Photo: Green Shed Conversions
It's tuning month here at autoevolution, a month in where we pay tribute to what's possible with an idea, some nuts, bolts, and too much time on your hands can achieve in the form of wicked custom cars and trucks. The overwhelming majority of the cars featured far have been meaner, faster, and louder than what they were before the change.
But this EV converted Chevy S-10 is, at the very least, less loud by far. Assuming someone can actually get it running. That's right, folks, as much as we love cars with huge gasoline engines that get way more smiles per gallon than miles per gallon, the future of tuning culture might look something very similar to the electric motor swapped Chevy S-10 truck.
We're no strangers to DIY wizards wapping out a classic car's dirty old motor for something like a salvage yard Tesla powerplant and battery pack. But the S-10 we have for you today is not derived from the most famous and most expensive name in the EV game. So if you think you needed a salvaged Model S as a parts car to make a worthwhile EV conversion, think again.
Originally, this custom build started out as a perfectly normal 1998 Chevy S-10 light truck, which came with a plethora of four and six-cylinder engines. But now, little remains of what used to be one of the most tried and true engine and transmission combinations in the light truck market. In its place is an electric motor that appears to have saved an absolute ton of weight and space under the hood while clearly, not factory original looking.
The S-10 trucks are lauded in the tuning community for their ability to accept a wide array of engine and transmission choices without having to do very much at all to retrofit them under their engine bays. They don't make drag racers out of them for no reason, mind you. Once all the electrical bits and bobs are sorted, there's no telling how much power a truck like this would be able to make.
It's not clear whether the transmission on this truck was removed at some point. Remember that EVs don't necessarily need a traditional transmission in order to operate. Many are even one-speed direct-drive in nature. But that's the beauty behind EV conversions such as this. You can leave in the OEM transmission for a smoother experience or leave it out entirely to save time and weight.
Unfortunately, the anonymous owner of this car was never able to complete the project. He then posted it for sale on greenshedconversions.com, a website where people can buy other people's EV conversion projects on the cheap. At just $3,000 out the door, this just might be the perfect project for new-age EV fans, assuming they have the money and time to make it run.
We're no strangers to DIY wizards wapping out a classic car's dirty old motor for something like a salvage yard Tesla powerplant and battery pack. But the S-10 we have for you today is not derived from the most famous and most expensive name in the EV game. So if you think you needed a salvaged Model S as a parts car to make a worthwhile EV conversion, think again.
Originally, this custom build started out as a perfectly normal 1998 Chevy S-10 light truck, which came with a plethora of four and six-cylinder engines. But now, little remains of what used to be one of the most tried and true engine and transmission combinations in the light truck market. In its place is an electric motor that appears to have saved an absolute ton of weight and space under the hood while clearly, not factory original looking.
The S-10 trucks are lauded in the tuning community for their ability to accept a wide array of engine and transmission choices without having to do very much at all to retrofit them under their engine bays. They don't make drag racers out of them for no reason, mind you. Once all the electrical bits and bobs are sorted, there's no telling how much power a truck like this would be able to make.
It's not clear whether the transmission on this truck was removed at some point. Remember that EVs don't necessarily need a traditional transmission in order to operate. Many are even one-speed direct-drive in nature. But that's the beauty behind EV conversions such as this. You can leave in the OEM transmission for a smoother experience or leave it out entirely to save time and weight.
Unfortunately, the anonymous owner of this car was never able to complete the project. He then posted it for sale on greenshedconversions.com, a website where people can buy other people's EV conversion projects on the cheap. At just $3,000 out the door, this just might be the perfect project for new-age EV fans, assuming they have the money and time to make it run.
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