-Hell, yeah!
-It's like, uh,
National Treasure.
That once you figure out
the code, it's awesome.
Are you sure
there's not a better route?
[Will] Don't be scared.
It can't fall very far.
I'm not excited
that Dave stole the color
for my Suburban
and put it
on his electric car.
This is the easiest motor
install we've ever done right?
This is the only motor install
-we've ever done.
-[Will laughs]
-To infinity and beyond!
-[screeches]
That's over a hundred
right there.
Holy cow.
[rock music playing]
[Dave] When I look
at a blank canvas,
I see endless possibilities.
As the ideas come to mind,
the lines start
to fall into place.
And before you know it,
we have a Bitchin' Ride.
[screeches]
[Dave] A Bitchin' Ride
has intense color...
-[man 1 laughs]
-[man 2] This is gorgeous!
[Dave] performance...
[man] It's fantastic.
-[Dave] ...stance,
wheels, sound.
-[car engine revs]
[Dave] If there's one thing
that makes our car stand out,
ours are Bitchin' Rides.
[screeches]
[man] Well, it never gets old.
[man laughs]
[car engine revs]
[imitates engine
revving sound]
[laughs]
[car engine revs]
[suspenseful music playing]
[quirky music playing]
[Kevin]
You're probably wondering
what that was all about.
We'll get to that later,
but in the meantime,
Dave and I have
a special appointment,
and we could be taking one
of these CF1s electric.
-So this--
-Oh, that drops on there.
Yeah.
[Dave] Really wanna
get involved
in at least one EV
to make a decision.
Do I like it
or do I not like it?
Well, it looks
like Jake right there.
Hey, Jake. What's going on?
-Hey.
-How are you?
-Good. How are you guys doing?
-Doing wonderful.
-What's up, buddy?
-Awesome.
-Welcome to Hypercraft.
-Yeah, no doubt.
-This is cool.
-This is very intimidating.
I feel like I might get
electrocuted while I'm here.
You might, and that's why
we have these barriers up.
-[Kevin] Okay. Good.
Good thing.
-You guys are safe.
[Dave] I know that I wanna
build one of my CF1s...
My CF1, that is, in electric.
We've repurposed a whole
Sears department store...
[Dave] That's awesome.
...to design, develop,
manufacture powertrain systems
-for electric vehicles.
-Nice.
I'm not sure exactly
the way to go yet.
I wanna check out
your operation.
-Do you mind giving us a tour?
-Do you have time?
-[Jake] Yeah, of course.
Let's do it.
-[Dave] Awesome.
I think with Jake's help
here at Hypercraft,
I think they got
a pretty good handle
on what I'm gonna like,
how I'm gonna like it,
and we'll just kind of work
through these things together.
This is all new to me.
Let's kind of show you guys
what we do
from a manufacturing
perspective,
how we take the cells,
design them into modules,
-and then put them into cars.
-[Kevin] Because it...
Because it... I mean, to me...
And I could be
completely wrong,
but this is like...
You're just, like,
tying a bunch of, like,
C batteries together, yeah?
Kind of like that.
Let me show you what we do.
Probably a little more
technical than that, Kev,
-but yeah...
-Well, I get it,
but I'm trying...
-But yeah, I think it is.
-I'm trying to be basic.
-Yeah, yeah, exactly.
-Basic.
You put them in series, right?
Kind of like...
-Yeah.
-Yeah. So this is it.
This is a 21700 cell.
This one's made by Samsung,
yeah, I recommend
not licking it.
But these are not just
your normal batteries, right?
-Okay.
-These are designed...
This particular battery
is designed
for high-powered applications.
-Okay.
-It's called a power cell.
[Dave]
I had no idea that it was
tiny, little batteries.
So what's the voltage
in one block like this?
-Anywhere from 12 to 48 volts.
-[Kevin] Okay.
-Yeah. So pretty low voltage.
-[Kevin] So just...
So just like a...
Just like a car battery?
[Jake] Kind of like
a car battery.
-Exactly. Yup.
-Okay.
But when we connect dozens
of them together,
you know, that's where we get
Let's go see some packs
being put together.
[Kevin] Let's do it.
Very eye-opening.
This would be
about 30 miles of range.
-Just for this one pack?
-Right... Right here.
These four packs sitting here,
this is actually one set.
They are designed
to be connected together
and this will run,
actually, 800 volt,
between the four of these.
Each one of these
is 200 volts.
-Nice.
-Yup. Far out.
There's just a lot
of intense work,
and they're very knowledgeable
about what they're doing.
I think this is actually
gonna be super exciting.
So then from here,
and then what happens?
So then we go
to the final testing
and I'll show you a bench
where we actually power
some motors
and we get to see
some things in action.
[Dave] This is all
so new to me
that I'm really excited
to find out
if it's worthwhile.
And so far,
it seems like it is.
Really, my goal
is to build something
that obviously
is gonna look awesome,
but I want it to perform.
