Cool or Sacrilege: We Converted Our 1965 Ford To Run On Tesla Batteries! 

So you can't use them when bad waether kills the power for a week?

@@Neightlive that includes gas stations when the power goes.

@@Neightlive This type of conversion should warm any prepper's heart. If you have some solar panels you have an infinite range around your compound and never have to visit a gas station in civilization again.

That is still insanely cost prohibitive. I hope it gets big enough for it to be equivalent to cheaper ls conversions

@@michaelyoung3337 Yeah I don't think so. One EMP, and this garbage is fried.

Oh yeah, It would make a great hot rod drag truck.

Yea it sounds good......But the Numbers are terrible. Honestly......The cost for the range of something that heavy is totally useless. Only worth an attaboy for being green....if that matters to you....But even at that it is not really. I am pretty experienced with this and that sucker probably has a range of 100 miles. Load it full of lumber and cut that in half....then wait about 10 hours to recharge. With that kind of weight the battery life will be terrible too....Get out the steam shovel and harvest some more lithium.....Hey electric cars are GREAT for commuting but converting classics and long range they are good for sticking out your chest and Talking to your hommies about how green you are and that is about it.

Agreed. Never did like the sound of V8’s anyways.

didn't even smoke the tires what a disappointment

Look up the fwd honda powered mustang! You'll love it. I think its a 1965 mustang but im not sure

Yeah me too lol! I make 20,000 to 35,000 a year depending on the weather in the winter and wet season. I will never be able to afford it. Guess I am getting a 🐎 😆

Nope not 80k I do the math that’s not true ! Don’t be fool he really wants to sell the truck to someone who think it cost 80k !! Don’t listen do the ev lies trust me !!! It’s all for you tube views and sells it don’t cost that much !!

@@waltercox2207 eventually, if you have solar, an EV car would pay for itself in gas saving alone in 5-10 years

@@jesualdocortez6426 it will i have a g550 eats 110 in gas a week so i think i want to convert the mercedes gl550 to all ev. its all wheel drive i would love to try it if inhad the parts for sure.

Hell no

Absofreakinglutely

I've looked at many electric options, and I don't like the modern vehicles today, I will be doing this to an older vehicle in the future

Same

You still think the CyberTruck is happening? Its 2 years late already, they've lost any first mover advantage in the truck market. 😅

Hell yeah

Oh yeah. I would love to have this

Yup

I feel ya. I drive a classic military K5 Blazer (M1009) and a Bolt EV lol. The Blazer is for "real work" and the Bolt EV is for daily. After driving in EV's... I really wouldn't want to commute with the 6.2L Detroit Diesel lol. It's great for "doin stuff", but the classics just aren't practical for daily use.

And who knows how many more miles to offset the coal that's burned to generate the electricity for that virtue signal mobile. I bet the clapped out inline 6 was more efficient than this rolling pile

120 miles is a hope and a prayer on level ground at 45 mph....Factor in some hills and putting anything in the bed drive a bit faster and that will significantly change. Great for around town. take it on a road trip Useless......want a great commuter buy a tesla or ID4. then your doing something.

@@Mikefngarage using that argument, what's the point of the commuter car too? By the time you account for the energy it takes to build, go find a V8 pickup. I've been seeing if an electric would work as my next commuter, and truly, it's more economical to buy a V6 or V8 pickup in terms of cost, dependability, and longevity. I could buy 2 pickup trucks for the price of most electric cars, and the truck lasts 3 times longer (with proper maintenance). I own a 4 cylinders Ford Focus right now, and although it's the most dependable car I've driven, I'm understanding why people go for the large pickups - part of it is that they can last 20 years or more.

I hear ya!! I have a '37 Plymouth pick-up truck and I'm really wanting to convert it to EV.....but I get that a lot: you're destroying automotive history, you're ruining the value, you're taking away the nostalgia. It weighs heavy on my heart but that said, I have to add that the OEM system sucks! No power steering, very lousy brakes (we take hydraulic disc for granted!!!!), doesn't always like to start, can't do more than 60mph, have to double-clutch and it still grinds going into 1st, drips oil incessantly, constant issues with fuel pump and carburetor.....the truck is so finnicky that NOBODY wants to drive it except me! And every time I drive it I have to HOPE it won't have an issue. So yeah, going to EV would be amazing and it's just making some old new again. I wanna do it but now trying to find a shop is a nightmare

@@stevereisman6872 diesel conversion is good too.....The thing to know is your Range is going to totally suck with electric. If your max driving it is around 100 miles of less it might be Ok. nights and hills will take away from that. then charging it will take 8 hours from there. So it does take some planning. Put a cummins in there with a later model trans and you get pretty good MPG and reliable.

