It's hard to believe, but this milquetoast Ford Ranger EV conversion inspired a tale of intrigue and redemption worthy of John Grisham.
It all started in Santa Monica, California, where lifelong resident Paul Pearson was building electric cars for fun at home. The hobby outgrew the house and pretty soon he rented space in a nearby commercial building.
Everything was going fine until a fateful day in December of 2008 when two men contacted Pearson, asking if he could convert a vintage T-Bird from gas to electric. Sure, he said.
"Suddenly the room started filling up" with people, he said.
It was a sting. The powers that be arrested Pearson on charges of manufacturing vehicles without a license. Keep in mind that Santa Monica is a city that loves electric vehicles. The story gets even more remarkable when you realize the seal on the door of the pickup shown above is that of the very city that tried to prevent Pearson from converting cars in the first place.
It's kind of like David and Goliath, if Goliath had ended up as a customer of David.
During Pearson's second court appearance, the City of Santa Monica amended the charges.
"They realized I hadn’t agreed to sell them a car, and the cars I’d supposedly manufactured weren’t for sale," Pearson said.
Only one problem remained. They were going after him for a vehicle code violation. The battle dragged on.
As the case dragged on in court, Pearson got a call from Rick Sikes, the fleet manager for the very city trying to shut him down. Sikes had seen Pearson's work at an AltCar Expo sponsored by the city and wanted to work together on an EV conversion for the municipal fleet.
"His attention to detail and the quality of his work impressed me," Sikes said. "After I heard about the 'sting' that the DMV and the city conducted, I talked to Paul to see if he was doing conversions. He said he wasn’t, but that he might be interested. We decided it would be best to wait until the case was settled to discuss it further."
The case eventually was dismissed in June of 2009, during his sixth court appearance. "Here we’d been in court for six months and there really wasn’t a law that governed the conversion of cars from gas to electric." Pearson got a reprimand for not having a business license, then got another call from Sikes.
"When I read in the paper that the city dropped charges against Paul, I contacted him and asked if would be interested in bidding on converting a Ranger," Sikes said.
According to Sikes, new EVs are too limited for the needs of the fleet, so Santa Monica opted for a converted pickup.
"Our most popular vehicles are pickups, so that is what we focused on," Sikes said. "His price was best, so we went with him."
The first vehicle cost $80,000, which Pearson said was mostly due to decoding the CAN-bus. He estimated that future conversions would cost $22,000. After a short time in service, Sikes said the truck was performing "as specified," and fills a gap until major automakers start building electric pickups.
In addition to its service in Santa Monica, the Ranger is being shown to municipalities and universities as part of a two-year test project. Eventually, Pearson said, thousands of Rangers may be converted to EVs. Best of all, Pearson said there's no lingering anger over this Ford Ranger.
"I’m very proud to see the city seal," he said. "I see that truck every morning on the beaches doing cleanup."
Photo: Paul Pearson