I want people
to scratch their head
and goin', "Okay. I'm not
against electric cars
anymore."
[Kevin]
When I think that that's
another thing too
is just, like, you...
Being that this
is our first electric car,
it's almost like
we have to prove
to everyone and ourselves
that this can actually smash
or keep up with a combustion
engine, right?
-Right?
-That's the ultimate test.
[Kevin] I mean, you could have
thousands and thousands
of horsepower,
but these little baby things,
like, it's very exciting
and it's very...
It's very eye-opening to a lot
of other different things
that we maybe never
even thought of.
Okay. So this is what we call
a bench test system.
Are you getting ready
to run this?
-[Jake] Yeah.
-[man] Yeah.
I can give you a demonstration
if you want.
-Yeah.
-So, come over here.
We just got our wake switch
right here,
this is gonna wake up all
our low-voltage components.
You got your e-stop
that you'll pull up,
that's gonna close
your negative contactors
in your battery.
And then all you're gonna do
is you're gonna press
the lightning bolt
to close
your positive contactor
inside the HP GEB.
And then once that goes green,
we'll put this into drive,
and then you just have
your throttle right here,
and then just see the output
shaft starts spinning.
-[machine whirring]
-[Kevin] You hear the noise?
[Dave] So I've always had
a very vivid imagination.
And seeing the test motor
on the bench
start revving up,
I'm getting excited.
This is a...
This is actually...
It's just really cool.
It's completely different.
Do that noise you do.
-[makes sound]
-Yeah.
-Do The Jetsons.
-[makes sound]
-Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah?
Hey, what did you think
Connor, pretty good?
You've seen The Jetsons
before, right?
That was fantastic.
Thank you. I've been working
on it a bit.
[Kevin] Dave might
actually have a spin-off
called Bitchin'
Sound Effects.
I've walked around
and I've see all
these high-tech stuff,
I want to get
to the meat and potatoes.
How do these things perform?
[rock music playing]
[Jake] So we've picked
a couple
of really exciting cars
to look at
that are...
That are both electric,
but are kind of down,
that kind of path,
towards the high-performance
and kind of racing
a little bit more of that DNA
that we want
in the powertrain
with your projects.
So this vehicle...
This open-wheel vehicle
-is called the SIERRA car.
-[Dave] Okay.
[Kevin] I've seen these...
I've seen these cars before.
-[Dave] Yes.
-[Kevin] I've never seen
an electric one.
[Jake] It is just now newly
an electric vehicle platform.
-[Kevin] Wow.
-[Jake] So you're right,
-they were gas-powered.
-[Kevin] Mmm-hmm.
[Jake] And now, what you guys
will be able to drive
is this car,
which is electric.
[Dave] When you get
the opportunity to actually go
and check out a couple
of race cars
that are all powered
by the same stuff
you've just seen being built
in the warehouse,
that's even cooler.
So the other car we have here
for you guys to drive today
was a car
that was built in Canada.
Does it run on double eh's?
[laughs]
[laughing]
I had to.
I was waiting for that.
-Oh.
-I had to.
[rock music playing]
[Dave] So what are we looking
at here? What is this?
[Jake] So it started its life
-as a Toyota GR86. Okay.
-Mmm-hmm. Okay.
[Jake] And then
it was completely torn down
and rebuilt back up
as a bespoke
electric racing vehicle.
And so this has
about 500 horsepower,
it's rear wheel drive.
It's another single motor car,
but you'll get a sense
of what one motor powering
the rear wheels will do.
[Kevin]
I need to get in the seat,
I need to drive it,
I need to feel it.
I need to maybe hear it?
I don't know.
I just... I need
to feel the sensation
of being in an electric car
and rip it
around the parking lot.
If anything happens,
it'll be because
of his driving.
[Dave] Exactly.
If anything happens,
it'll be because
of his driving.
[Dave] Exactly.
[Jake] Okay.
We are in
the very beginning stages
of building
our first electric car.
[screeches]
We just got a tour of how
all the components go together
to make an electric car work,
but now, we get to drive them.
[tires screeching]
I'm sold, take my money,
this is definitely
awesome performance,
you cannot deny it.
[tires screeching]
That's awesome!
[laughs]
[tires screeching]
[motor whirring]
[laughs]
That is so much fun!
Stupid fun.
This is incredible.
[tires screeching]
Woo-hoo!
But we need to put one
of these in a CF1 ASAP.
We're probably gonna start
a whole racing league
with CF1 electric cars.
It's gonna be awesome.
[tires screeching]
[motor whirring]
[tires screeching]
[Dave coughing] Let's do one.
-I think we're gonna have to.
-[Dave laughs]
These things are ridiculous.
So we're doing this.
It's gonna be electrifying,
and more importantly,
it's gonna be bitchin'.
Well, I'm thoroughly sold
on Hypercraft,
and I'd love to work
with you guys.
I think this is...
