13x16 - 1985 Maserati Biturbo

[bunniefuu]

If you're looking for Italian luxury and
performance in the 80's without taking

out a new mortgage, then this was the
car for you. The 1985 Maserati Bi-Turbo.

What a car!

The world's first production vehicle to feature
a twin turbo. It came with a 2.5 litre V6

engine, delivering 180 horsepower, but it was
a car with a reputation for unreliability.

If you bought us a
Bi-Turbo without a Bi-Turbo?

If Ed can solve the problems
that our Bi-Turbo might present us?

There's a little ding
on the front down there.

Without breaking the bank?

It's too much money,
what you're talking about?

The acceleration is going to be incredible.

Then maybe we can bring this unique 80's
coupe to an audience and make some money?

Straight out the door.

I'm in Brisbane, a suburb of San Francisco,
and I've had a lead from a mechanic I

know about a very special Maserati Bi-Turbo
that's not actually advertised for sale.

He says I have to see
it. If it's as good as he

says, I also need to
convince the owner to sell it.

I know that I need to make sure
that this car has got a clean body,

as they've told me it has done,
and it's not suffering from any rust.

I need to make sure that that famously luxurious
interior is all in check and there's no

rips, no tears, all the switch dials are
there, and make sure that all that stuff works.

And I also need to make
sure, more importantly, that that

fragile engine is all in one
piece and nothing's missing.

I know it's fragile, but remember, I got
Ed, and I'm convinced he can fix anything.

Maserati Bi-Turbo's can fetch from $2,000
to around $10,000 for great examples.

Nice house. That always helps
when you come in to see a car.

Let's see if somebody's in.

Hello. How are you? I'm
Mike. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.
I've come to see the car.

Okay, come on in.

And this is the garage. Very nice.

This is the car. You can take a look at it.

Fantastic. Okay. Lovely.

Okay, I'll make you a cup of tea.

Oh, that'd be nice.

Okay. Thank you.

No sugar.

Thank you.

What a lovely lady.
Right. I feel like Christmas,

almost, and I'm just
about to unwrap a present.

And it's a Maserati with
a bit of the badge missing.

And it's exactly what
I'm looking for. That is

fantastic. Look at that.
Let's get this cloth off.

Oh, that is incredible. What a car.

A two-door 1985 Maserati Bi-Turbo.

I mean, this is not only a rare car. To see
one in this condition is incredibly rare.

What a lovely looking thing.
Nice and sharp down the back.

It's got a few nicks on the paintwork.

Look, I'm not too bothered by
them. What I am bothered by would

be rust because they have a
reputation of rusting quite a bit.

Especially around the wheel arches. That is
totally and utterly rust-free and original.

And underneath, it has all
the markings of a new car, other

than a few cobwebs and spiders
that have made it their home.

Oh, you've got to come and see this.
I am almost lost for words.

Look at this interior. It is unbelievable.

Wooden steering wheel, Italian leather.
Look at the wood on the doors.

Look at the door cards.
They're just beautifully ex*cuted.

This is what this car was all about.
That luxurious style.

So the interior is all up together. The
bodywork on this side is all up together.

What I really need to
do before I get to the

engine is somehow get
to the other side of the car.

And this is a good thing for
anyone who's going to see any car.

Never buy a car that's
pressed up against the wall.

Find something to
move it out from the wall.

Because you never know,
they could be hiding something.

Right, here we go.

Please be nice down this side.

I'm excited already. Look at that.

I reckon this car
might be at my reach. I

reckon it might be too
much money. It's so good.

Right, let's go and see the engine.

I don't believe what I'm looking at.
Oh wow.

Ed is going to freak out when he sees this.

That is amazing. Wow.

We are so having this car.
This is coming back with me.

So you're Maserati by turbo.
I've had a really good look around it.

It's wonderful, your car. Thank you.

It is wonderful.

Are you interested at all in disposing
of it and getting rid of it, selling it?

Well, my husband had it for quite a while.
He worked on it.

But since he's not here,
he's just sitting there waiting

for a good home and back
on the road again if possible.

But if you want to
have it, you can have it.

So you don't want to sell it,
you just want to give it away?

Yes, because I have no use for it.

Wow.

I just want to have a good home.

You want a few thousand dollars for it?

No.

Do you like to garden?
Do you like to go out? Do you have a hobby?

I like to travel.

Do you have any future
travel plans coming up?

Yeah, think about the cruise from
Boston to Montreal next summer.

What if I was to say to
you, I'll take the car and

in return, I'll buy you
that cruise to Montreal?

Well, that sounds great.

Yes?

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

Wonderful. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I've just traded my way into
a Maserati by turbo. Fantastic.

Thank you.

This pet project was left behind
by Marilena's late husband, Marty.

This is a perfect example of
why Ed and I do what we do.

You never know what
forgotten projects you may

stumble upon, which we
can give a new lease of life.

I reckon that cruise
will cost a few thousand

dollars, about what I would
have paid for it in cash.

I can't wait to see what Ed thinks.

Ed, come and have a
look at what I've got for you.

Hello, mate.

Wow.

A 1985 Maserati by
turbo two-door, proper car.

Oh, mate, this is fantastic. The thing is,
this isn't the fuel injection one, is it?

No, this is the carburetor one.
Get to the engine in a minute,

just savour the rest of the
car. Look at that interior.

Oh, look at that. Look at that
Italian luxury. That is fantastic.

I'm guessing everything
works, so what's the catch?

Why is there always a little
bit of resistance every time

I bring in a car thinking that
there's something wrong?

You might be charged when you
find just how good this car actually is.

You like it?

Well, yeah, I do. The bodywork's
in pretty good Nick. I mean, there's a

little ding on the front down there
and stuff, so that has to be sorted.

Come on, that'll be...

Well...

What's with the suspension?

Chocks, you mean.

Have you bought us a
bi-turbo without a bi-turbo?

Oh, I'm so excited to tell
you that I bought a Maserati

bi-turbo that's a little bit
better than a Maserati bi-turbo.

I think you're going to be amped when
you get under the bonnet of this car.

Check that out. That is
fantastic. This is the first

electric car we've ever had in
the workshop. That is amazing.

I thought you'd like it, eh? How cool
is that? An electric Maserati bi-turbo.

All you need to do is
throw some batteries

in, get them on charge,
straight out the door.

No, mate, we can do so much better
than that. If we put in a really sporty

motor and a sporty set of batteries, we
will have an awesome, awesome vehicle.

It'll be absolutely
incredible. Right now,

classic cars converted
to electric are so current.

I'll see what you've done
there. I know that. I know the

market for electric cars is
kind of popular at the moment.

Where are you going?

Open the boot.

Why do you need... Look,
Ed, seriously, it's too much

money. What you're talking
about is too complicated.

As I say, all we need to
do is to put the batteries in it.

We've got to do it right.

OK, well, I'll investigate the market.
Just don't spend too much.

It'll be great. It'll be great. Fine.
Thanks, mate. It was a good job.

Thanks a lot. Yeah, thanks,
Mike. Cheers, Mike. Thanks

for getting me a nice
gift. I really appreciate it.

Our first electric car means
a whole host of other firsts

for us, both under the
bonnet and in the marketplace.

I've now got to find
space for the batteries, the

wiring, the charging
circuitry, the air conditioning.

I'm hoping this wasn't a mistake.

There's the car. It looks great.
It works. But can I actually sell it?

We bought ourselves a 1985 Maserati
bi-turbo, which was lacking a bi-turbo.

A car converted to electric.

To see one in this
condition is incredibly rare.

By an eco-enthusiast in the
years before it was fashionable.

I think you're going to be amped when
you get under the bonnet of this car.

I've never seen the big man so
excited about a car with no engine.

Check that out. That is fantastic.

Believe it or not, electric vehicles
date back almost 200 years.

They've fallen in and out of
popularity during that time.

But in all honesty, all
viable production electric

cars have only been seen
on the roads in this decade.

Our 1985 Maserati first
become electrified in 93.

How well that conversion lends itself to
what we want to achieve, we'll find out.

What do you think of
our wonderful Maserati?

Great car, great attention to detail.
The installation effort was top notch.

Considering the component
choices for the time and what

was available to the person
building the car, it's great.

The thing about this, you
couldn't really get on the

Internet back in the day
and get information on this.

So you really had to engineer
stuff from the ground up.

It's got all the major components that
you'd expect to see in an electric vehicle.

I guess the most obvious
thing here then is the motor.

It looks like something
out of a forklift truck.

Yeah, absolutely. It's a brushed DC motor.
It's got fixed timing with the brushes.

The problem with the DC is
that there's maintenance involved.

So probably every 2,000 miles or so in this
car, they had to replace those brushes.

The torque curve is kind of pointy.

It's very fixed.

So actually the fact that it's
attached to the gearbox makes sense

because then you're making the
most out of the torque you can get.

Right. Depending on your speed,
you can shift gears and stay in the most

efficient range, the operating range
for the motor, around 2500 RPM.

You know, of course, it
simplifies the installation

going straight into
the factory driveline.

The fact that the controller is
here is quite cool as well, isn't it?

