For years, hot rodders and tuners have stayed with the traditional LS engine swaps to gain more horsepower and get a lot more torque than the average car. Mechanics and engineers have been looking for other ways to get the most horsepower out of their engines, and have now looked into electric vehicle technology.
The muscle car, is basically a high-performance car that usually comes with a 2-door body, rear wheel drive, and are intended for street driving and occasional drag racing. The engine is usually a bulky V8 and early production can be traced back to the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. With a lot of history, some muscle car tuners may think that making a muscle car out of an electric one is an insult to the legacy.
Electric cars, on the other hand, have been active in the industry for more than a decade now. Electric car companies such as Tesla have been leading the innovation of EVs and have been successful in reaching new heights in terms of performance and speed.
Muscle car purists find an electric muscle car is just not right. As one factor that the purists enjoy is the build, how they spend each day tuning and perfecting their cars. Using their own instinct and mechanical skills to build one. Building an electric muscle car may just not give them the sensation they need.
However, an electric muscle car may be inevitable the purists may want to start learning how to adjust and adapt. The White Zombie project may be the first that started the trend. The owners converted a 1972 Datsun 1200 into an electric car. They used two 9-inch motors fed by lithium-ion batteries and were successful in creating a 1.8 seconds zero to 60 mile car. A record that is "supercar" fast.
Other EVs have set speed records as well such as the Zombie 222 which is .1 second faster than the White Zombie on the zero to 60 mark.
Other manufacturers like Tesla have also set speed records with their Roadster Sport and P90D models. Although the Tesla cars do not really fit the criteria of a muscle car, they have proven that an electric car does not necessarily need to be slow.
A challenge that EV cars may face, though, is the need of a power source. As muscle cars use petrol, electric cars use electricity. They still use the same principal that needs a lot of juice to power up. Production of EV muscle cars may still be a long way since the furthest record of an EV is just above 200 miles on a light foot, pushing the pedal to the metal may mean more power but lesser run times. Not unless they fit a big enough battery for the car to be able to run a full lap on the Nurgburgring.
With the emergence of EVs, muscle cars may die out. However, as long as governments still allow the use of fossil fuel on everyday vehicles, this may still be far from happening. Technologies may always change as the needs arise, but then again, who does not love a classic?
