Now I don’t know about you, but I really like the idea of marrying classic sports car looks from the 1950s and 1960s with modern tech and electric powertrains. There’s really nothing wrong with that, no matter what some so-called purists might say because the resulting vehicle is faster, quieter, and greener than what you started out with.

An Electric Porsche 356

I mean tearing up an old original Porsche 356 Speedster that’s in perfect condition just to swap in an electric powertrain may not be everybody’s cup of tea - and I agree with that - but if the vehicle in question is just a really well-done kit car, then you really have no reason not to try to make it electric.

EV West is a shop that has become well known for its electric car conversions, ever since they did a BMW M3 E36 a while back and that got them quite a lot of attention.

They’re definitely not putting the whole Tesla pack inside the small 356 body shell, but probably just part of it (as they expect it to have a range of around 100 miles / 161 km). It should prove pretty spritely, though, thanks to the instant 175 pound-feet / 237 Nm of torque hitting the rear tires.

This video by YouTuber jehugarcia goes into the intricacies of the conversion process, following it from start to finish. The end result is definitely a desirable car since it’s not a hacked and modified up original 356, plus it has a trendy electric powertrain and actually more performance than a standard 356, especially off the line.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 1951 - 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster.