2022年12月26日 VOA慢速英语：更多美国人将老爷车变成电动汽车

 

A growing number of Americans are turning gas-powered vehicles into electric ones by using a process called an electric powertrain conversion.
越来越多的美国人正在通过一种称为电动动力总成转换的过程将汽油动力汽车转变为电动汽车。
 
Such conversions are becoming more popular as battery technology gets better and the world turns toward cleaner energy sources.
随着电池技术的进步和世界转向更清洁的能源，这种转换正变得越来越流行。
 
EVs and classic cars
电动汽车和老爷车
 
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.
凯文·埃里克森 (Kevin Erickson) 拥有一颗 1972 年的普利茅斯卫星，改装后他将其更名为“Electrollite”。现在，汽车可以在大约三秒内从静止位置加速到每小时 97 公里。它的最高时速接近 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 美元的价格买下了这辆车。然后，他开始了一个为期一年半的项目，将汽车转换为电动汽车。他使用了出事故的特斯拉 Model S 的电池组、电机和零件。
 
"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.
“这是我采用我喜欢的汽车——我最喜欢的车身——然后采用现代技术和性能，并将它们混合在一起的方式，”埃里克森说，他已经为这个项目投入了大约 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 的汽车文化副总裁。他说，将老爷车改装成电动汽车“绝对是一种趋势”，尽管对这项活动的研究有限。
 
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，这家总部位于密歇根州的公司对美国、加拿大和英国的约 25,000 名汽车爱好者进行了一项基于网络的研究。
 
About one percent had at least partly converted an older model car to run on some form of electric power.
约有 1% 的人至少部分改装了旧款汽车以使用某种形式的电力运行。
 
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.
改装车辆的前三大原因是为了更好的性能、有趣的项目以及环境问题。大约 25% 的受访者表示，他们赞成将旧车部分或全部改装为电动汽车。
 
Klinger, who owns several vintage vehicles, said he does not think electric motors will replace all gas engines — especially when considering historically important vehicles.
拥有多辆老式汽车的克林格表示，他认为电动机不会取代所有燃气发动机——尤其是考虑到历史上重要的车辆时。
 
"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.
“拥有一辆带有化油器的老爷车让人感到很满足，”他说，因为这和新车时一样。一些汽车爱好者希望保留旧车原装发动机的声音。
 
Difficulties and the future
困难与未来
 
Electric conversions require special knowledge to complete. They also involve safety concerns and parts that are sometimes hard to find.
电动转换需要特殊知识才能完成。它们还涉及安全问题和有时很难找到的零件。
 
And then there is the price.
然后是价格。
 
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装公司 Inspire EV 的共同所有人，他最近在 1965 年福特野马上工作。这个为期一年半的项目耗资超过 10 万美元，困难重重。
 
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 和他的合作伙伴用坠毁的 Tesla Model S 上的电机替换了燃气发动机。他们还添加了 16 个 Tesla 电池组，总重约 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.
大多数老式汽车，包括野马，都没有设计成具有那么大的重量或强大的电动机的更高性能。因此，团队不得不对汽车的其他部分进行更改，包括悬架系统。
 
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 说许多人没有开展此类项目所需的资源。因此，他说，电动转换变得普遍还需要一段时间。
 
"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."
“我认为这将是 20 年，”他说。“在你去参加车展之前，这将是一个 20 年的运行，50% 到 60% 的汽车都在运行某种电动马达的变体。”
 
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.
但贸易组织专业设备市场协会 (SEMA) 的总裁兼首席执行官 Mike Spagnola 表示，现实可能会比预期来得更快。
 
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.
他说，今年秋天在拉斯维加斯举行的 SEMA 年度展会上，电动汽车产品占据了约 1950 平方米的营销空间。这高于 2021 年展会上的 232 平方米。