There’s A Tesla Model 3 Performance Drivetrain Hiding Inside This Toyota Tacoma

Meet Tescoma. At first glance, it’s just a first-generation Toyota Tacoma pickup. Simple, American-built, dependable. But take a peek under the hood and you’ll be surprised to find that the gasoline engine that used to hum when the truck was new is nowhere to be found.

In its place, there’s some orange wiring and a big, shiny piece of metal that says “Tesla” on it. But it’s all silent. Walk a few feet toward the bed and you’ll also see that the thing isn’t exactly stock.

Cybertruck before it was cool?

The Tesla Cybertruck is still one of the most polarizing cars out there. But what if you want all the benefits of an electric powertrain but none of the attention that the Cybertruck gets? One way would be to get a 20-year-old truck and shove an EV powertrain in it.

This ladies and gentlemen, might just be the world’s first Toyota Tacoma with half of a Tesla Model 3 Performance drivetrain and a full battery swap. It’s the brainchild of Drewthecarguy over on the Tacoma World forums, who picked up a very well-taken-care-of two-wheel drive 2002 Tacoma and set out to build it into something special.

More EV Swaps

After using a Tesla Model 3 as a daily driver for a while, he said he got addicted to the instant torque of an EV, so the project was clear: convert the old Tacoma into a battery-powered pickup.

In keeping with the truck’s original setup, the mastermind who came up with the idea decided to fit just the rear electric motor from a used Tesla Model 3 Performance, a move that resulted in a power output of around 300 horsepower. As a reminder, the Model 3 Performance came with a dual-motor setup, but a front motor was not used for this build. The electric sedan was also built in the same California factory as the two-decade-old pickup, albeit under different owners and names.

The high-voltage battery that came out of another Tesla Model 3 was disassembled and the four modules were split: two between the chassis rails and two in the truck bed, under a custom-made enclosure.

The builder said in his posts that he decided to go with a Model 3 battery instead of anything else because he wanted to have around 200 miles of range when fully charged. The decision to keep all four