Latest news with #ICON4x4
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
ICON 4x4 Debuts First EV Bronco, Blending Classic Design with Modern Electric Muscle
⚡️ Read the full article on Motorious Famed restomod builder ICON 4x4 has unveiled its first-ever fully electric vehicle—a bespoke EV Bronco that blends classic Ford styling with cutting-edge electric performance. Dubbed the 'Blue Star,' the project marks ICON's entrance into the electric future of automotive customization. Known for breathing new life into vintage Land Cruisers, Cherokees, and Defenders, the California-based shop took on one of its most ambitious builds to date—converting a first-generation Ford Bronco into a high-performance EV without losing the soul of the original design. Built in collaboration with Moment Motor Company of Austin, Texas, the project took 18 months and more than 5,000 hours of engineering and testing. The result is a Bronco unlike any other. Packing a 105-kWh battery and a 400-volt architecture, the EV produces 500 horsepower, launches from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds, and offers up to 200 miles of range. 'This was a dream project,' said ICON founder Jonathan Ward. 'Our client gave us the freedom to push boundaries, and we've delivered an EV that honors the heritage of the Bronco while redefining what it can be.' The EV Bronco features full-time four-wheel drive, massive off-road tires, upgraded suspension, and modern amenities like air conditioning and audio—all housed in a classically styled interior with bespoke blue-and-white leather and custom gauges designed to display EV information with a vintage flair. Charging is handled via an onboard 6.6kW system or fast-charged with CCS, and the waterproof battery is IP67 rated for rugged adventures. ICON says the Blue Star is only the beginning, with more electric restomods planned as EV technology continues to evolve.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
ICON Bronco EV Brings Electric Power to a Classic Ford Rig
ICON 4x4 turns its considerable talent on the original, Early Bronco. They started by swapping in modern Coyote crate engines and updating the other mechanicals. Now they're making them into electric vehicles. The ICON Bronco EV we drove made 500 hp and was slathered in new materials. It was cool. The steering wandered but you could live with that. Only drawback is price: Prices start at $449,000 each, no doubt to amortize the huge amount of R&D that went into engineering them. The modern car enthusiast has long wanted the classic character of old cars, trucks, and SUVs but with technology that allows it to start every time, steer, and stop reliably without the terror and frustration often associated with ancient running gear. Now you can get both classic character and modern convenience, but it'll cost you. ICON 4X4 in Chatsworth, California, may be the answer. It has been modernizing old cars, trucks, and SUVs for almost 30 years. They started by fixing up classic Toyota FJ40s, getting so good at it that Akio Toyoda himself tasked ICON with building three running prototypes of what would eventually become the FJ Cruiser. From there, they branched out to first-generation (i.e. Early) Broncos, then old Chevrolet Thriftmaster 3100 pickup trucks, and a long list of classic car one-offs. Typically they'll drop a modern engine like an LS3 onto an Art Morrison chassis and put in modern steering, brakes, and suspension under the original body. It works—we've driven them. Then, around 2022 or so, ICON created an all-electric '49 Mercury that had all of SEMA flipping its collective lid. Now, behold: an all-electric Ford Bronco. Not the current Bronco that until recently had waiting lists and markups on Ford dealer lots across America, but the original 'Early' Bronco built from 1966 to 1977. ICON started doing Early Broncos maybe 15 or 20 years ago with internal-combustion powertrains. A typical ICON Early Bronco build of the pre-EV era includes: Fuel injected contemporary Ford GT Coyote 426/402 TRQ Alloy V8 Five-speed manual transmission (or Ford AOD auto with overdrive) Atlas ll part-time transfer case with a crawl ratio of 87:1 Currie/Dana 60/44 based axles Sport Brake package with Brembo six-piston front, four-piston rear calipers, slotted rotors with 7075-T6 billet aluminum hats, hydroboost assisted 12" travel Fox Racing Coil-over suspension with front and rear sway bars Dedicated 180" wall chassis 'with unmatched rigidity' New, enhanced Ford Bronco body All body parts powder coated in marine intended primer, then painted gloss or matte body finish, in almost any color imaginable Polyurea coated under body and floor surfaces Stainless steel body hardware, marine grade textiles Mandrel bent aluminized steel exhaust system ICON unique gauges, trim, interior panels, dash and more The Bronco EV gets all of the above except it swaps out Reiger shocks for the Fox shocks, and it's powered by a single electric motor instead of the Coyote V8. The e-motor is positioned where the transfer case used to sit, driving both the front and rear axles. 'We've wanted to do EV variants for years,' said company founder (with wife Jamie) Jonathan Ward. But as Clint Eastwood said, a man's got to know his limitations. Anyone who doesn't have at least a bachelor's degree in EE Systems or Power engineering should probably get help designing an electric car, lest they burn down the garage or fry themselves like one of those butter-wrapped Twinkies at the county fair. So ICON partnered with Moment Motor Co. in Austin, Texas. Moment Motor was founded by Marc Davis eight years ago and has been working with ICON for the past six. 'I saw too much 'DIY-good-enough-premised tech out there,' said Ward. 'By the time I saw Marc at Moment Motors he had a full, complete system.' Indeed, Moment Motors has converted all kinds of cool cars to electric. 'We've done over 25 different platforms, from a '77 Lotus Esprit, to (Mercedes-Benz SL) Pagodas, to Porsche 911s,' said Davis. They've done all manner of muscle cars, too—and learned a lot in the process. 'This is hard,' Davis admonished. 'There are paths you can take that are fraught with peril.' But the combination of ICON's chassis and suspension expertise and Moment's understanding of EV drivetrains seems to work nicely together. The electric motor makes 536 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque, Ward says, but it could make more. 'We detuned the (heck) out of it,' he said. The motor is a Tesla Model S Performance drive unit which Ward says has been thoroughly upgraded with new, higher performance bearings and seals, but it uses a Cascadia inverter and control board. The motor's single-speed reduction gearbox has been completely upgraded with new gears with the proper ratio for the stock Bronco front and rear axle ratios and includes a Quaife limited-slip differential to split the torque between front and rear. And it gets new custom engineering output shafts and CV driveshafts to power the front and rear differentials. There are three drive modes: Eco, Normal and Sport, and the regenerative braking is adjustable. There's a column-mounted shifter, part of which illuminates a PRNDL on top of the column that indicates which gear you're in, though there are no detents in the shifter itself. We climbed up and into the cab, turned the key, shifted into D and off we went. Acceleration is, indeed, brisk. You sit up higher than most contemporary passenger car-based crossovers. You could get used to this. But, just like the INEOS Grenadier, you have to accept the steering to experience the ICON Bronco. Many have. '80 (mph) is its sweet spot,' Ward said. So we got on a freeway and found that, yes, it straightened right out just fine at 80 mph, no wandering. Since I drove it, Ward said they upgraded the steering to eliminate the wander I experienced. 'We dialed it in and added a dual rate adjustable, nitrogen stabilizer, and refined some of the geometry. Night and day. Wish I had done it before you drove it…" So maybe it's not so bad now. The Art Morrison chassis and the ICON-built body—glued as well as spot-welded together—are about a thousand times better than a real Early Bronco and even better than one of Ward's Bronco builds from about 10 years ago, which was the last time we got to drive one. There are no rattles, no squeaks, no fluttering of anything. The only sounds you hear are some wind noise around the square body and some gear sounds from the electric motor. Most buyers don't drive it the way we did that day. Most get one for their property in Montana or their fifth house out at Montauk. With the steering we had, it felt a little too enthusiastic and too cumbersome for daily grocery getting in placid suburbia. But if you're getting one of these, it's as much for that classic Bronco body—and the character so lacking in most cars today. And of that you get a truckload. Ward is making 10 Founders Editions, each one with its own colors, fabrics, and configuration. 'Then we'll see what people say,' Ward noted. 'If all 10 sell and there's a huge demand, we'll make another version.' If you look around the ICON shop in Chatsworth, it's full of possibilities, from Ferraris to Ford F-100s. At just under a half mill for one of these—more for some other complete custom build—the only limits are your checkbook and Ward's imagination. Is this worth a half million dollars? Is any car worth a half million dollars?
