And this is it’s motor… an AC unit with 88 HP and 108 foot pounds of torque. Yes, we are building an electric Bugeye Sprite.
This is a big event for us, and we hope it will also be a positive event for the classic sportscar world.
Believe me, I have been smelling like hydrocarbons my entire life, and I have three of my very own dinosaur powered Bugeyes. But I have yet to attend a British car club event with more than a few token souls under the age of 50, and I believe we have to adapt to our new reality in order to keep these cars alive. More and more new car brands are offering electric vehicles in coming years. My hope is that an electric Bugeye will bring more new people into our world, the world of eccentric British sportscars that we all love so much.
Please forgive me for building a great Bugeye with no exhaust note. But I am hoping that there will be multiple other benefits that will offset the loss of the gas-powered soundtrack so integral to the ride.
Time will tell.
Our intention is to offer zero emission power as one more option for anyone who wants to own a Bugeye. We plan to continue to build awesome gasoline-powered cars. We have a very big carbon footprint. This will help.
We will also sell kits for anyone wanting to convert their own Sprite to electric power.
Our kit is completely reversible. The motor fits neatly in the transmission tunnel, about where the gearbox used to live. You can see us offering the motor up to the frame brackets in the photo here.
The batteries occupy the space formerly occupied by the engine. 25% of the battery power will hang under the trunk floor in the space formerly occupied by the fuel tank and muffler.
We are hard at work making our car look and feel just like a vintage Bugeye. We have used stock cosmetics wherever possible.
Above is a link for great video about a 1969 electric E-type built by the Jaguar factory. You’ll notice they have made a digital dashboard which looks very futuristic. Instead, our dash looks just like a period Bugeye, except our speedo is GPS powered, the tach is pulse driven off the motor shaft and our fuel gauge reads battery capacity.
This is a prototype, and in the coming weeks, I hope you will enjoy watching this project unfold. We are excited about this development, and hope that you will be too! The car should be less than 50 pounds heavier than a stock Bugeye with a full fuel tank. Weight distribution will be similar to stock. We’ll do some side by side comparisons… we expect that the electric will be quicker to 60 mph than a gas-powered Bugeye with a stock 1275 engine. Range will be about 100 miles. When you consider that most of our clients only spend an hour or two with their bugeye per session anyway, this range should be just perfect. Our prototype BugeyE is British Racing GREEN.
Stay tuned!
