His Suzuki Jimny's Engine Died. He Turned It Electric in Five Days for Less Than ,000

A Second Blown Head Gasket and an Unlikely Idea

Troy imported the right-hand-drive Jimny from Indonesia last year. The car — powered by a 1.0-litre four-cylinder engine producing roughly 45 horsepower — had already suffered one head gasket failure during his ownership. When it happened again around Christmas, the cost and frustration of yet another repair pushed him toward an unconventional solution: pulling the engine entirely and replacing it with an electric drivetrain.

The idea, as he later explained on his YouTube channel, came almost on a whim. There was no elaborate planning, no six-month parts sourcing marathon. He simply researched what was available off the shelf, ordered the components, and got to work. Five days later, the Jimny was moving under its own electric power for the first time — and it cost less than many high-end electric bicycles.

The Build: 9 Horsepower, 65 Pound-Feet, and a Golf Cart Battery

The heart of the conversion is a 72-volt DC motor from D&D Motor, retailing for $929 (€870). On paper, its nine horsepower output sounds almost laughable — a fraction of the original engine's 45 hp. But the motor delivers 65 pound-feet (88 Nm) of torque, which is what actually matters for moving a vehicle from a standstill at low speeds. It bolts directly to the original five-speed manual gearbox via a simple adapter plate, meaning the Jimny retains its entire driveline, transfer case, and four-wheel-drive capability.

Managing the power is a 500-amp controller priced at $815 (€765). A DC-to-DC converter sourced from eBay handles the 12-volt auxiliary systems. The energy storage solution is the build's most pragmatic component: a 105-amp-hour lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO4) battery originally designed for golf carts, mounted where the fuel tank used to sit. Priced at approximately $1,900 (€1,780), the battery delivers a real-world driving range of 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometres) — modest by any standard, but perfectly adequate for the urban and light off-road duties the Jimny was always meant to handle. Charging from a standard household outlet takes roughly five hours.

Troy deliberately kept the conversion as simple as possible. The Jimny never had vacuum-assisted brakes from the factory, which eliminated the need for a separate vacuum pump — a common headache in DIY EV conversions. There is no clutch pedal, but all five gears remain usable, and the driver can shift through them as needed. Top speed was recorded at approximately 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), not far off the Jimny's original maximum.

What This Means for European Jimny Enthusiasts

The Suzuki Jimny occupies a peculiar position in Europe. Since 2020, stricter EU fleet CO₂ emissions targets forced Suzuki to sell the current-generation Jimny as a two-seater commercial vehicle (N1 classification) rather than a passenger car. The earlier third-generation model — like the 1996 unit Troy converted — remains a common sight on European roads, cherished by countryside dwellers, farmers, and off-road hobbyists, but increasingly showing its age. The prospect of a sub-€5,000 electric conversion that preserves the vehicle's character and off-road credentials is genuinely compelling for a demographic that values practicality over horsepower figures.

Yet the European regulatory landscape for DIY EV conversions remains fragmented. In the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, a small but thriving cottage industry of specialist conversion shops — such as EV Europe and Electric Classic Cars — has emerged, typically charging between €20,000 and €50,000 for a professional conversion with Type 2 approval. France introduced a legal framework for electric retrofits in 2020 (retrofit électrique), and Germany's TÜV has established pathways for certifying converted vehicles, though the process remains expensive and time-consuming. For a budget-conscious individual following Troy's template, navigating the individual vehicle approval (IVA) or single vehicle approval process in their respective country would likely be the single largest barrier — not the mechanical work itself.

The Wider DIY Conversion Movement

Troy's Jimny is not an isolated experiment. The comments section beneath his build videos reveals a growing community of hobbyists who have applied similar low-cost approaches to old ATVs, golf carts, and budget classic cars. The availability of affordable DC motors, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries from the golf cart and renewable energy storage industries, and programmable motor controllers has dramatically lowered the financial barrier to entry. Where an EV conversion was once the exclusive domain of six-figure restomod shops catering to wealthy collectors, it is increasingly becoming a realistic weekend project for a competent home mechanic.

The broader industry is taking notice, too. A growing number of aftermarket suppliers now offer complete conversion kits featuring pre-assembled motor mounts, wiring harnesses, and battery enclosures tailored to specific vehicle models. While most currently target classic icons such as the original Mini or the Volkswagen Beetle, the expanding catalogue suggests that a bolt-in kit for the third-generation Suzuki Jimny is not a matter of if, but when. For European customers facing the choice between scrapping an ageing but beloved Jimny or spending five figures on a modern replacement, a cost-effective electric heart transplant could soon represent the most rational option on the table.

Source: https://insideevs.com/news/801873/suzuki-suv-ev-conversion-fast-cheap/