The DeLorean DMC-12 wowed the automotive world the day it was unveiled back in the early 1980s. It came with futuristic looks, but it never got the engine to match the design. Until now, when Electrogenic decided to… well, electrify it.
The iconic DeLorean DMC-12, which shot to celebrity after playing the part of the time machine in the "Back to the Future" series, was then powered by a rear-mounted 174-cubic-inch (2.85-liter) Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 engine, properly retuned for the US market.
That V6 was rated at only 130 horsepower (132 metric horsepower) and 153 pound-feet (207 Newton meters). Those numbers don't exactly make it a sports car, do they? A five-speed manual or a three-speed automatic helped the V6 put the power down through the rear wheels.
The car conceived by former General Motors executive John DeLorean in the late 1970s looked every inch an UFO that had escaped from a sci-fi movie. The famous Italian Giugiaro styled the model, coming up with a stainless steel body (does that sound familiar?) and gullwing doors.
The team wanted to make sure the car would fall victim to rust, which was a plague, which almost seemed contagious among carmakers at the time. They apparently nailed it, because statistics show that three quarters of the DeLoreans ever produced are still on the road today.
Photo: Electrogenic
However, looks can, indeed, be deceiving. But what a disappointment those numbers were for those who were expecting supercar performance! But now, it is finally happening. Electrongenic has come up with an in-house developed 'drop in' kit, which is entirely reversible. It won't really make it a supercar, but it will give it sports car credentials.
The DeLorean DMC-12 is now powered by an electric motor of 160 kW (215 horsepower or 218 metric horsepower) and 228 pound-feet (310 Newton meters) of torque. The conversion can be applied to both manual and automatic DMC-12s.
The car now weighs 88 pounds (40 kilograms) less than the ICE version, which helps it, alongside the new powertrain, cut in half the time for the 0 to 60 mph run, which now takes under 5 seconds.
The sci-fi-looking DeLorean EV now sports a battery pack instead of a fuel tank. The pack sports a capacity of 43 kWh and can store enough energy for a drive of up to 150 miles (241 kilometers). The driver can adjust the level of the regenerative braking, but also the driving mode, ranging from Eco to Sport.
The first customer car also received Apple CarPlay, an improved AC system, and a bespoke virtual dashboard, which displays driving modes, battery usage, and charging status.
The Oxford, UK-based Electrogenic is the firm that converted Jason Momoa's 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II into an EV.
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