Time to report back after two months of field tests with the 4x4 prototype. What have we learned from our first forays into a new era of next-level off-roading? Driving the prototype is easy. Flying a drone? Not so much. Check out our new blog post to get a flavour of how the world’s first electric Pinzgauer performed when we took it for a spin in the rugged landscape around the AVS workshop.

So this is what the first steps of a solar-electric truck conversion look like... At least, that is, when the truck in question is over 35 years old and still needs a full refurb. We wanted to give Project ECARUS™ the best possible starting point, so we had to take it back to bare basics first. Starting from scratch is always a little daunting but we hope this ground work will pay off in the long run. Don’t miss the photo gallery at the end of this post to get a better idea of what we’ve been dealing with!

Project ECARUS™ is based on a 1983 Pinzgauer 712M, a beautiful mechanical wondermachine made in Graz, Austria, by Steyr-Puch. A very popular off-roader in the civil defense industry across the world, it spent its life in Oman – doing what Pinzgauers do best: ride off-road across the least forgiving terrain imaginable.