There will be an audible gasp among fans of unusual EV conversions and a very loud audible sigh among gas-powered muscle car fans with this one. I’m a fan of both types of vehicles but I almost always gravitate towards the unusual side of the automotive world, and this 1995 Geo Solectria Force Metro is decidedly unusual. It can be found here on eBay in Mission, Kansas and there is an unmet opening bid price of $1,800 and no reserve after that. If I were still in rabid car-buying mode I would make sure this ended up in our garage.
I’m not sure what’s going on with the Sesame Street-like “One of these things is not like the others” wheels, but as long as the rubber is good that’s all that matters. We have seen a few of these unusual Geo Metro-based EV conversions here on Barn Finds over the years. I’ll spare you another Brady Bunch middle child reference, but they came in-between the early 1970s and 80s EVs such as the ever-popular CitiCar/Comuta-Car (crickets) era of battery-powered vehicles in the post-gas-crisis world, and today’s modern go-almost-anywhere EVs.
Several companies made EV conversions based on shells of cars without drivetrains, known as skids, and Solectria Corporation out of Wilmington, Massachusetts is one such company. Jet Industries in Austin, TX also made some interesting EV conversions based on the Subaru Sambar van, the ElectraVan – that’s my personal favorite.
Only around 400 of the Solectria Force Geo Metro conversions were made and they’re fairly typical in having around a 40-mile range. That’s not ideal in the era of 250 to 300+ mile ranges and coast-to-coast charging stations, but for most regular commuting duties, 40 miles is more than enough range. Municipalities and other governmental agencies typically bought these cars more so than the average private consumer. The interior looks great in this car both front and also the rear. You can see the unusual controller on the center console but the seller doesn’t provide any detailed photos of that, unfortunately.
Thankfully, they do show the “engine”, or engine compartment, I should say. You can see the electric motor under that cross-brace and these cars were professionally converted, they weren’t a backyard slap-and-dash type of thing. There are thirteen 12-volt batteries hiding somewhere, I wish they would have shown a photo of the trunk area. Amazon has Deka 8G27 12V valve-regulated gel batteries for, gulp, $395 each. So, 13 of them would be… They say that they just need to downsize their fleet so presumably, there are no problems with this car. It sure looks great to me and it’s a steal at this price. Unusual EV conversions: yea or nay? It’s a resounding yea from me but my vote doesn’t count.
I love the article top line “1 of 400” ……I guess similar to “1 of 697” 1969 Trans Am’s of which 8 were convertibles!. Oh wait……it’s a Geo Metro…..I guess WHITE like a 69 Trans Am! Throw some blue stripes on it !! Sorry.
Take the one remaining hub cap off please.
License plate is “PHUBAR” – hope that doesn’t describe this vehicle…
About as useful as a Commodore 64. Maybe use it as a mobile cell phone charger?
Please, in the interest of educating our children, use the word GASOLENE instead of GAS powered, because an intelligent child might confuse it with a CNG powered bus.
Thank you.
I like the weird and obscure side of the car world too, but even I stop at a point, and this is one of those points. A 40-mile range? If it were longer, I would be a potential buyer, but as it is, it’s not practical enough to spend $1300 on. Although the car is light enough that you could rip out the electric powertrain, sell it to someone with a go-kart, and swap a high-revving motorcycle engine into it….Just a thought.
I’ve been fascinated by electric cars for
many years now but I’m not some pie-eyed tree hugger either. It’s gonna take
many years before you’ll be able to see the USA in your Chevrolet EV. Will we see it in our lifetime? Maybe, dunno for
sure. But when my stepdad worked on the Henney Kilowatt project in the late
’50s, the only thing they were concerned
about then was designing an electric
car that would be driven back and forth
from your job–provided you lived within it’s 20-40 mile range. The car you see here was more or less designed for that
purpose. Would I put my family in a car
like this? I certainly would. It would be
more than ideal for short hops to the
market or to our favorite restaurant but
when it came to cruising it at Oldtown,
I’d have to tow it behind my ’01 Dodge
1500 for now til they come up with a
miracle battery that would allow me to
drive it from Melbourne to Kissemme
and back.
You can already drive cross country in an EV. There are probably 25k stations by now. At least every 75 miles on the major routes and they are fast chargers. It’s already here…
I like this but living in canada makes it impossible to import, our government does not want us to modify cars to include a battery
No no no custom electric cars …
There is no way to make this work. 40 miles? I use a Ford Focus EV to commute 16 miles each way. The thing is, I use more KWH per mile than “average” so that I might use 22-23 “miles” of battery each way. Interstate speeds (which, BTW, it does effortlessly, think “sporty car, tiny fuel tank”) A/C and HEATER usage all kill the “mileage”. 40 ain’t; gunna cut it. Then..the batteries and recharge time? AND…it’s a Geo Metro. My Ford has all types of safety and convenience features that the Geo lacks. All that mass and the tiny little brakes? If you batteried this thing up, you’d have more money in it than a late model used Focus EV or Nissan Leaf.
Lets look at this https://www.amerescosolar.com/wp-content/uploads/8G27_DEKA.pdf
63 lbs each x 13= 819 lbs of just batteries. Unlike fuel tanks, batteries don’t get lighter as you use up the energy. 99ah. Doing some rough calculations provides 1.2KWH per unit x 13 give a bit over 15KWH for the bank. So YES to “40 miles” in a small car like that. Pulling 100 amps vs 20 amps out of the batteries means 100’s of cycles not 1000’s of cycles which means replacing batteries every few years. Don’t forget that electricity ain’t FREE either. My fleet includes a Sprinter and a VW Westfalia (subaru engine) both at 23.mpg along with a diesel Land Rover (roughly 30 mpg) which means I can purchase a LOT of fuel for the cost of buying, charging, insuring, maintaining this electric car. It would be to the point of 10-15 years worth of diving to break even. Again.. I drive an electric car but will not be driving this one!
I have a friend who’s mom bought one of these I think it came with a 3 cylinder from the factory? I kind of hate to say it but I think it was a pretty decent but very small car. I think it even got around 40 mph. I know nothing about the electric version except 40 mile range would be tough to live with!
“Coast to coast charging stations”.
That’s a lot of coal.
No matter what strides are made in the engineering of electric vehicles, the bottom line is without fossil fuels, they aren’t going anywhere.
It’s pure fantasy to think otherwise.
Ask those in CA. who own electric vehicles (make sure it’s in between the mandatory blackout hours) where their travels took them this weekend.
No coal for us. We use solar generated electricity to charge our EV.
It was interesting choice to electrify given that with its original ICE 3cyl engine the car got upwards of 50mpg. That is when it loud buzzy engine wasn’t shaking it self to pieces. Oh well at least its quieter now
With all set aside, and I want you to know I have owned corvettes, Fords, Rams, Dodge and many Chevys. One of the fastest I owned was a little 2 door Geo Storm. I outran the sheriffs office and State Patrol in that little 5 speed. That little booger would fly. Just saying….