Right, right.
This was well thought out too.

It's right in the airflow, right on the
back of the heat sink, so it keeps it cool.

This is only a 400-amp controller,
but they do get quite warm.

And of course the most conspicuous
thing is the missing batteries.

Right. I mean this is
essentially a rolling time

capsule for early electric
vehicle development.

I guess we should have a
little look at the charger and see

if we can actually work out any
more about the car from there.

Yeah, let's take a look.

Now it's a pretty
rudimentary charger by the

looks of it. It's almost
homemade actually.

Yeah, definitely a one-off for the vehicle.

It's quite nice that it's actually right
next to the filler cap. That's quite cool.

You know, so it kind of keeps the
functionality of the car, which is nice.

Well thought out placement.

Not what we call an intelligent charger.

It basically just takes
the AC current from

the wall and floats the
batteries to 110 volts.

So obviously we can definitely make
an improvement on that, but not until

we know what battery sort of
chemistry we're going to be going with.

Right. I guess the
good news is there's now

loads of different types
of battery chemistry.

So this is lead acid.
It's kind of old school. So

this thing here I'm
guessing is lithium, is it?

Yeah, that's a lithium polymer and it's
part of the lithium-ion family of batteries.

Okay. I notice you've got some other cells
around here. So like there's this one.

This is some kind of prismatic
battery, is that correct?

Right. Or also referred to
as lithium-ion phosphate.

Okay.
And then this is something similar again?

Yeah, another variant. Right.

So all of these are lithium
batteries as we know it.

Right. Correct.

Okay.
What kind of performance could we expect?

The absolute best case scenario
with this battery against the

heaviest worst case scenario in
lithium is still a 5 to 1 advantage.

Now when you talk about what's
being commonly used, like in the

OEM cars right now, you're
talking almost a 10 to 1 advantage.

And then if you factor in
what's coming in on the horizon,

now you're talking 40 to 1
advantage over this chemistry.

Talk about right now then,
from Maserati, what would be the

chemistry to go for that's kind
of affordable, practical, available?

Right. So to take advantage
of the latest technology,

we actually repurpose
batteries from factory cars.

So I guess we need to work out now
then what kind of battery capacity we have.

And we know we've got
seven batteries in the front.

Looking at this, there's
like kind of one, two,

three, four, five, six,
like 12 in the back.

So there's 19 cells all together.

So this is the battery that we feel is the
closest to what was in the car at the time.

Okay. It looks pretty heavy.
So have we weighed it?

Yeah, real heavy.

Yeah, we weighed it.
It's about 30 kilograms.



Right.

So that's like, well, kind
of just over half a ton.

That's a lot of weight
to put into a sports car.

Huge.

What about the range though? I mean,
obviously you put it down what, 50 miles?

Probably not. The customers you talk to
with lead acid get 30 to 40 miles, you know.

Okay.

So there's a degradation
effect with the lead acid batteries

where you lose capacity based
on the current coming out of it.

Okay, fair enough.

That was the past. Now onto the future.

So this is just sort
of one of many that

would go into a
production car, is that right?

Right, right. This is a module
out of a factory car and, you know,

this is kind of the latest chemistry
that we have available here.

Yeah.

So you can see all those
connections in there. It's 330 of these

individual cylindrical cells, you
know, typical to like a AA battery.

Yeah, yeah.

This is going to get us the range
that we want to get out of the car

without sacrificing performance due
to weight or the volume of the battery.

That makes sense.

That battery cell is
especially three kilowatt hours.

Right.

And we've got 11 kilowatt
hours for the whole of our half ton.

So literally four of those is
going to give us more energy.

Yeah.

And it's going to save
us half a ton of weight.

Yeah, so you really see it there. We threw
around a lot of numbers, but you can look

at it, you know, a 76 kilogram battery is
essentially replacing a 500 and something.

That's incredible.

This is getting very exciting
because we're going to

make some huge improvements
with our battery technology.

So definite advantages
with the performance.

So now we need to think
about things like the motor and

the controller because
they're inextricably connected.

So what do we do there?

Well, let's go take a look at the motor
we have in there and we can talk about it.

The range of the original
conversion was 30 miles.

I think we can do better.

So now we need to think
about things like the motor and

the controller because
they're inextricably connected.

Okay, so looking at this, you've
got, presumably, the clutch on

the front here that goes with
standard, probably from the Maserati.

Yeah, that looks factory.

So then we've got this kind of
adapter there, I guess it was kind of

custom made to actually try to
get the motor to fit into our engine.

And then do you have
an idea of maybe what

kind of horsepower
and torque it can muster?

