Portland takes its environment seriously. Not only are we learning from the past, we’re bringing the past back and making it better.
Case in point, Oregon Institute of Technology’s student Scott Morris, who is making his senior project about as Portland as you can get. He plans to convert his 1979 Datsun 620 pickup (yep, that’s 43 years old) into an electric vehicle (EV).
Electric Vehicle conversions have been done before, but a Datsun-specific transformation requires planning from scratch. Morris is outlining the process to help other Datsun lovers preserve the design of – and bring renewed life back – to their vehicle. If he can show someone how to switch out an old engine and all its parts, and bolt in an EV conversion with little to no modification, that will not only make more people interested in taking these environmental steps, but it will also have the added benefit of saving our old classic cars.
Morris will be following in the footsteps of other Portlanders, such as the Portland State University Students who developed the Turner Automotive – a hydrogen combustion conversion kit, which provides an economical way to convert any gasoline burning engine to burn hydrogen instead.
Oregon Institute of Technology
(To note: 1979 was the last year of production for the Datsun 620 pickup, but we’re looking forward to seeing Morris’ Datsun upgraded to 2022.)