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Converting a 1999 Jeep Wrangler into Electric

Why is Electrified Veronika converting a Jeep to Electric?

In April 2021, right after my 32nd birthday, I had a vision: I want to electrify a 1999 Jeep Wrangler. Growing up in Austria, I used to watch the TV show Gilmore Girls. Watching the main character, Lorelai, driving her Jeep around America made me fall in love with this car. Since then, I was dreaming of having a Jeep myself.

Well, as Electrified Veronika, this dream comes true.

Our plan was to convert a 1999 Jeep Wrangler into a fully electric vehicle. But it was never just about the Jeep — we also wanted to convert our new house in Wisconsin to run 100% on solar power, so that we could charge the Jeep entirely from the sun. This included installing a solar panel system (https://electrifiedveronika.com/electric-charging-with-the-sun/) and a home charging station.

Of course, it has turned out to be a longer story than expected. Life happened — including pregnancy, starting new ventures, and many other projects — which slowed things down. But out of this journey also grew something bigger: Electrification Academy (link www.electrification-academy.com), our B2B knowledge platform for battery technology, recycling, and electrification. What started as a personal Jeep experiment evolved into a professional mission to make electrification easier and more transparent for companies worldwide.

Meanwhile, our family EV journey kept evolving. Over the years, we’ve owned and driven several different electric cars: first a Mustang Mach-E (https://electrifiedveronika.com/roadtrip-with-an-electric-vehicle/), then a Ford F-150 Lightning (https://electrifiedveronika.com/one-year-with-the-ford-f150-lightning-truck-review/) , later a Chevy Bolt, and now a Chevy Equinox EV. Each one taught us something new about living electric — lessons we now share through Electrification Academy.

While the Jeep conversion is not finished yet, it’s still very much alive — and we’re excited to complete it soon. This project continues to symbolize our journey toward electrification: from solar at home, to a lineup of EVs over time, to building Electrification Academy, and eventually to driving the Jeep I always dreamed of.

What does this mean for you?

The whole Jeep conversion — with all the planning, hands-on experience, and lessons learned — is documented on the Electrified Veronika YouTube Channel.

Sharing this story has always been about raising public awareness for electrification and inspiring others to take the next step toward a cleaner future.

  • DIYers: feel free to get inspired, borrow ideas, and learn from our successes (and mistakes).

  • Industry professionals: what started as a personal project also grew into Electrification Academy, where we bring these insights into the bigger picture of batteries, recycling, and electrification at scale.

Would you like to support us and our vision?

If you’d like to support this journey, there are several ways to do so:

  • Join the community: Subscribe on YouTube, follow along on Instagram and TikTok.

  • Support directly: Contribute via Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee.

  • Collaborate: We welcome partners who want to contribute components (batteries, inverters, e-motors, controllers), engineering services, or advice. We’re also open to donations of used batteries, solar panels, and other components.

I’m deeply grateful for all the support we’ve received so far — it’s what makes this adventure possible.

A special thank you goes to RENEW Wisconsin and their EVs for Good program, which supported the purchase of our Jeep Wrangler.

Collaboration partners so far include: Hexagon MSC Software, National Instruments, Earl’s Battery Service, Great Lake Recycling, and Terraflex.

Project Video Playlist

We’ve documented the Jeep Wrangler EV conversion in a YouTube video series, sharing each step of the journey — from the first ideas and design decisions to sourcing parts and tackling hands-on challenges.

Many viewers have called it one of the most thoroughly researched EV conversions they’ve come across. For us, it’s simply about making the process transparent, accessible, and inspiring — whether you’re a DIY enthusiast, curious about EVs, or just love the idea of giving a classic Jeep a new electric life.

👉 Watch the full playlist on YouTube

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Better Batteries with Adaptive Charging: The Iontra Technology Deep Dive

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CES 2026: The Consumer “Everything” Show – Battery Edition

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September 13, 2025

ICBR 2025 in Valencia: THE Battery Recycling Conference

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June 10, 2025

The Battery Industry in Europe: EV Batteries, Recycling, and Circular Economy Trends

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May 20, 2025

Speaking at Aurelia Academy – Female Leadership in the E-Mobility Industry

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February 20, 2025

How AI is Transforming Automotive Battery Management Systems

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Launching Electrification Academy: My Why

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Project Documentation

Lessons Learned: EV Conversion
January 23th, 2025
This update goes deep into the technical side of our journey so far. We take a hard look at what has gone right, what hasn’t, and what two people in a garage can realistically achieve in a DIY EV conversion. From design challenges to safety measures, we share the lessons we’ve learned — and the steps we need to take to finally bring this Jeep project to completion.

Watch Video
Back with Big News
December 20th, 2024
After quite a pause, we’re finally back with an update! The Jeep project slowed down during pregnancy and the first year with our little one here in Wisconsin — life simply took priority. But now, two years later, we’re excited to share that we’ve found new partners to help us take this project to the next level. Big changes are coming, and we’re ready to get the Jeep back on track!

