Two American car enthusiasts have teamed up to reinvigorate a classic Porsche with an electric motor, pairing the retro design of the much loved sports car with a contemporary performance motor straight out of a Tesla Model S P85.
Car refurbisher David Bernardo of Zelectric Motors and EV West founder Michael Bream dropped a the Tesla drivetrain into a Porsche 912 they found wasting away in a Vegas scrapyard. The new electric 912 gives off 550 horsepower with 4,500 pound-feet of torque, making it much more powerful than the original Porsche engine. They also used the P85’s inverter, rear differential and throttle pedal.
Due to the smaller size of the Porsche, there was no way the standard Model S battery would fit, so Bernardo and Bream had LG Chem build a smaller 32kWh battery pack that was divided into two equal components to balance out the weight of the car.
“[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,” said Bream in an interview with The Verge. “A Tesla drive unit comes out of a 5,500-pound car (2,500kg), and we’re trying to shoehorn into about a 2,300-pound car (1,043kg). So there’s a lot of engineering challenges there.”
Due to the success of the build and the attention it’s received, EV West plans to sell a 912 conversion kit for US$50,000 in the near future. Check out the full video about Bernardo and Bream’s gas-to-electric creations below.
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