Fossil Free Friday: Fun Electric Conversions on Ebay and Craigslist

Yep, it's me being lazy again, but there is some fun stuff to check out this week. Enjoy:

Fiero!!!! Ebay

Check it out - a Fiero that runs! (And it's electric!)

All the deets

 BMW Ebay

The 2002 BMW is my favorite BMW

(and this one is electric)

BMW deets

VW Beetles

 

Slug Bug Red (Ebay)

Slug Bug Orange (Dallas Craigslist)

Isuzu Pickup

 

Electric Pickup! (Austin Craigslist)

These are not conversions, but I thought you might want to see them:

Zero Motorcycle (Dallas Craigslist)

 

Green Citicars on Ebay: Tennessee and Alabama

 

May you find something out there that helps you get off the gas, clean up the air, and grin everywhere you go!

 

My Dream EV - My Wife's Nightmare

My greatest EV dream is a small, street-legal, electric truck. I'd happily settle for a small hybrid truck.

Apparently, my wife married a man with odd tastes. I used to drive a less shiny version of this:

Ford Econoline Pickup

And I think this is cooler than the Batmobile:

The '59 El Camino - so cool

And I have wanted one of these since I was 10 years old:



Subaru Brat

Do you see a pattern evolving here? But you may have noticed that I went through a radical conversion a few years back. The conversion has to do with finding ways to drastically reduce the damage we are doing to the planet that supports us. So now my dream vehicles burn little or no gas (or diesel or propane). I keep hoping Nissan will offer up a battery powered small truck...

El Leaf-amino? Ranchero Leafo? Leaf-Brat?

...or Toyota will pry out a Prius pickup, but it just doesn't seem to be happening. Sigh...

Prius Tote

So there I was browsing through Ebay this week when I saw a version of what I've been hoping for: a slug-bug electric truck!

The bed does seem a bit shallow.

It's definitely out of my price range.

It looks like it's a 96 volt, lead-acid battery setup and has about a 25-mile range. More  importantly, it's PDC - pretty dang cool! But I can hear my wife, "I don't get it. It can't decide if it's a car or a truck. It needs to be one or the other."

But love is blind - she told me a few weeks ago that she'd love me even if I brought home an old Ford Ranchero. Yep, she loves me!

If only it were electric. Sigh... (Find it here.)

May you haul your stuff greenly, funkily, and joyfully! (And may your baby love you, too!)

A VW Microbus Hybrid, an Electric Slug-Bug, and a King Midget

Now that is what I call a "green" Bug!

Yes, I am a fan of older VWs. I have owned several and have wanted to own several others. I also like how easily VWs lend themselves to electric conversion. That leads us to the electric beetle. Yesterday I found myself with a copy of the most recent Costco Connection magazine in my hand and was intrigued by a classic car article. I flipped over to the article and was very happy to see a vintage Beetle that had not only been converted to electric, but had been converted to an impressive electric! Most electric VW conversions use golf cart batteries and have fairly unimpressive speed and/or range. This bad Beetle has a whole lot(!) of tiny 18650 batteries and is impressive in both speed and range. It delivers numbers more impressive than most new electric vehicles. The Costco article says 85 mph and a possible 200 mile range. I found a few other articles about the same car that list it as a more realistic sounding 85mph/100 miles. Either way, Nissan's Leaf and BMW's I3 have reason to be range-envious. Of course, they offer crazy extravagances like air conditioners and air bags that you never see in a vintage VW. Snagit, this thing is cool!

Here is an article/video in case you want to learn more: Green overdrive cruises the streets in an electrified $18,000 VW Bug

Another VW story that has been making the rounds this week is the re-discovery that VW engineers actually worked on a design for a hybrid VW bus in the late 1970s. In case you are into that sort of thing, here's the story from Jalopnik, which appears to be the story's initial re-surface place. Be sure to check out the great diagrams:
VW Could Have Made a Hybrid Beetle [Microbus] Over 30 Years Ago

For those of you who ponder alternate versions of history, it's nice to imagine a world where we truly pursued electric cars and solar panels after the big energy crisis in the 1970s. Hmmm... Hybrid microbuses....

This next vehicle is only tangentially related, but a King Midget was also featured in the Costco article. I love microcars but probably would not have included this one; however, there is a guy here in Lubbock who crusies around in a King Midget that looks identical to this one. Each time one of us sees it, my friends and I snap a pic and send it around to each other. It is as close as we get to a Nessie or Sasquatch sighting around here.

