1973 Volkswagen Thing EV Conversion | EV Show

In this episode, Trent Wonsley goes through a 1973 Volkswagen Thing with a dual motor EV conversion. This customer asked EV West to help build this Thing into an off road capable electric vehicle. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

[@eriklarson9137]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would like to see the build process for these things. You don't need high-dollar editing or production. Look how many successful channels there are with almost no production quality.

[@TommyboyGTP]

Rich Rebuilds lol

[@Attila_Meszaros]

@@TommyboyGTP Right? His presentation style and gags are fucking great though.

[@TommyboyGTP]

@@Attila_Meszaros Yes his style of comedy is pretty funny

[@sebastian3004]

Casey Neistat: Yes

[@DreamEV]

Come Check us out, Working on a Vanagon now.

[@kevn99]

This video got me California dreaming. Beautiful late afternoon seaside cruise.

[@YourOwnWay]

Great work, great ride. You guys are living the dream.

[@Grenyas]

That pre-runner bumper looks so cute on the Thing! Nice, clean build. I dig it.

[@artsseriouschannel]

11-25-2020. Thank you for this excellent video. I am feeling nostalgic.

[@victormanuelvazquezordonez2089]

I see you guys from Mexico and you are an impressive source of inspiration. I am a huge fan of your work and wish that one day I could do projects like yours. You are living the dream. Thanks 😃😃

[@jimmac521]

those "things" have become so rare and collectable... too bad. Perfect electric conversion platform.

[@willbaden7563]

Enjoy your clean builds. Keep the videos coming.

[@johnbehneman1546]

TOTALLY AWESOME ENGINEERING!!!! GREAT VIDEO & EDUCATION. THANKS FOR SHARING!!!

[@cgreenfield6655]

That's fantastic. Love that it has a 2-speed manual!

[@bobmathew3380]

Man, I love this channel!

[@voltswag8673]

Looks great guys. Well done.

[@jesselore6374]

Thanks. very well presented.

[@bobqzzi]

What an awesome conversion

[@pcranebmw]

Beautiful job.

[@pauladams1829]

Nice car! Amazing office! ♡

[@Geitzeist]

I'm glad you addressed the intake air "boxes". As a former '73 Thing owner, that was the telltale difference between the two years they were offered here in the US. It seems like the VW 010 three speed automatic would be a good choice for EV swaps in older rear engine VWs.

[@evandently9474]

You guys are the best 🤘🏻

[@brocluno01]

Nicely done, cool conversions are where it's at for gear-heads. TSLA is OK for new car buyers, but EV conversions are SOoo much better for the mind : )

[@SkaterStimm]

I wonder how many EV conversions we have in Encinitas alone.. I really want to put a hyper 9 into my Double cab, once I do you can add me to the list.

[@grabir01]

I love it!! Love the 914, and the M3 as well.. Favs. EV West is fixing the one part of German cars that has always plagued them. And that is.. Reliability. Electrics have to be the most reliable way to go being that an electric motor only has 2 maybe 5 moving parts depends on the motor type. Not much to go wrong at all. I have an electric motor that is at least 75 years old. Never touched and still runs perfect.

[@mikeingram2459]

Always liked the look of vw thing good job!!! Please do an amphibious vehicle I really need one that can go from our island to the mainland about 10 miles away. plus shopping and back.

[@jared.s.k]

Love your content

[@Tea-Transport]

It’s perfect love it

[@johnpaul9606]

An antenna Moon ball wow does that bring back memories

[@DwainDwight]

nice job. cool car.

[@BB-ux9px]

beautiful I love it

[@beebob1279]

I belonged to an electric car club about eight years ago. They talked about conversions. Our main concern at that time was to get Pennsylvania to approve that car now that it was altered. Just be sure your state is accepting of converted cars. I've since left the club and lost interest in electric car conversions due to companies such as Tesla, etc. I'm assuming Pennsylvania has relaxed the conversion rules but not sure.

[@alanschiro9825]

I love the work your company does. Was wondering if it were possible to put a generator or alternator to further extend the range of an EV you build?

[@EdwinPWeston]

Nice, as a Prius owner, I don't have control over regen, so can you explain what the regen switches do? Perhaps on an upcoming video. Thanks in advance.

