Our electric Bugeye is now ready for its new interior, and we are very excited. The car is sorted and exceeds our expectations mechanically, and now we can make it look stunning. Stay tuned!

If you have been following this project, you know I am in love with it, mainly because it is smooth and consistent. I get the feeling that it will be just as smooth and consistent in 100,000 miles. This is a big service interval in the British classic car world, where the life span of a newly rebuilt 948 engine may only be about 50,000 miles.

This week, I wanted to share two videos… the first is of a gas powered Bugeye with a newly rebuilt 1275 engine and five speed Ford transmission. We installed this upgraded powertrain for Len from New Jersey, and finished it with the same anthracite wheels and new tires you see on the electric Bugeye. Len’s car now tracks like an arrow and cruises beautifully at 70 mph, @ about 3300 RPMs in fifth gear.

The sound is just about perfect, courtesy of our custom twin-tipped muffler. Zero-60 time is 15.27 seconds (stock 948 was reported to be 20.5 in 1958). By the way, I backed off a bit because of the truck bearing down on me, so this time is a bit slower than what is possible…

Next is “Sparky,”our electric prototype, with a 4:22 rear end. Zero to 60 time is 10.2 seconds, a full five seconds faster. It also gets to 60 in about half the distance, 530 feet vs 898 ft. The sound you might love in the prior video is completely missing. But I have come to love the electric motor sound too. It’s not a replacement for a sweet exhaust note, it’s just a different cool sound. In fact it makes me think back to black and white Flash Gordon television I used to watch as a kid. Whenever Flash jumped into Dr Zarkov’s rocket to go anywhere, the spaceship made an electric buzzing noise, and I think of Flash each time I take off…

The electric turns 4800 rpms at 75 mph. You might notice the that electric motor really comes on as the RPMs climb. We will next switch to a 4:55 rear end for even more off the line performance. This will raise the RPMs on the highway, but this electric motor doesn’t care the way our gas engines do. Load matters more than RPMs. Range is about 100 miles per full charge. This car is fit with a fast charger so it works at highway charging stations.

We look forward to the next electric conversion… if you have a Bugeye sitting on your property with a worn 948 engine and transmission, our electric direct drive conversion is an attractive option! Or, if you would prefer a rebuilt 1275 with a five speed, we have that kit in stock too! Call or email to get your car on our winter schedule! We can pick up your car anywhere in the country, even if it doesn’t run.

This was a busy week, with a full house of Bugeyes needing various repairs and restoration work. Our electric project is still a priority, and we made time to add a new radiator to our prototype electric car. This one is tiny, all it has to do is cool the controller, the brain that manages the batteries and motor.

I know that the Bugeye Sprite is all about simplicity, and an electronic brain is exactly the antithesis of what the Bugeye is all about. But until further notice, I am hooked on the smooth and maintenance free/turn-key operation of an electric Bugeye. In addition, of the 19 Bugeyes in our building at the moment, the electric is by far the fastest of the bunch. So if we need to add a little cooling to keep the brains of the operation happy, I am more than willing to comply.

I thought you might find this story interesting, as it represents one more way in which we had to engineer a solution to a British car challenge. It turns out that the controller is smart enough to de-rate the power it will transmit to the motor if it gets too hot. You can still limp home, but you don’t get the full power that makes this vehicle so addictive. We set out to fix the problem once and for all so we added a liquid cooled chill plate under the controller.

The silver plate you see in the photo above sandwiches underneath the controller box. You can see the recesses that will carry the antifreeze under the aluminum case that houses the controller. The square O ring around the perimeter keeps the antifreeze in place. Two half inch hoses and a small pump allow the antifreeze to circulate to a small heat exchanger we fit alongside the batteries.

Now, the controller will stay much cooler, which will allow us to send more power to the rear wheels. And thus our car is almost ready for range testing. If the weather improves, we will be out driving the car throughout the balance of the month.