Electric Jensen Interceptor.

[AH1951]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=38wrIDWsvIE

[felixkk]

1'670kg??

[bashford1]

Brilliant, what an interesting episode. Looking forward to more. Interesting that given the large weight removed from the car, pre electrification they can add more battery power than normal and given the Jensen Interceptors poor fuel consumption might be able to match the existing cars range. I haven't looked at any other episodes but I guess they know the approximate cost of the conversion given the others that they have done.

[felixkk]

radical zero: Toyota AE86... pretty cool

https://radical-mag.com/2023/01/20/radi ... yota-ae86/

Hyundai:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/15/227 ... ept-ev-80s

@Toyota-AE86-Concept-1.jpeg (233.74 KiB) Viewed 1228 times

[johnw]

Brilliant, what an interesting episode. Looking forward to more. Interesting that given the large weight removed from the car, pre electrification they can add more battery power than normal and given the Jensen Interceptors poor fuel consumption might be able to match the existing cars range. I haven't looked at any other episodes but I guess they know the approximate cost of the conversion given the others that they have done.

Interesting in that it highlights it is a failure already. A 600 mile range would get me interested in getting a motor less rot box to convert to EV. 600 miles of motorway driving is the minimum I would accept in a GT We may see that over coming decades, with radically improved motors, batteries and controllers. Basically start again at that point. Price wise it is a good £50K for this conversion, given that a Classic Mini conversion costs £18k, no air con, 60 mile range with a tiny battery, smaller motor, no custom transmission, and off the shelf conversion parts etc. Quite often the real ranges of these longer range conversions is 100 miles at higher speeds on motorways, say 75 to 80mph which most of us do. Even less in cold weather. The FF does 16mpg at speeds like that on the motorway, efficiency goes up with speed and colder air is a plus too, unlike the EV. That looked like a 40 to £50K car. £50K for the conversion, you could have swapped it for an FF for that. Think how much it costs, charging time is your money, an enforced stop waiting 4 hours for a recharge, have to go to at least 90% as the range is so bad. Who wants to be doing 55mph on a motorway to get the 200 mile range, only to have to make a forced stop for 4 hour "toilet breaks" every 3 hours. Could get very expensive, meals out every 3.5 hours for a family, not to say unhealthy.

[bashford1]

Well i prefer the idea of hydrogen even if it takes up most of the boot, simply on the basis that you can keep the existing (maybe) engine.
Anyhow. My Mk 3 has s 20 gallon tank and seems to do 12 ish mpg.on a run. ( obviously much less on local journeys). So for a long journey my range is an absolute max of 240 miles before I need to fill up. If thats doable on electric in a converted Interceptor surely thats not bad. And if the £50K installation cost is correct and you can afford it, maybe it makes for cheap runaround motoring going forward. But of course you would no longer be driving a proper Jensen Interceptor.
Let me make it clear I am not an advocate of electric vehicles just typing my thoughts.
Brett

[Richie]

I can't help thinking the quest for ever longer ranges for EVs is, to some extent, misguided.
That needs a big, heavy expensive battery.
For the rare occasion its needed. Its like driving around with an extra fuel tank that's always full.
What's missing is charging infrastructure and the ability to conveniently and quickly top up.
I'm an EV driver, and there's no way I'd want to revert to combustion for my daily driver.

But at present that is contingent on the luxury of being able to charge at home, though charging on long journeys has never been an issue; I need a stop long before the car which has always been ready to leave before me. But we're gonna need a lot more public rapid chargers to cope. A heck of a lot more.

But despite my enthusiasm for the EV, I'm not sure I'd want a battery powered interceptor, or any classic for that matter. I suppose it's a modern extension of engine upgrades that have been done to (classic) cars for decades, but it's not one that appeals to me.

[Peter Rothery]

What we need is a standard sized leasehold battery worldwide that can be quickly swapped out at a "charging station" in every make and model of electric car so topping up for 30 mins to 3 hrs is no longer required.

I'm sure someone could come up with a finance/lease model to accommodate the economics and cars would be cheaper to buy perhaps? Haven't we seen the VHS Betamax/Philips 2000 video scenario way back in history and still failed to learn? That way charging infrastructure is limited to existing filling station sites (which stores and charges flat batteries for the next lucky motorist) and charging at home for residents of flats and terraced houses etc is not so critical. When the likes of Tesla build the whole car around the battery in the floor of the car, we have no chance. This however is not the way we are blindly heading......Come the revolution brothers.......

[johnw]

That battery pack idea could work. Autonomous load/unload from under the car, standardized terminals, and electrically adjustable battery bay walls to allow 1, 2 or 3 packs to be loaded, a single battery for track days, commuting, lower rental etc. You could still charge at home, your car collection could be stored without batteries, using a hand held booster pack to nip to the local supermarket to pick up a full pack load. We all get the benefit of new battery technology. No cars with batteries rotting away in garages while lawyers haggle over a deceased estate as happens now. Drive motors could have standardized mounts, and a motor swap and battery bay upgrade would be all you need to be up to date. A full bay could be loaded at the end of a journey to use the car to power an off grid retreat.