Yeah, because the car is
putting out about 400 amps,

we have about 35, 40
kilowatt, about 50 horsepower.

Okay.

The brushed DC motors
are real torque heavy, so this

could put out as much as
about 100 foot pounds of torque.

Okay, that's pretty cool. So we have
a benchmark as to where this car was.

Right.

Because what we want
to do is improve things.

So I guess the next question is, what
motor can we replace this one with?

The most common option
is an AC induction motor. So

this is brushless, it's
essentially maintenance free.

Okay.

You don't have any parts that are interacting
other than a shaft bearing on the end.

This seems to be pretty much
the standard right now. We

made it up with the controller,
it's about a $4,000 setup.

That's actually not too bad, is it really?

No, no.

But we could go crazy. The thing is, it would
love me to go crazy, but ultimately, Mike

has got to sell this car and we can't be doing
one that's going to come out at $200,000.

But nevertheless, some serious money will
need to be spent. Having deconstructed what's

gone before, we now need to work out exactly
how we're going to design our system.

Typically at this point, what we'll do is
we'll scan the car, create a 3D model of the

important positions of the factory motor mounts
and the transmission and the input shaft.

So we actually end up knowing on a
computer exactly what space we've got.

Yeah.

We can then swap in and out bits and pieces
to see how everything's going to fit.

That's really cool. So all
I've got to do now is work out

what batteries I want to use,
what motors I want to use.

Yep.

I guess then the charger and the controller will
work itself out and then hopefully by then you'll

actually have a little model of our engine bay
as well so we know where it's all going to go.

Absolutely.

Wow. Okay.

Armed with all the information from
EV West, I'll be able to make an informed

decision on motor and batteries whilst
keeping an eye on those costs of course.

This Maserati project is the
first time we've dipped our toes

into the electric car market
and we're not just going electric.

We're going for classic
car conversion electric.

I need to get the inside
track on this very niche

area so I don't lose
the clothes off our back.

I'm meeting a guy who converts,
owns, and most importantly

sells electric classic car
conversions for a living.

Well then David, this
is my first experience of

driving I will say a
classic electric vehicle.

I've driven plenty of electric
vehicles and I've driven plenty

of classic cars, but I've never
driven a classic electric car.

I've got to ask the question,
can you do this to any vehicle?

As long as it's something
that's desirable, we're

kind of accidentally being
green here with the car.

We did this to increase
the performance and spend

a lot more time driving
these cars that we love.

I'm almost terrified to jump
on the accelerator because I

know how an electric motor
works, but let's give it a go.

We've got an open bit of road.

Wow. I mean, wow. It just,
it shoots for the horizon,

doesn't it? Look at it.
It's absolutely amazing.

I love it. I absolutely, David, I'm hooked.
Seriously.

David, I've had a good look
around this 64 bus. What have you

done to the engineering? Tell
me about that motor in the back.

That motor is a three-phase
AC motor. It mates right

to the stock transaxle,
the transmission on the car.

The AC motor gives us a
tremendous amount of torque and

horsepower. The horsepower is
about double what it was originally.

Now is the big question for me.
I've got a mid-eighties Maserati Viterbo.

We're looking to put maybe
$20,000 worth of electric

components into it. I potentially
could find a customer for it?

It's a very attractive, sporty
little two-door, unique Maserati.

And that's really the
thing that's bringing people

to us is the uniqueness
of these vehicles right now.

There's very few of them.

Maybe I'll just relax a
little bit, because you

know this world and this
market better than I do.

And there's always this
terrifying bit towards the end where

I'm going, well, there's the
car. It looks great. It works.

But can I actually sell
it? Someone is dying

to have that car to
get behind that wheel.

Listen, this has been great chatting with
you. You've actually put my mind at rest.

There's only one thing,
though. With one of these, do you

get that surprising look
from people that are driving,

I don't know, like a
Porsche or a Volkswagen

Golf GTI? Are you blow
past them in silence?

I love that. I love pulling
up next to a 911 silently.

They don't even know I'm
there, and then I just go pew.

That's brilliant.

So the guys at EV West
have given me some incredible

insight as to where we
can take our Maserati,

because after all, we did start
with something rather agricultural.

This brushed DC motor
can only manage about


about 50 horsepower.

But the real disadvantage
is the fact that you have

to change the brushes
about every 2,000 miles or so.

Not good. Which is why we're going to
go with a brushless AC induction motor.

Now this thing can produce
about 120 foot-pounds of torque

and about 71 horsepower,
so we're already on to a winner.

But of course our car
is a bi-turbo, so why not

fit two motors so we now
have 142 horsepower,

which is only slightly less
than the car would have

come out of the factory
when it had a petrol engine.

