Insuring electric converted classic car

s_o_s · 03-12-2018 6:39am #1

Has anyone done an electric conversion on a classic car (in my case I'm considering an old Lancia)? Are there any good savings to be had on insuring such a car, or does it tend to cost the same as all other classic cars? If deals are to be found, which insurance companies did you find to be good?

kev1.3s · 03-12-2018 4:18pm

s_o_s wrote: »

Has anyone done an electric conversion on a classic car (in my case I'm considering an old Lancia)? Are there any good savings to be had on insuring such a car, or does it tend to cost the same as all other classic cars? If deals are to be found, which insurance companies did you find to be good?

I'd actually imagine it would cost more.
What lancia are you going to convert?

SmartinMartin · 03-12-2018 4:21pm

This is the maddest thread I've seen in a while. I'll follow with great interest.

Effects · 03-12-2018 4:26pm

I thought classics were already cheap to insure, am I wrong?

antodeco · 03-12-2018 4:31pm

Electric vehicle doesn't change the cost of insurance. As mentioned, it will probably be more expensive, but classics are cheap enough anyway. I assume you've looked into the full EV conversion? I was going to do it a few years ago, but it can get very expensive very quickly and without a guarantee of it working in a few years. I'd love to do it however!

Effects · 03-12-2018 5:37pm

These guys do some really nice work.

https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/

Although I think if you can afford to make a classic electric then the cost of insurance isn't something you think about.

Max Headroom · 03-12-2018 5:50pm

I'm more concerned with fitting a decent heater that will clear the windscreen tbh.....:D

s_o_s · 03-12-2018 6:11pm

kev1.3s, it's a 1973 Lancia Fulvia coupe. Lovely little thing.

Effects, those are the guys I'm talking to about it! They really seem to know what they're doing. Classics are cheap to insure, but I'm wondering if doing the conversion changes that for any reason - it's not really the same car after the conversion.

galwaytt · 03-12-2018 6:13pm

s_o_s wrote: »

kev1.3s, it's a 1973 Lancia Fulvia coupe. Lovely little thing.

Effects, those are the guys I'm talking to about it! They really seem to know what they're doing. Classics are cheap to insure, but I'm wondering if doing the conversion changes that for any reason - it's not really the same car after the conversion.

To convert a Fulvia to ev would be, imho, a travesty. My 0.02.

s_o_s · 03-12-2018 6:18pm

galwaytt wrote: »

To convert a Fulvia to ev would be, imho, a travesty. My 0.02.

Fair point :-) It's a great little machine, but I've decided to not drive fossil fuel cars again, and the idea of having an utterly unique Fulvia really appeals to me.

Max Headroom · 03-12-2018 6:30pm

I'm not buying into this clean energy atm ....maybe if i have to go electric i will , but i'll be probably long gone by then..V8 rule...:P

Seweryn · 03-12-2018 8:13pm

s_o_s wrote: »

Fair point :-) It's a great little machine, but I've decided to not drive fossil fuel cars again, and the idea of having an utterly unique Fulvia really appeals to me.

Great idea. However no matter how we change the drive train we will still use fossil fuels to power our vehicles regardless of what's under the bonnet.

I would worry about getting the car ready for the conversion and then getting it converted properly. Apart from huge cost it will be quite labour intensive to get it done right. Good luck with it anyway

.

Isambard · 03-12-2018 8:14pm

what on earth would be the point? If you want an EV , buy an EV. If you want a classic, buy a classic.
Converting one to the other would be destroying the whole point of having a classic

Water John · 03-12-2018 8:19pm

As Robert Kennedy said 'Some look and ask why others look and say why not'.

Heard of a Cork GP with one, haven't seen it.

kev1.3s · 03-12-2018 8:48pm

s_o_s wrote: »

kev1.3s, it's a 1973 Lancia Fulvia coupe. Lovely little thing.

Effects, those are the guys I'm talking to about it! They really seem to know what they're doing. Classics are cheap to insure, but I'm wondering if doing the conversion changes that for any reason - it's not really the same car after the conversion.

I have a fulvia coupe and the little V4 is a cracker dont think it be all that bothered with it without the engine tbh.

kyote00 · 03-12-2018 8:54pm

Hard to see how it would be legal to drive at all - essentially a home made car - depending on the donor car you would need major brakes, suspensions upgrades ?
Don't forget the battery packs have thermal and charging control to prevent fires....

Battery packs are heavy so need careful thought on placement ...

I guess its a bit like dropping a 'v8' into 60 fords - there are lots of them about .... but how do you answer the insurance questions about any non standard mods ?

Anyway, 'funny' video about a classic project here....
https://hackaday.com/2018/12/03/fail-of-the-week-how-not-to-electric-vehicle/

s_o_s · 03-12-2018 11:16pm

Seweryn wrote: »

Great idea. However no matter how we change the drive train we will still use fossil fuels to power our vehicles regardless of what's under the bonnet.....

To be accurate, a power station converts far, far more fuel to energy than a car's combustion engine, so an electric car is still much cleaner than any petrol or diesel car, even if the power comes from coal or peat. But I'm more focused on the driving experience than anything else.

Effects · 03-12-2018 11:42pm

Seweryn wrote: »

Great idea. However no matter how we change the drive train we will still use fossil fuels to power our vehicles regardless of what's under the bonnet.

Plenty of people use PV panels to charge their cars. And a lot of the electricity produced on the grid is renewable. That's in opposition to ICE cars that use 100% fossil fuels.

