A prelude to e-Minor – how this prototype electric Morris might change the world
Will it take off?
The car industry has been a little boring of late. Perhaps its the relentless slew of bombastic press releases, with their spittle-flecked enthusiasm and manufactured hype. Maybe it's the lack of truly exciting design, and the increasingly congruous appearance of mainstream cars. Or it could be the unwavering sense that the automobile is dying, and that the things we love – so firmly rooted in the 20th Century – will be historical artefacts by the turn of the 22nd. It's easy to feel a little disheartened by it all. This mood lasted precisely one morning. Because at 12 noon I phoned a man called Matthew Quitter, who runs London Electric Cars, for a scheduled interview that truthfully sounded pretty dull on paper. And a few hours later I met him in a car park in Lambeth, where he set about reaffirming my love for the motor car and rebuilding my faith in its future. Matthew has taken a 1953 Morris Minor and replaced its petrol engine with an electric motor. In doing so he has built a zero-emission EV without having to manufacture a whole new car, has improved a pretty classic to make it compatible with modern life, and demonstrated a principle that could be scaled in a meaningful way. It sounds so obvious – turn a dirty fossil fuel vehicle into a clean EV – but I've never encountered one converted so effectively or sympathetically.
It’s charmingly straightforward. Unlike a modern electric powertrain, which often involves several motors dotted around the car, this Morris has undergone a simple transplant. A 30bhp AC unit and nine second-hand ‘Thundersky’ prismatic lithium ion cells occupy the engine bay, while a further 16 such cells replace the fuel tank in the back. A DC-DC converter keeps the lead acid battery happy – the 12v electrics, and all the mechanicals, remain. That includes the four-speed manual transmission. This is the first electric car I’ve driven that has a clutch pedal, and one of the few in the world that rewards a downshift into a corner. It feels like a Morris, it looks like a Morris, but it pulls away like a first-generation Leaf. It’s an impossibly cheerful vehicle and I’m immediately smitten. “We’ve looked at direct drive but chose to go via the gearbox for the Morris Minor,” explains Matthew. “The engineering is simpler, and you can use a smaller, cheaper motor, then use the gears to get some more performance out of it. And you keep the feel and originality of the car.”
In terms of horsepower, that inexpensive motor is comparable to the 803cc A-series engine originally fitted to Minors. But the torque has more than doubled to 100lb ft, which makes it possible to drive the electric Morris like an automatic. Second gear will fulfil nearly all urban duties, though fourth – straight-through – is helpful on faster stretches. This is fundamentally a city car. “Our target market is London,” says Matthew. “Once you’ve done the conversion, the Minor costs around a pound a week to run. You’re not paying congestion charge, road tax. You’re motoring for £50 a year, which is appealing. ”Even more so are its winsome dynamic ways. I love the elasticity in the steering, the softness of the suspension, the inconsistency of the body roll and the unwavering eagerness of the little motor. I love the minimalism of the car’s design, its thin panels the antithesis of any modern EV's heft. And I love its tiny footprint, which is better suited to London’s streets than anything built this century.
But most of all I love the noise. Stripped of the four-cylinder clatter of an original Morris motor, the electric Minor is a magnificent thing to sit in at speed. The driver hears every creak and bang from the aged machine; the groan of the steering as I pitch a little too enthusiastically into a turn, the disgruntled thud of the bump stops as I do the same to a speed bump. The whine from the gearbox disappears once fourth is engaged and you’re free to fly along in near-silence, hearing only those sounds emanating from the 65-year-old fuselage. It’s classic motoring laid bare. You’d be forgiven for assuming that London Electric Cars is in the business of, well, selling electric cars. And if they had a showroom full of electrified British classics like this one I’m sure they’d be very successful. But the objective has always been to create kits that people can use to convert cars at home, giving this project a truly green backbone, as well as global appeal.“We can only convert a car that people have brought to us, but we can send kits all over the world,” Matthew says. “The Morris Minor kit is the furthest in development and we’ve had interest in that from anywhere the Morris Minor went – India, Australia, New Zealand, America, and Sri Lanka as well, where they still make the parts.”
Thanks to msn cars page.
great and easy to use
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Comments (2)
I hate him. The engine was what gave this car it's distinctive sound. Now it's a bland boring car.
I know what you mean, but I am all so coming around to the idea that electric is really going to take off real soon. It will only take some one like ford for example to make a electric focus with a 500mile range at a decent price, they will have a...
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