This is gonna be exciting.
It's new, it's different.
We've been around the block
for 24 years now,
we've had a lot of fun,
we've done some
really cool stuff,
but I think
we might be embarking
on something
that's just a next level.
-[Kevin] I know. I'm excited.
-A learning curve.
We're excited to work
with you guys.
Awesome. Okay.
[motor whirring,
tires screeching]
[Jake] One of the cool things
about working
with Kindig
and their whole team
is the capacities
and capabilities
that they have.
So our plan is to design
a bespoke battery box
that fits up in the chassis.
They're gonna help
with the fabrication of it,
so they're then gonna get it
all fabricated and welded.
[rock music playing]
These are all parts
to the battery box
that we're gonna be built
under the car.
[Dave] Before they can install
any batteries in the CF1,
we actually have
to make a big aluminum box
in which to put
the batteries in.
One of the guys is
actually here from Hypercraft
to give us the rundown
and let us know exactly
what it is
that we're gonna be building.
I mean, I labeled everything,
it should be
really straightforward.
-[Kevin] Okay. Perfect.
-[man] Of course, if you have
-any questions,
I'll come back.
-Once we get the drawing,
I think we'll be good.
This looks
like a great design,
looks like
it's all gonna work out,
but we have
to be very careful
when we put this together.
We cannot over-weld this.
And it looks like there's
plenty of room for a weld.
-And do you prefer it
on the outside...
-[man] Yup.
...or both sides?
-It's up to you guys
but probably both sides.
-Okay.
Some of the details
that we definitely don't know
about this
could certainly set us back.
Is there room on the inside
if we do weld it
-on the inside?
-Yeah.
I guess we just have to watch
our frame clearance here.
This is not just one battery,
this is a series of batteries,
over 3,000 of them
to be exact.
I'm pumped. I'm ready to get
this thing together.
[Dave] Right on. Let's do it.
[Kevin] I'm a Lego
building champion,
so this really is not
a big deal for me.
It's like a walk in the park.
[Kevin] One, and then two.
Maybe we should
just grab some tape.
Yeah. See how that hooks over?
That's like some [bleep]
Wilwood build.
That makes a nice
little thing there.
And then if take three,
and spin it around.
That should go there.
I just don't understand
this 10 up here,
dude, like, it's boggling me.
And that's short.
So four...
Does four go over here?
A little trial
and error here,
but I am all gas, no brakes.
Yeah. We just have to
figure out their code, dude.
It's like, uh,
National Treasure.
-Yeah, by numbers.
-Once you...
Once you figure out the code,
it's awesome.
Eight, nine, ten.
There we go. Dude, we got it.
So like in Lego sets,
they come with, like,
in numbered bags.
Bag one, done.
Put a fork in it.
Dude, I can't wait
to see this thing.
It's gonna be full of like...
Like my garbage can
takes, like, six C batteries?
Think about how many
C batteries we're gonna fit
in this thing, dude.
All of them.
[Steve] One powerful
garbage can.
Yeah, right? There's seven.
And there's eight.
Nine.
Okay.
Then we have the top layer.
There's... Then there's that.
All the Lego sets
that I did when I was a kid
have paid off.
Everything fits together,
now we can start welding.
It's still not
welded together,
-what are you doing?
-[Steve] Sorry.
-[laughs]
-Just getting...
getting rollin'.
[rock music playing]
I'm kind of going in a circle
all the way around,
so if I'm, like, off
just a smidge in here,
it grows as I go around,
so I gotta make sure it's...
Everything
is perfectly straight
or else it'll just...
Nothing will fit.
[rock music playing]
[Dave] I know you're all out
there scratching your heads,
why the hell am I even
doing an electric car,
and I'm kind of doing
the same thing
as far as scratching my head.
It's all new to me too, man.
So let's just hang in there,
it's gonna be awesome.
[rock music playing]
[Steve] Now, so these
are engineering blocks,
so they're, like, perfectly
square on every side.
They're nice and heavy,
so they hold everything up.
Yeah, key is just making sure
everything's nice and square.
[rock music playing]
So we wanna tack it
and then put,
like, the first layer plate
on top
and kind of put
just, you know, two screws
in each one
of these little plates,
put it in the car,
make sure it fits
between the frame rails.
[rock music playing]
[Dave] Everything's
all tacked into place
and we're ready
to be final welded.
We're not gonna weld
the top on though
because, well,
that's how we're gonna get
the batteries in it.
[rock music playing]
Not only are we gonna have
to fit this box in
to ensure
it fits in the chassis,
but we're also gonna have
to make sure we have access
to work on it,
so it's serviceable.
[rock music playing]
[Dave] Much like
any custom vehicle,
the word here is test
and the other word is fit.
Test, fit. Test, fit.
Test, fit.
The batteries can be placed
at any angle, any direction,
but it's important to make
sure that they're all flat
and perfectly level
inside the box
because there is
multiple levels.
