Article originally published by drive.com.au, written by Zane Dobie
“An Australian company has done the unthinkable, converting a brand-new 79 Series LandCruiser to electric. Here’s why it might’ve been the best decision.”
As technology improves, electric conversions are becoming cheaper, more compact, and more feasible. One business that is ahead of the curve is Australian EVs, which specialises in bespoke bolt-in electric solutions.
I recently attended the Everything Electric show in Sydney, where the brand-new V8 Toyota LandCruiser 79 Series was sitting in the middle of the floor.
Obviously out of place, a closer inspection revealed that the once 4.5-litre turbo-diesel V8 was missing from the engine bay and replaced with something that looked like a flux capacitor.
Eager to find out more, and find out why anyone would do this, I pinned down Australian EVs’s Director, Edwin Higginson, for a chat.
Why would you convert a LandCruiser to electric?
The V8 LandCruiser has a cult-like following, more now than ever since Toyota announced it would stop making the rugged off-roader with the historic turbo-diesel V8.
Australian EVs chose the brand-new LandCruiser to show off that it can be done, and perhaps even make the dual-cab even better.
“Everyone in Australia has got parts and components for a LandCruiser. All we’re doing is making sure it’s more drivable and fun by throwing an electric version in it,” said Higginson.
“This one here has got three times more power than a V8 diesel for about a quarter of the running cost, yet it’s a lot more fun to drive.”
As Higginson said, the 70 Series platform has been in Australia for decades, meaning that a plethora of parts are available off the shelf; all they have done is replace the heart and kept the framework.
“Because it’s a bolt-in kit, we use the original driveline and everything off the original vehicle. You’ve still got a high-low range and four-wheel drive; it can still tow 3.5 tonnes, it’s got a tonne payload on the back, but it’s just a lot more enjoyable now,” Higginson continued.
“The electric motor is so versatile and has so much power, it just goes and goes, but it’s got the ruggedness of the LandCruiser title.”
What’s the driving range on it?
The electric 79 Series is good for around 600 kilometres depending on your driving, if you’re towing anything and how much regen you’re creating.
“It has a Type 2 charger. It’s a fast charger, so we can put it into any charging port that you get on the side of the road,” Higginson said.
“It’s also got two 40-volt outlets on the side of a car. If you’re going camping, you can go fully off-grid. We get a lot of farming customers who live off-grid and even mining customers. So there’s a lot of applications that work well for conversions because there’s nothing like this on the road that you can buy.”
How is the conversion done?
Higginson said that Australian EVs sources all the parts internationally before importing them and building the kits in New South Wales.
Customers can purchase the kit as a bolt-in solution or have the company install it for them for an extra labour cost.
“One of our bolt-in kits might take about 80 hours to install into a vehicle,” Higginson said.
“We use a motor and driveline that we import from the US, the batteries we get from China, and then our team of engineers builds all the kit ourselves in our factory.”
“We do about 50 per cent of the kit build, and that’s where we can design the bespoke car for whatever the customer wants and the type of car we want.
“We have customers who just want us to supply a kit for a workshop or an automotive restorer. But, if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself, we’ll do it for you through one of our workshops.”
Of course, you’ll need to have your car checked over by an engineer, or modification plated. While you may have to change things such as brakes and suspension to support a power upgrade, essentially like putting a high-powered engine in your car.
However, where the EV benefits is that there are a lot of emissions regulations surrounding an internal combustion engine swap and an electric conversion skirts around those.
How much does an electric conversion cost?
Higginson said that the kits start at around $40,000 and can go for more than $100,000, depending on the sort of conversion you want and the type of car. However, the prices could start coming down as the technology improves.
“It depends on so many things. But we’ve seen a massive decrease in price just in the last couple of years. All the manufacturers are looking at new tech, new chemistries, and how to improve [driving] range, reduce weight, and reduce cost,” he said.
“If you compare it to the development of mobile phones, that’s been going for something like 38 years. Compare the current iPhone to the original mobile phone in that development. Today in EVs, we’re around the first Blackberry. So we’ve come a long way; we’ve got a long way to go.”
Why should I convert an ICE car to electric?
Many people get confused about the point of converting an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle to an electric vehicle. Higginson said that it’s not so much a replacement for your daily car as a way to capitalise on the performance electric offers.
“You’ve got better performance, you’ve got the regen braking to stop you, you’ve got better handling. Sometimes, you can balance the weight. There are so many benefits that EVs are the way to go,” he said.
“If you’ve got a specialist vehicle that you want to have electric, same as the LandCruiser, you can’t buy something like this in Australia, anywhere in the world today. So turning it into an electric vehicle is the best way of doing that.
“In Australia, 21 years is the average lifespan of a car, 28 years for commercial vehicles, and you’d normally have to replace the engine midlife. So we say instead of replacing it with a diesel or petrol ICE motor, throw the electric motor in to extend the life to what you normally have today.”