When is a 1968 Porsche 912 not just a typical sports car? When you replace its 1.6L Flat-Four engine with the electric powertrain from a Tesla Model S P85. That’s exactly what Zelectric Motors and EV West did to this classic vehicle, boosting its output to 550 horsepower and allegedly 4,500 lb-ft of torque. This electrified 912 uses a Model S-sourced inverter, rear differential, and accelerator pedal, but a 32-kWh battery pack that’s been separated into two for a better balanced chassis. Read more for a video of it in-action and additional information.
The end result is a fun electric sports car with a 140-mile range when fully charged. This Tesla-powered Porsche 912 may be a one-off project, but EV West does have plans to develop a $50,000 USD conversion kit that will be available for interested buyers possibly as soon as early 2019.
“[It was] a little bit of a challenge, engineering-wise because the car is much smaller than the cars that we’re pulling the components out of. A Tesla drive unit comes out of a 5,500-pound car, and we’re trying to shoehorn into about a 2,300-pound car. So there’s a lot of engineering challenges there,” said EV West founder Michael Bream.
