How to Build an Electric Hot Rod? | Hot Rodding 101

Of course, this topic might not be for petrolheads who think that hot rods should exclusively smell gasoline and be loud as hell. And that is totally fine. We all love those noisy, hot rods. But…

You can miss a lot of opportunities in life if you never try thinking out of the box. Sometimes, it’s good to be open-minded. And after all, it’s not like we are talking about some voodoo magic here. EVs are a more and more common sight today, and they will only become increasingly present in the future. However, yes, most of them look like toasters and aren’t really that fast, but that’s about to change. After all, we all saw how fast a Tesla Plaid + can be!

And every car fan out there will agree: nothing can give you goosebumps as well as a good old shiny, low-riding, jaw-dropping, tire-burning fast, hot rod! That doesn’t mean it absolutely has to be burning petrol, though. You can take the best from the EV world and combine it with an already great hot rod, and you’ll get exactly that!

That being said, such a concept sure is a good starting point, but to get it to the end, you’ll need to follow some (not so) easy steps.

Here we go!

Stuff Needed For EV Conversion

There are a couple of aspects that will determine the volume of your shopping cart:

• Vehicle
• Performance
• Range
• Budget
• Calculations

Or, more precisely:

• Get a car
• Choose well-proven, heavy-duty, high-performance EV parts
• Crash your piggy bank
• Make a checklist of what’s and how’s
• Be prepared for a lot of working hours and a ton of scientific terminology.

All these aspects are complementary and affect each other. For example, the type of vehicle and its weight will affect the budget, performance, and range, and vice-versa.

By choosing a lighter but shorter vehicle like the ’31 Chevy 5 window coupe, you will have better performance as it weighs around 2500 lbs. However, this can also compromise the space available for the battery pack.

If you go for a bigger car like the ‘50 Mercury Coupe, you’ll have an easier time trying to fit the batteries, but the performance will suffer from pushing all those 4000 lbs. Of course, you can always compensate by adding a bigger and more powerful setup, but that will also affect your budget in the end. So, the calculations are really essential here as you can easily double or triple the funding required to build an electric hot rod to your liking.

How to Build an Electric Hot Rod (Step-by-Step Instruction)

As we’ve mentioned before, you will need a proper car to start your hot rod EV project. You can start from scratch, but if you’ve already worked on a couple of rods before, you aren’t the first or last guy to blow up his hot rod’s engine and could use that car for an EV conversion. Both routes have positive and negative sides.

When starting from scratch, you can plan and design the whole car to accommodate the future EV components, but you will miss all those hot rod bits. If you go with the blown-up engine version, you will have all that hot rod stuff ready, but you will also have to adapt the whole setup to accommodate the extra EV parts. It’s your call on this one.

Whatever you choose, you should prepare for the next steps:

Step 1. Removing all the “Internal Combustion” Components

• Engine
• Gas tank
• Fuel lines
• Exhaust system
• Radiator
• Coolant tank
• Whatever else is related to the ICE

Removing all the engine-related components will free up some space for the new powertrain. Moreover, if the ICE-related parts are any good, you can even make some cash out of them, and you’ll also shave off some weight, which is essential for performance.

Of course, by replacing gasoline-related parts with EV counterparts, your hot rod will end up even heavier than it was initially, but that is precisely the reason why you have to be thorough with the striping.

The formula is straightforward: take the weight of the car and divide it by 10. The result will show how many watt-hours per mile are required to move your vehicle (weight/10=Wh/mile). Enough of the nerdy stuff?

Plainly said, the larger your battery, the greater your range. Actually, we are not that concerned about the range as much as we are interested in the sheer performance here, but still. It’s all related.

Step 2.  Choosing an Electric Motor… or Two!

For the purpose of this article, we will assume that you already chose if you would get a conversion kit or go on your own. Whatever you select, the offer on electric motors is huge. Plug-and-play kits are way easier to install and understandably more expensive. If you are a handyman, then you can get away much cheaper and have a go at saving your marriage too.

Nonetheless, the bare minimum would be a DC motor from a forklift, but we are talking about building an electric hot rod, not just your regular commuter, so we are going with a high-performance motor instead. On the other hand, an AC motor will get you a much higher power output. However, AC motors require liquid cooling and are usually much more expensive, especially if you buy brand-new. Expect a price range between $2,500 for a 30-HP motor and up to $18,000 or more for a 420+HP high-performance and durable AC motor.