We need to make sure
we have enough room
for all of the batteries.
First layer in.
Gotta cut out these gussets.
[Dave] Uh, sitting
a little canter,
and then I think we need
to go the other direction.
[upbeat music playing]
Now that we have
the battery box
all tacked together
and perfectly lined up,
it's time to ensure
that it fits in the chassis
before we full weld it.
[upbeat music playing]
Right on, man.
-This is looking great.
-[Steve] Yeah.
[Dave] Originally,
when we designed the CF1,
we didn't really expect
to make one electric,
so we're gonna have
to utilize all of the areas
that we know
that we can fit components in
for the electric version,
as well as we're gonna
have to make a couple
of modifications
to existing parts
that exist
on the gasoline CF1s.
So the body's sitting
pretty high
-off the frame.
-[Dave] Mmm-hmm.
Can we run, like,
some quarter-inch strap
across the top
of the frame here maybe?
Yeah, that would
probably work.
Everything's starting
to really come together
and look great.
And since we don't
have a gasoline engine,
no gas tank, fuel lines
or any of that kind of stuff,
we actually have a little bit
of extra room.
Second layer, we're gonna have
to cut this hoop out too
because I think it comes out
another...
Down another
six inches, so...
-Oh yeah, yeah,
that's gonna be.
-it's right there.
Yeah, we...
It's a drive line hoop,
-no drive line.
-Okay.
Don't need it.
Go ahead and take it out.
That was just basically...
That was...
This was the prototype
chassis.
So that was just in there
to hold the space.
-The ones that are
on the gasoline versions...
-[Steve] Okay.
...have a gusted section
of that.
-Got it.
-So yeah.
So our body's not
gonna sit on it.
-We can totally get rid of it?
-Nope.
Nope, don't need it at all.
We're definitely running
into some areas
that we're gonna have
some extra room
and some areas
that we don't have room.
We're gonna have
to work around these
because with
the gasoline engine,
the cooling system,
all of the other systems
for the gas version
don't fit the exact same
as this electric one.
That looks good,
looks really good.
I can't wait.
[techno music playing]
TIG welding aluminum
is truly an art
and this piece isn't
necessarily gonna be seen
but when you do see of it,
I wanna make sure
that it's not only strong
but it's also beautiful,
just like our cars.
[techno music playing]
You could put some more screws
in there, huh?
and 61 on the bottom.
-Oh, wow.
-Not counting these guys.
How heavy is this thing?
Two people.
Two people?
[upbeat music playing]
-That's super-cool, right?
-Yeah.
-[Will] Fits well.
-Fits good.
I mean...
we just gotta get it
all adjusted into place.
Go ahead
and mark all these holes,
center punch them,
drill them,
put the nutserts in,
make sure
it's all nice and flat,
-counter sink the holes.
-So what do you think?
We'll be flipping
this back over,
we're, like,
done with this
by the end of the day?
-Yeah, I think
it's a possibility.
-That's cool,
because I'm just dying
to cut the back
and put that motor in.
-Yeah, me too.
-[Will] Yeah.
[upbeat music playing]
[Dave] Now that the box
is all fabricated
and also the skid plate,
we're gonna go ahead
and fasten it up into place
or mock it into place rather.
We're gonna drill some holes.
[upbeat music playing]
[Dave] Now that all the holes
are drilled into the chassis,
we're gonna go ahead
and install these
really kickass nutserts.
These are actually crimped
into place
so they're ensured
to not fall out.
[upbeat music playing]
[Dave] Now that it's
in the mockup stage,
I am completely satisfied.
Now, it's time to move on
and get her finished.
I gotta figure out
how I'm gonna put
this thing in here.
Gotta find a rack.
Where's our blue cart?
I'm not sure.
It's been hiding.
Well, that would be the trick.
Let's find the blue cart.
We are tackling our very
first Kindig electric car.
The battery box
is built and ready,
but man, is it heavy.
Why don't we just put it
on a jack stand, on a board,
and flip it up
and slide that under?
Because I wanna see
how heavy it is.
[laughs]
I wanna make sure
I can still lift it.
[upbeat music playing]
Let's just see
if we can just slide it.
We can do that.
I'll hold this.
Okay. Hold that.
Somebody could,
over in this corner.
Watch your fingers.
It's the biggest thing.
[Dave] Go up into the Uintas
and cut down
some really straight quakies
and we can just roll
it on like the...
Oh.
Oh, it ain't going anywhere.
That's good.
[Will] Okay.
[Dave] That should be
all right.
Did anybody notice
who didn't lift a finger
during this process?
[Will] Ta-da!
Groovy.
[upbeat music playing]
[Steve] Looks off.
[Dave] Right.
Because it's wider
and that's where it gets
narrower in the car.
We're sizing this up,
but it definitely looks
like it's changed.
It grew probably what?
An inch and a half?
And then width-wise,
it looks like it grew
at least three-quarters
of an inch overall.