But we do actually have 240
foot-pounds of torque, which is 50 more.

And all that torque is
available right from zero

rev, so the acceleration
is going to be incredible.

Before we can drop our new
power plant into the engine bay,

I need to attach motor
controllers and the clutch pack.

These motor controllers can be thought of
as the electric equivalent to a carburetor.

They determine how
much electricity goes

into the motor, controlling
the motor speed.

Now another advantage of going for
two smaller motors rather than one big one,

is you can then run two
smaller motor controllers.

Now these do cost about two
grand each, and they can handle

about 650 amps, which is
actually quite chunky to be fair.

But a 1300 amp controller would cost about
$8,000, so it really is quite a saving.

And of course the same
goes for all of the other

parts or components
that are going to be used,

including little switches, fuses, all
that kind of stuff, all the cabling even,

is all going to be way more
expensive for much higher current.

So this really is a very
clever economical way to go.

We now have two motor
controllers in place, one

each for each of the motors
in this common housing.

And of course they also
share a common shaft.

If I spin this end, you
can see this end moving.

And the idea is they should
work in Harmony with any luck.

Now before I explain
how the controllers work, I

should really explain how
an electric motor works.

Principally, it relies heavily on
the magical forces of magnetism.

So I'm just going to get
myself a rare earth magnet.

This is neodymium, this is
super strong, super magnetic.

I'm just going to put the screw
onto the top of our magnet.

This works as a bearing, as
also an electrical connection.

And then put a battery there, like so.

It's just a standard AA
battery, one and a half volts.

Now when I run current through the
wire, it actually creates magnetic force.

And there's a little rule you can use,
so if the current's going that way, I can

actually see the lines of force are
going to be going in a kind of a rotation.

So if I now connect up
the wire to connect the

circuit and therefore get
our magnetic fields going,

you can see that the magnet
actually decides to take the

path of least resistance because
the wire can't go anywhere,

and it starts to spin,
and there you have it.

You have one of the easiest
or simplest electric motors.

Even sophisticated modern motors
like the new one for our Maserati

rely on these fundamental
electromagnetic principles to work.

Just like in the first electric
conversion, we're going

to mount our motor directly
to the Maserati's gearbox.

This is an OEM or original
equipment clutch assembly, as found on

the Maserati as it came from
the factory with its petrol engine.

The majority of clutch
wear is a result of the initial

slip during take-off, matching
the gearbox to engine speed.

But as an electric motor has no idle,
the clutch can be engaged at zero RPM.

It's going to last a lot longer.

Mating any clutch assembly into its
transmission can be a test of Patience.

Threading the splines on
the first motion shaft into those

in the clutch plate can mean
a little fiddling is required.

Our twin Curtiss AC induction motors cost
us approximately $4,000, $2,000 a motor,

the third most expensive
component in our renewed EV system.

But a bargain, really.

So we now have our
tandem motors fitted, our twin

motor controllers, so our
bi-turbo is now bi-motor.

But that's by no means the end of the work.

I've now got to find
space for the batteries, the

wiring, the charging
circuitry, the air conditioning.

Now this Maserati bi-turbo is in
wonderful condition cosmetically.

It's been kept in a garage
for 15 years and yes,

it's got the odd little Nick and graze on
it, but nothing too much to worry about.

Now this sumptuous Italian leather
interior on the other hand may look great,

but being in the garage for 15 years,
this stuff is going to need some love.

Think of leather chairs like you would skin
because that's exactly what leather is.

If you sit out in the sun for a while, your
skin starts to get dry, it starts to crack,

and then you rub some
oil into your skin, some

suntan lotion, and it
feels supple and soft.

And that's exactly how
a leather chair works.

Now the leather looks good, but I can
already tell you it's feeling rather dry.

So what I'm going to do
is put this product on it.

It's a leather rejuvenator.
It's an oil basically.

Rub that into the pores.
This is just the first part of the process.

And then after that I've
got another little trick

to show you how to really
make these look good.

Now you may be wondering what I'm doing,

but what I'm doing is wrapping
these seats in black plastic bags.

That's black because it attracts heat.
I'm going to put them outside in the sun.

What that's going to do is
it's going to heat up the seat,

open up the pores of the
leather, and force that oil in.

And in turn that's going
to push the dirt out.

And then there's
another little process that

I've got to do just to
clean that dirt away,

and these seats are going to
feel like they're brand new again.

A little bit of shopping online, and
I've found the missing glove box.

I guess that's a little job that
I've got to tackle in a minute.

And I know it's a bit
frivolous to get the

seats out of this car
just to rub oil in them,

but it does give me the opportunity to see
the carpets and what we've actually got.

