THAT’S ALL VOLTS!
Somewhat ironically, since the original VW air-cooled flat-four is one of its most charming features, there can’t be many alternative powertrains that haven’t been transplanted into Beetles over the years. There’s the archetypal Porsche engines – 356, 914 and even 911 – as well as flat-four units like the VW Wasserboxer or Subaru Impreza turbo, not to mention high-performance units including Audi turbo five-cylinders and big American V8s, even huge radial aero engines. The list is endless, but it was inevitable – especially given the current emphasis – that there would be an increasing number of conversions using electric motors.
Battery packed
It’s not a new phenomenon, we have a copy of one of the Petersen Publishing’s Hot Rod magazine ‘Volkswagen Classics’ compilations from 1981 which details the Kaylor hybrid electric motor conversion for the Beetle and we’re pretty sure there were several home-brewed conversions before that. Volkswagen itself was working on electric conversions in the early Seventies, although mostly based on the Type 2 because of the need to carry huge banks of batteries. Cumbersome and heavy; its battery packs alone weighed 850kg – more than a whole Beetle at the time – and
