It used to be the case where owning a classic car would mean higher fuel consumption, more pollution, greater expense in maintaining the engine, and cost of parts in general. You basically would only uncover your prize gem for that weekend drive or for that something special.
Wouldn’t it be nice to now own a classic car that is going to be cheaper to run and create another wow factor when you tell all your adoring car fans what’s been done, in order to get it converted into an electric environmental classic marvel?
1953 Morris Minor
In the news recently, there’s an article about the conversion of a 1953 Morris Minor, at the grand old age of 68 years old. From being an old-school fossil fuel-drinking dinosaur, into a fully electric work of art. Imagine what the engine noise used to be like, and now all you hear from the car is its creaks and moans of what you’d expect from a classic car of this age. What makes this classic electric car even more special is, the electric components were from parts recovered from crashed Teslas and Nissan Leafs.
The man with the inspiration
This concept has been accomplished by a man called Matthew Quitter, who came up with the idea of saving old classic cars and converting them to electric. He set up a business in 2017 called London Electric Cars. The company is based under the railway arches in Vauxhall and specialise in converting classic fossil fuel cars and converting them into electric. To begin with, you can expect to pay around £20,000, which isn’t cheap, but the overall goal of the company is to offer this conversion service for around £5,000 in the very near future, which will make it affordable for more people.
What’s also driving his business plan is the UK government’s pledge to provide a grant of £2,500 towards the purchase of a new electric car and hopefully will also include a similar grant to be given towards the cost of having your fossil fuel car converted to electric. Recently a government spokeswoman from the Department of Transport has said it is looking at the issue: “Retrofitting vehicles with batteries is an emerging market, and we’re working with green travel researchers.”
Other considerations
Owning a classic car does come with some nice perks, for example, if your car was manufactured before the 8th of January 1981, your car is exempt from road tax (only if the vehicle is not used for commercial use), which can result in a massive saving. Also in general, insuring a classic car is cheaper, due to factors like driving fewer miles per year. But most importantly, if you do convert your classic car to electric, make sure you inform your insurance company of any change made. It’s advisable to enquire about this before you go ahead with any conversion because it may lead to an increase in insurance premiums.
Another consideration is, that having your fossil fuel combustion engine converted to an electric one is no small feat and typically this type of conversion can take between three to six months to complete. The completion times will vary depending on whether the company has had any prior knowledge of doing the conversion on a previous car using the same specifications and parts, etc.
If you do the maths, driving the converted electric Morris Minor will have a range of approximately 40 miles on one charge, and to recharge the car, it will cost a whopping £1.
In the meantime
Best Price Car Sales is not specialist in classic used cars, let alone classic used electric cars but if you are looking for a range of quality used electric cars then look no further. With our nationwide free delivery coverage, we’re able to offer our customers one of the largest ranges of quality used cars and electric used cars in the UK. By offering our customers access to high-quality images and video media, our customers are able to fully look over our stock and choose the used car that is suitable for them. Our advisors can take you through the whole process from start to finish, making the purchase of your newer used car so much easier.
Even if you currently have a car with finance still outstanding on it, we can still help. With our part-exchange promise, we can offer all our customers a fair and honest price over the phone and we’ll pick up your old car once we have delivered your newer used car.
Even if you don’t see the car of your dreams on our website, you can either register for a free car-sourcing service by clicking here or speak to one of our friendly advisors who will be more than happy to scour the UK on your behalf. To find out more about what Best Price Car Sales, which is based in Southampton, can do with our current deals and offers, call us now at 02380 549 222 or click here and get instant car finance approval today.