I recently wrote my first CC on a 1978 Ford LTD Landau with an unusual power source – diesel! Regularly seen in the same Atlanta neighborhood is this 1980s Toyota Pickup with an even less likely source of momentum. Yes, this is a partially solar powered electric-converted Truck, seemingly used as daily transportation.
Initially, I was a bit skeptical that this truck’s large rooftop solar panel accomplished much. My main suspicions revolved around not being able to locate a wire coming from the solar panel. So is this merely a quirky hoax still sipping dirty fossil fuels?
No! I encountered the car – but sadly not its owner – at Georgia Tech’s annual alumni and student auto show this past spring. It’s a full blown homebrew electric conversion. The batteries reside in the big plastic box in the bed, leaving plenty of space in the engine bay for some only slightly terrifying appearing wiring.
The electric motor of unknown provenance is naturally hooked straight up to the truck’s manual transmission.
This style of personality-laden passion project automobile is less about what people think about it and more about proving what you can do when you put your mind to it. With factory EVs finally starting to creep into the low end of the used car market, this style of homemade electric conversion is seemingly becoming increasingly irrelevant. I’m sure that won’t stop some creative individuals from continuing to spice things up with unexpected automotive madness. Let’s just appreciate the fact that this project was taken far enough to become a daily driver.
Homemade jobs like this are indeed fascinating. And who needs regenerative braking when you can have regenerative roofing?
Nice gen of Hilux, glad they kept it looking factory. A pickup makes sense; the bed provides a broad surface to carry the batteries, and their weight helps hold down the rear end. Side on, you hardly notice the roof thingy.
Pretty neat. When I first looked at the article, I thought the truck was carrying a solar panel to a job site!
I think it makes more sense to have the solar panels on any EV roof, hood and other panels surface to charge up its battery while vehicle is parked outside. This is especially attractive to those owners in Southern West Sunny State. This is nothing new, Mazda 9 has solar panel to power the interior fans to cool the car in 1990s, VW used solar panels to charge its battery when they were shipped across the ocean and waiting for transportation to local dealers, and certain models of Prius has solar panels to cool the car.
I recall 40 years ago when I was engineering student in Canada, there was solar powered vehicle racing program. My school won some races.
I’m not going to do the calculations, but my rough guess is that these three panels generate enough juice to give this pickup some 20-50 miles of range per day, depending on conditions. Certainly enough for the great majority of needs. Given that it’s parked on the street, quite possibly that was the purpose of the project, to have an EV that didn’t need to plug in due to not having access to a home charger.
Neat project .
-Nate
I think it’s a cool project and I definitely admire the exterior condition of the Toyota truck. Those are such nice little trucks, it’s good to see one in this nice shape.
Still, I can’t not cringe a bit seeing that big overhanging panel on the roof/cap, much as I do when I see someone driving down the Interstate with a queen size mattress strapped to the roof of whatever they’re driving. “That’s not going to end well.” is my usual thought. And the number of mattresses I see on the side of the highway I think usually justifies my thinking.
Anyway, purely as a proof-of-concept project and for tooling around the neighborhood I think it’s very neat.
Wow!!! Kinda bummed they hacked up a beautiful 80s Toyota pickup. The first car I ever drove when I was 11 was dad’s 1985 model. It was almost identical to this one, same color, 2wd, his was the xtra cab with the stripe package. Not an easy thing to learn on with its heavy cable clutch and no power steering.
Anyways personal feeling aside, gotta admire the ingenuity on display. I kinda wonder what that sail on the roof does for high speed stability, these trucks were kinda darty on a windy day from the factory. And I wonder if it is indeed practical? Can I drive around metro Atlanta all day, or am I stuck with some crap 50 mile range? Interesting idea but I think I would have started with an old Volvo wagon. You can haul more people, the way the battery/solar panel is done negates any sort of utility the truck has.
“Can I drive around metro Atlanta all day, or am I stuck with some crap 50 mile range?”
I think that range is probably a bit optimistic for the setup we’re looking at. I honestly don’t think you’d need more than that anyways. Especially given what others have said in the comments about darty handling even from the factory without a big airfoil on the roof. I think it’s a fine errand runner even with a 30 mile range or less given its urban location.
Obviously belonging to someone with a real “can do attitude”. I don’t think I would like to drive that thing in a cross wind, knowing from experience how stock ones do equipped with a cap.
How much does a canoe on the roof affect the charging? Seriously though I do admire this rig.
It appears to be an electric forklift motor providing the motivation here. Came across a similar conversion of a Pinto some years back at Fall Carlisle
I think that we’ll soon stop seeing random industrial electric motors used for homemade electric conversions with modern electric cars now becoming old enough to show up in junkyards. It might take a while longer for old motors to get sufficiently cheap, but there are so many more options for DIY conversions than there were even 5 years ago.