The 914 was generally frowned upon by Porschephiles, at least until recently, and this 1971 Porsche 914 EV may be equally frowned upon by everyone whether or not they wear a full skin-tight black uniform or not (I kid the Porsche owners!). This one can be found on eBay with a current (cough) bid price of $4,000. That is a steal in the 914 world these days so obviously the method of propulsion is holding the price back. It’s located right where you thought it would be: Santa Maria, California.
I have been a huge fan of the 914 since day one. I mean, day one for the car, not me – they didn’t make them in 1962. This 914 was converted to battery power about a decade ago according to this fun blog on the process. It has changed hands a couple of times and has been with the present owner, the seller, since 2012. I’m not sure why they’re selling it especially with no reserve, $4,000 is dirt cheap for a 914 these days. Without the original drivetrain I have no idea what this car is really worth but I guess we’ll find out in two days when the auction ends. And even with batteries it still has room for luggage for those 75-mile round trip weekend destinations…
The car was painted within the last ten years, according to the seller. They “converted the car from led [sic] acid to lithium in 2012. 2nd-gear is used for starting, 3rd is good for expressway speeds, and 4th gear is best of freeways.” With around a 75-mile range this car is good for around town or very short trips, which is what 90% of humans do anyway. There is such a range anxiety with EVs, like they’re meant to take cross country. Some of them can do that but most of them are for commuting. You’ll have to get in touch with your favorite upholstery shop to touch up the vinyl a bit but other than that this car looks great to me.
The interior looks great other than something going on around the defroster vent on the top of the dash. You can still see three pedals, a lot of converted EVs still use a manual shifter although some (most?) of them don’t use a clutch pedal. There are specific conversion kits that provide everything but the batteries but they aren’t cheap as you can see from this website. Here’s a YouTube video of a guy who made a battery-powered 914, there are quite a few to check out if anyone had any interest. I’m assuming not, but maybe a few of you won’t instantly give this one the hand-wave and move on. I know that the Barn Finds crowd isn’t into EVs that much, in general.
These are the relatively new lithium batteries which should be much better than regular lead acid batteries. The seller says that this “is a nice weekend car or for someone with a small commute. It is reliable and fun.” That’s exactly what it is, a part-time fun car for those folks who like to be a little on the unusual side. Are any of you into unusual vehicles?
👍
ld71 😁
I’m really liking the alternative power sources – batteries in 914’s, V8’s in Jags, etc. I like restored cars, too, but the reality is they are mass produced and not “rare”. Am I going to lose sleep because it’s not the right motor, color, number of doors or an automatic? Nope. And it’s a Porsche, so I kinda like thinking the purists are getting all whacked about it.
Anything that gets purists whacked out is a good thing, IMHO. Let them get their panties wadded up, especially since Porsche people were all too good to pay attention to these cars for about 40 years anyway. Lots of energy spent on this little girl. Cool little ride.
If this was anywhere near me I’d be a serious bidder. It’s a rare day that I drive more than 50 miles, I have a roof covered in solar panels to the point where the electric company pays me every month, and something like a Leaf/Prius/Volt has zero appeal to me compared to something like this. Soooo tempting but I’d have to pay to have it shipped 3000 miles. Can’t do a fly and drive with this one!
And you can hit zero to sixty in five minutes. What’s not to love?
An electric vehicle usually can accelerate very quickly. I don’t know why this one would be any different.
The new electric tractor trailer rigs go from zero to 60 in 15 seconds fully loaded. Pretty impressive.
Was that a typo for five seconds? There’s no doubt this thing is way faster to 60 than a 914 was from the factory.
It’s likely that it’s changed hands a couple of times because once the novelty word off the buyers realized they had a poorly running conversation piece only.
More likely it’s changing hands because mass production EVs are now available.
Fast forward 47 years and read about Porsche Mission E which is the modern “novelty” to the 914.
The 914 looks like alot of fun. Golf cart alternative for the retirement community crowd.
“Your 914 weighs HOW much?”
Wonder how hard this would be to turn it back to
it’s original form?
Rings my bell too. Distance is a killer for me, and country import taxes after the purchase price rule it out.
If it was a lot cheaper, I’d go for it.