There is even a Tesla Model S kit that includes a motor, inverter, gearbox, dash display, throttle pedal, and a lot more for around $12k. Of course, you can get all of this used for half the price if you are lucky.

No need to mention that we’ll stay away from those “Rimac Nevera $2 million high performance 0-60 in 1.85s” motors this time.

Download over 5,000,000+ car repair manuals here!

Step 3.  Mounting the Electric Motor and Transmission

If you want to keep your budget low, you can use the transmission from the original car. There are many YouTube videos out there on this matter—check Rich Benoit from Rich Rebuilds for more details. The guy put a motorcycle electric motor on a sweet ’30 Model A and used everything he could out of that motorcycle. With this approach, the adapters and plates for the transmission are essential and have to be made with high precision. Just leave that part to professionals.

If you are going full-send and start building everything from scratch, you are looking at a lot of welding and significantly more money down the drain. You will also need to build a sub-frame that can house that motor and transmission. The transmission is also a high-cost part here, maybe not as much as the motor and batteries. Some $3,000 will get you a nice single-speed Borg-Warner transmission that will deliver that mighty electric torque to the wheels.

Step 4.  Batteries

We’ve come to the most delicate part. When it comes to EVs, batteries are very important as they affect several aspects of the end result, including performance, weight distribution, range, and total budget.

For example, you can build your own battery pack or get your hands on a battery pack from another production EV, like a plug-and-play Model S Li-Ion 22.8 Volt 5.3 kWh module. However, this alone can cost you around $1.5k per module, so think again when setting your power figure goals. If you are going for something very fast, you are looking at 10 or 15 of those.

Step 5.  All the Other Bits and Pieces

Of course, it would be impossible to cover every little detail here (at least not in this post). Building a custom EV will take a lot of trial and error (not more than when building a regular ICE hot rod, though), and every project will be different. Still, there are a couple of things worth mentioning.

• Power converter — from $300 for a 400W 30Amp model and up to $800 for a bigger 1.2kW 100Amp unit. Needed to reduce the voltage supply to the other auxiliary systems in the vehicle.
• Chargers — from $700 up to $3k, depending on the input and output capacity. It also converts the input current from AC to DC.
• Controller/Inverter — from $1 to 10k. Essential for controlling the torque of the motor.
• Hose and fitting — a bunch of them, required.
• Gauges — used for monitoring all the components. Volts, amps, watts, etc.
• Wiring — a high current of 500 amps and a voltage of up to 1000V can run through these power cables, so they are crucial. You can invest as much as you want in components, but you are doomed if you cheap out on the wires.
• Motor adapters — if you are lucky and someone has already done the same exact conversion you are going for, you can get an adapter for around $1k. The other solution is to make your own, which can get messy. In that case, you might want to ask a pro for help.
• Amenities — keep in mind that the AC and heater that worked on your gas engine won’t work here. It’s the same for the power steering and power brakes. You’ll have to go for an electric-powered conversion or forget about the lot.

Step 6.  Working Hours

Once you have all the components, they still need to be mounted, connected, and programmed to work properly. Be prepared for long, long hours under and over your hot rod. We are talking about months and even years—and a lot of research. Luckily, the EV community is quite vast and only keeps on growing, so don’t hesitate to reach out for help. And do not despair. It’s imperative to do everything right.

If it’s not a typical conversion, you can say goodbye to taking the whole project to a car shop for professional help. The price will be astronomical as no one wants to invest time in a one-off project that cannot be used on other hot rods. Still, if you can persuade someone to commit, the price could easily go sky-high.

So roll up your sleeves and carry on.

Step 7.  Turning your EV into a Hot Rod

We wrote a lot about building a hot rod before, so essentially the same applies here—minus the exhaust pipes. The usual drop, installing wider and beefier tires, and spraying some wild paint will seem like child’s play after going through that EV conversion.

Of course, you will have to be prepared to disassemble some of the parts to prep and paint the body.

Consequently, make sure to be very methodological when installing the EV parts and where you put them, as you don’t want to have to later rearrange them to lower or modify some parts to accommodate future mods.

Last Words

You see, just a few simple little steps on how to build an electric hot rod. Jokes aside, it can be a full plate for sure, but the final result will stick a big smile on your face while also making petrol-powered hot rod owners damn angry when they see you pass them like it’s nothing, thanks to your torquier electric setup. Still, a hot rod EV conversion is far from easy, cheap, or straightforward. So, make sure to think twice before committing to such a complex project. Just set realistic goals and enjoy the journey.

It’s electrifying! Greased lightnin’!