Homebrew electric Bradley GT II in Texas teenager's garage

Following in the footsteps of our friend Andrew Angellotti, another teenager has taken it upon himself to convert a vehicle to fun on electric power on his own time. This time, the story revolves around 17-year-old Lucas Laborde, who took an old Bradley GT II kit car and put in about 150 hours to swap the engine for an electric motor and a set of batteries providing 96 volts. Luke's father bought him the $5,000 vehicle on eBay and then spent another $5,700 on the parts needed to make it run on electricity, according to the AP. One problem he had was that the 640 pounds worth of lead-acid batteries caused the frame to warp and the doors to not close. The windshield wipers don't work yet and the car has a top speed of just 45 miles per hour, but it's clear from the article that none of these shortcomings make Luke any less proud of his work. Congrats, and if anyone's got pictures, send 'em in.

[Source: AP via Green Daily]