A visit to Zelectric Motors and EV West

Editor’s Note: This week, we’re switching up the schedule and running our installment of From the Back Seat today, then getting Behind the Wheel on Wednesday, for reasons that will become apparent shortly.

My mom’s birthday was last Sunday, and since I was on Spring Break I decided I’d head down to San Diego County to spend a couple of days with my folks. Never one to pass up a chance to mix pleasure with business, I also took advantage of the trip to see if I could arrange to drop by San Diego’s Zelectric Motors.

I first heard of Zelectric in Sunset magazine, of all places, a few years ago and I’ve been fascinated by their concept ever since: combine the iconic style of classic, air-cooled Volkswagens and Porsches with the power, reliability, cleanliness, and simplicity of modern electric powerplants. I’ve also been harassing them on Twitter about applying their formula to a Corvair:

Great seeing the @ZelectricBug Microbus at #concoursdlemons today. Ever consider doing a Corvair? Air-cooled, fairly light…

— Auto Nerdery (@autonerdery) August 21, 2016

@ZelectricBug Proof of concept – the 1966 Electrovair II! pic.twitter.com/ows1pHffkd

— Auto Nerdery (@autonerdery) August 22, 2016

Bigger battery pack in the 911 allows for more choices in the road to work. #zelectric pic.twitter.com/j2n3hgW8mA

— Zelectric Motors (@ZelectricBug) March 21, 2017

@ZelectricBug this might be my dream car ( in the absence of a Zelectric Corvair, of course 😉) https://t.co/a4ALVUiRtW

— Auto Nerdery (@autonerdery) March 22, 2017

Zelectric’s co-founder and CEO David Benardo graciously overlooked this fact and invited me to meet him at the northern San Diego County skunkworks of Zelectric’s partner in constructing its vehicles, EV West, one of the premier suppliers of electric vehicle components and designers and builders of many conversions of classic cars to bonkers amounts of electric power.

What followed was an amazing afternoon, with David and EV West co-founder and owner Michael Bream giving me a tour of their facilities and memorable rides in a couple of their cars. Check out the gallery below to follow along on my tour.

Zelectric and EV West are always working on something new and awesome, so it’s well worth following their antics, and check back Wednesday to get Behind the Wheel of Zelectric’s latest with me!

Massive gratitude to everyone at Zelectric Motors and EV West for their time, kindness, and enthusiasm!