You read it right - it’s retrobution time. The name is a portmanteau of the words ‘retro’ and ‘retribution.’ It was coined by Zero Labs, a company committed to making classic cars sustainable. But what does this fancy term mean?
The company recently transformed a rusted and old Ford Bronco into a fully functioning EV. That was no mean feat considering that it took them just 24 hours to complete it. Hence, retrobution.
The grand announcement came with an exciting video that shows a lot of promise for the classic electric vehicles market. With this feat, the automotive firm has managed to raise eyebrows in the EV world once again.
The last time we heard of Zero Labs, it was busy unveiling an electric platform to convert old gasoline cars. Now that it has proof of concept for its groundbreaking idea, we thought it’s the right time to know more about them.
Our rideshare blog dives into what Zero Labs is all about, retrobution, and a successful Ford Bronco experiment. Read on without further ado.
What’s Zero Labs All About?
Adam Roe laid the foundation for Zero Labs after selling his thriving advertising agency in 2015. The vision was to build a firm that could revive classics while using clean energy sources simultaneously. While boutique restoration was a real thing, it was expensive, time-consuming, and unsustainable.
Roes vision has a market, and thousands of vintage car collectors could benefit from it. In a bid to give life to his idea, he hired a talented bunch of artists, fabricators, and engineers who started conducting dozens of experiments.
Zero Labs remained under the radar for around five years before it launched the classic EV platform. And within no time, Roe’s company was featured in top auto blogs, YouTube channels, and podcasts.
The Classic EV Platform
Zero Labs understands how much classic-car owners love their wheels. Its platform doesn’t tinker with the car extensively when converting it into an electric vehicle. So, whether you’re an enthusiast or a provider of vintage rideshare options, your vehicle will be considered holy.
The platform integrates an electric drive's features without rebuilding or restoring the car. There are four such platform formats, SUVs, trucks, muscle cars, and two-door coupes. By the turn of 2022, we can expect numerous dealerships to offer Zero Labs’s platforms.
Amidst all this, the company makes one thing clear - it won’t convert new gasoline cars into electric ones. Its sole focus is on vintage cars, and it believes that converting new vehicles would be the opposite of sustainable. So, forget about transforming your gasoline-powered Chevy economy car for the time being.
The Transformation
Zero Labs also re-engineers your car from top to bottom. Its flagship makeover includes ripping apart a ‘66 Ford Bronco and giving it a modern touch. That sounded like a bad idea until we got more details about the ambitious transformation!
Automatic transmission, carbon fiber body, and a horsepower of 600 units - this is just a glimpse of the revamped Bronco. It doesn’t sound like the specs of a vintage car, does it? That is topped with Level 3 charging capabilities and soft roof options for all the adventurers out there.
The 70 kWh battery capacity and 190-mile range are a definite downside for the car. But Zero Labs has assured that they’ll be addressed in future editions.
The estimated price of the carbon fiber model goes as high as $240K, but there’s a $65K discount if you opt for a steel body instead.
In April 2021, Zero Labs upped the ante by converting an old Bronco into an electric one in 24 hours. A typical workshop would have taken at least four months to complete the job previously.
While they cut a few corners by not modifying the body and skipping the paint job, it’s nevertheless a commendable feat.
For the time being, Zero Labs doesn’t promise the delivery of more than 100 Broncos a year. Either way, we bet this beast of an electric car is going to give the 2021 Bronco a run for its money!
The Future of Zero Labs
Without a doubt, Zero Labs is a company that caters mainly to the upper echelons of society. After all, it’s in the business of sprucing up vintage cars to make them eco-friendly and safer.
The pricing of its classic EV platform hasn’t been revealed yet. But there's a glimmer of hope that the idea can be scaled and implemented for mass conversion.
There are a few other concerns, such as non-inclusion of stock safety features like airbags, park-assist, etc. Moreover, collectors might miss the smell of gas and smoke, an integral part of vintage vehicles. That said, Zero Labs most certainly won’t allow depreciation or sustainability to become an issue when it comes to vintage cars!
It is indeed a revolutionary idea to fuel the on-demand economy in the automobile space. We’ll have to wait and watch if Zero Labs’s bottom line figures can generate the same kind of excitement for investors.
When Zero Labs is busy electrifying vintage rides, another company is set to bring battery power to public transportation. Find out all about it in our rideshare blog’s latest post.