That's a...
That's a bigger square peg
and a rounder hole
than when we was
originally building.
They put a thing-a-ma-bobber
on top
of the original box that
we'd already fit to the car.
We'll just have
to work around this.
Well, let's just
sit it on there
and see what it does.
Was it a thing-a-ma-bobber
or a jiggy what?
[upbeat music playing]
So then I think
we're safe to go up.
[Dave] So if this new
battery box doesn't fit,
we're gonna have to find some
different room to put it in.
Oh, you got it.
It's up in there.
It fits.
Got her. Just barely fits.
Got a little bit of cutting
to do, I think.
Uh, right now,
we're making clearance
for the battery box
because this tunnel's meant
for a normal drive shaft,
which we obviously don't have.
So we're gonna open this up
and then we'll build a cover
to go back over it,
but we need access
to those plugs
for when we're disconnected
and installing
the batteries and things.
[Dave] So having two motors
in the back
instead of an engine
and a drive line
and a transmission up front,
this is completely new to us.
We're just gonna have to make
sure we have enough room
and also that the weight's
distributed properly
so the car will actually
go down the road really good.
Man, we've been doing some
serious, serious surgery
to get these motors
to fit in the back.
All right,
let's see how we did.
Yeah, we look great.
[Dave] We have converters
from Cascadia.
We have
the two Phi-Power motors,
the billet
aluminum transfer case.
We have converters
and inverters
and a bunch of things
that I don't know
what the hell is.
So I'm gonna go ahead
and turn it over to Will.
[rock music playing]
I can really see how closely
I can place things
and how well the wire bends
and where we're
actually gonna go.
You know,
nothing to kind of laugh at.
[rock music playing]
[Will] Having never
done this before,
we're really gonna have
to make sure
there's room for all of this.
It's super wild.
This thing has over 700 volts
and a lot of current
on top of that.
What that means is
you don't wanna mess around
with these cables.
Gained a bunch of room,
should be pretty easy
to close back up.
Now that we're done putting
everything in the trunk,
it's time to roll it over
and get some paint on her.
I'm excited to see
the first electric car
painted.
I'm not excited
that Dave stole
the color for my Suburban
and put it
on his electric car.
[upbeat music playing]
[Kevin] Do you know
what it feels like
to have, like, a great friend
design a color,
you get all excited
and the color is for me,
and he just takes it
and uses it on his own car?
With friends like these,
who needs enemies?
This color is amazing.
I can see myself...
I can see Dave
driving down the road.
This is a great color.
This is why
I wanted to have it.
[Will] Up and up and up.
I'm way pumped about this.
It's different.
And that's the spice
of life, right?
Variety.
This is kind of like, uh,
Neil Armstrong on the moon.
It's, like, some stuff
we've never done before.
[Dave] The battery's
now installed in the chassis
and now it's time
to install the motor.
Not the engine, the motor.
We got oodles of power
going in the back here.
[Kevin]
Will has measured it up.
It should go in smoothly,
but as everybody knows,
it's really not how it works.
The computer said it'd fit.
[Kevin] Doing a one-off car
is what we do around here,
but this is really
a different one-off car.
[Will] I got one bushing
that doesn't wanna go
where I want it to go
and nobody wants me
to scratch this thing,
so I better be careful.
I just needed
to get those bushings
started a little better.
And it's already down
kind of on the pressure.
I guess it's just
the coatings everywhere.
It's kind of adding up.
So this is a ultra-tight fit.
Add the layers of paint in
and there's pretty much
zero tolerance.
[Kevin] Feels like we're
pretty tight right here, Will.
Okay. It'll turn up.
[Will]
Is it down to the metal?
And now the bushing itself
doesn't wanna go?
[Kevin] Yeah.
Since this is such a long tab,
at the tip, real carefully
and just pop it open.
That make sense?
My face is right
under this thing,
so let's make sure
we don't make any mistakes
so I don't get electrocuted
or electrified.
How much weight
is on the thing?
[Will] Don't be scared.
It can't fall very far.
Ooh, electric or gas.
I like 60 foots.
So if it comes out hard,
I don't care what it is.
I just don't think
you can beat
the sound of a gas engine.
I'm still more gas,
but I mean,
honestly, gas hybrid.
Hot Rods. I'm probably
still gonna say gas,
but I'm not opposed
to the electric stuff.
I'm ADHD and I like sounds,
so gas.
I'm a little old school.
I have to say gas.
Gas. Electric's not even
in the equation yet.
To me,
a car doesn't have soul,
especially if it's a Hot Rod,
unless you could feel it.
And I think
as long as you can go fast,
that's all I care about.
I don't know, just the smell,
the sound, you know.
Electric cars,
you just can't hear it coming.
So it's kind
of anti-climactic,
I guess you could say.
I think that gas is still
a little more fun
at this stage.
I have to get all political.
I don't know.
All's gas.