Effects · 03-12-2018 11:42pm

Isambard wrote: »

what on earth would be the point? If you want an EV , buy an EV. If you want a classic, buy a classic.
Converting one to the other would be destroying the whole point of having a classic

The point is you can have both.

irshmerc · 04-12-2018 1:41am

Effects wrote: »

These guys do some really nice work.

https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/

Although I think if you can afford to make a classic electric then the cost of insurance isn't something you think about.

These fellas have some nice motors alright, i was foolish enough to ask for a quote for a bmw 2002, 40k upwards, i took it no further.

Good luck

unkel · 04-12-2018 2:22am

Seweryn wrote: »

However no matter how we change the drive train we will still use fossil fuels to power our vehicles

Less and less so. Electric cars are typically charged at night (at the cheap 8c/kWh night rate) and the past few weeks about 50% of all electricity produced at night in Ireland was renewable (wind)

This percentage will keep increasing and should reach 100% within a decade or so. Day or night.

Seweryn · 04-12-2018 9:31am

s_o_s wrote: »

To be accurate, a power station converts far, far more fuel to energy than a car's combustion engine, so an electric car is still much cleaner than any petrol or diesel car, even if the power comes from coal or peat. But I'm more focused on the driving experience than anything else.

No, that is not true. The efficiency of generating power in a power plant is comparable with efficiency of a Diesel engine. Then you need to ad on the loses with transforming electricity and transporting it through the grid, etc.

Let's focus on driving experience so. I love electric engines and electric drives for a few reasons. Electric motors are the most suitable type of engines to move a car. They don't need gearboxes, have about one moving part so are very simple and convert about 90% of electricity into motion with excellent torque characteristics. They are also very quiet.

Good luck with the project.

Seweryn · 04-12-2018 9:34am

Effects wrote: »

Plenty of people use PV panels to charge their cars. And a lot of the electricity produced on the grid is renewable. That's in opposition to ICE cars that use 100% fossil fuels.

Sorry, but there is no such thing as "renewable energy". Solar panels and wind mills only exist and will exist because we use fossil fuels to power our industrial world.

Seweryn · 04-12-2018 9:44am

unkel wrote: »

Less and less so. Electric cars are typically charged at night (at the cheap 8c/kWh night rate) and the past few weeks about 50% of all electricity produced at night in Ireland was renewable (wind)

This percentage will keep increasing and should reach 100% within a decade or so. Day or night.

. Not sure who is generating the news you have been reading... :pac:

Wind mills do not generate net energy and are pure scam, wake up folks.

Dades · 04-12-2018 11:50am

Isambard wrote: »

what on earth would be the point? If you want an EV , buy an EV. If you want a classic, buy a classic.
Converting one to the other would be destroying the whole point of having a classic

Effects wrote: »

The point is you can have both.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJLdzRJdKrs

Not buying that!

The expression "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck" is fitting here.

Sure it looks like a duck, but it doesn't really swim like a duck and it sure as hell doesn't quack like a duck.
A classic body is only one part of what make a car classic. That 911 has been lobotomised.

I'm not against the idea of throwing an electric motor into a classic body. To each their own, just not for me. I'd think it more fitting in classics where the powerplant itself wasn't a key part of what makes that car desirable. Something like a 2CV or a Karman Ghia.

Making an EV out of a Ferrari 308, or, I have to say it, a Lancia Fulvia - makes me a little sad. The soul dies when the car is silenced.

Teddy Daniels · 04-12-2018 11:20pm

Effects wrote: »

Plenty of people use PV panels to charge their cars. And a lot of the electricity produced on the grid is renewable. That's in opposition to ICE cars that use 100% fossil fuels.

I thought that there was more and more eoth in my petrol every year ?

Seweryn · 04-12-2018 11:43pm

Teddy Daniels wrote: »

I thought that there was more and more eoth in my petrol every year ?

That's even worse TBH. It takes more energy (from fossil fuels) to produce that stuff than we get out of it when we finally burn it in our engines.

kev1.3s · 04-12-2018 11:48pm

It goes without saying that battery power is far more efficient than petrol and getting better every day but the real reason I like classic cars is for the sights, sounds and smells as well as a little bit of tinkering.
I've no problem with electric power in cars but purely for its practical side, if I could afford one I'd have a tesla for the week and use the lancia at the weekend.

s_o_s · 05-12-2018 6:02am

kev1.3s wrote: »

It goes without saying that battery power is far more efficient than petrol and getting better every day but the real reason I like classic cars is for the sights, sounds and smells as well as a little bit of tinkering.
I've no problem with electric power in cars but purely for its practical side, if I could afford one I'd have a tesla for the week and use the lancia at the weekend.

That's the plan - a Model X for the family, the Lancia for me. However the tinkering side of things is not what I enjoy (my father does, he has about 20 classic Lancia's that he's rebuilt himself over the years), so if I can get most of the fun but without needing to find a new part every few months I'll be plenty happy

Max Headroom · 05-12-2018 10:24am

Until they produce a car, that in its construction had zero effect on the environment i'll stay on the (electric) fence....cant make an omlette etc...:P

Seweryn · 05-12-2018 10:31am

Max Headroom wrote: »

Until they produce a car, that in its construction had zero effect on the environment i'll stay on the (electric) fence....cant make an omlette etc...:P

Touché subject there

.

The process of making just batteries for a Tesla vehicle has the same impact on environment as about 7 years of driving a petrol engined car (we are talking about batteries only). Then after about 7 or so years the batteries are getting weaker by loosing their capacity and may need to be replaced. And... how do we recycle the old batteries (never mind making new ones)?

Obviously nobody will tell you that, they just wrap it all in green paper and sell to the masses.

Insuring electric converted classic car

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