Past Meets Future With Restored Porsche 912 Powered by Tesla Technology

Vintage car refurbisher David Bernardo, who founded Zelectric Motors, has teamed up with EV West founder Michael Bream to create a vehicle that truly balances the beauty of vintage design with exceptional modern performance: a Tesla-powered 1968 Porsche 912.

Using Tesla’s electric motor, inverter, rear differential and throttle pedal, the duo has transformed what was once a rusty 912 shell in Vegas into a 550 horsepower EV with 4,500 pound-feet of torque. Of course, with a much smaller size than Tesla’s cars, the refurbished 912 couldn’t use the Model S battery, so the duo instead employed LG Chem to build a much smaller 32kWh battery pack, divided into two equal components each carrying 16kWh to balance out the weight of the vintage sports car. With a battery that size, Bream claims that it can still make a range of roughly 140 miles.

“[It was] a little bit of a challenge, engineering-wise because the car is much smaller than the cars that we’re pulling the components out of. A Tesla drive unit comes out of a 5,500-pound car, and we’re trying to shoehorn into about a 2,300-pound car,” says the EV West founder. “So there’s a lot of engineering challenges there.”

While the Tesla-powered Porsche 912 build was a one-off by Bernardo and Bream, those interested are nonetheless in luck: EV West plans to take the project and develop a 912 conversion kit that will be available for interested buyers for around $50,000 USD, so you can re-create this fantastic EV yourself.

Elsewhere in the automotive world, Indian Motorcycle and Traeger has converted a sidecar into a barbecue grill.