Now you can get a Land Rover restomod with a Tesla electric powertrain
At first glance this looks like just another Land Rover Defender, but this one has been restomodded by ECD Automotive. [credit: ECD Automotive ]
There's just something about Land Rovers that makes people want to fill them full of batteries and an electric motor. A few weeks ago, we learned about the Twisted NAS-E, a restored and modified Land Rover Defender that now runs on electrons instead of gasoline or diesel. But if you've got a hankering for an electric Land Rover but you think the NAS-E is too common, you might be interested in ECD Automotive Design's newest restomod, the Electric Defender, which combines the right-angles of a Land Rover with the battery and electric motor from a Tesla.
The first Land Rover went into production in the aftermath of World War II as Britain's answer to the Willys Jeep. A boxy off-roader meant for farmers that predated the SUV by several decades, in recent years, old Land Rovers have become quite the It Car here in America. ECD Automotive bears a lot of responsibility for that-it has been restomodding Land Rovers since 2013, stripping them down and rebuilding them to a standard commensurate with the six-figure price tag. Think Singer, but with more right angles and slower lap times.
Until now, part of its process has involved replacing the Land Rover's original engine with one of General Motors' V8s. But over in the UK, Electric Classic Cars-who you might know from the TV show Vintage Voltage-recently figured out how to convert the four-wheel-drive Land Rover Defender into an electric vehicle, using the rear-drive motor from a Tesla Model S, along with a Model S battery pack. And ECD has partnered up with ECC to offer this powertrain option as an alternative to a GM LT4.
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