@@stevereisman6872 dude that sounds like a freakin’ awesome truck! But yeah, I tend to forget about all the maintenance needed just to keep a classic like that going. That is where electric will be better. However, I work in IT for a living and electric cars worry me for the computer issues that could potentially happen (and those associated costs).

I think converting smaller, lighter vehicles that don't need half to three quarter ton battery packs will be the key for many. People concerned about the cost can sacrifice performance and save a fortune (and still be usable). Moving a big heavy truck with sportscar performance is going to cost a lot no matter how you do it.

The one in Lafayette?

@@yayinternets I met him at the one off I-25 and 136th at the outlets

@@strongplanted Oh cool, that’s right down the street from me. I go to the Lafayette one a few times a year but haven’t seen them there before.

I know a guy with a single Hyper 9 converted 1965 Ford Cortina Mk 1 that he takes for shows. Gets everyone's attention for sure but when they see it for real they are mostly very keen to know all about it.

Now imagine how much cooler you'd be with a v8 with a hog ass cam

Calling it a religion is a bit unfair. Just as there an enthusiastic fans of “Hemi”, “V8 (or more)”. “XxxxxHP”, “rolling coal”. There are fans of ev for many reasons. With todays tech, it is fine for many people, with the near term expected tech, most people. If anything, it those holding onto the old, and spewing outdated information is the religious zealots.

Agreed. I like the idea of EVs but I realize it's limitations unlike some of the fan boys. This is a perfect application

@@SimJDKS your opinion...

Its where the fuel tank filler use to be. Id say they kept it that way for that reason Owning one of this model F250s I think it is cool they used the same spot.

@@tim8deb I know but it just looks kinda haphazardly bolted into the hole, with that price I’d be hoping for like a custom insert

@@09impala Yeah, that jumped out to me, too. For $80k, they should have made it LOOK like the original fuel cap on the outside.

That black plastic kills the look. Maybe they could have done like a hidden panel behind the license plate or something. That was a common location for a fuel door in that era.

@@DanielBoger Yep, I was thinking maybe even just take a chrome fuel door off another truck and putting the J1772 plug under it. A great thing about electricity over gas is you don’t have to worry about gravity so you can put the connector wherever you want.

I agree the cost is absurd, but that's not what unobtainium means.

@@Ijusthopeitsquick That's what it means for me lol

Yea whats the point of that.....to talk you your buddies about how Great you are for being GREEN.....I will stay out of that conversation.

Yeah me personally I would have just rebuilt that old inline 6 those are history

@@Mikefngarage Conversions like this have nothing to do with an attempt at being green. It's more about tinkering/hotrodding type fun. Mashing up new and old tech. Trying new things. Doing it just because it's new and different and a challenge to put it together in a fun, unexpected and new way.

What

@@bruced9668 hv=high voltage

Did I see the original single-cylinder brake master? 😬 And front drums with orig steering too I bet. With the acceleration that truck has now (+ more weight) I would think improved handling/stopping might be in order?

Quit being a poon

this set up has been around for years

A 1997 Geo Metro is considered a classic also. Lol

I don't think that was the point. It's one of a kind, which now makes it priceless.

They did this to create content I'm sure.

Well. They don’t yet know the actual range. He said it was a guess and that they need to do testing to work out what it’s actual range is

@@paulmadkow9143 they are auctioning it off and donating to money they said.

Ever rebuild a classic vehicle. To make this a showroom example just for the body would be somewhere over $30,000 or even $40,000 if you don’t do the work yourself. The painting alone will be over $10,000, even $15,000 for show quality. Then the interior will be a couple of thousand, and a proper replacement drive train would be $5,000 to $12,000 depending on what you replace the dump truck motor with. I’ve done classic original numbers matching 6 cylinder trucks that were nice trucks. They stayed original because they were nice examples. This is not exactly a nice example or original prior to the EV conversion. It’s immensely better now and, yes it was expensive, but full on restorods are!

They should of just left it alone it doesn’t need to be a trailer queen just as is is the true American sprite

@@danthompson1467 - they are in the job of generating revenue by videos watched, advertising time etc. this does none of that sitting doing nothing. They did what will generate views and discussions.

@@shitloveaduck I dont know what you're talking about. Paint and primer for my 1966 f250 (arcadian blue, Wimbledon white) cost me $700. 15 grand for a paint job? Yeah. Some sleaze bags will ask that much. I had one shop quote me 25k for a paintjob. As with everything in life, your paying the administrative and labor costs of getting something done, not the materials.

@@npc_retired - I was including the bodywork in there as well. The hours add up fast then.