Plus I know that Ed has
got to route some wires.

That's from the electric motor at
the front to the batteries in the back,

and I thought I'd pour the carpets
back for him, give him better access.

The carpet's peeled back for Ed.

I can quickly fit the missing
glove box that I sourced online.

And another little job done.

Right, those seats should have had enough
time sitting out there sweating in the sun.

Let's see how they're getting on.

Genuinely these are really,
really warm to the touch.

They've been out there in
the sun for a couple of hours.

Now you could have not done any of this.

You could have just taken your car out
into the sunshine, left the windows up,

parked it in a place where
you know you're going

to get the sun coming
into the c*ck of the

car, and it would have
done the same trick.

But I wanted to take the seats
out so I could get to the carpets.

But now let's see what we've got, because I
know that that oil has been pushing itself.

and penetrating down into the leather.

They may look as if they're
still wet, and they are a little

bit sticky to the touch, and
that's the next part of my process.

I'm just going to show you how
well it works when you do it properly.

Now what I'm going to use is this
rejuvenating and conditioning liquid.

What this will do is it
will attack what looks

like these sticky
parts left on the seats.

It will take that off, pull the dirt out of
the seats, condition it at the same time,

and hopefully they should last
for the rest of the lifetime in the car.

Look at that dirt.
Look, first wipe, and

the dirt is just pouring
out of these seats.

Look at that.

I know winding back the clock is a
dirty word to use in a motor trade,

but I've really wound back
the clock of these leather chairs.

They feel absolutely beautiful.

I can't wait to get them back in
the car and see what Ed thinks.

While I was concluding the design work,
I sent a Maserati off to the body shop

to get that front damage
repaired and also

a couple of other minor
bumps and scratches.

So now our paintwork is mint.

We'll also be making some
good progress in the engine bay.

Now obviously now we know where the motors
and the controllers are going to sit.

It means it can work out
where everything else goes.

We have a box for the contactors,
essentially a relay switch,

connecting the high-voltage supply
through the controllers to the motors.

We have the onboard
charger for the batteries there,

and just like any other car, we also
have a cooling system, in fact two.

So the first cooler system is
the air-cooled side of things.

So the motors are air-cooled,
they suck air in at the front there,

goes through the motor, and then comes
out at the back near the bell housing.

But the other coolant is actually used
for the motor controllers themselves.

As you can imagine, they're
handling quite a lot of current,

and there are transistors
inside there that do get rather hot.

So they need to be cooled.

Now to that end, you can
see there's an aluminium plate

between the controller and
the aluminium frame there,

and that's really just a billet bit of
aluminium that's been machined out,

just like a radiator would be
then bonded to the controllers.

And of course there's coolant inside there.

It goes in through one, all the
way around, comes back out,

and then goes through the other,
and then goes into the radiator,

which has some fans on
it that are constantly on,

and also there's a pump here that should
keep that fluid flowing all the time.

Each motor controller is mated to a
chill plate, a billet aluminium radiator.

These help prevent overheating
of the high-power electronics.

Coolant is pumped around the
chill plates by a small electric pump.

The high-voltage supply is
connected to the controllers

and then the motors via


The motor controllers communicate
with the AC induction motors

via a low-voltage wiring harness that
simply plugs into the base of the unit.

The final driver to motor
communication comes

by fly-by-wire system,
or a throttle transducer.

So I've now connected up our
original Maserati throttle cable,

which normally would
have gone to the carburetor.

So when you put your foot
on the accelerator pedal,

obviously that then pulls this cable
here, which in turn moves that lever,

which obviously rotates this pot
in here, and via this wire just here,

it tells the motor controller
exactly what speed you want to go.

I've just been doing some
calculations to try and work out

what size battery pack we should
put in our electrified Maserati.

Now it's all going to come
down to energy density.

Now when the car came out
of the factory, it was running

on gasoline, and gasoline
is incredibly energy dense.

You actually get about 13,000
watt-hours per every kilogram of gasoline.

So when you think about
our petrol-based Maserati,

it used to manage about


so two gallons of gas
would get it about 28 miles.

Whereas a three kilowatt-hour battery pack,

nearly the same kind of volume in size,

was actually going to
get you about maybe


our electric version.

Now I've done some
measuring and I've worked out

I can get about 12 of these battery
packs into the boot of our Maserati,

and that will give us a
range of about 120 miles.

Now that is considerably less than we
would have got from a full tank of gas,

but those 120 miles
are only going to cost us

about $4 in electricity,

as opposed to the gasoline, which
would cost us about six times that at $25.

