Garage 54 built an experimental assembly using 50 cordless drills to power a gutted, extended Lada. Hackaday reported that the drill assembly turned an output shaft, but connecting it to the car’s factory gearbox was still the next step. The report therefore documents an unusual motor experiment—not a completed, road-tested EV conversion.
How did Garage 54 build the drill motor?
In a report published January 1, 2025, Hackaday’s Donald Papp described a Garage 54 project that reused a frame design from an earlier Lada build, which had replaced the engine block with sixteen chainsaws. For this experiment, the Lada was gutted and extended, and the frame carried an assembly of 50 cordless drills. Hackaday’s report is the available account of the build; its details are secondary reporting, not an independently inspected build log.
From drill chucks to an output shaft
The build replaced each drill’s chuck with an aluminum pulley. Belts linked groups of drills to an output shaft, combining their rotation into a shared mechanical output.
Why bypass the drill controls?
Garage 54 first tried to synchronize the drills through their motor control boards. The report says the team then bypassed those controls and powered the motors directly from their batteries. It does not provide the electrical specifications needed to assess how the motors were wired or controlled.
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Did the Lada drive under drill power?
Not according to the reported milestone. Hackaday says the output shaft turned and torque was transferred; connecting that shaft to the factory gearbox was described as the next step. The account does not establish that the gearbox was connected, that the wheels turned, or that the car drove under its own power.
What is known—and what remains unknown?
The 50-drill count is the project’s one reported quantitative detail, not a measured performance result. Hackaday’s report does not state the Lada’s model year, drill brand or model, system voltage, battery capacity, output torque or power, speed, range, or efficiency. It also provides no road-test results, safety validation, or evidence of road approval or registration. Those figures and outcomes should be treated as unknown, not inferred from the number of drills.
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Is this a practical way to convert a car to electric?
The report supports treating the project as novelty engineering: it describes an unconventional drill-based motor assembly and an output shaft that turned, but not a finished vehicle conversion. Without documented electrical and mechanical specifications, gearbox integration, measured road performance, and approval status, the build cannot be assessed as a practical or road-usable EV conversion.
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