Refinitiv Newscasts - Amping your ride: the firms electrifying old cars

Arverne SA

02/12/2021 16:33

Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_gelhhr8m&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2021:newsml_OVF6COGAZ_930&pageId=RefinitivNewscasts
Source: Reuters

Description: Soaring electric vehicle sales across major car markets have been
accompanied by the rise of a new breed of startup: firms that convert
fossil-fuel cars to electric. Lucy Fielder has more.
Short Link: https://refini.tv/3lwWi1z

Video Transcript:

This is a burgeoning new cottage industry: converting fossil-fuel cars to
electric. Across Europe and the United States, companies converting
fossil-fueled dinosaurs into clean electric cars have emerged. David Lorenz
founded Britain's Lunaz, which charges up to a million pounds to revive
classic cars.

Everyone has panicked, everyone has seen we are now going EV, let’s
change our whole production, let’s go to- no. Look at what you’ve
already produced. Look at what can be carried over. These are fundamentally
the same vehicles with the same equipment on them. Do not just build new. You
have to refrain from that. You’ve got to look at re-manufacturing what
already exists.

There are an estimated five million classic cars in the US market alone. At
the top end are companies like Lunaz and Dutch firm Voitures Extravert. At the
bottom end, the French firm Transition-One is working on simple kits to
electrify mass-market models like Fiat 500, so cheaper cars can be retrofitted
in four hours for under $9,000.

We carried out a study recently where we were doing a carbon comparison on
these vehicles and compared to a new refuse truck or EV we’re talking
about 88% embedded carbon carried through on one of our vehicles. You have to
take that as a key fact. We can't just expect to build new and shift the
problem around the world. What we do here is we take a vehicle that is a
problem. We take it off the road and we put it back emissions free. And that
is the key fundamental. It has real impact and real change.

The growth of EV conversion startups could lead to more regulation, with
higher safety standards and costs. That could make it harder for some smaller
firms to keep up in the long-term. But, for now, the industry appears to be
growing as demand for EVs rises