What is crazy about this modern world is taking a 1 tonne car, anywhere to do anything. petrol or electric, 1 tonne plus to go and buy a pint of milk. A Milk Person with a horse and cart that runs on grass, no no that could never work. Actually it might if you could change your order using a smart phone, it changes the pointer on your milk crate from 2 to 3 pints in real time!

[Richie]

Here's a company working on battery swap...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... WgROawxx0t

[jglarkin]

This is where the motor can be purchased. $40k for the motor alone, plus lots of ££ to get it over here. This conversion has got to be considerably more than the £50k mentioned earlier.

https://legacyev.com/products/revolt

I’m sure it will still be cheaper than one of those Lunaz conversions.

https://lunaz.design/cars/aston-martin/

[interceptor@joc.org.uk]

I love the video and will watch every video in the series and will ask Leah for a hopeful magazine drive and photostops for underneath, inside and front and back peculiar to the electric conversion; as especially the test drive reaction from one of our long term interceptor owners views will be an important comparison; the name Steve Paine comes to mind. or Alan Smith.

The Jensen chosen is really beautiful, love the colour and definitely with its Finair Air con and many upgraded parts has had some good money spent on it.

I would have one if £50,000 was floating around spare; but unfortunately its value in 5 years will be flatter than a pancake as unless it is upgradeable will have little value other than a nice body without an engine. But the upgrade cost in 5 years maybe another £50,000 for batteries, computers and motors. But then it could have 500 mile range one day when technology and invention gets there.

My perfect garage would be both traditional and electric Interceptors, one for around town and the other for long journeys and touring; not difficult to guess which is which

cheers from my COVID bed...

Neil

[AH1951]

In 15 years time, private car use and ownership for the masses in the West will just be a memory, but perhaps you will be allowed to keep the car in your garage so long as you agree to leave it there.

[Mr.Mini]

For whom it may be of interest , as well as those who shiver at the thought of a sewing machine sound coming out of their interceptor instead of a nice V8 Burble :

https://www.p1fuels.com/

A friend of mine is working at P1 Fuels Germany , together with some very clever colleagues ; they created a solution to keep ICE motors on the road with synthetic fuels .
They made an introduction to the German Government last week , with the proposal to heavily promote this type of fuel for the masses .As a teaser they installed a fuel pump , so the german government can fuel their car park ( most of them still with combustion engines ! ) in a environmental friendly way
Note : The people at P1 fuels are not against EV's or hydrogen powered vehicles , but only want to offer an alternative which will be almost 100% carbon neutral in the total circle of production & usage .
The principle of production of the fuel is based on carbon capture and electrolysis, but as opposed to Hydrogen is far more energy-efficient to produce .

It has many benefits , one of which is to keep all classic cars on the road for eternity to come . Also they believe ( and rightly so ) EV's will not be the answer for every car or form of transport ( think about area's where not a lot of people live , think about planes , boats , excavators etc. )
As is , you can order the P1 fuel in drums readily availabe to the public ( different octane available ) . Cost is approx 5 euro a litre atm , but this can reduce drastically if production accellerates .
It is only a matter of time that fuel stations will offer this type of fuel as an alternative to current fuels .

Many tests have been done on all sorts of vehicles of all ages ( see testimonials on youtube ) , and the main advantage is it works out of the box without any need to change anything to your current engine setup .
Recently a pre war lagonda did finish the 100 mile rally in Ieper without a hiccup on P1 fuels .

WRC rally championship will all run on P1 fuels next year , and there are talks ongoing with Formula 1 .
As it is with motorsport : a lot of inventions there found their way to the masses afterwards ...

Imho it is only a matter of time before governments start to see the light , and approve of this type of fuel as 'sustainable' and allowed to use on public roads .
Although I am convinced this will not eliminate the LEZ Low Emission Zones and other , it definitely will make it possible to run our cars as they were meant to be ( albeit under certain restrictions )

So before you hack up an Interceptor , or any classic car for that matter , take your time to evaluate the different options , ie. the ones available and the ones to come .
Challenging times lie ahead , but technology is moving fast !

Regs Harald

[colin7673]

I hope this P1 can get the green light to be used in the ice engine, the webpage say 1.6 billion cars worldwide.. or Hydrogen conversion because although people are falling for the EVs saviour, I personally do not think it will be, unless you have a solar panal on your roof.
In many countries charging, at home, is a big problem.
I know that it's all do so with electronic power but a car has four wheels, why can't the moving wheels be used to charge a battery. ( hopefully someone will explain in layman terms, why not )
Plus as well, power stations to power these EVs we need more of them and really to feed our growing need of electricity then nuclear power stations need to be built.

As someone has said interesting times ahead.