You can鈥檛 tell what鈥檚 the most unique about Steve Payne鈥檚 1972聽VW Squareback聽from its appearance. Granted, it鈥檚 a fairly rare car and has a cool retro patina, but what makes it truly unusual is that it鈥檚 fully electric.
Payne鈥檚 a partner in , with Ben Taylor, a 海角社区官网company that builds caf茅 racer e-bikes and offers electrified conversions of motorcycles and cars. His interest in vintage cars and motorcycles started long before the company鈥檚 inception and his interest in electrifying them.
鈥淚鈥檓 a VW guy by nature and have owned Bugs and buses from the 鈥60s on. This car is a 1972 Type 3 that was only made for a couple of years. It was basically a barn find. Someone parked it at an airbase and left it for 20 years. The patina is atypical for these cars. Normally, the floors rust off, but with this one, the rust started on the roof from snow. It鈥檚 really, really solid underneath.
Someone bought it and was going to make it a project, then lost interest. I watched the ad sit on Marketplace for months. It had a hefty price, and I finally called the guy, said this was my price and I鈥檇 take it. That was a year and a half ago. It had the original motor with automatic transmission, but was non-running. It was an early fuel-injection motor, but it would have cost $500 for basic parts just to make it run, and the transmission was pretty anemic.
I sold the original engine and transmission to another VW fan for half of what I paid for the car. I had a motor for a 2012 Gen One Nissan Leaf (an all-electric car produced since 2010) and as fortune had it, the early Leaf motors are easily configurable to weird spaces. The VW鈥檚 original pancake motor was under the trunk and hidden away. All the Leaf components fit perfectly. It鈥檚 entirely electric, with a custom subframe and CV axles for direct drive to the rear wheels.
I went to school to become a motorcycle mechanic in my early 20s, but couldn鈥檛 find an apprenticeship. I went into a completely different career and became an audio editor in the TV industry, but kept working on bikes on the side. I always had a motorcycle I was tinkering on.
Before my wife and I had kids (ages eight and 10), I came across an ad for a Bug. I knew nothing about them, but I showed the ad to my wife and she said, 鈥淕o get it!鈥 I drove to London, Ontario, bought it and drove it home, and it broke down the second I got into my driveway.
I didn鈥檛 have a clue about the multitude of problems they had, but it put me in the world of air-cooled classic VWs and I met guy in my neighbourhood who had three or four VW buses. Then I started looking for a bus, found a cheap on that had been abandoned and have had five or six over time, including one I have now.
I did my first electric car conversion before I did bikes. I bought a 鈥72 Bug and it ran fine, but I enjoy a challenge. Lithium batteries were around then, but completely unattainable cost-wise, so conversions were being done with marine batteries. I found a starter airplane engine and went to Costco and bought a bunch of 12-volt batteries and wired them up. There were no YouTube videos then, so I鈥檇 go on online forums and learned things along the way. I converted the Bug, drove it for a year, then sold it. It was worth more with the original gas motor, so I converted it back.
Driving the Squareback is an unbelievably cool experience. It鈥檚 rear-wheel drive and has a 14Kw battery pack instead of the original 24Kw, as the VW is inherently a lighter car. It鈥檚 becoming my favourite car ever. It鈥檚 so peppy, responsive, it drives great. I鈥檒l let people take it around the block and they are shocked when they push on the gas. It pushes you back, but won鈥檛 break your neck. I make sure the horn works, as people don鈥檛 hear you backing up in parking lots.
It鈥檚 unassuming, and the dashboard looks original. Other than one little screen with the battery status, you wouldn鈥檛 know it has any upgrades. I can top it up at any Level 2 charging station and I have a Level 1 station at home. It has a range of 100 kilometres, but it was never supposed to be a range car or one I wanted to take on the highway, even though I could. Like the e-bikes we build, it鈥檚 meant to be an in-town car. It鈥檚 my daily driver for three seasons. I put it away in cold season to protect it from salt. It鈥檚 my guinea pig, my prototype for car conversions.
I鈥檝e had a 1978 VW bus for 10 years and it鈥檚 the best minivan ever. I put a Subaru gas engine in it to make it more reliable, and I have a Model S Tesla small drive unit earmarked for it. My other car is a 鈥87 Porsche 924 that fell into my lap. It had no engine, no transmission but the body was good, so it was crying out, 鈥楥ome on! Turn me electric!,’ so I have a 2019 110 kW Leaf motor for it that will be rear-mounted.
One of my kids has earmarked the bus as his future vehicle and the other wants the Porsche. But the Squareback will always be around. Now different cars are showing up at our shop for conversions and figuring out the conversions is good for the brain. It鈥檚 like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation