This electric conversion of a 1990s 911 has been done impressively well – but should it have been done at all?
- Performance
- No weight penalty
- Steering feel
- Feels soulless
- Doesn’t drive like a 964
- Hugely expensive (in the UK)
What’s wrong with the 964-generation 911? Ask owners of Porsche’s penultimate air-cooled car and some common complaints will likely crop up.
The ventilation system always struggled with both heating or cooling, cars that have lived in wetter or more humid areas often suffer from rust – and oil leaks pretty much come as standard. But the clattery character of the Beetle-and-a-half engine is very unlikely to make the list of grumbles. For most, it will always be the car’s defining feature.
Not here, though. The 1990 Everrati 911 Signature Wide Body doesn’t have that characterful power plant, or indeed any other that runs on dino-juice. Rather it’s been given a full heart transplant, one that has replaced the flat-six with a pair of electric motors. The UK-based tuner claims the car weighs almost exactly the same as an original 911 of the same period, but boasts a much more substantial 372kW output.
Why? Let’s get back to that one – because the ‘how’ is certainly impressive. Everrati says it is planning electrified versions of other classics, with the original Ford GT40 and Land Rover Series II also on the list. But the company has deliberately started with the most challenging for its first demonstrator, the regular 964’s tightly packaged mechanical components leaving little space to play with.
Although the Everrati demonstrator has two motors, it is rear-wheel driven. The pair of Tesla-sourced AC induction units are mounted behind the back axle – purists will be happy this 911 remains technically rear-engined – with their efforts blended through a common output shaft that turns the wheels through a limited-slip differential.
For production cars, Everrati says it plans to use modular motors from UK specialist Integral Powertrain, the company that makes the units that power the Lotus Evija.
| Key details | 1990 Everrati 911 Signature |
| Price (MSRP) | £300,000 (AUD$560,000) for the conversion |
| Drive type | RWD |
| Engine | Twin AC induction motors |
| Power and torque | 372kW, 500Nm |
Finding room for a suitable amount of battery capacity was a bigger challenge. The 911’s limited space required the unorthodox use of two separate battery packs, the larger one occupying most of the space formally occupied by the flat-six, the smaller one under the front bonnet, and the pair linked by a high voltage cable that runs through the transmission tunnel.
The combined capacity of 53kWh gives what Everrati claims is a real-world range of around 240km; one the company reckons will be sufficient for the car’s typical ‘A-to-A’ duty cycle.
The Everrati has also been given high-speed charging capability, with a CCS port under the former petrol flap at the front supporting DC fast charging at speeds of up to 80kW. Enough to take the battery from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in around 45 minutes. More impressive is the fact that the conversion hasn’t added any podge to the combustion 964’s mass, Everrati claiming a sub-1400kg kerb weight.
While the new powertrain is obviously the headline feature, it isn’t the only part of the transformation. Everrati has given its demonstrator 964 a high-quality paint finish as well as an appropriately 1990s set of split-rim alloys and a ‘duck tail’ spoiler at the rear. The doors, roof and the engine cover are all made from carbon fibre.
The interior has been beautifully retrimmed too – with new instruments reporting on current flow and both battery and motor temperatures, as well as Porsche’s own period-look modern infotainment system.
| 1990 Everrati 911 Signature | |
| Kerb weight | 1400kg |
| 0-100km/h | <4secs (estimated) |
| Top speed | 210km/h (limited) |
| CO2 | 0g/km (WLTP) |
More confusion is likely to be caused by the fact the demonstrator still boasts a pair of what appear to be exhaust tailpipes at the back. These are actually part of what the company hopes will become an active sound system; one capable of using a loudspeaker to create the noise of a flat-six as the car drives along.
At the moment all this can produce is a (reasonably convincing) idle. Everrati is also planning to ultimately offer a synthesised gearchange as well, with a manual lever that will adjust the powertrain’s torque characteristics and the fake soundtrack to replicate the effect of manually swapping ratios. For now, the central selector just toggles between forward, neutral and reverse.
Driving is a deeply strange experience. While the sensation of turning the ignition key and hearing nothing is hardly novel for anyone who has spent much time with old Porsches, the ability to then move off without a flat-six soundtrack certainly is.
There are other noises: the 12-volt pumps for the hydraulic power steering and the brake booster can be heard when stationary, and road roar and suspension noise are far more obvious when the car is moving. But beyond a distant rising-pitch hum under hard acceleration, the new powertrain stays silent.
It is certainly quick. The Everrati has more than twice the power of a basic Carrera from this era, and is making more than a 964 Turbo S. The company reckons it is capable of dispatching the 0-100km/h benchmark in less than four seconds, although acceleration will trail off fairly quickly beyond that. Top speed is governed to 210km/h.
On the roads I drove in England, the Everrati had a very slight throttle-response delay, but beyond this acceleration feels relentless, although the lack of the need to change gears felt much more incongruous in a 911 than it would in a conventional EV. It also made it hard to gauge velocities, with glances at the speedometer often showing surprisingly high numbers.
Traction was impressive too. The demonstrator is still using Tesla’s control software and the torque output has been limited to 500Nm. But on dry tarmac, there was no sense of the system intervening, even under a hard launch, although the motors did de-rate after repeated bursts of acceleration.
But the removal of the conventional engine has also significantly altered the way the 964 handles. The steering feels great, with plenty of feedback and delivering much stronger front-end bite than I remember from the admittedly less-than-fresh 964s I’ve driven before.
Its ride quality was impressively pliant, the demonstrator using adjustable dampers from supplier Tractive. But pressing harder proved that the balance of the car felt wrong.
Everrati claims that the car’s static weight distribution is very similar to that of the original car – so 40 per cent at the front and 60 per cent at the rear. But it is obvious that far less of that mass is hung out at the back, greatly reducing the rear-led feeling of the standard car’s thrown-hammer physics. The result is doubtless more secure, but it has created a car that feels dynamically closer to a Cayman than a period 911.
The brakes also took some getting used to. The Everrati uses the regular 964’s hydraulic system but adds regeneration through the rear motors. This effect is strong enough to effectively regulate the car’s speed under everyday driving, but it can’t give one-pedal capability as the car can’t apply its friction brakes without hydraulic pressure from the driver’s foot. So the car won’t come to a complete stop, or hold itself on a gradient, without the pedal being pressed.
The 964 Signature is a fascinating car, and one that is likely to be followed by an increasing number of electric restomod classics. But although the execution is impressive, the question of why you’d want to perform such radical surgery remains harder to answer.
The Everrati is both hugely expensive for what it is, and much less characterful than the car it has snatched its body from.
Beyond the far distant possibility of an outright ban on combustion classics, it is hard to see the point given the UK cost of £300,000 (AUD$560,000) for the conversion, plus the extra required for a solid original car to perform it to. That’s higher than the combined total for a 964 RS Lightweight and a fully loaded Taycan Turbo S.
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