Watch Video
Battery REDESIGN
December 3rd, 2022
Our front battery box with BMS, high voltage contactors and thermal management is assembled and DONE – NOPE, we actually decided that we will will redesign the entire battery and thermal system. Our current battery design worked well in theory and in the simulation world, but there were certain safety constraints during assembly that we cannot neglect. We also decided to place the battery box in a lower position in the “engine compartment” and completely changed our idea of how to cool and heat the batteries. But sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward. More on this soon – stay tuned!

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We are at SEMA with the JEEP!
November 2nd, 2022
Last month we worked hard to prepare for SEMA Electrified! Yes, we were invited to come to the biggest car show in Las Vegas – what an adventure. We cleaned the Jeep, mounted the front battery box as well as two rear battery modules, setup a basic thermal management solution with two radiators in the front, installed the dash,  – hey, it looks like a real JEEP again. All the major components are installed and the show was a huge success. We’ve had incredible feedback from garages looking to offer our rebuild, as well as from Stellantis themselves, who were extremely impressed with the project! Now, let’s go home and finish up this project, wohoo!

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Front Battery ASSEMBLY
October 20th, 2022
We are assembling our front battery box, which consists of 4 homemade 70V battery modules connected in series – two layers stacked between a cooling/heating plate with copper pipes for active liquid cooling. We built a battery box out of aluminum plates and sprayed the whole thing “frog green.” It looks promising, but we are definitely having problems with the bus bar connections and fitting it into the box. Everything is extremely tight – probably too tight! We have the mounts ready in the Jeep, and we’ll be able to put everything in, but it doesn’t feel perfect. We are pretty stressed and not 100% happy with the current status.

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Cleaning, Spraying, Upgrades
October 20th, 2022
Since we almost completely disassembled the Jeep for this rebuild, it’s time to clean it up and make it beautiful again. We sprayed it with a black bedliner, upgraded the suspension, brakes and tires thanks to a generous donation from Terraflex, reinstalled the dash, seats, cover…. it’s starting to look like a real Jeep again and it feels great. I am extremely excited.

Watch Video
Acceleration, Braking, Steering
October 12th, 2022
When you remove the engine from a gas-powered Jeep you find certain functions like power steering and power brakes don’t work the way they used to. What to do in an EV conversion? Yes, you make a Frankenstein: electric power steering from a Volvo, brake booster from a Tesla and “electron” pedal from a Nissan Leaf. Super interesting to figure out all the electrical wiring. It feels like a detective investigating all the colorful wire connections and reverse engineering their functions. Also, I soldered for the first time in my life and it was fun! Connecting everything with our control system from AEM Performance Electronics. Watch the video here.

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MOTOR is IN
September 14th, 2022
Huge milestone achieved! We installed the electric motor, the inverter, the stock transfer case and the stock driveshafts. Watch video here. We needed to make a hole into the chassis, but hey transparent technology is the best technology. We are very thankful for our partnership with Darin from Performance Off-Road WI. He is an amazing fabricator and great support for this project. By the way, we are a bit stressed because we are invited to the SEMA show in Las Vegas! We have a little more than one month to finish this Jeep haha.

Watch Video
WIRING, CAN Communication
August 31st, 2022
We figure out the entire vehicle communication! We chose CAN communication to make the electric components that we added in this conversion talk to each other to enable safe and efficient operation. We are setting up the entire wiring system starting with the AEM VCU300 and two main CAN lines to the Keypad, the Battery Management System, Inverter, On-Board Charger and Displays. Watch video here. 

Watch Video
First BATTERY Prototype
August 24th, 2022
We built our first battery module from scrapped Mustang Mach-E batteries. Wow, that was a lot of effort. Disassembling the battery modules into individual cell slices and reconfiguring them into new modules with different electrical connection. With out method we could double the battery voltage from stock 30V up to 60V. With that we can get to a 400V battery system with only 7 modules as compared to the 12 modules found in a Mustang Mach-E. Watch video here. 

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DASHBOARD Considerations
August 5th, 2022
Wow, it seems like so long ago that we took the Jeep apart. Now we are trying to find all the parts again – they are scattered in different rooms of our house. The hood, the doors, the cover, the tires, but also all the interior parts from the seats to the steering wheel to the dashboard. We are brainstorming about different options on how to integrate the new parts of the front console, like the keyboard to switch between drive, park and reverse or the dashboard that will show us signals such as battery temperature or voltages. We want the Jeep to look as traditional as possible but we also tend to integrate some fun and fancy features – no conclusion yet.

