High School Students EV Swapped a Daihatsu Hijet and Made It Look Like a Giant Power Tool

TL;DR: Ron "Mr. G" Grosinger, a high school auto shop teacher, led his students through an EV conversion of a 1999 Daihatsu Hijet using a NetGain Hyper 9 electric motor (127 HP, 173 lb ft of torque) and five salvaged Tesla battery modules. The custom adapter plate cost under $150, the electronics are deliberately exposed for educational purposes, and the bed features a giant foam sculpture shaped like a cordless drill battery hiding the real power underneath. It is creative, educational, and a testament to what kei trucks can become with some imagination and a welding shop.

Somewhere in America, a group of teenagers just built a better electric truck than most startups could manage with venture capital. Their canvas: a 1999 Daihatsu Hijet, a kei truck that rolled off the line in Japan with a 660cc three cylinder making a modest 40 horsepower. Their upgrade: a NetGain Hyper 9 electric motor that more than triples that output to 127 HP and 173 lb ft of torque, powered by salvaged Tesla battery modules and connected to the stock five speed manual transmission through a custom adapter plate that cost less than a decent set of tires. The fact that the whole thing looks like a giant cordless drill on wheels is honestly just bonus points.

The Build That Teaches Itself

Ron Grosinger, known as Mr. G to his students, runs a high school auto shop and welding program that is doing something most automotive education programs have not caught up to yet: teaching EV technology through hands on builds. The platform he chose for this project was a Hijet with a five speed manual and a transfer case for four wheel drive. It is the kind of truck you can find through Duncan Imports or Japanese Classics for well under $10,000, and its mechanical simplicity makes it an ideal teaching platform.

The conversion centers on the NetGain Hyper 9, an AC motor that operates at 100V nominal, draws up to 750 amps, and weighs roughly 120 pounds. It fits in the original engine bay under the cab, a space that was designed for a motor about one third as powerful. The mating to the stock transmission required a custom adapter plate fabricated from plate steel. Mr. G had his students cut and machine it themselves for under $150 in materials. Compare that to the $2,000 to $5,000 that commercial adapter plates often cost for EV swaps, and you start to see why this project resonates. The approach mirrors what Hagerty has documented in the broader vintage EV conversion movement: keeping costs sane by fabricating instead of buying off the shelf.

One deliberate design choice sets this build apart from most conversions: all the electronics are left exposed. Wiring, controllers, and connections are visible and accessible. This is not laziness. It is a curriculum. Students can trace every circuit, troubleshoot problems by sight, and understand how electrons flow from battery to motor to wheels. It is the automotive equivalent of a transparent watch case.

Five Tesla Modules and a Foam Sculptor

The power comes from five salvaged Tesla battery modules mounted in the truck bed. Tesla modules have become the go to energy source for DIY EV conversions because they are energy dense, widely available from salvage operations, and well documented by the community on forums like DIY Electric Car. The forums on r/keitruck have tracked several similar builds using Tesla modules, though few with this level of polish.

The showpiece is what sits on top: a massive urethane foam sculpture shaped and painted to look like a cordless drill battery, complete with "125V, 500 Ah, 52 kWh" markings. A foam sculptor friend of Mr. G carved it with a knife and painted it to match the industrial aesthetic. The sculpture slides on unistrut trolleys, so you can roll it back to reveal the actual Tesla modules underneath. The fold down sides of the Hijet's bed provide access to everything else. It is playful, ridiculous, and the kind of personality that makes people stop and ask questions, which is exactly the point when your goal is getting teenagers excited about electrical engineering.

Why Kei Trucks Keep Getting EV Swapped

This Hijet build joins a growing list of kei truck EV conversions. The BigTime crew turned a 1997 Subaru Sambar into a 120 HP electric with a similar Hyper 9 setup and 32.9 kWh battery pack. Andy Didorosi's Sendpai project shoved twin Tesla motors into a Suzuki Carry for a terrifying 550 HP. The pattern is clear, and the reasoning is simple.

Kei trucks are light. A Hijet weighs about 1,600 pounds, which means even a modest electric motor delivers performance that feels dramatically faster than the numbers suggest. They are mechanically simple, with straightforward ladder frames and basic drivetrains that make swaps approachable for people who are not professional fabricators. And critically, they are cheap. A running Hijet costs $5,500 to $10,000, per current listings on Goo-net Exchange and domestic importers. That leaves budget for the conversion itself.

Companies like CMVTE now sell complete kei truck EV conversion kits that include the motor, controller, wire harness, battery pack, charger, and BMS monitor. Their system targets Honda Actys, Suzuki Carrys, and Daihatsu Hijets specifically, with professional installations running two to six weeks. For the DIY crowd that sources their own parts, a Hyper 9 motor kit from Legacy EV or EVolve Electrics runs in the low thousands, and salvaged Tesla modules can be found for a few hundred dollars each through EV salvage operations. The total cost for a capable conversion sits somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000 depending on battery capacity and how much fabrication you do yourself.

If you are considering your own project, make sure you know the legality situation in your state before investing. Registration requirements for modified vehicles vary significantly, and some states that allow kei trucks on road have additional inspection requirements for EV conversions. Our pre-purchase checklist covers what to look for in a donor truck, and the off road mods guide has relevant information about lift kits and suspension upgrades that many EV builders combine with their swaps to clear larger battery packs.

The Bigger Picture

The fact that high school students built a 127 HP electric truck from a $150 adapter plate and salvaged batteries says something about where the kei truck hobby is heading. These vehicles were designed as affordable, practical tools in Japan's domestic market. That same DNA, the simplicity, the light weight, the no nonsense engineering, makes them ideal platforms for the kind of tinkering that used to be reserved for old Volkswagens and Miatas. The kei truck platform is becoming the new blank canvas for automotive education, creative builds, and affordable electrification.

Check our dealer directory if you are shopping for a Hijet donor truck, or browse the build spotlights to see what other owners are doing with their kei trucks. The EV conversion space is moving fast, and if a high school class can pull this off with salvage parts and a welding shop, your garage project just lost its best excuse.

[AFFILIATE: NetGain Hyper 9 motor kit, approximately $3,500-$4,500, Legacy EV or EVolve Electrics]

[AFFILIATE: 2-inch lift kit for Daihatsu Hijet, approximately $300-$500, Oiwa Garage or HRG Offroad]