Back to the Future but Better? This All-Electric DeLorean DMC-12 by Electrogenic Was Inevitable
We drive a DeLorean DMC-12 with a modern EV powertrain under its stainless-steel skin. Has it been ruined?
A DeLorean DMC-12 with a state-of-the-art all-electric powertrain hidden away under its brushed stainless-steel skin? Yep, the headline writes itself. The bolt-in EV powertrain developed for the DMC-12 by British EV engineering firm Electrogenic requires a lot less electrical energy than Doc Brown’s flux capacitor did in the Back to the Future films. But it does power the iconic 1980s-era gullwing coupe straight into the 21st century.
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What Is Electrogenic?
Electrogenic, based in Oxfordshire, England, was founded in 2017 by CEO Steve Drummond, a mechanical engineer and renewable-energy pioneer who began his career in the nuclear power industry. Electrogenic designs and engineers its own powertrain-control software and has developed a systems approach to creating high-density battery packs and other powertrain components.
Electrogenic develops and engineers about a dozen bespoke classic car electric conversions a year, the best known of which is the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II it recently electrified for Aquaman, Dune, and Fast X star Jason Momoa. It is working with the British Ministry of Defense on EV powertrains for military-spec Land Rovers and other combat vehicles, and it’s helping several niche specialist-vehicle manufacturers develop all-electric models.
But the company has also developed a range of plug-and-play EV powertrain kits for classic Land Rovers, Minis, Porsche 911s, and Jaguar E-Types. These kits, sold and installed by a network of Electrogenic-approved technicians (four of which are in the U.S.), are engineered to ensure the e-motors, batteries, and powertrain electronics can all be located within the existing vehicle structure using existing mounting points. This means the cars can easily be converted back to their original internal combustion engine powertrains.
“That technology is now mature,” Drummond says. “Our cars are reliable because we control everything and everything is designed to work together as a single system. So our research and development is now all about adding functions and applying the technology to a wider range of vehicles.”
The Electric DeLorean DMC-12
The all-electric Electrogenic DeLorean DMC-12 began as a bespoke project, but Drummond saw the potential to develop a plug-and-play kit, not least because, of the 9,000 cars originally produced, an estimated 6,500 are believed to survive. Replacing the 2.85-liter Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V-6 and five-speed manual transmission that originally powered the DeLorean with an EV powertrain eliminates worries about original spare parts and maintenance, and it makes the still eye-catching coupe more usable, he says.
The catch? It’s not cheap. The Electrogenic conversion costs between $80,000 and $110,000 plus tax. That buys you an e-motor that produces 215 hp and 229 lb-ft of torque driving the rear wheels through a single-speed transmission. It also includes a 43-kWh battery pack Drummond says will deliver just more than 150 miles of range under normal driving conditions and can be taken from a 20 percent state of charge to 80 percent in about 40 minutes on a 60-kW charger.
It also buys you a classic DeLorean DMC-12 you can use as a daily driver.
The Rest Is Mostly Original
The brief for this original DeLorean conversion was to keep the unrestored DMC-12 looking totally genuine, retaining the patina you expect on a car that’s more than 40 years old. So there’s scuffed plastic and cracked leather in the interior, and the gullwing doors shut with a weary clunk.
From the outside, the Electrogenic DeLorean is virtually indistinguishable from a regular DMC-12. The CCS charge port, for example, is hidden away behind the rear license plate, and probably only a serious DeLorean enthusiast would immediately notice there’s no finned oil pan visible under the rear bumper, nor are there any exhaust pipes. Everything else is exactly as the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro designed it and as former General Motors executive John Z. DeLorean saw when the first DMC-12s rolled off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, in the early 1980s.
Inside, though, two knurled rotary controllers located on an aluminum plate mounted atop the center console where the shifter used to be immediately signal this is a DMC-12 like no other. And although the original-looking dash is at first familiar, you quickly notice the tach needle points at 4,000 rpm and that there’s a small screen immediately adjacent to it with a battery-charge graphic, as well as gear and drive-mode indicators.
The screen makes sense. But the tach needle? The tach now operates as a typical EV power/recuperation gauge, the needle moving to the right of the 4,000-rpm mark to show how much power is being used, and to the left to show the rate of recuperation. “The owner wanted to keep the dash looking as original as possible,” Electrogenic engineer Alex Bavage explains.
The Electrogenic powertrain develops 65 percent more power and 50 percent more torque than the DMC-12’s original 130-hp 153-lb-ft V-6 but has added only 88 pounds to the car’s mass, bringing the curb weight to 2,806 pounds. The extra power and that instant-on torque therefore means the electric-powered Delorean has way snappier acceleration than the internal combustion original, even in the Eco drive mode.
How Does It Drive?
In Sport mode, Electrogenic claims a 0–60-mph acceleration time of just 5.0 seconds, compared with slightly more than nine seconds for an original DMC-12 with a five-speed manual transmission. Original DeLoreans equipped with the optional three-speed automatic need about 11 seconds to reach 60 mph.
Electrogenic can tune the drive and regen modes to suit customer preferences. In this case, the Eco mode delivers a progressive acceleration rate, and a lift-off coast-down feel that approximates that of an internal combustion engine car with an automatic transmission. Normal mode delivers 80 to 85 percent of the available power and an instantly high level of regen if you lift abruptly off the accelerator pedal but a more progressive slowing if you ease off gently. We like the smoother Eco mode better.
Sport mode delivers 100 percent of the power and neck-snapping acceleration that quickly takes the speedo needle past the 85-mph maximum marking that NHTSA mandated in 1979. And you quickly realize that while the powertrain is unquestionably 21st century, the rest of the DMC-12 remains firmly back in the early 1980s.
The unassisted steering is reasonably accurate, but there’s a lot of sidewall flex in the plump Goodyear Eagle GT tires—195/60 on 14-inch rims up front and 235/60 on 15-inch rims at the rear. Get too enthusiastic behind the wheel, and the DeLorean rolls and wobbles and shimmies on its suspension. The brakes get hot quickly, and the inside rear tire lights up as you accelerate out of corners. The Electrogenic DeLorean deliberately retains the original car’s unideal 35/65 front-to-rear weight distribution to preserve its character—and that’s absolutely the right call.
What’s the Point?
You could change the springs and shocks and brakes and wheels and tires to make the DeLorean handle better, but the whole point of the Electrogenic conversion kits is you don’t need to turn your classic car into a restomod if you don’t want to. You can keep all the original head-turning character and patina you desire and drive your classic every day, secure in the knowledge it has a smooth and reliable powertrain tucked out of sight.
“Our current kit customers are, broadly speaking, people in their 50s and 60s who own a classic car but want to give it a new lease on life and use it more,” Drummond confirms. “And we are seeing people in their 30s and 40s who like the idea of a classic car but don’t have the time or the ability to keep it on the road [with its original drivetrain mechanicals].”
Of course, not every classic car makes sense as an EV-conversion candidate, especially classic cars whose charismatic internal combustion engines define them. But the DeLorean DMC-12 is not one of those. Its asthmatic V-6 was an embarrassment even in the 1980s, totally at odds with a street presence that 40 years later still turns heads. Electrogenic has given John Z. DeLorean’s extroverted gullwing coupe the powertrain its futuristic styling always promised.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