And bear in mind, our new
electrified Maserati will be

about 100 times as reliable
and about 100 times as fun.

Big money savings, but of course, we're
also doing our bit to save the planet.

Right, so we now have our 120-volt DC battery
pack installed in the boot of our car,

but there is one more
battery which is actually still

very important, the original


Now obviously it's designed to
run all the 12-volt systems of the car,

including things like
headlights, windscreen wipers.

Perhaps its most important
job is to energize the contactors,

the big relays that connect the
battery pack to the motor controllers,

because without that we
couldn't turn our EV on or off.

Now a great thing about
all this being electronic

is it's all programmable
via this device here.

I can set all kinds of things
like the throttle response,

the severity of the regen braking,

even the top speed of the motor.

All very cool.

And the finishing touch,

some original 1985 Maserati bi-turbo
alloy wheels in wonderful graphite grey.

Now our car was
ahead of its time 20 years

ago, and with all the
modifications we've done,

we've actually managed
to bring it back to the future.

We were looking for a car that offered the
feeling of Italian luxury and performance,

but with the price tag
that didn't break a bank.

A 1985 Maserati bi-turbo,

the first ever production car
to feature a twin-turbo engine.

But an engine with a dodgy reputation.

Lucky for us, this wasn't really a problem.

Have you bought us a
bi-turbo without a bi-turbo?

Ed was presented with a rare challenge,

our first ever electric car.

With a little help from those in the know,

he designed a one-of-a-kind operating
system and fitted the car with not one,

but two state-of-the-art electric motors.

So the acceleration is
going to be incredible.

This coupled with my leather seat
restoration, They feel absolutely beautiful.

and some aesthetic improvements,

gives us a car that's even more
groundbreaking than the day it was released.

The car, or Cruz, cost me $2,740.

The entire EV conversion, a massive 16,764.

Wheels and tires, 971.

Bent repair and respray, 1,474 bucks.

And refreshing the interior, 112.

This gives us a grand total of $22,481.

That's around 15,000
pounds and 57 man-hours.

That affordable piece of Italian
luxury isn't quite affordable now.

Let's see if all that money was well spent.

Now, my head has always had a
habit for being just a touch theatrical.

He said he's found a proper place that
we can test out a new electric classic car.

Meet me by the big mirror, he said.

Which one?

Ed, where are you?

There you are.

Very funny.

I get it.

This is the perfect place to
test out our green machine.

All the solar panels and stuff.

Well, actually, they're not solar panels.

This billion dollar, 125 megawatt
facility actually uses mirrors.

Each of those mirrors is


and there are 10,347 of them.

They're all computer controlled
and the idea is to bounce the sunlight

up to the top of that tower where
molten salt is actually heated

up to 566 degrees and then
that sodium and potassium nitrate

actually goes all the way
down into this big tank

and in there, there are


Ed, is the car charged?

Of course it's charged.

This place could actually charge our
Maserati over 4 million times each year.

You love this stuff.

You really geek out when
there's a bit of science involved.

We're here to celebrate the
work we've done on our car.

Shall we take a look?

What do you think?

I think it looks fantastic.

I love the stance.

Sitting on those wheels, it's so right.

It looks like it's just rolled out
of the showroom back in the 80s.

Oh, where in China?

What can I say?

Seriously, that's incredible.

It's so smoothed out, the engine bay.

And just that great big motor.

Well actually, it's two motors.

So we have twin or tandem motors if you
like and so you end up with double the power

but it doesn't actually cost twice
as much money which is fantastic.

Is it an AC motor like David's
in that VW bus that I drove?

Yes, they're twin alternating
current brushless induction motors.

Right, so no longer is
this car a bi-turbo, is it?

It's like a bi-motor.

Yeah, should we get in?

Yeah.

Oh, listen to that.

I can't hear anything.

Yes you can, listen to that.

That is the sound of
luxurious, rejuvenated.

Italian leather interior upholstery.

Well interestingly, when this car's even
running it doesn't really make a sound

so you'll still be able to listen to
your lovely, luxurious Italian leather.

Right then, shall we see what you can do?

Yeah, I like it.

Oh, I like it.

Oh, it's so strange, isn't it?

Very, very quiet.

You know, you get that little
noise coming from the tyres

and the reassuring zing coming from
the motor but really refined, very nice.

That's amazing.

I mean, driving an electrified
classic car is so the way forward.

It's such a different
and exciting experience.

The clutch, you don't
actually need to use the clutch.

Obviously it will pull
away right from zero RPM

so of course you only
really need to change

gear but actually I'm
driving around in third.

I see there's some other little
additions inside our c*ck.

