Custom EV Honda S2000 Shows Potential at SEMA 2021
With the car world going electric an EV Honda S2000 should not shock us but can it thrill like the high-revving original?
We told you that Honda was going to be bringing some fun concept builds to SEMA 2021 and they did not disappoint. However, one of the most interesting Honda vehicles at SEMA was not prepared by Honda themselves. Motorsports electronic company Rywire presented an EV Honda S2000. You read that right. The crown jewel of the original Honda S2000 was the sky-high revving naturally aspirated inline 4-cylinder engine. Which also happened to be connected to one of the best manual transmissions ever produced. That has all been replaced with a drivetrain from Tesla and battery packs from Chevy. Hmmm.
There is no denying that no matter how you feel about it, the car world is going electric. We are seeing more and more EV swaps and that trend will continue. But does taking the already excellent Honda S2000 and making it into an EV Honda S2000 make it a better car? Well, the gas mileage surely improves but what about everything else? Converting a car to run on electric power will fundamentally change its characteristics. And there is not much we would want changed on the S2000, so we are a bit skeptical.
The drivetrain is now a Telsa Large Performance Drive Unit. The battery packs that provide the juice were taken from a Chevy Volt. These components obviously have different dimensions than the original parts. So, in order to make room the frame had to be extended by 8 inches. Although, the wheelbase and width of the car remain the same as stock. The increased size and heft of the batteries tack on an additional 200 pounds to the Honda. Not horrible, all things considered but weight gain is still weight gain.
The EV Honda S2000 has also had some exterior modifications to make it look more EV-ish. Most noticeable are the custom wheels and front grille. And of course, when you pop the hood, it is immediately obvious that this is an EV. However, despite these changes the car looks pretty good. And with our love of the S2000 running deep it is good to see ANY S2000. So, if converting this one to electric will allow it to stay on the road for many years to come then we are all for it.
What we don’t know are any real performance specs on the EV Honda S2000. Other than the increased weight we don’t know any other figures. What kind of range does it offer? How long does it take to charge? What kind of 0 to 60 time does it put down? And so on. Knowing that would certainly help us decide how we feel about this conversion. If it rips to 60 in less than 4 seconds and has a 300+ mile range that would be a decent tradeoff. Off course we don’t know how the car handles either. That was another strong suit of the original car. So overall there is not enough detail yet for a definitive conclusion. But it is an interesting and impressive build which is what you expect at SEMA. Another thing to expect is more of these conversions. Like it or not.
Photos: Rywire
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