Tesla may have made electric cars cool, but they still cost a lot of cold hard cash. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe CRX will let you rock down to electric avenue for a ton less, but is its price low enough to prevent a chilly reception when you get there?
In a jaw-dropping rebuke of both American craftsmanship and constitutionally guaranteed individuality, yesterday’s Ted Nugent-strength crazy 1987 Custom Comanche amazingly went down in a 91% Crack Pipe loss. No one could have possibly predicted that. Heh, I’m just kidding, I mean even Stevie Wonder could have seen that coming.
You could also see today’s 1990 Honda CRX coming - and going - but you might just not hear it. No, you haven’t suddenly gone deaf or profoundly apathetic, this Honda two-seater is electric baby.
That’s right the CRX in its name now stands for Circuits, Relays and... um... er, Xtra batteries! A home brew, this innocuous looking Honda has traded gasoline for the grid, and now sucks on Edison’s teat rather than Exxon’s.
The result is something less than a Tesla but still more cost efficient than as a gasser when just the cost of fuel and standard maintenance are considered. The ad notes a 70 mile range, which is probably good enough to get you to work or your local titty bar and back, and if not, move closer!
Giving the car that range is a collection of CALB LiFePO4 batteries that offer a net 18.72 kWh. That’s over 64,000 Joules! Now - owing to its having had over a century of development and refinement, its low volatility, as well as a robust infrastructure to support it - there exists no more efficient mobile energy storage medium for cars than gasoline. The thing of it is though, we’re going through dead dinos faster than The Walking Dead goes through black folk, and eventually we’ll need to find a workable alternative.
Why not get a head start?
The seller says that this home built electric works 100%, needing absolutely nothing, and has a cool air dam. He also claims that it’s able to be charged from a standard 110V outlet, meaning that you don’t need one of those fancy pants 220 circuits with their hoity toity plugs. That also means it probably takes like 8 - 12 hours to charge the car before you can go another 70 miles, so bring a book.
Another downside of some electric cars is the off chance that they will electrocute you, and the seller notes in his ad that he is seeking to sell the car to someone with a modicum of mechanical/electrical knowledge and not someone whose last words are certain to be hold my beer.
If you think you fit the bill you might have a gander at the specs of the electrical conversion. Those are linked on DIYelecticcar (who knew?) and give a good idea of everything that went into the making the beast silent but deadly.
One spec that stands out is the claim of a new clutch. This is a stick shift car and that’s a bit of a nut scratcher as electric motors provide 100% torque at pretty much any RPM, typically negating the need for a tranny. How this one works goes unexplained.
Other than the electrical work, the car looks to be in pretty good shape and has new paint according to the ad. It also has “Integra springs” but the backend still hangs like a G’s baggy jeans, probably owing to the weight of the batteries behind the seats. Or maybe it’s the front end sitting high due to the lighter components up there? I don't know, it just looks a little funny.
If you want an all-electric car your options are still pretty limited, and damn expensive. The Tesla will set you back six figures while the far cheaper Nissan Leaf is still thirty grand or so. At $9,999, this converted Honda is a fraction of the cost of either. What would paying more for the Nissan or Tesla get you? Well a warranty for one thing, plus a significantly greater range.
Still, sometimes cheap trumps smart and so here we are considering the value of this electric Honda and its $9,999 price tag. What do you think, is that a fair price to get your plug on? Or, is this an electric car with a price that lacks a charge?
You decide!
H/T to Adam Zipperer for the hookup! BTW, how cool a name is Zipperer? Pretty damn cool, that’s what I say.
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