You know how much
diesel it costs
to mine a lithium battery?
Electric doesn't
make cool noises.
And then you plug it
in the wall
and it runs off
the coal plant.
I don't know.
I'm dumb.
Also, it doesn't sound good.
I see the potential
for electric
to be incredibly fun,
but I also love gas engines.
You're asking the wrong guy.
Gasoline all the way, man,
you know.
Yeah. I've been in one Tesla.
Wasn't noisy enough
for me, so.
I think electric
has its advantages,
but I'm a gas guy all day.
I mean, I hope everybody
buys an electric car.
There's just more gas for me
at that point.
[Will] I got one bushing
that doesn't wanna go
where I want it to go.
Is it down to the metal?
[Kevin] This electric is new
to everyone here,
so we really have to be
careful with what we do.
We don't wanna
get electrocuted
or even electrified.
Since this is such a long tab,
at the tip, real carefully,
and just pop it open.
That make sense?
If this falls,
my face is the only thing
stopping it.
How much weight
is on the thing?
[Will] Don't be scared.
It can't fall very far.
[techno music playing]
[rock music playing]
Okay.
There you go.
[Steve] Okay. Right there.
-You got another bolt?
-[Will] Yup.
Very cool.
-[Kevin] Okay.
-[Will] Very cool.
[Kevin]
Teamwork makes dream work.
Yeah. I mean, honestly,
this is pretty much it
for this motor mounting.
Get these bolts in.
Get 'em tightened up.
Then we will move on
to plugging it in.
Yeah, this is the easiest
motor install
we've ever done, right?
This is the only motor install
-we've ever done.
-[Will laughs]
[rock music playing]
[Will] Ta-da.
Wait until I tell my friends.
Right. [laughs]
Is that gonna generate
the 1.21 "jigowatts"
we need to get back?
[Will laughs]
[Dave] You know,
changing it up
and trying new things
has always been
kind of my way
of keeping it fresh and real.
And this is really real.
This is why I did it.
This is a challenge
and this is fun.
It has been quite a bit
of a learning curve,
but the things we didn't know,
now we know.
And the things that
we don't know yet,
we'll learn.
This is gonna work out great.
And if it does,
I'm pretty sure
this won't be
the last electric car
you see from Kindig It.
Yes, it's a CF1 but no,
it's not the exact same
as the gasoline version.
We're gonna have
to really keep our eye out
to make sure that
we don't bump into anything
with this electric motor,
the gearbox,
and all
of the other components
including the battery.
We wanna make sure
we go in nice and clean
just like any other car
we build.
[man] Are you guys
all ready back there?
Let's just talk.
Make sure everyone's
talking to each other.
So there's a cable
in the tunnel
that is not normally there.
We're definitely gonna have
to keep an eye on it.
[man] They got their eyes
on the spot.
[Will] It's coming down.
[Dave] Oh, my God. Okay.
This is crunch time.
We need to focus here.
They shaved
my [bleep] holes dude.
[Dave] Are you guys
putting the wheels on first?
-[Kevin] No.
-Okay. Sorry.
Just getting real excited.
I would take dancing
over questions right now.
Damn it.
[man] Hold it.
Watch that body mount
on your corner.
Wheel to the chassis, please.
[Will] Yeah.
This one here, right?
-[man 1] See a problem?
-[man 2] How are we looking?
-[man 3] Good.
-[man 1] We're good?
[man 2] We're good over here.
[Kevin] Is that cable
in the tunnel good?
-[man] Yeah.
-[Will] Yeah. It's good.
[Dave] Chassis forward.
Battery to fender liner good?
[Kevin] We didn't have
to cut any wires.
Everything is where
it needs to be.
Now, all that's left
is put the car together.
I'm good.
I'm contacting the front.
-[man] You're contacting?
-[Kevin] Yup.
Can we jack the thing up
high enough
to swing the arms
under the chassis
and just pick
the whole thing up?
-[man] Yeah, I believe so.
-Let's do that.
We can put pins.
[Dave] We're good.
Don't go any higher.
Okay. Make sure
that we get rags...
-There you go.
-...underneath the chassis,
please.
[Will] I'm good. Mmm-hmm.
Now, most of the weight
in that battery's
in the front.
Where do you want it?
[Kevin] It's electric.
-[man] They were right there.
-[Dave] Ta-da.
It's awesome. It's fine.
Wow. It's crazy.
That's super crazy.
[Kevin] With this being
Dave's car, he is, like,
the happiest kid
in the candy store.
I do have to admit,
it's pretty cool, though.
I do this stuff
in my spare time too.
It's my favorite hobby.
[Dave] Well, as far
as the car's systems goes,
it is kind of all the same.
We have taillights,
headlights, gauges,
turn signals,
all of that stuff.
That still remains the same
as any other CF1
we're building.
Everything else entirely
is different.
All different.
