The point is, if you’re going to go off grid, an electric car makes sense. High-speed electric cars might not be useful on your off-grid homestead, but the products they create in their wake make putting EV technologies to use on your sustainable farm practical. If you don’t push the boundaries of a technology, then the everyday application of that technology suffers, and interest in the technology wanes. High performance work in this arena just hardens the technology but puts it through its paces and allows for better advancement and stability for lower performance applications. You’re also re-using an older vehicle and with your own elbow grease and no need for extreme aesthetics, such a project doesn’t need to cost as much as your mortgage. Keeping the batteries charged is always a problem, but with enough solar panels and an interchangeable battery pack, you can keep running all day long. It’s not going to break any speed records, but it does the job. My Chevy Volt gets me 35 miles out of 10 kilowatts. This was the idea behind the MDS systems in certain trucks that would disable half the pistons, but with much finer control over power output.
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With electric, you have full control of the power you need and the voltage you use so that the power is there when you need it, but can be run for longer distances when you don’t.
After all, you probably don’t need to go 200 miles an hour, and even with half the battery and motor the Zombie 222 would be a speedy classic daily driver.
There are motors big enough to power your 3/4 ton work truck and possibly even a tractor. has just about everything you need to convert a vehicle to all-electric, and it doesn’t have to be a high-performance project, either. These motors are available to just about anyone and can be used in a variety of applications. First of all, these motors aren’t some top-secret, proprietary design that only super mechanics with boat-loads of money can acquire to power fast cars. That’s the fastest 68 Mustang, ever!īut what does this fast and gorgeous car have to do with going off grid? Well, almost everything actually. To put it mildly, they were holding back! That time resulted in a 1/4 mile in 10.7 seconds at 125mph and a 0-60 time of 2.4 seconds. Hitting over 174 miles per hour at the Texas Mile in 2014, the only concern was the front end coming up off the ground, not the power. The Zombie 222 (2 motors, 2 controllers, and 2 damned fast) gets about 50 miles per charge, but it’s safe to say it’ll only take you 15 minutes to get there. This doesn’t leave much room for luggage, but where you’re going with this monster all you need to have handy is a fresh pair of undies.
Popping the trunk reveals even more glitz as the 1.5 megawatt (1,500 kilowatts, that’s what I used to power my entire home last month, in a trunk!) bank of high-performance racing batteries from High Tech Systems LLC glow blue in the black lined compartment. The twin cold-air intake is for cooling the motors, and there’s a noticeable lack of pumps, belts, and other accessories that you would find on a regular vehicle. What you first mistake for valve covers turn out to be twin speed controllers and that narrow cylindrical big block is actually a pair of 11″ NetGain Warp-Drive electric Motors done up in lime green to match the racing stripes. Well, open up this hood and you’ll find yourself staring at the oddest motor setup you’ve probably ever seen, and that includes a slant six drag car with triple Weber side-draft carburetors. Like with just about any shiny classic rebuild, you want to look under the bonnet and see how big her valve covers are. The Zombie 222 is a work of art in itself, a jet-black 68 Mustang Fastback with lime green racing stripes and a menacing rear-spoiler that, unlike that flashy import that putted alongside you on the freeway, actually serves a purpose.