We're now a few weeks away from the first Dodge Charger EVs hitting the streets, and even if the Mopar-or-no-car crowd is understandably skeptical about trading Hemi V8 power for electricity, we know that car won't be messing around at the drag strip. But as they tend to do, the tuners got there first.
The guys at the BoostedBoiz channel are at it again with another build and this is perhaps their most subversive one yet: a 2023 Dodge Challenger Hellcat gutted and swapped with a Tesla Model S Plaid drivetrain and battery. You've likely seen these guys and their wild creations in the electric space before: they're the nutjobs who turned a ratty old Honda Odyssey minivan into a drag-strip killer using another Plaid drivetrain. That 1,020-horsepower sleeper van proved able to handle itself against a modified Porsche 911 Turbo S at an oval track earlier this year, so it's fair to say these guys know what they're doing.
Yet host Kyle Wade said that he got this even brighter idea when he realized that the Model S has a nearly identical wheelbase to a Challenger. The remarkably similar size, he figured, would allow them to package the Model S' battery, motors and other internals more easily than other swaps. Plus, it'd be fun to screw with those owners: "I couldn't think of a better group of people to not want one of their cars to be taken and turned into an EV," he said.
I say it's all in good fun; what's the modified drag racing scene without crazy ideas and one-upmanship?
After finding a 2013 Challenger shell at a junkyard on Facebook Marketplace for $700 (honestly, not bad) the crew took it back to their shop and immediately started cutting the floor out. Despite the cars' similar size, swapping the Tesla onto the Dodge wasn't as straightforward as expected; they had to cut off and rework nearly the entire front section of the Challenger plus a significant part of the rear to accommodate the Tesla's suspension. And that was only the start of the extensive bodywork needed to make this happen, which they recap in the video above.
This whole project really took some doing, but in the end, it worked as expected. The front part of the interior is all Tesla, complete with a custom metal seat, and when the body was fully reassmbled by the end it's hard to distinguish the Challenger from any other out there—unless you take a look inside or under the hood.
Also, the radio and climate controls still work. Amazing.
The only thing that would give this "Cybercat" away is how it would blast off a stoplight while making no noise whatsoever. With all-wheel-drive and 1,020 horsepower, it's just gone with zero drama.
You know this crew is going to do more with this build at the track soon, and I'm excited to see what they do with it. And I'm even more excited to see the reactions to it. "The SRT boys are gonna be real mad about this one," Kyle said.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