Just like all
the rest of this stuff,
we just kind of let
the cables dictate
a little bit
where everything's
gonna land and be comfortable.
-[man] Yeah.
-[Will] But that looks like
the best spot.
I just wanna get
anything done here
'cause I'm, like,
spinning my wheels
a little bit
with all these locations
of this, that and the other.
And I just want to drill
a couple big-a*s grommets
and stick
a couple wires through.
[drill whirring]
[Dave] So these orange cables
are identified by saying,
"Oh my gosh, there's a lot
of voltage here."
This car is over 800 volts,
and would probably
put somebody
in some serious pain,
if not k*ll 'em
if they're not doing it right.
So it's very important
to let the professionals
do this high-powered stuff.
[upbeat music playing]
We've got 1.21 "jigowatts"
or however much
wired up to this car.
Now, it's time to go.
[rock music playing]
Latches, hinges,
and everything else in-between
is going on the car.
[rock music playing]
[Will] That looks
a lot better coming.
[man] It's perfect.
-Whoa, whoa.
Let me check off on it.
-Hey.
And olive glasses,
what, put them on,
you get some other stuff.
He eventually got some.
You did a great job on this.
Thanks, Brax.
[man] It's all thanks to me.
Well, you helped him, right?
No, we're not.
Don't leave me
hanging in like that.
[Brax] Okay.
Where we're going,
we don't need roads.
Okay.
Big day for Kindig It Design.
We're putting our first
electric car to the test
on our two-wheel dyno.
Hopefully,
everything goes well.
So this is gonna be
kind of weird.
Are they gonna be
going off of, like,
what their computers
are saying it's doing?
'Cause the dyno doesn't know
how to hook up to this, right?
It will still see, it just,
we're not gonna see RPM,
-so it obviously can't read...
-Sure.
-Okay, that makes sense.
-...RPM.
But it's gonna see speed
and it's gonna see the--
-[Dave] Torque.
-[Kevin] It's gonna see
the torque.
Oh, so this is
a real dyno run.
Okay.
What we're doing
on the dyno today
is not necessarily
going for a big pull
to see how much power
we have, how fast it'll go,
any of that stuff,
we simply want to check
all of the systems,
make sure that
we have a good shutdown,
make sure that
it moves forward, backwards.
Make sure that
everything's communicating
and just start
checking the data.
This is all prototype
and it's all brand new.
It's important
to stay very calm
and ease into the performance.
Hold me.
Yay.
So everything
checked in just fine
where we needed
to be on the dyno.
Now, this is the fun part.
We'll get the upholstery
finished up and we're off.
No pun intended.
Off to the races.
To infinity and beyond.
[upbeat music playing]
[Dave] This car has been
a huge project
for Kindig It Design.
We've never tackled
an electric car before.
One of the things that
didn't change on the CF1
electric version
is the upholstery.
It's pretty much
the exact same
as any of the other
gasoline versions.
So that made it a lot easier.
Now, if I could just
get it finished up
so we could get it out
onto the track,
that would be fantastic.
Got dash done.
Got... door panels
are about done.
[rock music playing]
[Dave] This has been
a wonderful journey
to create
our first electric car.
It wasn't fast,
it wasn't easy,
but it was very interesting.
And right now, I'm finding
that it's gonna be
extremely rewarding.
If it performs half the way
I think it's going to
out on the track,
my mind is gonna be blown
and I'm gonna be excited
to do another one.
You know, it doesn't make
for a bad day
to actually land
in Chandler, Arizona.
Go to the racetrack,
have your race car there.
Have a full pit crew
from Hypercraft
to help tune the car
as you go around the track
as many times as they have
to have me do it.
[rock music playing]
Where are we at now
power-wise?
What do you...
Where do you feel
where we're at?
Well, so basically,
after the dyno,
we're sitting
at roughly 50% power
and we're just
getting ready today
to hopefully bring
those power levels up a bit.
So I'm really excited to see
where we get with that today,
which will be really awesome.
Car's fully charged too.
-Nice.
-[Ryan] This is the first time
we've really gotten
a full charge in it,
so we should have
everything on the table.
-[Dave] That's so awesome.
-This is awesome.
It's like a... It's like
a base knob on a stereo.
You just slowly
turn the power up.
Until what, it's at 11?
Until it's at 11, right?
[laughter]
I have to tell you, man,
I get goosebumps
every time I look at the car.
It's beautiful.
I know that it's gonna
perform really well.
It feels really tight
even though we haven't
really put any kind
of real power to it.
I'm really excited
to see what the car's
gonna actually do
-because we got
lots of tire width.
-[Ryan] Yeah.
-We have a really good
low center of gravity.
-[Kevin] Yeah.
[Dave] The whole idea
to come down here
was to actually
get some track time.
It's very important
to actually get the car
on the track
and see how it performs.
Yeah. So we're gonna be
basically looking
for a few different things
out there.
