ICON’s EV Bronco restomod is a crazy $449k electric beast and we drove it
ICON invited us up to its office in Chatsworth, CA, to have a chat with its founder, Jonathan Ward, and to take a quick spin in its bonkers new Bronco EV restomod.
Jonathan Ward is stuck in the past.
His office is littered with cars, newspaper clippings, toys, and furniture that are all half a century old, at a minimum.
He lives an analog existence, and has built a name for himself in an analog business. Ward runs ICON, a company focused on restoring old vehicles to absolute perfect condition, or making hand-built modernized versions of the classics. Ward has made quite a name for himself, and is considered by many to be the best in the business of restomods.
But time does not stand still for any man.
The automotive industry is changing, more than it has in a century. And even the grognards need to adapt.
This is not to say that Ward is an entirely begrudging participant in the transition – his “GAS GUZZLER – NO ACCESS” mock carpool lane sticker notwithstanding. He merely says that he wants to ensure the transition happens in what he considers the right way – he wants to carry over the analog processes that he appreciates from the past and apply them alongside the technology we have right now.
Ward has toyed with electrification before, with a few one-off projects – a 1974 VW Thing, a 1966 Fiat Giardiniera and a 1949 Mercury Coupe.
But he never thought the technology was quite ready to make a scaled-up project – at least until now.
So, Ward has created the ICON EV Bronco, and it’s something else.
Broncos have been a popular platform for restomods both electric and otherwise, with multiple other companies doing their take on the same era of the Ford classic. ICON itself has a gas-powered Bronco restomod, which it calls the ICON BR.
The ICON EV Bronco builds on the ICON BR chassis. But it replaces the powerplant and software with an electric drivetrain with 500hp and 440lb-ft of torque – much more than the 100-200hp from the straight-six or V8 options in the first-generation Ford Bronco the ICON EV Bronco is based on, and also more than the 426hp of the gas-powered version of the restomod.
ICON says it spent about 5,000 hours of development on the EV Bronco over the course of 18 months, in partnership with Marc Davis and Moment Motors in Austin, Texas. Moment is another shop focusing on vintage restomods, but with more of a focus on electrification than ICON has had in the past.
Ward brought Davis on for his electrification expertise in particular – while Ward was happy to talk with us about CNCed billet aluminum, powder coated chassis and locking front differentials, he paused and called in the cavalry when we started asking questions about fast charging (it should manage around a 100kW peak charge rate, Davis told us, or about an hour to fill the 105kWh pack from 20-80% on DC – otherwise, it has a 6.6kW level 2 charger).
The 105kWh battery pack should be good for somewhere around 180-200 miles of range. It’s not the most efficient vehicle, but it’s not trying to be.
- Drivetrain and Performance Specs
- 440+ lb-ft of torque
- 500+ hp
- Full-time All Wheel Drive for on and off road performance
- Currie axles with rear LSD and ARB locking front differentials
- Advanced Ringer Adjustable Suspension
- Brembo Brakes
- Eco, Normal, and Sport driving modes to control performance and power usage
- Battery Pack and Charging Specs
- Industry standard 400V architecture
- 105kWh capacity for 175-200 miles of range
- IP67* Waterproof Standard tested battery enclosures
- Full thermal management to keep the pack in the optimal temperature range at
- all times
- On board 6.6kW Level 2 charger for easy at-home overnight charging
- Level 3 CCS Fast charging via all the leading charging networks
- VCU and System Control Specs
- Completely integrated Battery Management, Power Management, and Vehicle
- Management for complete control of the entire EV drivetrain
- OTA remote diagnostics and updates
- Traditional ICON gauges transformed to show essential EV stats at a glance
- Head Unit with complete system monitoring and control available in the center
- console along with CarPlay and Android Auto Compatibility
- Ancillary System Specs
- Fully electro-hydraulic power steering
- Electric power brakes and parking brakes
- Electric heat and Air Conditioning
- Traditional ICON gauges now reflect basic EV stats at a glance, then the center
- console mounted Audio head unit provides even more EV system stats and
- controls along with a reverse Camera. Apple Carplay and Android compatible.
- Dimensions (estimated)
- LENGTH ……………….14’9” (177”)
- WIDTH …………..…….6’3” (75”)
- WHEELBASE………7.59 3/8” (91 3/8”)
- HEIGHT ………………. 6’6” (79”)
- TRACK WIDTH FRONT……5’9”” (69”)
- TRACK WIDTH REAR……..5’7”” (67”)
- Curb Weight………..5420 lbs.
We took the Bronco EV for a short drive around the streets of Chatsworth – not necessarily the best spot to get a feel for performance or to find many stretches of unoccupied pavement, but it’ll have to do.
The car is, obviously, full of ancient character (and I’m not just referring to Ward himself). The switches, the seats, the shifter, all have their retro flavor, though many have been updated behind the scenes (e.g. the window levers are electronic, but look manual).
The one thing that betrays the car’s modern underpinnings is the screen between the seats, which allows control of vehicle functions and even includes CarPlay and Android Auto
There are a few other modern touches as well, like my favorite, an electric step that automatically pops out when you open the door. Given how high the stepover is to get into this truck, the step will be appreciated by many.
I do think the drive software on this pre-production vehicle could use some more refinement. While the ICON EV Bronco does offer different drive modes thanks to drive software provided by Ampere EV, the instant 440 lb-ft of torque available to us is honestly too much for such a tall vehicle (79″) with such a short wheelbase (91 3/8″).
As a result, torque just has to be limited on the low end, even despite its all-time all-wheel drive. It would be too squirrelly without. It can get from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, but there will likely be a good amount of drama on the way there.
The various drive modes do provide vastly different drive feel. Ward himself likes to drive in Eco mode, which he says is uncharacteristic for him, but that the car just too much without something to moderate all that power. I preferred the responsiveness of Sport mode, since I’m a stickler for rapid throttle response, but it was still very easy to spin the tires on this topheavy vehicle even during the simplest of maneuvers. So, maybe Ward is right on this one.
But, amazingly enough, this exercise in analog thinking also includes something that even many modern cars (and certainly most restomods) don’t: over-the-air software updates. So, even though we drove a development version, there’s even the possibility that post-release vehicles could be tweaked over time.
It even has off-throttle regenerative braking, something rare in the EV restomod scene.
Compounding the squirreliness of the accelerator, the steering system in the EV Bronco carries over much of the character of the original (though it has been upgraded with electro-hydraulic power steering) – which is to say, a big steering wheel with a lot of “play.”
We didn’t get a chance to try the Bronco EV off-road, but it felt like its driving dynamics would be most at home in the dirt, where it can use all that torque for rock climbing instead of racing.
For those purposes, the Bronco is packed with all the equipment you’d need, with off-road components carried over from the ICON BR chassis – Reiger Suspension, Brembo brakes, Currie axles, ARB locking front/ limited slip rear differentials, and multi-link suspension. And the ample ground clearance and approach angles you’d expect out of a box on stilts.
All that said, this is not a vehicle for a casual buyer – which you might have guessed from the $449k pricetag. It is obviously lacking much of what you might want in a regular vehicle on the road these days, and a lot of the things that you would expect out of an EV.
But if you’re looking for classic charm mixed with new technology underneath, and you happen to have recently found a bitcoin drive you lost in 2011, you know who to call.
Ward plans to make ten examples of the EV Bronco, each customized to their respective buyers’ tastes such that no two are alike. The buyers will be able to choose from the same design packages ICON offers for the gas-powered BR (New School, Old School, and Derelict) and body styles (soft top, hard top, roadster), with additional customizations for color, seating position, and so on.
And he wants to scale up from here. Heading into the future, Ward hopes to offer an electric powertrain as an option on all of his builds sometime in the next 3-5 years.
With what we’ve seen out of this one (and his past derelict builds in particular), we’re certainly excited to see what crazy projects he comes up with next.
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This fall marks the 25th anniversary of the US launch of the first-gen Toyota Prius — a car that, arguably, has done more to more to shift the market away from fossil fuels than any other single vehicle (more on that in a minute). That means that, in many states, you can now get “antique” or “historic” plates for a modern hybrid.
If that sounds appealing to you, here’s what it might cost to keep that OG Prius on the road for many more years to come.
“When the Prius burst into the US market, it was nothing short of a revolution,” reads the breathless Toyota PR copy. “A true trailblazer in the world of hybrid vehicles, (Prius) set the stage for the electrification movement, captivating environmentally conscious drivers with its innovative spirit.”
I think that’s true. And, as for that claim in the header that the Prius did more to shift the US auto market away from fossil fuels than any other single vehicle, ask yourself this: would there even be a Tesla Roadster (much less an “affordable” Model Y) without the Toyota Prius bringing the conversation about electric cars into the mainstream zeitgeist fully eight years earlier?
I spent enough time behind the wheel of a seriously quick and capable US Electricar Consulier to tell you this much: no, there wouldn’t.
They’re still out there
The inspiration for this article was, predictably enough, a first-generation Prius sighting in my own neighborhood. One of more than 52,000 first-generation Priuses (Prii?) sold in the US, this one was green, with a straight body, glossy paint, and the woman driving it turned out to be the car’s original owner. Her Prius – Toyota’s first gas-electric hybrid – continued to give her great service from its 1.5-liter four-cylinder ICE and high-torque electric motor, and the car’s nickel-metal hydride battery pack seemed serviceable enough, though she couldn’t tell me if it was original (her husband took care of all that).
That, along with the possibility of trolling boomers with an antique-plated Prius, led me to ask myself, “What would it really take to keep one of these on the road?”
Even if your Prius spent its entire life in a garage and has only 60,000 miles on the clock, 25 years is still twenty-five years, and rubber doesn’t care about mileage. That’s not just the rubber in the tires, either. The factory struts, bushings, CV joints, belts – even the engine mounts will surely need to be replaced. Ditto for the door and window seals.
Along with a 12V battery, fresh oil and filter change, and a thorough cleaning, that’s the kind of stuff you should budget for on day one. Here’s a quick estimate on what that would run (parts only, of course, because you work on antiques yourself):
- tires – Michelin Energy Saver A/S or Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus in 195/65R15, plan on spending about $150/tire
- shocks and struts – KYB Excel-G, commonly sold in pairs, expect to pay about $200/ea.
- control arm bushings and sway bar links – MOOG control arm bushings and sway bar end links, $25-50/link
- engine and transmission mounts – Dorman or Westar makes replacements at roughly $60–120 each, depending on which mount(s) you need
- CV boots / axle rebuild kits – GSP or SKF kits typically sell $25–75/boot
- Serpentine / accessory belt – Gates makes an OE-quality replacement belt for about $40
This is the big one
You’ll notice, by now, that I’ve avoiding one particular bill. The one repair item that makes anyone looking at an older EV or hybrid think twice – the high-voltage battery. And, if you’ve done any kind of research into the cost of replacement batteries for older electric cars, you already know why that is. I haven’t mentioned it, because it’s not that bad.
I found a new high-voltage replacement battery for a Prius from GreenTec on sale for just $2,050 with a 36-month warranty, or $1,399 for a refurbished unit with a 12-month warranty. That’s not only significantly less than the price of a refurbished transmission for a Toyota Corolla of a similar vintage – it’s probably a lot less than people who still think EVs are new technology would have guessed, too.
Battery costs are going down
The costs of replacing a high-voltage EV battery in older model year cars continues to go down – and that’s true for newer EVs, too. “We’ve seen about $12-18K as an average replacement cost for a Tesla battery,” says KJ Gimbel, founder and CEO of extended EV warranty firm, Xcelerate Auto. “(At that number) we’re confident that we’ll be able to support the vast majority of claims that arise, regardless of the model.”
In other words, if you’re the type of gear head who expresses a midlife crisis by buying a sensible, reliable daily driver, you could do a lot worse than a historic Prius.
That’s my take, anyway – what’s yours? Let us know what you think of the Prius’ 25th American birthday, its role in the EV revolution, and whether or not it’ll ever gain true classic status in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Original content from Electrek.
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Orange EV may not be a household name like Mack or Kenworth, but this small-ish maker of all-electric heavy duty terminal tractors is making a name for itself where it matters: on the job. And this week, the company’s deployed fleet logged its ten millionth hour of operation!
Despite claims from oil-backed “efficiency” groups and fossil-backed hydrogen propaganda to the contrary, battery-powered heavy-duty EVs are proving themselves more than capable of getting the job done today, with millions upon millions upon millions of over-the-road miles as proof. Now, Orange EV is throwing its own data into the mix, with a deployed fleet of HDEVs that’s logged ten million hours of operation across more than 27 million low-speed, extreme duty miles.
“Ten million hours makes one thing clear: Orange EV has taken electric terminal trucks from possible to proven,” said Kurt Neutgens, President and CTO of Orange EV. “Our 340 customers are operating at an average of 97% uptime, with no compromises, proving you can cut costs, boost performance, and improve health and safety all at once.”
What might be more impressive than the miles covered, though, is how few trucks Orange has deployed to get to that number. The company reports that multiple units have already surpassed 30,000 hours of active service while others still are approaching a full decade of daily use — and all of them are still running on their original Orange-designed LFP battery packs.
“Diesel yard trucks rarely achieve this level of durability, but Orange EV delivers with every truck,” adds Neutgens, a former Ford engineer. “Every hour of safe, reliable operation raises the bar for what fleets should expect from their equipment.”
Since delivering its first customer truck back in 2015, Orange EV has deployed more than 1,600 trucks across 40 states and four Canadian provinces. Together, these trucks have eliminated approximately 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide and saved fleets over $100 million (US) in fuel and maintenance costs alone. And, in more than 10 million hours of duty, not a single Orange EV yard truck battery has experienced a thermal event.
Electrek’s Take
Over at The Heavy Equipment Podcast, we had a chance to talk to Orange EV founder Kurt Neutgens ahead of last year’s ACT Expo for clean trucking. On the show (available here), Kurt explained how his experience at Ford helped inform his design ideology, and that the Orange EV was designed to be cost competitive with diesel options, even without subsidies.
Give it a listen, then let us know whether you think the big yard dogs’ success will help debunk the “messy middle” myths or not, in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Orange EV.
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EUNICE, NEW MEXICO — Paul Lorskulsint was a shift manager at a brand new uranium enrichment facility deep in the American Southwest when catastrophe struck Japan in 2011.
A massive tsunami and earthquake had caused a severe accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Thousands of miles away in Eunice, New Mexico, Lorskulsint turned on the television to make sure his team could witness what was happening across the Pacific Ocean.
Lorskulsint knew the disaster in Japan was a watershed moment for the nuclear industry. The plant where he was leading an operations shift had just opened in 2010, after the European uranium enricher Urenco had spent years building the facility in anticipation of growing demand.
Over the ensuing decade, public support for nuclear power diminshed and a dozen reactors closed in the U.S. as the industry struggled to compete against a flood of cheap natural gas and renewable energy. Demand for the low enriched uranium that fuels nuclear plants dwindled.
“The price of what we sold basically went through the floor,” Lorskulsint, who is now the chief nuclear officer at Urenco USA, told CNBC. Urenco’s long-term contracts with utilities insulated the facility during the downturn, he said, but the price drop put further expansion plans on hold.
Paul Lorskulsint, Chief Nuclear Officer, Urenco USA talks about the uranium enrichment process.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Headquartered outside London, Urenco is joinly owned by the British and Dutch goverments and two German utilities. Its New Mexico facility is the only commercial enrichment facility left in the U.S. The last U.S.-owned commercial facility in Paducah, Kentucky, closed in 2013 and its owner the United States Enrichment Corporation went bankrupt during the downturn after Fukushima.
Fourteen years later, the situation has reversed once again. Urenco USA is racing to expand its enrichment capacity. The nuclear industry is gaining momentum as electricity demand in the U.S. is projected to surge from artificial intelligence and the push to expand domestic manufacturing. Doubts persist about whether U.S. power supplies will ramp up quick enough to meet the needs. Increasing uranium enrichment will be a key part of the process, despite the history of past disappointments.
Also, U.S. enriched uranium supplies are at risk. The U.S. still imported 20% of its enriched uranium from Russia in 2024, a legacy of the now shattered hope for friendship between the two countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.
The U.S. will completely ban the import Russian uranium by 2028 in repsonse to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leaving a gapping supply deficit just when Washington, the utilities and the tech sector are developing the most ambitious plans in decades to build new reactors.
Nuclear plants like Palisades in Michigan, Crane Clean Energy Center in Pennsylvania and Duane Arnold in Iowa are planning to restart operations this decade after closing years ago. The tech sector is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to bring advanced reactors online in the 2030s to help power their computer warehouses that train and run AI applications.
“It is a pivotal moment, the next five to 10 years for the nuclear industry,” Lorskulsint said. “We’re going to have to have to deliver on time, on schedule and continue to maintain that momentum, which is a significant challenge.”
Employees at Urenco USA receive a cylinder of feed material for enrichment process.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Expansion plans
In deeply divided Washington, support for nuclear power is one of the few issues that can still muster some bipartisan support. President Donald Trump wants to quadruple nuclear power by 2050, a significant increase over President Joe Biden’s previous goal to triple it by that date.
The U.S. has only built one new nuclear plant from scratch in the past 30 years, raising doubts about whether such ambitious plans can be realized. But any effort big or small to expand nuclear power in the U.S. will run through Urenco’s facility in New Mexico.
The plant currently has capacity to supply about a third of U.S. demand with $5 billion invested in the facility to date. Urenco is expanding its capacity in New Mexico by 15% through 2027 as utilties replace Russian fuel. It has installed two new centrifuge cascades for enrichment this year. But Urenco’s expansion alone won’t fill the Russian supply gap, Lorskulsint said.
“Our competitors will have to expand in order to make sure that as a whole the industry is still supplied,” he said. “We’re building quickly as we can to make sure that the the industry is not short handed.”
As Russian fuel is banned from the U.S., the Trump administration is pushing for 10 new large reactors to start construction this decade. Alphabet is investing in about 2 gigawatts of new nuclear, Amazon has committed to more than 5 gigawatts, and Meta wants to bring up to 4 gigawatts online.
Urenco USA Facilities in Eunice, New Mexico.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
The industry is worried about the supply gap, Lorskulsint said, but filling it “is not an insurmountable task.”
Urenco USA is a candidate to receive a contract from the Department of Energy to produce more low-enriched uranium, part of U.S. efforts to standup a domestic nuclear supply chain. The contract would allow the New Mexico facility to expand further with the construction of a fourth production building.
Urenco’s competitors are also seeking support from the Energy Department to build out U.S. enrichment capacity. France’s Orano is planning to build a facility in Oak Ridge, Tennesse, with operations potentially starting in the 2030s.
Publicly traded Centrus has a facility in Piketon, Ohio, where it plans to produce low-enriched uranium, but it hasn’t yet started commercial operations. Centrus is the successor company to the United States Enrichment Corporation that went bankrupt in 2013.
Centrus stock has gained more than 400% this year as investors bet on a growing demand for enriched uranium due to U.S. plans to expand nuclear power.
Paul Lorskulsint, Chief Nuclear Officer, Urenco USA talks about the uranium enrichment process next to centrifuge cascade.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Supply chain bottlenecks
But enrichment is just one stage in a long supply chain that will be stretched by growing demand. Uranium delivered to the U.S is often mined in Canada and it is then converted into intermediate state called uranium hexafluoride that is the feedstock for enrichment.
The feedstock is spun in Urenco’s centrifuges to increase the presence of the isotope Uranium-235 to 5%, the level needed for most nuclear plants. The enriched uranium is then shipped to fuel fabricators that manufacture the pellets that go into reactors in power plants.
U.S. nuclear plants are facing cumulative supply gap of 184 million pounds of uranium through 2034, according to the Energy Information Administration.The biggest bottleneck right now for Urenco is the conversion of uranium into the feedstock for enrichment, Lorskulsint said. There are only three facilities in the Western world located in Canada, France and Illinois that convert uranium into feedstock.
“Every portion of the supply chain is going to have to expand, it’s not just about enrichment,” Lorskulsint said. “We need more of everything but conversion right now is the bottleneck.”
The nuclear supply chain may not be the biggest challenge in the end, the executive said. The ageing U.S. electric grid could prove to be the real constraint on building new nuclear due how long it takes to complete upgrades, he said. While this could slow Urenco down, it won’t stop the expansion, he said.
“We came here when the market demanded it,” Lorskulsint said of Urenco’s investment in the U.S. “We were here when the market didn’t demand it. And we are now expanding to make sure that we can still support as much as the market needs from us.”
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