[@woody5563]

Very cool car!

[@veronicafemina9372]

It would be very nice to see a 4WD with four lightweight EV engines, one engine for each wheel, fx in a new Suzuki Jimny ;)

[@johnfracisco77]

Does it still have its roof and side glass? Great conversion.

[@scubatrucker6806]

This is best solution for this car. I love the thing.😍😍😍

[@MrAntoniusanjar]

keren boss..

[@oldrrocr]

Love living in California on days like this... hey, can you do a 1989 RX7 convertible with one of the kits available? (I know it will probably need a custom plate to the trans).

[@CaptZenPetabyte]

Ive noticed you guys do dual motors with either a shared shaft (inline?) or the dual motors like this, side-by side (gearbox? chain?) - is there a better regen for one setup than the other, advantages other than the space the is less on the side-by-side?

[@henrikbergman4055]

Beautiful, and am in love with it. Got one minor itch though? Am I the only one who thinks the Expert Pro state of charge gauge is, is..... ugly? I mean: Would be nice with a gauge that looks like it belongs in the car, and not on an industrial washing machine. There are retro looking stereos, so why not retro looking gauges? Too small of a market?

[@kayEnt3rtainm3nt]

That's actually a really interesting point you've brought up. I remember hearing about guys who would buy vintage cars and then modify them but being very careful to make sure the mods were historically accurate. This makes me wonder what a period correct charge gauge from 1973 would even look like 🤔 Having owned a replica of one of the very first commercially available digital watches I would imagine that even if they did find something suitable to the era, even only in the aesthetic sense, it either might not gel well with the car's design or wouldn't be very practical for the job it needed to do. Probably too small of a market to design something both functional and beautiful as you said but also possibly imporactical (that watch was WEIRD, haha).

[@henrikbergman4055]

@@kayEnt3rtainm3nt Yeah. Was only thinking of faking the looks, not what would be authentic. Would be cool with an analogue style dial with a needle for most cars before the 90s, and some different style buttons for selecting function. Maybe even swappable dial depending on car make and decade. And some warning lights. However switching between 6 different functions could be an issue. Maybe a dial with 6 scales, like some old school AM/FM radios. And also some kind of indicator as to what scale to look at. Or maybe two or more dials on the same gauge. And any setting up/ calibration, would probably be better done through a phone app over Bluetooth or similar rather than on the gauge itself. Maybe if ev conversions become mainstream.

[@erics3596]

Would you guys be interested in tackling a Type 183?

[@Attila_Meszaros]

You guys have amazing products and a great background. Now, you just have to put a little more effort into the video production quality with a better camera, mic, camera angle and movement and a bit more post-production. You'll do great!

[@wickedwagens]

What do you do for a 2 speed transmission? What is the hp on that setup? 68hp?

[@nevco8774]

Was VW Thing intended to be 4WD from the very beginning? I could not see any information about this convertion being either RWD or AWD. Very nice video.

[@eriklarson9137]

Very beginning of what? To my knowledge there were zero factory VW things in four wheel drive at least in the US.

[@V10PDTDI]

The thing was the development From a military vehicle called Volkswagen Kübelwagen look on Wikipedia for more information but I don’t think they ever made any version 4 WD maybe in a prototype form but they made a military vehicle called the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen it was 4WD And also some military 4WD beetles.

[@fast.biking_freddy]

This is rwd like all civilian things and bettles as fars as im concerned.

[@erics3596]

You need to step up to a Type 183 if you want AWD - Type 181s were all RWD

[@lawrenceconnolly6044]

I think it's a 74 because of the air intake bubbles.

[@JacobSmith-rd8hl]

how much does one of these conversions cost, i got an old car in the garage and i'd like to see it running on electric energy but my budget is kind of tight, nice build btw!

[@pablopicaro7649]

$$$$$$ Probably around $25,000 give or take. The basic kit (no batteries, no labor, no a lot of miscellaneous) is $8000 and up.

[@essentialjudge2279]

What does the package cost? Motors, controller, etc

[@rvilsker]

Make a sidekick or geotracker one.