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MOVING to a bigger WORKSHOP
July 28th, 2022
Our Jeep was transferred to a larger workshop! There was just not enough space any more in our garage. We now started to set up a battery lab in our garage. We are testing all cells that we got from scrapped module and reassemble the good ones into our final Jeep modules. We started a collaboration with Darin from Performance Off-Road in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Together we will finish this conversion pretty soon! He is the Jeep expert and knows if we need to update suspension or drive shafts. We are very happy to have him part of the Gilmore Girls EV Jeep Team now.

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CAD and SIMULATION
July 13th, 2022
How hot do batteries get? Do we need to cool them? What are the options for the electric powertrain? Do my components fit? How far can I go? We have done quite a bit of simulation and design work for this project with MATLAB, Solidworks and CFD Cradle. Space Claim Analysis – Options for our electric powertrain – Where do all components go? Reusing and reconfiguring battery modules, thermal management, how hot do batteries get? What’s the electric driving range? Apply real-world driving scenarios to see how far you can go on one charge.  
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REUSING Batteries
July 5th, 2022
REUSING batteries in their second life? Hmm..good in theory, but not as easy as I learned hands-on in our Jeep conversion project. Batteries that are designed not to be taken apart can be difficult to take apart. We finally found a procedure that works for us – Cutting busbars with the Dremel, melting plastic with a ultrasonic knife, monitoring battery temperatures with an IR camera. We are now reassembling our “battery slices” into new modules with different form factor and electrical connections, so we can make our custom 60kWh and 400V battery system for our Jeep.

Watch Video
ELECTRIC POWERTRAIN
June 29th, 2022
Wohooo – We have all our high voltage components ready to get installed in the Jeep. This project is getting real now! Batteries are LG Chem pouch cell modules from scrapped cars that we will reassemble for our needs. Electric motor, inverter and on-board charger are from Cascadia Motion. BMS and VCU are from AEM EV. Thermal management concept is still under evaluation.

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Computer Aided Design CAD
June 26th, 2022
We are very busy on the design and simulation side. We have a good concept ready but now we really take some time to understand the details of our battery cooling concept, thermal management, electrical HV and LV system. We are simulating our battery module and cooling plate together with the CFD team from Hexagon. We are running electric range calculations with MATLAB and investigate different concepts with Solidworks.

Watch Video
Electric MOTOR arrived
June 24th, 2022
FINALLY – Our Electric Motor, Inverter and On-Board Charger arrived! We have been waiting for those for several months now. We had visited Cascadia Motion back in May and now we have the whole electric powertrain sitting in our garage. Let’s see how everything goes together!

Watch Video
AEM Battery Management System
April 5th, 2022
We received our Battery Management System BMS, Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) and other conversion parts from AEM. Thank you AEM for supporting this conversion project. And for sending me a T-shirt in my size!

Watch Video
REUSING old batteries
March 28th, 2022

We got USED batteries from scrapped cars for our EV conversion. They are LG Chem pouch cell modules. We are doing first voltage checks and prepare them for disassembly and integration into our Jeep. We store them safely in a remote location until we need them. 

Our Garage STUDIO
March 12th, 2022

We are getting very CREATIVE with our lights in the garage. Filming and document is so much fun, but also a lot of work. I really enjoy this project and learn so much. People and companies are starting to reach out to get help with their conversions. Should we form another company to offer electric Jeep conversions? 

3D PRINTING
March 11th, 2022

We ordered E-motor, inverter and on-board charger for our conversion. Did lots of calculations for different powertrain options and made our decision. It will be a very powerful electric Jeep! 

LASER SCANNING
February 10th, 2022
We are so thankful that our friends and Jeep fanatics from Hexagon came to our garage and laser scanned the Jeep engine bay, frame, battery modules, transfer case, etc. to create a 3D CAD  model for us. Using this model, we will design the brackets for the e-motor, the inverter, and the batteries and place everything in the right spots.

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Having Fun
January 1st, 2022

I am now sitting where the electric motor and some of the batteries will be living. Still have lots of components like the air conditioner to remove and the huge effort to clean this beast before the new powertrain arrives. Helper Donnie will have a lot of fun cleaning. Also removed the fuel tank today. Stinky! 

Engine Gone
December 31st, 2021
On the last day of the year, we reached a huge milestone. We pulled the engine and removed the transmission. It took longer than expected but worked out pretty well. It is crazy to lift this big heavy lump of iron! Lot’s of learnings for me.

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Gutting the Jeep
December 30th, 2021

 After a dirty day, we removed a lot of accessories from the engine like the power steering pump, A/C compressor, alternator and lots of hoses. We also started to take apart the inside of the car and found lots of nice surprises. Maybe a squirrel or two were living inside this thing one time. 

Getting HANDS-ON
December 29th, 2021

The ICE powertrain removal begins…

As you know, I have a PhD in Technical Physics and a strong background in EV batteries, but I have basically never turned a wrench on a real car, so that is really an adventure for me.  First steps are draining the oil and coolant and removing the radiator. It is fun! 

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