Feature: A Closer Look at the New DeLorean EV

Back to a New Future

Great Scott! The DeLorean is making a comeback, but it might look and operate quite different from the iconic coupe made famous by the Back to the Future movie franchise. It’s a DeLorean EV.

The original company, launched by John DeLorean, went bankrupt in 1982 and was later acquired by Stephen Wynne. Wynne is still the CEO of DeLorean Motors Reimagined LLC and, while he’s owned the company’s intellectual property for decades, he hasn’t done much with it until now.

Let’s take a closer look at the new DeLorean EV and see what it might offer.

Why the Original DeLorean Flopped

Anyone who’s ever watched a Back to the Future movie can recognize a DeLorean on the street, but its current popularity is fueled almost entirely by the movie franchise. John DeLorean started the company in 1980 and hired the best automotive designers that money could buy to design his signature car. Only 10,000 of these cars were made and the company filed for bankruptcy two years after it launched.

Then, during the script-writing phase of the first Back to the Future movie, the DeLorean founder was arrested in 1982 with a briefcase full of cocaine in his possession, part of a massive drug trafficking case. However, he defended himself in court and managed to get acquitted of all charges, but the company by that time had run out of cash and was liquidated.

The original car had a host of problems that prevented it from competing with the sports cars of its age. It had a host of safety concerns and an engine that could barely keep it moving. Building it in a factory in Northern Ireland full of new assemblers without experience meant it also had various quality control issues. The only thing the original DeLorean has going for it in 2022 is the fact that the Back to the Future movies made it a collector’s item.

The Alpha V EV Concept

The wedge-shaped coupe with its gullwing doors has become synonymous with the DeLorean name, but it’s definitely a relic of a bygone design era. The newest incarnation of this iconic car comes with sleek lines and an electric motor to replace the woefully insufficient 2.85L V6 that powered the original.

The battery pack will give you a 300-mile range on a single charge and the motors can push you from 0-60 in 2.99 seconds, making it one of the faster sports cars on the market. For comparison, the original DeLorean took 10.5 seconds to reach 60 mph, according to Road & Track.

The Alpha V DeLorean still has many typical features that made the original so iconic, including the gullwing doors and the original DMC—DeLorean Motor Company—logo.

Watching This Limited Run

Start saving your pennies now if you want to get your hands on one of these Alpha V EV concepts. For the initial run, DeLorean is only planning to create 88 of these vehicles—an homage to the 88 mph speed limit for time travel from the movie version of the original car.

They’re planning to go to production in 2024. Depending on how the initial model received, we may see more limited runs from the DMC in the future.