So the first Gauge actually
lets us know how much energy

we've got left in our 36
kilowatt hour battery pack

and then the other two dials are actually
connected to each of the motor controllers

and the idea is there
you can see what kind of

current you're using,
all that kind of stuff.

So 36 kilowatt hours,

what does that mean in terms of miles?

About 120 miles range.

That's not bad, is it?

How does it drive?

When the Maserati first came out of the
factory it managed about 180 horsepower,

about 188 foot pounds of torque but now
this little chap is managing 150 horsepower.

but 212 foot pounds of torque.

Well that sounds a bit
disappointing so it's down on power.

Well, ever so slightly but
actually the thing about it is

of course when you
think about a petrol engine

obviously you have to
get up into a power band

and then you obviously get through
that power band and have to change gear

and then go again
whereas with this you have

maximum power right
from the very first RPM.

Whoa!

Is that for real?

Absolutely.

Do it again, do it again.

And that's in third gear.

That's in third gear.

Whoa, this car.

Oh God, I couldn't feel this car
was going to be rapid though, isn't it?

Why don't we go out to
a much better bit of road,

really put our foot down and we can see
how fast this car can go from say 0 to 60.

Okay, that would be a
really rather cool idea.

Nice.

Right, now I reckon this is a good
stretch but we can do our speed test.

I've got a funny feeling this
car's going to be pretty quick.

So you're set?

I am ready.

I'm in first gear.

What's kind of slightly
weird is my foot is off the

clutch because we have
full power right from the off.

Ed, remember, safety first, Simon.

A valuable asset.

You don't want to k*ll your mate.

Right.

You ready?

Three, two, one, go.

Oh, my word.

It's pulling my face off this car.

It's stupid.



We're already, Ed,

doing 60 miles an hour.

Is this car for real?

Seriously, did that just happen?

Well, now the regen braking is kicking
in, so we're not wasting all of the energy.

It's going back into the
batteries, which is kind of cool.

That's exciting, isn't it?

But anyway, let's
see what time we did.

Right, the Maserati by Turbo,

when this car rolled
out in the factory,

they managed to get this car
to do a 0.6 time of 8.4 seconds.

Wow.

We've just done 8.1 seconds.

Oh, nice.

How cool is that?

That's pretty awesome.

Seriously, my face
got peeled off my skull.

I mean, look, let's face it.

I love a petrol car.

We both do, right?

We love classic cars.

But if you're going to take a car
that had a bad engine in the first place

and do this to it, and give this car a
new lease of life, I think that is genius.

Absolutely genius.

In talking of the future of this
car, then, I mean, obviously,

we've spent quite a bit of time.

Obviously, it's been
a few quid as well,

because obviously the
batteries and the motors,

and the controllers,
for that matter,

aren't exactly cheap.

So how are you going
to go about selling this?

The market is kind of
big, but strangely small.

Right.

It's big in the sense that
everyone's talking about it,

but it's small in the sense
that there's very few classics.

All I need to do is get
somebody sat behind the wheel

in exactly the same
position you're sat right now.

Absolutely.

Gap to drive it,

and I'll tell you what,

they're going to buy this
car from underneath them.

Immediately.

And genuinely,

now I've been in this car,

I'm really going to
be sorry to see it go.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You might want to just stop now,

maybe back it up a bit, because
we're running out of road.

We're never going to
reach 88 miles an hour.

Roads?

Well, we're going, Michael.

We don't need roads.

Now, this Maserati

was a very unique project
for me and Ed, because it's

our first electric car we've
had through the workshop.

Now, for us,

it was never about the money.

It was about honoring.

what Marty set out to
do all those years ago.

He was electrifying the car.

What we did.

is we've updated it.

What we wanted to do, really,

was to send a lovely
Marilena on that wonderful

cruise, and I know that
she's had a fantastic time.

Now, the car owes
us $22,500 exactly.

including the cruise,

and I expect to get
every single penny for it,

and why shouldn't I?

Just look at it.

So, why electric cars?

I like electric cars.

I've been driving one for a year
and a half, and it's worth for me.

I love the technology.

I love the way they drive.

Right.

Well, the car actually owes me.

$22,500,

and that's exactly the
money I need back for it.

I just want the car to go to the right
enthusiast, and hopefully that person is you.

Is it for you?

It is.

Top work.

You just bought yourself
a cracking one-off.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

We took a Maserati and delivered
some truly electrifying results.

This car started off lifeless in a garage,
but now, with the right amount of time,

work, and energy,

we've turned it
into a true one-off,

a very unique car.

If you want to see more cars like
this being turned around by me and Ed,

join us again soon
on Wheel of Dealers.

Ta-ta.