An electric M.G. Midget
Who on earth would want that? No more crispy exhaust notes, no nostalgic oil or petrol smells … Wouldn’t that be horribly boring? Even worse, you could seriously lose the car’s very essence; its sporty characteristics. Ignoring the disadvantages of a car running on batteries for a second, such as a limited range and slow charging times, it could be argued that the engine is unique and partly definitive for the historical value of most M.G.s. Here’s hoping there won’t ever be a need to convert MGAs or all the other models that preceded it.
Because air polution within densely populated cities is getting worse every day and because more and more cities are banning the most poluting cars from their centres, we thought we ought to look into the possibilities of maybe doing a sympathetic conversion on an MGB or a Midget. An electric M.G. won’t beat the original petrol engined version footprint wise, but on a daily basis with plenty of city driving, it’ll most definitely be much more environmentally friendly. Thus converted, a 50-plus-year-old should therefore be future proof for a while yet at least!
It was late 2018 when we started the process of converting a Midget. The main aim was to retain the car’s character; it had to stay light and nimble. We also thought it important not to have to cut anything away; the whole operation should be reversible. We were quite lucky to find the highly enthusiastic chaps at EV Europe early on so they could teach us the ropes and share their expertise. They supplied all the certified stuff making it much easier to eventually get the car re registered as an ev with the authorities. And then, a year on, it was done! How utterly cool! So much cooler even than we dared hope!
Acceleration and torque are both rather marvellous. Mated to the familiar road holding typical for a Midget, the car provides enormous thrills in its new guise. Just like in 1968, it is still a surprisingly quick and nimble sports car. The ‘old’ car may have provided you with music from the engine, a lack of sound is quite lovely too. The Midget being a roadster, Radio Octagon has made room for bird song which is rather nice as well! And if you really want to impress, you can very easily generate wheelspin and thus get some proper smoke from the tyres!
And the name? We’ve tried all sorts, but eventually ‘eMidge’ stuck. Back in the 1930s it was fashionable to fit a mascotte in the form of a midge on the radiator cap of your Midget, allowing our future proof Midget’s name a link with the past.
Have a look here to view some of the videos we posted on our You Tube channel.