Engine swaps are nothing new in the automotive world, especially if it results in a performance boost. In the few years, though, enthusiasts are swapping engines with electric motors. Interestingly, many source their motors from Tesla electric vehicles to create their own swaps. This Ford Mustang pony car—called "TesTang"—is one of those EV swaps.
A Ford Mustang GT With A Tesla Drive Unit
TesTang is a word play that combines Tesla and Mustang. Such naming sense is not illogical, as TesTang is essentially a Tesla-powered Mustang. It is a creation of AEM EV, a Holley-owned company that offers electronic products for simplifying the EV swap process.
According to AEM engineer Nate Stewart, TesTang started out as a 2007 Ford Mustang GT. Sometime in the past years, its previous owner, an EV hobbyist, made the Tesla swap. The swap involved the Sport version of the Tesla large drive unit (LDU). The previous owner then listed the Mustang EV on Craigslist.
Incidentally, Nate was looking for Tesla LDUs to serve a test mule for developing and testing new products. Usually, AEM would look for crashed Teslas, harvest its drive units, and install them into an emptied conventional car.
Testang Served As AEM’s Electronics Test Bed
Finding the Mustang EV was a jackpot; it saved the AEM team a lot of time, energy and resources compared to creating another swap from scratch. Nate even revealed the tiring process of an EV swap, including the removal of the original drivetrain, live rear axle, drive shaft, transmission, and the engine, as well as the fuel tank.
Since AEM’s focus was on the base Tesla LDU, they removed the Sport LDU (for use sometime in the future) and replaced it with the less potent unit. Since Tesla electronics prevent the addition of other things to its network, AEM installed its every own Tesla Inverter Control Board (ICB) and EV Vehicle Control Unit dubbed VCU200. This combination allows control over various EV elements, including torque curves, regenerative braking, pedal response, charging and thermal management.
From Experimental Test Bed To A Daily Driver And Drag Racer
After completing the conversion as well as the tuning process, the team finally gave birth to TesTang. According to Nate, TesTang can offer more power than a Tesla EV can, thanks to the inverter and VCU. AEM has tuned TesTang enough to transform it into a drag racing and autocross machine.
More importantly, the California DMV has certified TesTang as a street legal EV. In fact, AEM is using TesTang for daily drives.
Source: AEM Electronics