US electric car shop owner created a Tesla Plaid-powered AC Cobra that’s an EV monster
- This Tesla Plaid powered Cobra kit car is pure madness
- The super-fast powertrain is now in a super-light body
- It goes like lightning, a truly special EV conversion
Published on Dec 14, 2024 at 12:00 PM (UTC+4)
by Tom Wood
Last updated on Dec 10, 2024 at 6:02 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
An intrepid electric car shop owner devised an incredible plan to put the powertrain of a Tesla Plaid into an AC Cobra kit car – and the results are as wild as you’d expect.
We know that the Tesla Plaid is no slouch, but this Frankenstein’s Monster of an EV is something else altogether.
Combining whiplash-inducing power with a super-light body is a recipe for chaos, and that’s what this creation delivers.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
In the past, we’ve seen some interesting EV conversions.
Take this Rolls-Royce that was converted to run on electric power – it took four years and almost cost the man behind it his family.
Then there’s former NFL star Jason Kelce, who enlisted a group of schoolkids to help convert his truck to an EV.
It’s the future – or should that be Back to the Future? – of motoring, and the technology is coming on leaps and bounds.
The hybrid Tesla Plaid Cobra kit car
The project we’re focusing on was the brainchild of electric car shop owner Don Swadley, who dreamt of taking the super-fast powertrain of a Tesla Model S Plaid – or any Tesla for that matter – and whacking it into an ultra-light body kit, that of an AC Cobra kit car.
So, we’ve got a battery pack kicking out around 100kWh and three motors that give out 1,060HP, inside a Cobra kit.
We’ve said it once, but it bears repeating – this is pure distilled chaos.
But, we love this sort of thing.
The making of a monster
Swadley got help from the guys at Ingenext to create a controller for the EV conversion’s powertrain, before he then let YouTube channel Revolt Systems test the vehicle out, with incredible results.
You can see those results in the video above.
As Swadley admits himself, it’s probably ‘too much power’.
In the end, the car weighs in at about 3,300lbs, a weight loss of about 1,450lbs on your average Plaid.
In the end, the chassis had to be lengthened to accommodate the full powertrain, but – as you can see in the video – it was well worth the effort.
This thing goes like s*** off a stick – it’s a real thing of beauty to behold.
