Electric VW Beetle | Fully Charged 

spot on

Yes I think we may see more of this person. I can see him doing a "Pimp My Car" type show from his workshop. He certainly has the presentation charisma. And a great advert for electrics.

Thank you guys. I'd love to do more in front of a camera but I feel I'm destined for a life of hammers and spanners. Which makes me just as happy. As long as the tea and cake flows in the workshop, I'm a happy man. :-)

Electric Classic Cars What a great bloke!.. (there were two great blokey blokes together in that car.) 😎

Very true.

The mic picked up something. Bugged me the entire vid.

massive *and* hideous sticker.

It is more beautiful if the sticker change to "VOLTSWAGEN"

And the lack of exhaust pipes.

Plus the fact that it doesn't make that unmistakable Beetle sound.

That is BRILLIANT! =D

I’d love to see that 😂 all you’d have to do to make someone’s day is drive by.

Hehehe

That's very kind, thanks very much! It makes me happy to read comments like this.

I was about to post the same, Mark. Absolutely stunning shots, perfect audio and brilliant editing. You have taken Robert's show to the next level. Congrats and please keep it coming!

Mark Taylor-Hankins I'm a year late, but in deed, this episode had an amazing photography and aesthetics. Some shots look like well made advertisements. Congratulations and thank you !

For a moment I thought i was watching an expensive tv show. Awesome job and i love this topic

Its mean “Electric Car” no “People's Car” lol

BMWatt 😂

would it be possible to fit an old style beetle roof rack with solar panels and have it charge or top up the batteries

Technically you could do that, but practically I don't think it would be worth it. The extra weight and drag would also seriously impact the benefit of a solar panel on the roof.

if you lived in a sunny area and usually drive only a few miles a day in slow speed city traffic it would be an excellent idea. at high speed the drag would kill range. a panel would add maybe 5 miles of range on a good sunny day so if you drive a lot it would be a waste of time and money. but if you live in the inner city and drive 3 miles to work then it would probably add enough range to have you recharging it 3 or 4 times a year....

How much does it cost to insure? That seems like a potential issue as a younger driver!

What about the heating? Having removed the engine, this car would have no heating. I'd love to drive one of these around Buenos Aires!!!

Vintage Voltage

Very glad you found us. Lots more coming.

+ 1, really awesome stuff! Keep it up!

fullychargedshow s

about to say the same thing. great work guys!

Nice job could have put some safety features without loosing originality and still can

Not nearly as safe.

@@michelangelobuonarroti916 point? Safety is not always a concern.

@@michelangelobuonarroti916 - Well, it is a LITTLE safer than the original, lol. In the original, your crash protection was a spare tire and the fuel tank. Now it's a spare tire and a battery pack! But to be fair, VW's are pretty nimble, and the ones with disc brakes are pretty darn good at stopping. I've stopped quicker than modern cars on several occasions. Our Ghia has been in use for almost half a century, and the only major incident was when it was hit in the rear fender while filming the movie Zebrahead.

Thank you! To be honest though, all that we did differently was film out of my boot and then added an old Kodak Film grade in post. All the same gear as standard FC. It's so nice to read all the positive comments about the look of this show. It really does make me happy. #engagesmugmode

I'd say your best episode yet. Well done.

Paul Hawkins I live down in Porthcawl so never get to see all the nice stuff but my girlfriend and I went on a weekend road trip recently and it was absolutely fantastic. Pen-Y-Fan, Elan Valley, Ystwyth Valley, Devil’s Bridge, Aberystwyth, Rhayader, Lake Vyrnwy, Pistyll Rhayader, Brecon, etc. Brilliant weekend.

But electric e types are an actual thing.

Hi Jonny. Love what you do with that Flux Capacitor too. I may get around to putting a dual motor setup in my old drag bug if I ever find time. Don't worry you'll still kick my a** as it will only do low 11s by my calculation. VW buses we convert too - 200 mile range, Chademo charging, etc.....

Absolutely. Couldn't have put it better.

People will flock, anyway.

You can't just replace the engine with a conversion, because the engine bay doesn't have enough space for the motor, battery and the motorcontroller. (I know it can be done, but until energy density in batteries goes up, it isn't efficient). New cars have the batteries build into the chassis so it has more batteries and can go much longer on one charge.

I would drive this VW

It a great idea! Only draw back is battery life is very short.

That would be cool, but the creator would get crucified by DeLorean owners, if you so much as attach a custom exhaust to a DeLorean you get called a heretic. Yet you can cover them in bits of painted wood and polystyrene to pretend they are real time machines and no one bats an eyelid...

