If you're going to go electric, you might as well do it with some class. That seems to be the belief of Mark Clifford, a Utah resident in the US.

Wired.com reports that he spent about R67 000 on a 1981 Porsche 911 Targa with just over 160 000km on the clock. He sold the engine, re-upholstered the seats and tweaked the dashboard.

Using this as a base, he fitted one of the biggest direct-current motors available for vehicle conversions, a NetGain Warp 11 and fitted a Cafe Zilla Z1K motor controller to control the power available from the batteries.

13 is lucky for some

13, lead-acid AGM batteries (of the 12-volt variety) supply the 'juice' and an upgraded clutch, motor adapter and miscellaneous parts help all the power get safely to the wheels.

The project has costs him R132 800 so far, proving that this kind of project is more often than not donw for the love of motoring - and not to save a few rands.

Curent estimtes are that the Porsche could produce 117kW and a axle-bending 620Nm of torque at 1400 ampere. The car should have a range of about 50km.

Read Wired.com for more pictures and details.