75 miles is actually pretty good for a converted car, but of course no heat or a/c and the safety aspect is kind of scary. My dd is an Audi A3 e-tron PHEV with a lifetime avg of 170 mpg. Short trips on batteries add up 🙂
At collage in the early ’80’s these were popular. Several of us did Bugs, 914’s, anything light and cheap. My toy was a FIAT 850. Biggest challenge was the controller. Many of us snapped drive line parts with the instant on full torque.
Had to constantly fiddle with them to keep them running. Great fun which over time became too much trouble.
Do it, John.
If you are producing more electricity than you are using, which we were, it is foolish to sell it at a discount to your power company when you could be using it to drive around town.
We were in the same boat until we got a RAV4 EV 4 years ago. I am on our second one with no real issues and can’t tell you how much I enjoy not going to the gas station every 3 days. I have plenty of gas powered vehicles that I can enjoy for longer trips or when I feel like destroying the environment a little. I don’t think any of them are as quick 0-75 as the EV, which is 0-60 in something like 7.0. Not as fast as my old BMW, true. But it actually corners better with very low center of gravity.
I would imagine this conversion, which actually looks nicely done, would be pretty quick given the weight of these cars. Would prefer to use a battery pack (or partial pack) from a Leaf or something if I was going to spend the time and money doing one of these. The 914 seems like an ideal candidate.
Lol, don’t tempt me! If it was closer I really might. The other factor working against it for me is I’m pretty well maxed out with five vehicles right now. I’d have to finish this, sell that, shuffle those over there around. A year or two from now though, if something like this shakes loose within a few hundred miles of me, I’d jump on it. Also have considered building my own but not sure I have the skills. Again though, give it a few years and I bet they’ll be a lot of conversation kits available.
I bought a 72 914 in 76, kept it till 82 when the family growth ended its stay. Don’t like the battery thing. Except for the early Bosch injection, it was trouble-free. Great driver’s car. Economical. VW parts for engine readily available. One problem like all Porsches then it had was rust. Interestingly enough the Porsche museum has one of a few the family made with 908 8 cylinder engines.
Being a Porsche fan I prefer the 914 over the 928,944 and 924.
911, 912 and 356 and Boxster still rule.
Wanna own it, easy to buy – just charge it!
Looks like a good candidate for returning to stock. Except for the drive train it seems unmolested. Riding in one of these being in a go-kart with the engine screaming right behind you. I prefer the 944 series, I have 2. I like the engine in front and the gas tank in the back.
There was a guy in Las Cruces, NM who took a very nice ’69 VW Karman Ghia and converted it to battery power. Why?? I have no flippin’ idea . . . but apparently he didn’t like the results as he spent the next two years (or maybe longer) taking up Craigslist space trying to palm the thing off on someone else. It got to the point where he was blatantly mis-representing it. I have no idea if it ever sold or if he still owns it to this day
Ev cars the great lie to the consumer. This car and cars like it firstly get there power from coal fired power plants. So some of them a coal fired or hydro electric dams which have caused irreparable damage to regional ecological systems. Maybe in your area the energy is wind power where wind turbines kill thousands of birds a year. Lastly if you think there is an endless supply of lithium you would be wrong and there is the issue of what to do with all the old spent battaries that are toxic. Finally this car might work ok in California what about up here in Canada where more than half your battery charge will be used keeping you warm greatly reducing your range. And when we’re all sucked into driving one of these dogs we can all be happy with brown outs and high electric bills. These will be cheep to run until we are all hooked in and then they won’t be. One more thing most lithium battaries can on tolerate about 2000 recharges and then they will become tired and less affective. Little does the public know that these battery packs are the most expensive part of the car. So how willing are you going to be to buy a new battery pack for your 5 or 6 year old car. Better make the whole car out of plastic so we can through it away like a empty pop bottle, oh but wait a minute isn’t plastic made out of the evil crude oil. My rant is complete thanks for listening. JMHO.
I’m a ‘62 baby too! I’m also a first gen American whose parents immigrated from Germany back in 1952. We grew up with air cooled VWs and I went through five before I got a freakin’ boat with a 350 and real A/C, not someone who counts those little triangular “vent” windows as A/C. In the DFW area of Texas, A/C is just not optional. Convertibles here are for before or after the sun makes its appearance. I too also wanted a 914 but to convert to a 914-6. Those were better road handlers than the 911s.
The 914 was generally frowned upon by Porschephiles
along w/Cayenne, whatever the 4 dor is, etc, etc
Yes and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west . . .