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From Chris D – Hi Jesse and Crew, my electric Beetle, PlugBug, has been sold! Money was wired to my account and the shipper showed up on Monday. So, thanks! That worked so much better than I had hoped. The car is going to an electrical engineer, which is perfect! Next time I have an interesting car to sell I’ll be in touch, unless you want to sell my bone-stock 2015 Volt with 3,600 miles on it… Thanks again!
It sounds like this Beetle found the perfect home! Thanks for letting us help with the sale Chris. We weren’t sure we would be able to find the right buyer, but that didn’t take long at all. If any of you have an interesting vehicle that you would like to sell, please let us help you find the right buyer!
About 25 years ago I bought a S10 pickup converted to electric by US Electricar. It was picked up by a collage in Santa Maria. The school mechanics lifted the bed to see the batteries and couldn’t get away from it quick enough, They were scared to death by it. it was a high voltage DC system that was filled with huge batteries. I bought it and sold it to an electrical engineer from Sacramento. Us Electricar built electric post off vehicles as well as these pickups. It was a huge boondoggle funded by the government. Very few of them got out to the public, they were all sold to government agencies and most went back to the manufacturer.
About two years ago I came across an electric S10 in a junkyard in Stockton. It sure sounds like one of these. I think it was a late 80s, early 90s model. Did not look to be a one-off, had “Electric” badges in place of the factory S10 fender badges. Gotta see if I can dig up a pic.
Greetings All,
Dave, a high voltage DC system, was it 90 or 180 VDC or something more?
It’s the amperage that can kill you. A good spark plug coil is 20,000 volts but less than a 1/10 of an amp, we all lived.
There was an automotive parts supplier that had one of these, possibly the same brand. The battery weight sort of nullified it’s ability to carry weight. The bed was a glorified cover for the batteries.
They used it for deliveries but it was gone a year later.
Great to hear this interesting Bug found a home. Can’t wait to see what we feature next!
There’s a guy here in Las Cruces that has been trying for at least two years to unload his electric Karmen Ghia on Craigslist. I’ve watched his asking price bounce all over the board from $8500 to $12,500 but obviously no takers. Part of it may be his approach – he advertises it as a ‘restored’ or ‘automatic’ Ghia but once you read the text you learn it’s now battery powered.
Enjoy your “Voltswagon”
Earlier lead acid and NIMH batteries just did not have the energy density to be practical for modern use. Electric cars were very popular in the early part of the last century when 10 miles was a useful range gasoline automobiles were not yet practical or affordable. There is a GM EV 1 at the local museum, one of the few not crushed. They had a very limited range (70 miles) and tended to catch fire, a rather inconvenient attribute.