[@JacksonGarage]

Is the gearbox your redone VW Beetle box?

[@CubbyTech]

Really wanted to see under the hood, and how much space the batteries took up in the rear (wasn't really shown). I'm guessing there's batteries in the front and back to get that 200 mile range!

[@Brad_Jenkins]

I just found a 73 Thing, buying it and converting it with EV West parts. I'll do a build video.

[@willverhappen]

Do you guys have a jeep wrangler conversion?

[@rinatkisteev]

What rims are these?

[@phoenix-rv4vw]

Can this whole kit go into a 1973 super beetle?

[@savagecub]

How in the hell did you find one that wasn’t completely rusted out ???

[@BuiltToRace_com]

Tops

[@solexxx8588]

I would kill to get a clean VW thing donor car.

[@schmole]

Jeeeeesus... What's the price to do that?

[@jonathansmythe6273]

A car that only its mother could love. Looks wise that is.

[@donelmore2540]

Range???

[@TonyGrant.]

You didn't mention the range.

[@EVWest]

1:14 lower third of screen. 200 miles of range

[@TonyGrant.]

@@EVWest LOL! I was listening so intently for the range I completely missed the note! BTW, the Thing is essentially a Kubelwagen, right?

[@Turk380]

@@TonyGrant. you could say it was "inspired by" the Kubel but that's about where the similarities end..

[@TonyGrant.]

@@Turk380 I would say that the similarities are just the start. Not much fundamentally changed over the years when it came to air cooled VWs. The shapes and technicalities remained much the same, changing in detail only. The Thing and the Kubel are very similar in looks and are technically similar too. My understanding is that they both built on the Beetle running gear - both have a rear mounted boxer air cooled 4 cylinder engine, rear wheel drive transaxle gearbox and torsion bar independent suspension. Although, the floor pan is different. I would say the Thing is more an updated Kubel rather than in inspired design. BTW - I think it's fantastic that they have electrified this. I'd love to see how it compares off road to the air cooled version, especially in loose sand.

[@johnfife3062]

Range?

[@EVWest]

1:14 lower third of screen. 200 miles of range

[@johnfife3062]

@@EVWest Great! Sorry I missed it. Thanks.

[@bikesqump]

so glad you're not the "don't try surfing or EV conversions, they suck" kind of people!

[@eriklarson9137]

Me too. Especially seeing as how we are on a channel that exists to do EV conversions... wat

[@KevoMazziwa]

Goof stugf as always

[@swamihuman9395]

So, how much for this Thing?...

[@AlexanderStraub1]

I have a VW Kuebel in Germany, could you send over the conversion kit to Germany so we can get it done locally? Would love to do one for EUROPE

[@davidgallop654]

Uk treckker man!

[@tucoramirez6058]

No need for seat belts in EV's. Just too safe to ever crash.

[@chardelraconner7324]

steering wheel and driverside cluster bulge hault open envelope windshield aesthetic exterior by light fixture handle rotation at lower trim window height location

[@chardelraconner7324]

heads up display by iron steam ; metal dashboard bulge top zero windshield cut steam hiss secondary function trailered asymmetric

[@chardelraconner7324]

din din oscillating tres' wrist ; bonnat opening aesthetic

[@chardelraconner7324]

twice and third wasn't observed in instruction reading lips

[@rayklein7486]

why?

[@in2food]

For us mere mortals, how about a bit of practical information? 0-60 time, hp equivalent, distance, charge time.

[@andytalbot6719]

Thats a 74

[@maccaceres4268]

It will be nice to have these type of cars in a full kit that one can put together in their own garage. You ca buy airplanes, helicopters and gyroplanes in kits, why not cars??

[@gt.vintageaudio3402]

Good channel !,....very noisy Intro !,....

[@2.3_44XD--]

10th

[@grandpamcdonald]

Great work but you removed it's soul

[@abubakarrazak1912]

Total cost to makeup

[@divarachelenvy]

only one thing wrong with the car, the steering wheel is on the wrong side lol..

[@questionsailing]

Please put a V8 in that car. Not a Thermomix engine

[@tedbellWRV]

I'd watch with interest, but the childish burnouts at the beginning of your videos totally turn me off - very yesterday.