Why customize anything?

Battery tech has come a long way in the last 20 years and will continue to improve. They'll get lighter, longer lasting and have more power density. But you can continue to grow into the grumpy old guy. Back in my day our cars had 100s of parts that would constantly wear out and need replaced to keep the car running.

@@zinc466 Batteries have made minor improvements. Most of what people see is not actually technological advancement, but rather logistical advances. It's easy to fall into the trap of imagining things improving at a steady pace the way they seem to be at any given moment. They just as easily may not. What they are today is crazy expensive, short lived, short capacity, heavy, and last but not least incredibly damaging to the environment. Electric drive is cool, but battery powered is a novelty.

@@zinc466 If someone wants to spend 80k on a electric conversion that isn’t efficient range wise from the get go it’s their money what do I care. Got nothing against Ev’s but 80k ? And you act like just because the engine was removed nothing will ever break or need maintenance. 20 yrs down the road when you want to sell it you can put in the description “ just needs a battery to run “. Lol I owned a 65 f100 in the early 90’s and was the reason I watched the video and gave it a thumbs up. So who’s the grumpy old Jackass ? Not me I just stated facts and you seem to be the defensive one. Yes batteries tech has come a long way but then again in 20yrs a total electric car could be obsolete….. Hydrogen or something else for example.

Much different from actually driving them. You are talking about a constant variable torque. It has a very set pattern with no spikes, long idle times (the worst for the 6s), over revving etc. they are long lasting motors and the fuel you use is a by product. This truck was going to be lucky to get maybe 11 mpg with that old 6 cylinder. Not a great restoration, on a truck that was already far from original. I fully understand the longevity though. We ran pump motors for irrigation and generally International 345s and 549s they ran for days flat out!! At night you could see the exhaust stacks glowing red,,,,,,. Ran them all summer sometimes only shutting them down for oil changes, oil cooler rebuilds and, if they survived, a couple of rebuilds. Very similar, but like driving 120 mph as hard as you can, uphill with a headwind!!! Hahaha. We never calculated the miles, but I don’t doubt similar. Yet have the same motors in an old international pickup and they didn’t last well at all. Maybe 100,000 miles before needing a rebuild.

@@shitloveaduck we have two old wells that have 1974 model international harvester 304 V8’s on them. The front cylinder on one side, and the back cylinder on the other side have compressor pistons in them. Those two cylinders are used for compressed air as a makeshift gas lift for adjacent whales to help run a plunger. I know one of the 304’s has been rebuilt 14 times since 1978 when they were placed on the pumping unit. One of the old wells has a old Buick “ nailhead” 322 on it. The old pumper that died out there probably 30 years ago told me that it came out of a 1954 Buick roadmaster. He said that car had 100,000 miles on it and was wrecked they pull the motor out of it and stuck it on that pumping unit and it ran for six more years before it needed rebuilt. 😎

@@golfbravowhiskey8669 - they must just be running right in that certain sweet spot huh? Pretty cool story!!

A 1.9tdi in a Prius would have been ok tbh! ✅ 😂 😆 😝

@@carholic-sz3qv I'm putting a Prius 1.8 in a Corvair lol

Totally agree. Such a waste.

YEA.....Until you factor in the weight.....Drops the range. significantly....take it on the freeway at 60 or 70 and the range is useless. maybe 100 miles or less......I would buy a tesla or an id4 for a commuter. That sucker would not even make it to a car show and back without a few hours on a charger.....I have no time for that. I know your an electric car guy and Please tell me why so many people lie about this stuff.....I have been in caravans with electric conversions and OMG it is so irritating.

@@Mikefngarage efficiency has a lot to do with the conversion set up. Hyper9's through original gearboxes to the diff is the easiest but least efficient. The weight isn't the biggest issue. Weight also works in favour of regen to. The loss of range from towing turns out to be heavily related to aerodynamic drag, not tow weight. Tesla swaps achieve much better efficiency results if they suit the car but it's not always practical. The video I link below is not a F100 but SWB Defender open top that has 100kwh (full Tesla pack) and a longitudinal mounted Tesla motor running prop shafts to the front diff and rear diff. It gets 160 - 200 miles max and is as boxy as any F100 style. Towing he was getting around 120 miles (one of his other videos). Conversions are not the best long range touring choices. But I don't see topping off on the way to a destination and or back as too much of a hassle. Cost of these conversions is a different matter and you need to be pretty passionate about it to take the hit. I also think people always talk about the upside of anything they are keen on. LS swap people will talk up the HP to the wheels and talk down the cost and pain to do it all. Any resto or car builders make it all look easier and less hassle than things may really be. Our classics actually drive pretty well and are fairly reliable but they aren't really. We just don't say it.

