15k: 2000 Porsche 911 Electric Conversion ‘9-110V’

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Kooky electric cars, such as the electric Saab Sonett and other electric conversions thrive when the original power-train is both expensive to replace and total garbage.  It’s not a huge leap to then understand why someone would electrify a 996 since the first generation water-cooled engines are known to develop catastrophic block casing cracks and are un-rebuildable due to Porsche design, setting you back $18k to replace at a dealer. Ouch. This 2000 Porsche 911 996 ‘Vert electric conversion is for sale in Rancho Santa Fe, CA and currently bidding on ebay for $16,100 reserve-not-met with 1 hr to go.

From the outside this looks like a run of the mill fried-egg headlamp Porsche 996 – currently about the cheapest generation of 911 for sale.  Porsche abandoned 35 years of air-cooled success with the debut of the water-cooled engine on the 996 generation 911 – and a slew of reliability issues continue to plague this model today.  Add front end styling shared with the Boxster and you get depressed prices that should continue to erode until most have been crushed and they become an ‘oddity’… like a Saab Sonett.

In the place where a 300 hp water-cooled flat-6 should be..is…well…a mess of electric wires, components and cooling fans.  Somewhere down there is an electric motor – which the seller was kind enough to tell us is a Netgain Warp 11 motor.  The Warp 11 puts out a peak of 40 horsepower, which should take this 911 from supercar performance to supergolfcart performance. 

In the front, where the fuel tank should be is more electric circuits, wires and gizmos…plus a bevy of lithium ion batteries…200 amp-hours of them to be precise.  However, peak power in the Warp 11 will easily exceed 400 amps and so a full throttle ‘fun time’ of 30 minutes to fully depleted batteries (or more likely 15 minutes till batteries are half-gone and go into self-protection mode) means this car won’t be seeing any track time soon.  The seller does say it can go 70 miles if you drive like a single occupant Prius HOV lane driver.

Our biggest complaint about this ebay listing is the total lack of details.  We would love to see some ALL CAPS EXPLANATION OF WHAT WENT INTO THE BUILD, but we only get a few sparse details and allusion to a video showing everything.  It probably won’t meet some lofty reserve anyway, so its best to skip this one and wait for the next ‘Electriumph’ we feature.

See a wackier electric conversion?  tips@dailyturismo.com