Do you like souped up classic cars, but want them to be an EV? Kindred Motorworks has just introduced an EV conversion of a vintage 1947 to 1953 Chevrolet 3100 pickup truck and it’s a beauty. It’s also not just an EV conversion of a classic pickup, but rather a hot-rodded modified chassis vehicle with modern electronics inside and a custom designed exterior.
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Is 294 horsepower enough for your EV pickup with Americana nostalgia details? Every bit of this vehicle has been reimagined, but remains faithful to classic American vehicle design. Kindred makes these cars near Silicon Valley, where Kindred Motorworks makes trucks that look exactly like their gas-powered forebears. It’s really quite impressive how clean and updated these vehicles are, while looking exactly like pristine vintage cars.
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Inside, there is no traditional shifter or “PRND” markers for drive and reverse. Otherwise, it looks like any other hot rod, with leather-wrapped bench seat and stowable center console arm rest. Additionally, there’s a touchscreen for infotainment and speakers with subwoofer. This truck support wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also has a wireless phone charging dock and backup camera. All of this seamlessly integrated into the kind of truck body you would expect to see rusting outside of an old farm.
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What’s different from the vintage hot rod? Well, it’s electric, so it sounds pretty different, but the power is still there. The 74 kilowatt-per-hour battery offers 200 miles of range. There is a battery under the hood and another under the cab to avoid bulky design elements working around this new feature. The preproduction 3100 EV uses an AC charger with standard electric outlet hookup. However, Kindred hopes to offer in-house fast-charging on all Kindred EVs in the near future. Kindred put the charging port in the location of where a street rod would, on the rear fender where a custom filler neck would be.
Furthermore, the sheet metal is harvested from real classic 3100 trucks, which means you can even preserve the original VIN number. Pretty cool, but that also comes with modern power steering, power brakes and LED lighting.
On the downside, it’s a conversion, so you’re paying for it — $159,000 to be exact. But if you’re looking for classic truck style, you don’t even have to find the original 3100 yourself, and the cost isn’t that different from a similar modern EV truck with inflation and vehicle markups for EVs where they are today. It’s pricey and not for everyone, but we absolutely love this truck, which proves that classic styling, performance and clean EV technology do go together. And, it will probably be cheaper in the future for the rest of us.
The 3100 isn’t the only classic vehicle Kindred Motorworks converts. Check out their website for a look at an electrified VW Bus, Chevy Camaro and more.
Images via Kindred
