World’s First Electric Ford Model A Rat Rod Is Powered by a Motorcycle Motor

Rich Benoit himself surely thinks so.

This is not a new project, but Rich, known from his YouTube channel Rich Rebuilds, which sees him tackle the most impressive and surprising EV conversions and builds, has just recently brought it up again in an interview with Barcroft Cars. His electric Model A is featured in the latest episode of Ridiculous Rides released one week ago.

You can see the full feature at the bottom of the page. The project itself goes back to mid-2019, with Rich fully documenting it that summer. Then, in September of that same year, he was able to take it for a first, very successful test drive. You will find the video of the test drive at the bottom of the page as well.

Since Rich is revisiting history with his new interview, and January happens to be autoevolution’s Ford Month, let’s have a proper look at this most unlikely conversion – one that, Rich insists, has never been done before.

It’s not so much that the Model A uses an electric motor that’s scandalous, but the fact that the electric motor itself was never meant to power a car. It’s the motor from a Zero e-bike that Benoit bought for $3,200, which makes this electric rat rod the world’s first rat rod powered by a motorcycle motor. “No one has ever taken an electric motorcycle motor and put it in a car – it’s beautiful,” he says.

Benoit planned to use parts from a crashed Tesla to convert the rat rod, but he soon realized that this would prove too costly. If you watched any one of his videos, you know that he’s all about cutting expenses and being practical before anything else.

The 1930s Model A, in case you were wondering, had been an “impulse purchase” off Craigslist. He doesn’t say how much he paid for it, but he hated the Chevy 305 engine in it, so he wanted a replacement. He bought the Zero motorcycle and stripped it of its electric motor, controller, and battery pack to use on the Ford. He paired the motor with a 3-speed transmission from a ‘60s Chevy to get the necessary torque to power the car.

Before the project was completed, even his loyal supporters had informed him that he was doomed to fail. The motor would not be able to get a car moving, even one with as light a chassis as a Model A. But Benoit persisted, overcame challenges and, with imagination and skill, was able to get it on the road.

Speaking of challenges, he says pairing the motor to the transmission and figuring out the acceleration pedal were the biggest.

The entire process took about six weeks, and included the extra effort of building the dashboard using the gauge cluster from a motorcycle and giving the seats from a Dodge Caravan a more period-correct aspect by having them reupholstered.

The result of all this hard work is an EV conversion that was the most fun he’s had, he says. The Model A rat rod has regen braking, is able to get to highway speeds without issue, and can even burn some serious rubber. It gets people staring because they “feel like this thing shouldn’t be moving at all.” That's because there’s no engine sound and the exposed battery in the front looks like a computer case.

If he pushes it, it can even get to 80 mph (129 kph), which is amazing for a vehicle many thought would do a maximum of 30 (49 kph), if it would move at all. But do you really want to do 80 in this thing? Benoit is not so sure he does.