Electric 1969 Beetle

Corbin Dunn is a woodworker, metalworker, and photographer. In 2010 he set out to convert his 1969 Volkswagen Beetle to electric. Corbin is selling the car for $7,000.

Corbin started by swapped the Beelte’s flat-four motor for a WarP 9 DC electric motor and Netgain Controls WarP Drive Controller (1000 amps). The motor’s approximately 100 hp is sent through the factory four-speed manual transaxle.

The electric motor is fed by a 30.8 kw-hr battery pack made from 48 3.2v 200 ah Thunderksy lithium iron phosphate batteries. The pack is split half in the front and half under the rear seat.

An Elithion Lithiumate BMS (Battery Management System) keeps the batteries in check. When first built the battery pack gave the car around 70-80 mile range. Corbin has driven the car 40,000 miles and the batteries degraded to around 30-50 mile range.

Corbin lowered the front of the Beetle with a 2-inch drop spindles. Behind the wheels are disc brakes front and rear. You can read more about the car in the project’s build page.