First FORD Electric Truck? 1982 Courier

Most people don’t know that there have been companies producing all-electric vehicles for a long time. One of those companies was Jet Industries in Austin Texas. They would buy a rolling chassis from a main auto company and put in an electric motor. According to Wikipedia they sold over 1400 vehicles consisting of vans, cars, and trucks. One of their models was the Electra Van 750 which was a converted FORD Courier.

I was lucky enough to pick this one up locally in East Idaho. The owner I bought it from said he inherited it from his father who was an EV enthusiast. Apparently his father bought it from a man who had stored it in his barn for years after buying it from a utility company in Texas. It shows 9K original miles and had tires that were dated 1979 that still held air. The 24 lead acid batteries in the bed were toast.

The kids helped me get it running. We took a road tip 4 hours away to pick up a lithium battery pack from a Chevy Volt and rewired it into a 120 volt pack to work with this truck. After new tires it drives like a dream. I get around 60 miles of total range and it is just a fun car to drive around town. It really catches peoples attention and I love that I have almost zero maintenance to worry about. I have other cars from the 80’s and it is just so nice that with this one I don’t have to wonder about where the carburetor is in a good mood today.

It is still a bit of a mess but it is working. I plan to clean it up and upgrade the charger and the battery management system over time. It is going to be a fun truck to have.

If you are new to electric conversions I would recommend starting off with a converted vehicle like this to learn on. I often see old conversions up for sale with a bad lead acid battery pack. You can get them for a great deal and learn with just a lithium battery upgrade and then move on to bigger conversion projects.