Electric MR2’s and other stuff

I was at the Sustainable West Seattle Festival today, and saw something I thought was totally cool. Besides the hybrid Honda ZipCar display, and scooters, and bikes, there was a 1985 Toyota MR2 that had been converted to electric.

This thing was really cool. It’s based on a 1985 Toyota MR2, filled to the gills with 6v golf cart batteries, and can go about 50 miles in the best conditions. Brian Hughes did a really nice job on the conversion. It uses the original transmission, has slightly narrower wheels than original with special low-rolling resistance tires. The frunk (front trunk) and radiator area house 7 batteries, there are 4 more in the rear trunk, (the floor was altered to make additional room available), and there are 10 more in the engine compartment over the electric motor and transmission.

Brian has a great write-up on his website, and it looks like this could be a fun project someday. Hmm… someday maybe I’ll have to make an electric BMW E30…

A couple of pictures from today, many more on Brian’s website: