Inspired by the movie Who Killed The Electric Car (by the way I designed the solar monitoring system for the Director Chris Paine’s house!), I restored and converted a 1973 Porsche 914 to full electric drive in 2009. Originally the design used 20 very heavy lead-acid batteries and only got about 40 miles of range.
When I decided to move to Thailand I was hit with the realization that due to Thailand’s ridiculous 300% import duty and “interesting” import processes, it was impossible to bring the car over. It sat in storage under the wing of an airplane back in California from 2013 to 2023.
Luckily when I decided to live in Barcelona in the summertime, Spain actually allows used cars to be imported, and you can legally convert a gasoline car to electric drive – so I had my opportunity!
I shipped the car to EVTV in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and spent 6 months in the workshop upgrading the battery system to use 6 Tesla Model S battery modules.
I worked with a UK car importer based in Alicante and worked through a list of mandatory alterations like Euro-spec taillights, MPH->KPH speedometer conversion, removing bulbs from the side markers and converting one white reverse light to a red fog light. I then battled overland and overseas shipping, customs, engineering reports, inspections, a broken brake caliper and a butt-load of money, and now the car is happily in my parking space under my apartment building in Barcelona.
I take it for drives around the city on sunny days and I get a lot of attention because it’s so unique. People give me a thumbs-up and ask to take pictures. When I tell them it’s converted to electric, nobody believes me.
Here it is being loaded for transport from EVTV to the container ship port in New Jersey.
I’ve taken it twice to this classic car show set in the east end of Barcelona. People are generally OK with the conversion and seem to appreciate the perfection of my restoration and electrical design.
