2022年12月26日 VOA慢速英語：更多美國人將老爺車變成電動汽車

 

A growing number of Americans are turning gas-powered vehicles into electric ones by using a process called an electric powertrain conversion.
越來越多的美國人正在通過一種稱為電動動力總成轉(zhuǎn)換的過程將汽油動力汽車轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)殡妱悠嚒?br />  
Such conversions are becoming more popular as battery technology gets better and the world turns toward cleaner energy sources.
隨著電池技術(shù)的進步和世界轉(zhuǎn)向更清潔的能源，這種轉(zhuǎn)換正變得越來越流行。
 
EVs and classic cars
電動汽車和老爺車
 
Kevin Erickson owns a 1972 Plymouth Satellite that he renamed "Electrollite" after conversion. Now, the car can go from a still position to 97 kilometers per hour in about three seconds. Its top speed is almost 250 kilometers per hour.
凱文·埃里克森 (Kevin Erickson) 擁有一顆 1972 年的普利茅斯衛(wèi)星，改裝后他將其更名為“Electrollite”?，F(xiàn)在，汽車可以在大約三秒內(nèi)從靜止位置加速到每小時 97 公里。它的最高時速接近 250 公里。
 
At the end of 2019, Erickson bought the car for $6,500. He then began a year-and-a-half-long project to convert the car to electric. He used battery packs, a motor and parts from a Tesla Model S that had been in a crash.
2019 年底，埃里克森以 6,500 美元的價格買下了這輛車。然后，他開始了一個為期一年半的項目，將汽車轉(zhuǎn)換為電動汽車。他使用了出事故的特斯拉 Model S 的電池組、電機和零件。
 
"This was my way of taking the car that I like — my favorite body — and then taking the modern technology and performance, and mixing them together," said Erickson, who has put about $60,000 into the project.
“這是我采用我喜歡的汽車——我最喜歡的車身——然后采用現(xiàn)代技術(shù)和性能，并將它們混合在一起的方式，”埃里克森說，他已經(jīng)為這個項目投入了大約 60,000 美元。
 
Jonathan Klinger is vice president of car culture for Hagerty Insurance. He said converting classic cars into EVs is "definitely a trend," although research on the activity is limited.
Jonathan Klinger 是 Hagerty Insurance 的汽車文化副總裁。他說，將老爺車改裝成電動汽車“絕對是一種趨勢”，盡管對這項活動的研究有限。
 
In May, the Michigan-based company did a web-based study of about 25,000 automobile lovers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
今年 5 月，這家總部位于密歇根州的公司對美國、加拿大和英國的約 25,000 名汽車愛好者進行了一項基于網(wǎng)絡的研究。
 
About one percent had at least partly converted an older model car to run on some form of electric power.
約有 1% 的人至少部分改裝了舊款汽車以使用某種形式的電力運行。
 
The top three reasons for converting the vehicles were for better performance, for a fun project, and because of environmental concerns. About 25 percent of respondents said they approve of older automobiles being partly or fully converted to electric vehicles.
改裝車輛的前三大原因是為了更好的性能、有趣的項目以及環(huán)境問題。大約 25% 的受訪者表示，他們贊成將舊車部分或全部改裝為電動汽車。
 
Klinger, who owns several vintage vehicles, said he does not think electric motors will replace all gas engines — especially when considering historically important vehicles.
擁有多輛老式汽車的克林格表示，他認為電動機不會取代所有燃氣發(fā)動機——尤其是考慮到歷史上重要的車輛時。
 
"There's something satisfying about having a vintage car that has a carburetor," he said, because it's the same as when the car was new. Some car lovers want to keep the sound of older cars' original engines.
“擁有一輛帶有化油器的老爺車讓人感到很滿足，”他說，因為這和新車時一樣。一些汽車愛好者希望保留舊車原裝發(fā)動機的聲音。
 
Difficulties and the future
困難與未來
 
Electric conversions require special knowledge to complete. They also involve safety concerns and parts that are sometimes hard to find.
電動轉(zhuǎn)換需要特殊知識才能完成。它們還涉及安全問題和有時很難找到的零件。
 
And then there is the price.
然后是價格。
 
Sean Moudry, who co-owns Inspire EV, a small conversion business near Denver, recently worked on a 1965 Ford Mustang. The year-and-a-half-long project cost more than $100,000 and involved many difficulties.
肖恩·穆德里 (Sean Moudry) 是丹佛附近一家小型改裝公司 Inspire EV 的共同所有人，他最近在 1965 年福特野馬上工作。這個為期一年半的項目耗資超過 10 萬美元，困難重重。
 
Moudry and his partners replaced the gas engine with a motor from a crashed Tesla Model S. They also added 16 Tesla battery packs weighing a total of about 363 kilograms.
Moudry 和他的合作伙伴用墜毀的 Tesla Model S 上的電機替換了燃氣發(fā)動機。他們還添加了 16 個 Tesla 電池組，總重約 363 公斤。
 
Most older cars, including the Mustang, were not designed to have that much weight or the increased performance of a powerful electric motor. So, the team had to make changes to other parts of the car, including the suspension system.
大多數(shù)老式汽車，包括野馬，都沒有設計成具有那么大的重量或強大的電動機的更高性能。因此，團隊不得不對汽車的其他部分進行更改，包括懸架系統(tǒng)。
 
Moudry says many people do not have the resources necessary to carry out this kind of project. As a result, he says, it will take a while for electric conversions to become common.
Moudry 說許多人沒有開展此類項目所需的資源。因此，他說，電動轉(zhuǎn)換變得普遍還需要一段時間。
 
"I think it's going to be 20 years," he said. "It's going to be a 20-year run before you go to a car show and 50 to 60 percent of the cars are running some variant of an electric motor in it."
“我認為這將是 20 年，”他說。“在你去參加車展之前，這將是一個 20 年的運行，50% 到 60% 的汽車都在運行某種電動馬達的變體。”
 
But that reality could be coming sooner than expected, says Mike Spagnola, president and CEO of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), a trade group.
但貿(mào)易組織專業(yè)設備市場協(xié)會 (SEMA) 的總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官 Mike Spagnola 表示，現(xiàn)實可能會比預期來得更快。
 
He said that electric vehicle products took about 1950 square meters of marketing space at SEMA's yearly show in Las Vegas this fall. That was up from only 232 square meters at the 2021 show.
他說，今年秋天在拉斯維加斯舉行的 SEMA 年度展會上，電動汽車產(chǎn)品占據(jù)了約 1950 平方米的營銷空間。這高于 2021 年展會上的 232 平方米。