I would love to see an electric DeLorean that could go back in time, driven by a well meaning but selfish American high school teen who resents his weak dad and has an older mad scientist who does not comb his hair and has stolen some nuclear stuff from terrorists as a best friend, who accidentally goes back in time to save his mad scientist friend, but goes too far back and ends up confronting his dad's bully and accidentally kisses his mom. That would be great.

Liam Gaither This is a really good idea🙏

It’s been done

Yes! Back to the Future!

Petrol? Where we're going, we don't need petrol. :-)

Hehehe :D

Elan Valley. Mid Wales,

Maybe Robert drove his Tesla there, and briefly made it the 'Elon' Valley.

near rhayader wonderful place check out the rhayader 20

Definitely looks like Elan Valley reservoirs. Could be wrong, mind you.

4 to 1 od

Absolutely brilliant ludikraut mode that just bought tears to my eyes from laughter

Absolutely brilliant kraut

yes!

Lol!

Yes exactly! There are loads and loads of compliments and that is getting down to the real issue! A lot of electric car enthusiasts will be highly disappointed when they discover their range drops dramatically if they want to stay warm in the cold months.lol 😲 that 25000 pound sticker price doesn't seem so great when you realize it's not an all-weather car.

Thanks very much! My brother @heinzjunkins helped out on this shoot too. The grade was adapted from a Kodak version2 filter. I think it works too. Thanks for the kind words though, means a lot!

Brilliant production!! Well done!!

Hiya Ryan, I met the guy who made this car at an EV show and I believe he said the Beetle cost £25,000 in total :)

Ben Manley, that's not too bad at all!

I imagine it's a case of, "If you need to ask, you can't afford it..."

Hmm .. why a thumbwheel? I manage to adjust the regen breaking with the 'acceleratorpedal' of my BMW i3. I can adjust the regen breaking seamlessly between the pedal position for cruise (with slightly below that beeing light regen breaking) and let the foot off the pedal (which represents hardest possible regen breaking). Everything between can be adjusted seamless which i use quite often to maintain constant speed downhill.

The Tesla also do adjust the regenerative Brake by Accelerator Pedal. They call it One Pedal Driving. And in Most Conditions it is so. you don't have to put your foot one the Brake Pedal.

But then you have to keep your foot on the pedal.

SilentS Yes ... that's the point. I always have the foot on the pedal. Why take it off? If i have really long drives on the highway there is cruise control.

No one ever said it was a feature YOU wanted. Just one I do.

the engine only sticks out the back if you stick a bigger engine in it.

What the Morgan EV3 showed me was that vintage design accommodates an electric powertrain rather well if the designer behind it is talented and enthusiastic enough to do it properly. Though perhaps not on the baja beetle, as a very specific case. Someone once said about that thing that the poorer the condition they're in, the better they look.

brian, if you were turning a Beetle in to a Baja Bug you would have to stick a bigger engine in it or it defeats the purpose.

had you seen the cars in the Gattaca movie?

Yeh, thats a good point thats what this is like. ;)

Morgan Wright Listen to Tom Sawyer on Moving Pictures by Rush

second

or "slug bug red!"

32nd

Nobody said 'first' or 'Adolph'. And there's only one down vote. Everyone gets a round of applause and a chocky biscuit!

how much would an engine rebuild be ?

BitsAndBites About 800 pounds actually, so probably not

it can be done on the cheap, but it really depends on your expectations for the finished product, speed, range etc. the cheapest car conversion to my knowledge, look up forkenswift. a 2cv would be very cool

shederickk Realistically the specs would have to match those of the beetle in the video. The 2cv is a lot lighter, so that might make it easier, but it's still going to be an expensive conversion in today's prices. Oh well, the engine in it is delightful anyway, maybe 10 years down the line this sort of conversion will be a lot cheaper.

Some numbers and nerdery would have been nice. What motor, controller, batteries. They talked about the power output of the original engine but not the new one. Well, we got the 0-60 time, but not the motor power output. I know this sort of nerdery is not really the point of Fully charged, but a bit more detail wouldn';t do any harm. Guess I'll have to wade through diy-electric-car.com instead.

The Elan Valley visitors centre has a charger, if you use Zap-Maps it will sbhow you where every charger in the UK is located

That would be cool it every dam had a small hydro station to power chargers.

Yes indeed.

Electric Classic Cars will you post some more examples on youre channel? Or this is only car you made so far?

The whole point of the RX7 using Rotary engine is to keep the car light. With the electric conversion it'll totally defeat that purpose.

***** I want the look of my RX7 on the road for years after combustion is put to bed........................right now I love driving my rotary...............but I realise it is like loving a dinosaur.

jeff belli slack I think internal combustion still have at least 20 years left before getting completely phased out or banned (at least in the US). By the time ICE engines are banned, battery tech are probably much better than what we have now, so probably it can give you reasonable range with less weight than what we have now.

Sold ;-)

For real, how much?