Didn’t cost them the $80K, just the truck itself was donated by TFL. The other 2 partners chipped in for the power conversion. That’s what it would cost you! I have spent well over $25K Canadian on just a motor and transmission on a pro street 74 C10. It depends on your individual tastes. I had no chance of getting the full $25K back. Put a brand new interior for a couple of grand, sort some of the rattles out, maybe a satin clear coat and put this up at Barrett Jackson. The EV conversion is of high quality. They could very well make money. It’s the current trend.

Yup, that’s why yuppies shouldn’t have pickup trucks.

Nice thing about electronics is they can be reconfigured - disabling regen should be no big deal..

@@matthewprather7386 they can't be reconfigured easily lmao. Anyone who says that hasn't worked on this kind of nonsense. It's way more complicated than it ever should be.

@@bldontmatter5319 aren't some regen settings user configurable on the fly? I think the Kia and Chexvy bolt both have paddles that you just flick to change the amount of regen.

@@bldontmatter5319 OMG TRUTH......Which is missing in the E conversion world.

Why would anyone spend the time and money to repower this old truck and just throw another one of those back in…

Wont be anywhere near as reliable either.

Definitely would last longer than those batteries. Good luck getting a few hundred thousand miles.

​@@natefxx because internal combustion engines are superior to electric

@@mikedurham3563 almost nobody is driving their restomod old pickup a few hundred thousand miles. You are describing a use case that doesn’t exist

We need electronic am manufacturing as a whole to returns the States

@@jimmyboe25 It will.

Weird that with electric cars it's "don't forget how we get electricity" but we all live in homes that fully rely on electricity for lighting, cooking, keeping food, etc... If power went out gas stations wouldn't even work and even if they did there are way more issues that your car not getting gas or power

@@pickle4332 I don't think you get my meaning. Most of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels in America. But the media and the government are pushing for electric vehicles as a way to mitigate the burning of fossil fuels in engines, and nobody is talking about how we will instead burn fossil fuels in order to generate the electricity to power our vehicles. Unfortunately, there would have to be MAJOR updates made to EVERY grid to facilitate this, and no one is talking about THAT, either. So once we've all converted our existing cars to EVs like this one, or replaced them with new EVs, what is the environmental impact of THAT, both in terms of the transition AND the ongoing way of life as a result?

How do we get electricity? My generating here in North America (from natural gas, coal, hydro, nuclear and renewables) rather than importing petroleum from other continents/regions of the world (like the middle east and russia). A "don't forget how we get electricity" comment isn't an argument against electric vehicles; it's an argument for electric vehicles.

I know what the parts cost, so about 45k of that labor and engineering. The motors and controllers are $5500 each so 11K. Battery around 20k, chargers, BMS, contactors, and cabling about 5k. What deal you can get on the battery is large variable.

@@dannelson6980 roundabout I got a buddy he's got a Gran Torino that he's doing a build like this on from home and it's costing him right at about 38k but he's also fabricating everything at home

In 2019, I had a everything new Ford 545ci. Engine built. New Tremic TKO 5-sp transmission bought. Plus all the little things it takes to make it work. Installed in my 1970 Ford. Total cost was $15 grand. 700 HP. EV conversions are for rich people.

Stuff like this is either , because you can or because you want. Yep, can never be as good as purpose built overall, but keep in mind the lightning is the same problem, still has the ties of being a conversion and lots of part bin parts. On the plus side, huge improvements possible for each year of them.

Really!!!??? It’s not to compare to a lightning! It’s just because it’s cool! I’d love to pull up to a public charger and charge this bad boy. It will spark it more conversation then you can imagine. Just don’t give your opinion if it’s that boring jeez

@@lifeoutdoors3953 didn't know I needed your permission to have my own opinion. If you think it's so amazing good for you, bid on it so you can help charity. All I said is that it's not for me.

@@charlesscorpiniti5827 you missed my point but I don’t feel like explaining it again lol

Diesels conversion if your looking to save a buck or 2 on fuel. Cheaper and better for range and less money IMO....BUT......YOu cant go places and talk about how green you are.......ha ha.

@@Mikefngarage sure you can run on bio diesels or cooking oil just don't do electric

Why wouldn’t it hold up?

Then maybe you should have bought it....

What does coming clutch mean

@@turnip5359 Very happy clutch?

Why, his company builds the best selling EV truck in America?

@@TFLclassics You wouldn't understand. That truck is even more ridiculous. You proved it yourself. I'm willing to admit it's a age thing. I'm fine with that.