I drove an electric DeLorean – and it's the icon the Tesla Cybertruck wishes it was

It looks like a DeLorean. It smells like a DeLorean. Heck, it even creaks and rattles like a DeLorean. But the stainless steel Hollywood icon sat before me hits different, because this is the first to sport Electrogenic’s 'plug and play' EV kit that electrifies the car that the Tesla Cybertruck so badly wishes it was.

But before I get into what it’s like to waft around in Doc Brown’s infamous time machine, it’s probably worth digging into Electrogenic and the work they do transforming classic cars from temperamental garage queens into useable electric daily drives.

Founded around six years ago in Oxford, England, the engineering company began manufacturing electric powertrains for private clients, but soon started getting requests from the general public to electrify their beloved but irritatingly unreliable classic vehicles.

"During the pandemic, we had a lot of interest from Land Rover Defender owners wanting a simple and affordable way to electrify their vehicles," says CEO Steve Drummond.

"Word got out there and we’ve since been creating kits for everything, from classic Minis and Jaguar E-Types, to more modern Porsche 911s," he adds.

Essentially, you can go to Electrogenic with any classic car and it will find a way to transplant its combustion engine with a future-proof electric powertrain. But unlike open heart surgery, Electrogenic doesn’t cut, drill or modify the original chassis in anyway.

In fact, should owners want to keep their combustion engine and ensure maximum resale value of their appreciating classics, Electrogenic will neatly package it up ready for storage.

After all, the Oxford-based company is turning its hand to ultra-rare and highly coveted vehicles, such as the glorious 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II it painstakingly created for Jason Momoa’s On The Roam TV series. Binning that engine would be sacrilege.

Instead, the company had to work around ancient braking, cooling and oiling systems, ensuring the modern battery packs and motors continued to power all manner of complex but vital accessories, while leaving the overall aesthetic untouched.

The project took almost 18 months, thanks in part to Mr Mamoa’s grueling filming schedule, but Electrogenic says transformation is much faster with most other vehicles.

In fact, new customers essentially become the testbed for future 'plug-and-play' kits that can be installed in a matter of days by the growing number of certified fitters Electrogenic has dotted all over the world.

So far, the Jaguar E-Type, Classic Mini, several iterations of Land Rover Defender and 964 Porsche 911 all have sophisticated 'drop-in' kits that are ready to go.

That list is ever-expanding and even includes some top secret MoD projects that are electrifying military 4x4s. But the latest, and altogether more public addition, is the instantly recognizable DeLorean DMC-12.

Back to the Future

Following unprecedented demand, Electrogenic caved and produced one of its kits for the legendary, gullwing-door DeLorean that was forever committed to the history books thanks to its starring role in Robert Zemeckis' sci-fi classic.

Digging into the DeLorean backstory requires an entire feature in itself, but suffice to say, the Lotus-developed vehicle of the 1980s overdelivered on outlandish style but then underdelivered on pretty much everything else.

Production problems, a recession that torpedoed sales and a measly Peugeot-Renault-Volvo derived V6 engine that pumped out just 130bhp were a few reasons DeLorean sold just 9,000 DMC-12s during its very limited production run.

But even to this day, it draws attention like very little else on the road. Fellow motorists stop to take photos, post-work drinkers run from the pub to take a closer look and little kids go wild with excitement, despite never having heard of Marty McFly.

But perhaps more importantly, since Electrogenic got its surprisingly un-grubby hands on it, the DeLorean DMC-12 has finally become the car it always should have been.

Inventing something that works!

The angular Giugiaro bodywork, the extravagant gullwing doors and the stainless steel finish are all telltale DM-12 designs cues, while even a peak through the surprisingly narrow side windows reveals very little about the technology at play beneath the bodywork.

Lift the rear hatch and there’s a large metal cube that houses 43kWh OEM grade battery packs and – in an Electrogenic first – the protective housing has been finished in stainless steel with the date October 21, 2015 etched in a very familiar font, as well as another Back to the Future easter egg (can you see it?).

Alongside Apple CarPlay and upgraded air-con, this particular customer even commissioned a bespoke Flux Capacitor to sit behind the driver and passenger seats. Although Electrogenic is keen to point out that isn’t a standard feature.

Those battery packs deliver 160kW (around 215bhp) of power and 310Nm of torque into a fixed ratio gearbox and transaxle, without any need to hack into the remainder of the drivetrain. Because of this, the conversion can be applied to both manual and automatic DMC-12s.

Clambering over the high sills and into the almost fully reclined armchair of a seat, the driving position is exactly the way John DeLorean envisaged it more than 40 years ago. In this model, there’s simply a brake and an accelerator, while the drive selector and driving mode adjustment dials sit neatly in the center console.

All of the original clocks and dials remain intact, aside from a small digital display that’s been added by this customer to show the remaining battery levels, drive mode and the gear selected.

Thanks to only weighing an extra 40kg over the standard car, Electrogenic’s version now silently sprints from 0-60mph in around five seconds, half the time of the original, while regenerative braking assists the famously mushy 1980s anchors.

Under normal driving conditions, the company says its electric DMC-12 is capable of traveling around 150 miles on a single charge, but that’s conservative. Stick it in Eco mode and it will likely tickle the 200-mile mark under careful stewardship.

Hitting 88mph

Let’s not beat around the bush, the DeLorean squeaks, creaks and rattles when it is driven anywhere. Although I wasn’t allowed to drive it on road due to insurance reasons, I followed it to the small track at the UK's Bicester Heritage in my own vehicle and could hear it hitting every bump and imperfection in the road.

The sensation is heightened when inside the car, but it just goes to show how much engineering goes into a modern EV to disguise all of the annoying sounds. In a near-40-year-old vehicle, there’s no getting away from them.

But that’s all part of the charm, right? The steering is gloriously heavy, the switchgear so magnificently 80s and the driving position so utterly ridiculous, you can’t do anything but smile.

Visibility is near non-existent and being a left-hand drive model in the UK, it takes a fair amount of spacial awareness to thread this very special vehicle through our famously narrow streets. Aside from that, it’s an absolute doddle to drive.

There’s plenty of pull from the modern electric powertrain, with Sports mode unleashing the full force of the motor, while low-speed manners are impeccable. Perhaps more importantly, it now starts every time and can be recharged from any public CCS rapid charger.

Although there are a number of classic cars I'd struggle to see stripped of their original engine, the DeLorean DMC-12 is one that makes perfect sense for an EV conversion.

If John DeLorean was still alive today, he'd undoubtedly approve of the improvements and with modern Vehicle-to-Load capabilities, Doc Brown and Marty McFly wouldn't have needed that plutonium-powered nuclear fission reactor after all.

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