EV conversion specialist ECD Automotive continues to do what it does best – learn, evolve, and innovate. The veteran one-of-a-kind vehicle manufacturer has announced a new partnership that brings improvements to the drivetrains and batteries implemented in each of its Jaguar or Land Rover EV conversions. Furthermore, the company has finally added DC fast-charging capabilities for its customers.
ECD Automotive Design is a custom vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Kissimmee, Florida, founded by three men whose passion for classics from their native UK led them to start building bespoke restorations of the upmost quality and performance. In its decade-long tenure, ECD Automotive has earned well deserved status as one of the most prominent producers of custom Land Rovers in the world.
EVs are admittedly new to the team in recent years, but we got a chance to visit the company’s original footprint in Florida in early 2022 to witness its conversions using Tesla drivetrains and refurbished battery packs.
ECD has since begun building custom Jaguar E-Types, which of course can also come equipped as EV conversions. We visited Kissimmee again last fall to tour the company’s brand-new facility up the street from the old spot and see the Jaguar EVs being built.
During our visits, it was clear that ECD’s meticulous team was still wrapping its mind around how different EV technology is from traditional combustion vehicles. What was also clear, however, was how invested the company and its founders were in zero-emissions technology to offer EV options to its customers.
That’s why today’s news comes as little surprise as some of the pillars of ECD’s success are customer satisfaction, top-tier quality, and continuous improvement. Future ECD customers should see all the above in their future EV conversion orders, as the custom vehicle manufacturer has bolstered its available technology.
Credit: ECD Automotive
ECD’s one-of-a-kind EV conversions get big upgrades
Previously, ECD was using drivetrains and refurbished battery packs from Tesla EVs, combining two packs across its custom Land Rover builds to combine for 100 kWh of power. Today, however, ECD has announced a new partnership that enables each of its electric conversions to include a brand-new drivetrain and single battery pack.
Going forward, ECD’s restored Jaguar E-Types will come equipped with a 42 kWh battery pack offering 150 miles of range, while its custom vintage Land Rover Defenders will feature an 84 kWh setup with a 200-mile range. ECD cofounder and chief technology officer Elliot Humble spoke to the electric conversion upgrades:
ECD’s biggest advantage is that we’re never satisfied – switching our electric drivetrains is the latest in a long list of changes we’ve made since we started in 2013. After extensive testing on battery life, range and more, I’m confident that our new EVs will provide an even more powerful driving experience for the ECD family.
After two visits with the ECD team, they really are never satisfied. There’s always something that can be tweaked, improved, or optimized. That’s no different for ECD’s EV conversions as the tech remains fairly nascent to the team compared to its long history of one-of-a-kind builds. One of the things I stressed during both my visits to ECD last year was the need for DC fast charging, and I was consistently told they were working on it.
Today, ECD Automotive confirmed that its new electric conversions will now include the capability for DC fast charging, replenishing from 10% to 80% in less than an hour. This should serve as another vital feature for ECD’s customers – of which the company says more and more are inquiring about EV conversions rather than combustion.
The new drivetrains will enable three driving modes led by a new display that gives future owners the ability to choose their drive style – eco, normal, and sport mode. Drivers will be also able to switch between two- and four-wheel drive, enabling them to power the rear wheels when driving normally and shift to 4WD when offroading. Other new features include hill assist/idle creep mode, plus regenerative braking on and off.
ECD Automotive shared that its first electric conversion with the new drivetrains was a deluxe vintage Defender, which rolled off its assembly lines in February 2023. We hope to visit the team again soon and experience the new EV tech for ourselves.
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A team of white hat European hackers using their brains, keyboards, and a couple of bits and baubles from eBay managed to take control of a 2020 Nissan LEAF and violate just about every privacy and safety regulation in the process.
The best part: they recorded the whole thing.
Budapest-based cybersecurity experts PCAutomotive were able to exploit a number of vulnerabilities in a 2020 Nissan LEAF that enabled the white hat team to geolocate and track the car, record the texts and conversations happening inside the car, playing media back through the car’s speakers, and even (this is the genuinely terrifying dangerous part) turning the steering wheel while the car was moving. (!?)
Maybe the scariest part of this hack, however, is how seemingly easy it was to pull off by starting with a “test bench simulator” built using parts from eBay and exploiting a vulnerability in the LEAF’s DNS C2 channel and Bluetooth protocol.
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The PCAutomotive team gave a hugely detailed 118-page presentation of their exploit at black hat Asia 2025, which we’ve included at the bottom of this post, in case the original link goes dead. If you’re into that sort of thing, the fun stuff starts around page 27. And, if you’re not, just know that all the vulnerabilities were disclosed to Nissan and its suppliers between 02AUG2023 and 12SEP2024 (p. 116/118), and the “attack” itself can be seen in the video below that. Enjoy!
