The future of the automobile may be electric, but it doesn't have to come at the cost of the classic cars that petrolheads love.
A Hunter innovator pushing the edges of the automotive industry has found a niche that embraces the future and preserves motoring history: converting classic cars to run on electric motors.
Australian EVS is the brainchild of former commercial fleet manager Edwin Higginson, who in his years working for some of the country's largest companies found that the transition to electric vehicles was not only the future of motoring but also of motoring performance.
"There's a big trend in Europe and America to convert vehicles to electric, and mainly because of a performance upgrade," Mr Higginson said.
"In the past, people would put big engines into old cars to make them go faster, and what they have started to do now is actually put electric motors into old cars to do the same thing. But there are a lot of other benefits as well.
"When I looked at the kits in the US and Europe, I realised there wasn't really anyone doing it in Australia."
The process involves replacing the internal combustion engine, petrol tank, and exhaust with an electric motor, batteries, and regenerative brakes that work by reversing the motors to slow the car down.
What began as a proof of concept with the classics has since become a promising trade for the Hunter outfit. So much so that as costs continue to fall for electric vehicles, Mr Higginson estimates that in around five years, the cost of converting any motor car to electric will be roughly the same as replacing a petrol engine.
"I sort of see that we're five years into a 20-year transition to electric," Mr Higginson said. "Australia is probably five years behind a lot of countries in Europe and the US, but we're really catching on quickly.
"Nothing happens overnight ... (But) we've got 21 million vehicles in Australia that currently run on petrol and diesel, and our mission is to find a solution so we don't have to throw them all away."
Aside from the performance benefits (his company successfully converted a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle from a 40-horsepower petrol engine to a 200-horsepower electric motor), converting vehicles already in the market is as essential to the nation's energy transition as building from new.
"If you're really looking at environmental benefits, then you've got to consider the circular economy, which is about how you repurpose vehicles," Mr Higginson said. "It transforms how you use a lot of these old vehicles.
"For many commercial vehicles, you usually have one or two life cycles where you replace the engine and keep using the vehicle. That is the next step for us; when you're looking at doing an engine replacement, you turn it onto electric, so you get second and third life as electric, rather than investing in a brand new EV."
Mr Higginson said his business has focussed on converting classics and establishing its footprint in the market. But, as costs come down and technology advances, he has his sights set on positioning his business at the forefront of Australian motoring.
"We've redesigned our kits, so our prices dropped about 20 per cent from last year," Mr Higginson said.
"So the prices are coming down quickly, the technology is improving, the performance is improving, and that's what we're aiming for."
- Innovation Ready is an Out of the Square initative produced in collaboration with Hunter Innovation Festival and the Newcastle Herald to highlight the region as an innovation powerhouse. The videos can be viewed at newcastleherald.com.au and innovationready.com.au
