The Electric Samurai: Nice Car’s Vision for Sustainable Classic Vehicles

Nice Car’s Electric Suzuki Samurai 

In a world desperately in need of sustainable practices, Nice (No Internal Combustion Engine) Car is driving innovation in electric vehicles (EV) and environmental spaces. Founded by Lauryn Morris, Nice Car aims to tackle two monumental challenges—climate urgency and the wastefulness of a throwaway culture. By focusing on converting older internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric, Nice hopes to breathe new life into classic cars while contributing to a more circular, sustainable economy.

At the heart of Nice’s mission is the belief that the cars we already love can—and should—be saved from obsolescence. Instead of replacing them with shiny new models, Nice envisions a future where iconic vehicles are retrofitted with electric drivetrains, keeping them on the road longer while reducing our collective carbon footprint. This philosophy is central to its  work, exemplified in its  latest project: the electric conversion of a 1987 Suzuki Samurai.

A Vision Rooted in Sustainability

Lauryn Morris, a product designer with over two decades of experience, founded Nice with a simple yet ambitious goal—disrupt the linear economy that encourages us to buy new and discard the old. “I spent time reflecting on mass production and consumerism,” she explains. “I wanted to dedicate myself to challenging the status quo of production and realized there was an opportunity to breathe new life into old things at scale.”

This attention to detail ensures that the converted Samurai retains its nostalgic appeal, while also embracing its new electric identity.

This mindset aligns with the urgency surrounding climate change. The concentration of greenhouse gasses, particularly carbon dioxide, is directly linked to rising global temperatures. The impacts of a 1.1-degree increase since pre-industrial times are evident in today’s extreme weather events—heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. To prevent warming beyond 1.5°C, global emissions must be reduced by at least 7.6% annually through 2030.

“There’s a shrinking window of time that we have to make really significant changes in the way that we use fossil fuels to slow the speed of climate change that results in biodiversity loss. ” says Morris. This is where Nice’s approach comes in—offering EV conversions as a quick and practical response to the climate crisis.

The urgency behind this mission echoes the words of Dr. Jonathan Foley from Project Drawdown: “Time is the critical factor in climate change, biodiversity loss, and the erosion of natural resources. In a race to avoid planetary calamities, now is better than new. Solutions do not need to be systems-level, broad, expensive, or idealistic. They must be granular, targeted, cheap, and ready-to-go.” Nice Car’s EV conversions embody this philosophy, providing immediate, tangible action toward reducing emissions.

Why the Suzuki Samurai?

The choice of the Suzuki Samurai for this first public-facing conversion wasn’t just a matter of aesthetics—though it’s hard to deny the vehicle’s charming 1980s design. A compact, lightweight SUV, the Samurai is a great candidate for an electric conversion due to its relatively simple mechanical setup and availability. Beyond its nostalgic appeal, the Samurai is a practical option. “We thought about curb weight, available space to put components, what has personality, and then what’s plentiful,” Morris explains. “The Suzuki Samurai came up.”

Nice Car aims to tackle two monumental challenges—climate urgency and the wastefulness of a throwaway culture.

As it turns out Sarah Lyon, the lead mechanic on the project already had an affinity for the Suzuki Samurai. “They were very cute cars already, seemed mechanically simple, and there’s a great community around the Samurai,” Lyon reflects. With a background in both photography and auto repair, Lyon has been instrumental in turning the conversion dream into reality.

The Conversion Process

With the Suzuki Samurai selected as the donor vehicle it was time to strip it down and rebuild it with an EV conversion kit sourced from Legacy EV. The kit includes Netgain HyPer9 boasting 127hp and 173 ft-lbs of torque, 5x 5.2kWh Tesla modules, a manual transmission adapter plate, Dilithium Designs controls, and two Thunderstruck TSM2500 onboard chargers.

Before jumping into the project, Lyons built the whole system on a bench to understand how the system worked. This approach allowed her to test the components individually and understand how they would fit together inside the vehicle.

One key decision was to avoid placing battery modules in the engine bay. Instead, Nice Car wanted to keep that area accessible for educational purposes. “When you open the hood, you can see all the major parts—the dual chargers, the controller, the contactor box, the radiator. It’s an educational thing in a way and it takes away some of the mystery” Lyon says. “Making it as simple and not intimidating as possible was one of our goals,” Morris adds.

The process wasn’t without its challenges, of course. Fitting everything into the compact Samurai required some creative engineering. “It’s about making sure everything works together when the components are from different manufacturers,” Lyon explains. But through collaboration with other EV experts and a tight-knit community of enthusiasts, Nice Car overcame these obstacles, creating a well-organized system that could be replicated for future conversions.

As the project reached completion, local artist Brett McAfee stepped in to handle the vehicle wrap, fabrication, and light restoration, helping to meet the aesthetic goals under a tight timeline. Instead of opting for a full paint job, the team chose a vehicle wrap that closely matched the Samurai’s original color and design, even down to the custom pinstriping. This meticulous attention to detail ensured the converted Samurai maintained its nostalgic charm while embracing its new electric identity.

Building for the Future

While the Suzuki Samurai is Nice Car’s first public-facing EV conversion, it’s only the beginning. “We would like to serve an audience that doesn’t have as much money to spend, or aren’t gearheads,” Morris shares. “It’s more about preserving vehicles, leveraging nostalgia, making them more efficient and providing cooler EV options.”

Nice is part of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), a program that supports startups in the clean energy and sustainable mobility sectors. Through LACI, Nice Car has access to mentorship, grant opportunities, and business resources that will help them scale their operations. They are starting with a small batch of Samurais for early adopters, but soon plan to refine the process and move on to other models.

While their current focus is on vehicle conversions as a service, the long-term vision is even more ambitious. “I think it would be incredible if automakers started recalling their old cars to retrofit and reissue them,” Morris says. “It’s about creating a circular economy where manufacturers take responsibility for the end of life of their products.”

In the meantime, Nice Car is focused on perfecting their process, streamlining their supply chain, and making EV conversions as accessible as possible. “Under the hood we are looking at shifting mindsets and teaching regenerative design,” Morris says. “We want to empower people to find joy in using beautiful old things and make it as appealing and accessible as possible.”

By efficiently transforming beloved classics into electric vehicles, Nice Car is not only reducing emissions but also challenging the throwaway culture that dominates modern consumerism. Their innovative approach, demonstrated through the careful engineering and thoughtful design of the Suzuki Samurai project, points to a future where the cars we treasure can live on in an electric age. As they scale and refine their processes, Nice Car is paving the way for a more sustainable, circular economy— through batches of converted vintage vehicles.

Follow along with Nice and their mission on Instagram at @hi.nice.car or via its  website at www.nice.car. Nice is  actively recruiting for upcoming cohorts, including the Suzuki Samurai and more, and would love to hear which model you’d like to see tackled next.