May your green vehicle inspire random acts of violence wherever you go. Pow! Slug-bug green - no hit backs!

The previous Mesquite Hugger Electric VW Posts:

10/21/2013 Electric Beetle Article - ElectroFahrvernugen
11/5/2013 Another Electric Beetle (VW)
1/30/2014 3 VW Microbuses: Old, New, and Electric
 2/6/2014 Vintage Electric Cars Small & Smaller OR Why I Should Be Banned from Ebay
3/3/2014 Gentlemen (and Ladies). Start Your Tivos! (VW and Citicar)
 3/4/2014 Getting Shocked by the Bug (VW)
3/31/2014 Break Out the Tie-Dye and 8-Tracks (VW)
 4/9/2014 It's been a while since MH posted an Electric VW...

Getting Shocked by the Bug

So, I watched Rods N' Wheels last night and did get to see the EV West '59 Beetle conversion. There was more drama than detail, but it was still fun to see.

It made me remember the first VW conversion site I ever ran across. I spent hours going back over each page. I am a slow learner and a slow thinker, and it took a lot of looking for my brain to start believing that an electric car could be a real, tangible thing.

If that's where you are, check out Wilderness EV with their multiple kits and completed cars.

Are you that EV enthusiast who thinks, "Well, gee, if one motor is good, but two motors..."? Well, gee, you may want to check out Rebirth Auto and their twin engine kit. (They also sell single-engine kits for those of you who do not think that more is a lot more.)

Were you blown away by the EV West conversion on Rods N' Wheels (or on earlier Mesquite Hugger posts)? You may want to check out their site or some of their great youtube videos.

Or, maybe you feel the need for electric beetle speed. Check out Black Current.

May your beetle be clean and green!

Gentlemen (and Ladies), Start Your Tivos!

If you are an EV fan and a Mesquite Hugger reader, you probably already know that the Citicar and Beetle EV conversions are some of our absolute favorite electric vehicles. Reality TV? Generally not so much, but maybe that's been a subject matter thing. Thanks to an article on Green Car Reports today, I just logged into the TiVo and set up a recording for Rods N' Wheels for an episode where they are taking an old Bug over to EV West for a full conversion. I also learned from the article that a recent episode of Counting Cars featured a Vanguard Citicar. I may be a reality TV watcher after all. Maybe I need to call the producers of Lubbock's own car-based reality show, The Car Chasers, and arrange for them to "find" a little German electric car I happen to know about in town. Maybe....

Here is the link to the article:
Electric Cars Drive Silently Into Reality TV Shows

May your 15 minutes of fame make everyone turn a little green!

Vintage Electric Cars Small and Smaller OR Why I Should Be Banned from Ebay

Once in a while, I take a dangerous little trip over to Ebay and type "electric car" into the search box. The dangerous part for me is never the new and shiny, it's the old and quirky. This week's search was filled with temptation.

To start with, a car that I wanted really badly in the past re-appeared this week. (I am thankful to report that its auction has successfully ended.) Last year it was for sale in the Eureka area and was still hippied out. It was a very desirable early Beetle on a more desirable later Beetle chassis, and it was a running and driving electric vehicle. And it was cheap. Actually less than I would end up paying a few months later for an electric motorcycle with similar capabilities and no roof. But, oh, temptation was there.

(This photo is before they scraped off all the cool hippy stuff, snagit!)

Sigh, it has sold again.

Next up, a real factory prototype, a piece of electric vehicle history. Yes, it needs work and you would have to find your way around the unavailable parts issue, but dang that thing is cool.

1977 Ford Endura Prototype

I have written about Citicars before. Imagine the peace and quiet of being in a silent car compounded by the fact that none of my family would get in that ugly beast (for a lot of very sound reasons).

Yellow Citicar

Wanting something a little more British and a lot sportier?

1978 MG Midget

Or how about a nicer Beetle that looks good AND is still available?

1967 Beetle

It's time to click the little "X" in the top right-hand corner of the Ebay screen. Maybe the weather will warm up soon and I can finish up the electric bicycle. Then maybe I can find more time to ride and less time to drool over this lovely collection of headaches that others are trying to get rid of.

May you have a warm day and not buy yourself a headache.

Another Electric Beetle

(This is not the actual beetle from the ad.)

I am just sharing this one because I love the bumper stickers! Be sure to check out the back pic. If you are into that sort of misery, it does look like a great deal. However...

Electric Beetle for Sale

May you find yourself without tailgaters and drive in silence!