Summary of vulnerabilities
CVE-2025-32056 – Anti-Theft bypass
CVE-2025-32057 – app_redbend: MiTM attack
CVE-2025-32058 – v850: Stack Overflow in CBR processing
CVE-2025-32059 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [0]
CVE-2025-32060 – Absence of a kernel module signature verification
CVE-2025-32061 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [1]
CVE-2025-32062 – Stack buffer overflow leading to RCE [2]
PCA_NISSAN_009 – Improper traffic filtration between CAN buses
CVE-2025-32063 – Persistence for Wi-Fi network
PCA_NISSAN_012 – Persistence through CVE-2017-7932 in HAB of i.MX 6
Unfortunately, this is also one of those posts that some of the more clueless anti-EV hysterics will point to and say, “See!? EVs can get hacked!” But the reality is that virtually any car with electric power steering (EPS), electronic throttle controls, brake-by-wire, etc. can be hacked in a similar way. But, while steering a target’s car into an oncoming semi might be a great way to pull off a covert CIA assassination, the more worrying issue here is the breach of privacy and recording – unless you want to spend some time in El Salvadoran prison, I guess.
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A major new EV battery factory is being built in Sunderland, bringing 1,000 new jobs with it. AESC, Nissan’s battery partner, is behind the £1 billion ($1.33 billion) plant, which will boost the UK’s EV battery production by six times, enough to power 100,000 electric cars annually.
The 12 GWh capacity plant, AESC’s second battery plant in Sunderland, will be powered by 100% net-zero carbon energy. That big jump in capacity helps position Britain as a global player in EV manufacturing while pushing forward the country’s net-zero goals.
The investment is getting a serious financial lift from the British government. Through a combination of support from the National Wealth Fund and UK Export Finance, the project is unlocking £680 million in financing from major banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered, SMBC Group, Societe Generale, and BBVA, that covers the construction and operation of the battery factory. Another £320 million is coming from private investment and fresh equity from AESC. On top of all that, the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund is pitching in with £150 million in grant funding.
This deal follows closely on the heels of the new UK-US trade agreement announced a day earlier, which cuts car export tariffs from 27.5% down to 10% for up to 100,000 UK-made vehicles – nearly the total number exported last year. That move could save car companies hundreds of millions of pounds and help protect good-paying jobs in manufacturing hubs like Sunderland.
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Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visited AESC in Sunderland, where she met with staff and local leaders to discuss what this means for the Northeast and the British car industry.
“This investment follows hot on the heels of yesterday’s landmark economic deal with the US, which will save thousands of jobs in the industry,” Reeves said.
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It’s about the future of their jobs. Ford workers at two plants in western Germany are set to go on strike on Wednesday, their works council chief said on Monday.
Ford is facing a worker strike in Germany
In November, Ford announced it would cut around 4,000 jobs in Europe by 2027 as part of a restructuring, primarily in Germany and the UK. That’s still about 14% of its European workforce.
The American automaker said the move comes after it has incurred “significant losses” in recent years and a “highly disruptive market” with new EVs quickly gaining market share.
Ford blamed slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles and a weak economic situation. It also plans to slow production at its Cologne EV plant, where the electric Explorer and Capri are built.
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Last week, IG Metall members voted in favor of “industrial action” with 93.5% of votes in favor of a strike. “Ford must act now—otherwise, we will go through with it,” said Kerstin D. Klein, Chief Representative of IG Metall Cologne-Leverkusen.
Ford Explorer EV production in Cologne (Source: Ford)
Ford is facing an influx of new competition, including Chinese EV makers like BYD. BYD’s overseas sales are surging with a fifth straight month of growth in April.
BYD even outsold Tesla in Germany last month, with 1,566 vehicles registered. In comparison, Tesla had just 855, and Ford saw 9,534 registrations.
Ford’s electric vehicles in Europe from left to right: Puma Gen-E, Explorer, Capri, and Mustang Mach-E (Source: Ford)
On top of this, Ford, like most of the industry, is preparing for more disruption with Trump’s auto tariffs. After releasing Q1 earnings last week, Ford warned that the tariffs could cost up to $2.5 billion this year.
During Ford’s earnings call, CFO Sherry House said that recent EV launches in Europe, including the Explorer, Capri, and Puma Gen-E, helped more than double Model e’s wholesale volume in Q1.
After early success in the US, Ford also launched its “Power Promise” promotion in Europe, offering EV buyers a free home charger and several other perks.