaf. I want to be in car that can survive hitting a kangaroo or cow," he says.

The conversion process has been a steep learning curve. At one point while installing the batteries, Mr Cook dropped a spanner across a live terminal and saw "bolts of frigging lightning".

"It frightened the shit out of me," he says.

The incident convinced him to outsource the wiring to an auto electrician in Cairns.

Later, he found he had to install an app to work the EV car charger. The only problem was he didn't have a smartphone.

After four years, the work is done. Perhaps the only electric Commodore in the world is now parked in a "dairy mate's shed behind a heap of hay" in the back blocks of northern Queensland.

Whenever Mr Cook takes it out for a spin, the car turns heads. EVs are a rare sight in this part of Queensland.

"People ask me, 'Is that an electric Commodore?' Interest in it is phenomenal," he says.

Recently, while recharging at the roadside near Innisfail, the police stopped.

"They told me I was the first one who had pulled up at that charger. It'd been there about 18 months."

Cheap, mass conversions of petrol vehicles?

Conversions are not currently economical for most people, but Mr Shepherd believes standardised "cookie cutter" conversion kits could drastically reduce the cost.

He hopes this could spawn a new Australian auto industry.

"I don't think it's out of the question to say we are already manufacturing cars again in Australia," he says.

"We hope to get to the point where someone can bring a Range Rover over to us and we can convert it in a couple of days for less than $10,000."

Nine Australian and New Zealand EV specialist garages have formed a "collaborative group" to create "the knowledge to help save millions of fuelled vehicles from landfill'.

Story By | James Purtill