“Needs batteries”. How many times have we seen that in relation to a car like this unusual 1994 Geo Solectria Force EV? Many times, but it’s an interesting car it can be found here on eBay in Ludlow, Massachusetts. The seller has an unmet opening bid price of $1,500 listed.

These EV conversions certainly aren’t the most popular cars on Barn Finds, but my argument is that any real car guy or car gal should at the very least have a tiny amount of interest in anything that even resembles a vehicle and is powered by some sort of engine or motor. This car surely qualifies, even though it needs batteries… And, rust repair. And a passenger-side mirror.

That this car is in Massachusetts isn’t too surprising since Solectria Corporation, the company that converted these cars into EVs, was based in Wilmington, MA. Around 400 of them were made and there aren’t many still around due to the batteries wearing out and replacements being expensive – this one apparently used 19 batteries! – and/or the body of the cars rusting out. This one, unfortunately, has both of those issues. Roof and hood-mounted solar panels were a $2,980 option, believe it or not – $5,150 in 2019 bucks. Those solar panels gave a little added range over the usual 70-miles between charging. This was a $28,280 car in 1994! That’s a mouth-gaping $49,000 in 2019 dollars.

Hey, where’s the shifter?! Actually, the Solelectria had a forward/reverse push-button for moving out so there’s no gear shifter. This is the only interior photo other than this one showing what I’m guessing is part of the battery storage area, but it looks pretty good inside from what I can see. The seller talks about this car being solid as far as the chassis goes and says that there is no rot or rust in that regard, but they mention some rust on the body and it’s clearly visible, especially on a white car. A lot of these cars were purchased by public utility companies such as cities or power companies, etc.

There’s a lot of something going on under the hood, just general aging and some light corrosion from living in an area that gets snow. That climate has never been kind to any cars that I can think of. The cost of 19 batteries would be more than the opening bid price and then fixing the rust wouldn’t be cheap. If a person liked unusual EVs, and those folks are out there, this would be an interesting and head-turning ride for the nearest Cars and Coffee.