The main thing is
we're just gonna make sure
that the battery
and the drive units
are talking well together
and that, like,
we're listening to each other
to make sure everything like,
you know, we can just
let it out there.
Anybody can drive it
at any single time.
It's safe. It's awesome.
It performs within the bounds
that it's designed for.
Well, you know what,
blowing kisses
at this thing was just, uh...
It's awesome, but really,
the proof's in the pudding.
It looks beautiful,
-does it run beautiful?
-It will.
I'm ready
to get out on the track.
I think we can do it.
Let's go out.
-Cool.
-All right. I'm driving.
[Dave] Hey. [laughs]
Man, this is perfect.
This is great.
Oh, my gosh,
this is so much fun.
Woo-hoo!
[rock music playing]
All right.
Finally, we're in one
of the nicer places
to do a reveal
and that is Chandler, Arizona
at the Radford Racing School.
[Ryan] All right.
How's she feeling?
[Dave] Feels really good.
Unbelievable.
That's the only way
I can describe
being out on the track
in this car.
It is completely different
from anything
I've ever experienced before.
Man, it's perfect.
This is great.
Oh, my gosh,
this is so much fun.
Woo-hoo!
Should we see how much more
power we can put at it?
[Ryan] Sure.
Let's give it a gander.
[Dave] Oh, baby.
[Ryan] How's that?
[Dave] Much better.
The torque of this car,
the handling,
everything couldn't be
any better.
Oh, my gosh,
what a difference.
What a ride.
This right here,
this power that you're at...
-Yeah.
-...is very responsive.
-Yeah.
-And, uh...
raises the hairs
on the back of my neck
and on the top of my skull.
That's awesome.
Things are changing a lot
around the world
and I'm not gonna be
the last guy to go electric.
Woo-hoo!
Nice.
That's over
a hundred right there.
Holy cow.
That was quick.
Oh, my God. That's quick.
[Ryan] We are flying.
And this chassis
is handling it, man,
I'm telling you.
I'm gonna need
a new set of tires
when I get back
to Salt Lake, man.
-[Ryan] Oh, really, yeah.
-[Dave laughs]
Ryan secretly
is like the Rain Man
of laptop and racing
to be able to do
what he's doing
while I'm driving
the way I'm driving.
He wasn't fazed by pulling
a G and a half into a corner
and hard braking
and acceleration
that'll break your neck.
Incredible.
So he's my little
racing Rain Man.
Racing Rain Man Ryan.
That's kind of cool.
I don't know how you did it.
Oh, I cannot contain myself.
-Oh, my gosh.
-[Kevin] Hey.
So now that it's one o'clock
and you've been on the track
for four hours.
Oh. Has it really
been that long?
I feel like I've been
in a time machine.
[Kevin] Awesome. How did...
How did... It looked good.
Oh, God.
Whew.
-Good job.
-Dude.
-Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
-[bleep] k*lled it out there.
[Dave] There's gonna be
some naysayers out there
and I have a lot of these
in gas versions.
This one's the only one
that's electric
and it's no joke.
So, say all you want,
but I'll tell you what,
until you've experienced it,
you really don't have
any word to talk.
It's awesome.
This thing is an animal.
The torque is just craziest.
It's instant. Oh, my God.
-How does it handle?
-Car handle's great.
Man, I'm telling you,
this has been
a dream come true honestly,
since we started doing
this project together,
guys, I'm telling you,
is well worth it.
So what's your perception
of the EV experience now?
[chuckles] I'm hooked.
To build
what we've done right here
with a car that
actually can stop and handle,
with that much torque
or even greater torque
and power, is unbelievable.
It's just
a different experience.
[Kevin] I don't know anything
about Newton meters
and current flows,
and I don't know anything
about any of that.
I think it's awesome.
The car's working great,
but the only way
to test this thing out
is to put it up against
some good old American muscle.
[car engine revs]
[imitates engine
revving sound]
[laughs]
[car engine revs]
You know, as much as I would
love to race these cars,
they're kind of expensive
and they're not mine.
So I'm sorry,
we're not racing,
but we are gonna
have some fun.
[upbeat music playing]
[engine revving]
[Kevin] I would've loved
to race Dave head to head.
He's had this thing out,
like, 50 laps.
He knows the track
like the back of his hand.
But I've got gas in my car,
I think that's gonna
do the trick.
All right.
Well, how'd that feel?
[Kevin] Felt loose,
but that's all good.
I hope I represented
gasoline America good.
I think you might've.
Yeah. Maybe.
It doesn't really matter
if it's gas or electric
as long as you're out there
having fun.
Electric 49.8 seconds,
gas 48.24.
You got me by a second?
[Kevin] God bless America.
Woo!
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10x05 - A Whole New Game
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Reality show featuring Dave Kindig from the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company Kindig It Designs as they show their process of restoring and rebuilding vehicles.
Reality show featuring Dave Kindig from the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company Kindig It Designs as they show their process of restoring and rebuilding vehicles.