To stand out on the road like no other, what’s the best way to spend $200,000?
A Chevy Corvette? Morgan three-wheeler? Pre-loved Lamborghini?
Nope. It’s a stainless steel-bodied Mini Moke with an electric motor.
This is Melbourne’s Jaunt Motor’s latest plaything, and showcases the EV conversion specialist’s ADR-compliant electric conversion platform for the original Mini Moke.
But it ain’t cheap.
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If you use Jaunt to deliver a turn-key example, the full Moke conversion costs from $165,000, plus you must bring your own combustion Moke (or have one sourced) to have the ICE gubbins pulled out and replaced with an electric powertrain.
That’d soon take you up to the $200,000 mark, as these coast and island favourites have surged in value of late.
But, if Singer did electric Mokes rather than reimagined Porsche 911s, they’d probably look something like Jaunt’s eye-catching effort.
It’s all proper high-end stuff – no reclaimed batteries from a smashed-up Tesla to be found – so it’s strictly the reserve of fun-seekers with deep pockets.
The Moke-specific EV conversion platform – a plug and play “finished solution” – can also be bought on its own from $90,000. Jaunt will provide this to automotive professionals with suitable qualifications to perform a safe and high-quality build into a Moke’s bathtub-like shell.
It consists of a brand new 400 volt battery, electric motor and inverter, drive shafts, motor cooling system, bi-directional charger, vehicle control unit or VCU and a complete new 12-volt electrical system.
They chuck in a new centre dash panel with modern gauges and controls, plus an electric park brake and all necessary body block-out panels, all done to meet ADR compliance.
Speaking to Ev Authority, Jaunt Motors co-founder and CEO Dave Budge said the kit was being made available to restorers and specialists who “care about doing conversions correctly; built and tested to ADR compliance and the latest EV safety standards, to deliver full roadworthy electric Mokes”.
The retro-cool two-seat Jaunt Moke pictured here was the first to utilise the bespoke kit, but the Melbourne firm already has experience performing EV conversions on Land Rover Defenders, classic Minis, a Porsche 911 and commercial vehicles.
This Moke’s star quality, aside from electric propulsion, is its stainless steel body. “It’s one of perhaps a dozen built in 1980 in by a refrigeration company in Queensland, where they took a brand new pre-registered Moke and built a custom stainless steel body for it,” said Dave.
“Moke historians think there are maybe three or four of those left. The customer had bought it about 16 years ago from an old Moke workshop in the Whitsundays. We had to restore it, build some components and new stainless steel parts. It is close to being an exact Moke body, but not quite, so a lot of standard parts wouldn’t fit.”
The conversion kit has also been used in a not-stainless original four-seat Moke (below), seen here with proper inertia seat belts to make it ADR compliant.
The battery used is a relatively small CALB lithium-ion 19kWh 400 volt unit from China. “It’s the unusual thing, because no OEM is offering a battery pack that small,” Dave explained.
The motor is a UK-designed Fellten Zonic 70, a unit specifically tailored for EV conversions. “It’s high-revving and designed to move a car weighing 600-700kg. It’s high power and high revs, unlike a low power, high torque electric motor.”
It’s front mounted, sends 72kW and 175Nm through the front wheels, revs to 10,000rpm and uses a single ratio gearbox.
Jaunt also provides recommended specifications for steering, suspension and brakes if upgrades are needed. The stainless steel car’s deep-dish Minilite-esque 13-inch wheels look a damn tasty upgrade too.
“A normal Moke is just the body tub, and everything we do just bolts into that original vehicle,” Dave said, while explaining the stainless steel Moke was a real unicorn, as it needed a separate chassis due to the striking body not being strong enough. “It’s super weird and rare,” he said.
If the to-be-converted Moke’s body is sound and stripped, Dave reckons a good workshop could get the full EV conversion and 12v update completed with a week’s work.
The system bolts into existing mount points under the Moke’s bonnet and is protected by a front bash guard, while the battery pack mounts underneath the tub’s rear.
“We know customers are asking a whole lot of classic car workshops to provide an EV option, and in the future, it’s not going to be every one has an electrical engineer on board, or understands how to design circuit boards,” Dave said. “We can provide that, and they can build a great car around that.
“Our (Jaunt’s) specialisation is engineering and manufacturing these components.”
Dealing with 400 volts and very heavy components means, from a safety perspective, the Jaunt conversion platform’s not being offered to DIY EV converters wanting to knock something up in the shed.
Workshops would have to have the appropriate insurance, and those performing the conversion have done relevant EV safety courses.
Back to the fun stuff. Spec-wise, Dave said the Moke’s original weight (between 600-700kg) is retained once the ICE kit is junked and the EV components and battery are installed.
That means excellent power-to-weight ratio, and 0-100km/h in seven seconds. Anyone who has driven a conventional Moke will appreciate that such performance while your bum’s basically on the bitumen will be entertaining indeed.
Dave said the Moke’s range with its 19kWh battery was about 160km. “In our classic (hardtop) Mini EV conversion it’s about 180km, but the Moke’s aerodynamic challenges let it down,” he explained.
We asked if a larger battery could be used to boost range. Dave said he’d been asked the question before, and had advised against it. “Technically a bigger battery could be used, but as a one-off engineering project it’d be costly.
“You want a smaller battery for faster charging and better handling due to the light weight.” Hard to disagree, especially as AC charging can have the battery to full in under three hours.
Custom requests can be taken on board, such as the stainless steel Moke’s pop-up charge port from the passenger side panel.
Moke International in the UK currently produces modern Mokes with EV powertrains, priced from £35,995 ($74,000) on the road. Its electric motor is only good for 33kW, weight is 741kg, and range is closer to 100km as the battery’s only a 10.5kWh unit.
“They (Moke International) legally can’t have anything in the Australian market because what they’re producing is a brand new car that doesn’t meet the legal requirements here,” Dave said.
While Jaunt’s kit is specifically designed and ADR compliant for classic Minis and Mokes, the company will look to extend its conversion platforms to other classic models.
“The next vehicle platform we’ll be launching will be for Volkswagen Kombi vans, both bay and split-window generations,” said Dave. “We’re working on our first Porsche 911, and if there’s enough interest in another certain model, then it’s worth us doing the R&D.
“We’d love people to influence us on what model’s next.”
