First drive: Inverted Range Rover Classic

There appears to be one main guiding principle for whether converting a classic car to electric is acceptable to the purist: did it have a good engine in the first place? A Citroën DS? Fetch the engine hoist. A V12 Ferrari Daytona? Boo, hiss etc.

So what about a classic Range Rover? Sure, the V8 burble is nice, but is it integral to the car’s character? You will perhaps be comforted to know, then, that this particular Range Rover exited the factory in 1990 as a diesel. Inverted’s conversion follows the now well-trodden path for a high-dollar electromod: take one carefully restored shell and add low-mileage Tesla bits.

Charge comes from an 80kWh Tesla Model S battery pack that has been split up so that nine of the modules live under the bonnet and six go in the boot (which is now quite a bit smaller as a result). Inverted reckons you could do 200 miles as long as you stay away from the motorway. If true, that's pretty decent for something very vintage aerodynamics. While it no longer works like a Tesla when you arrive at a supercharger, it can be rapid charged, but at a slower speed – 75kW.

While a lot of electric conversions still drive through the original gearbox, Inverted puts a single Tesla motor roughly where the gearbox and transfer case used to be. Because it’s now oriented longitudinally, instead of driving two wheels through its reduction gearing and limited-slip differential, it can drive the propshafts going to the front and rear live axles. These have been reconditioned and beefed up to handle the motor’s 450bhp.