1987 Nissan Sunny Pickup Gets Heart Transplant from a Leaf EV for SEMA

• For the 2022 SEMA show, Nissan is presenting a 1987 Sunny pickup with an EV conversion done by Tommy Pike Customs.

• The Sunny now utilizes the 40-kWh battery and 147-hp electric motor from a Nissan Leaf.

• Completing the Leaf-powered Sunny's look are 17-inch Rotiform wheels, a widebody kit, and a livery inspired by 1970s Datsun race cars.

At last year's Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show, Ford revealed the F-100 Eluminator concept, a 1978 pickup retrofitted with two electric motors from the Mustang Mach-E GT that married old-school looks with 480 horsepower and 634 pound-feet of torque. For the 2022 edition of SEMA, Nissan follows a similar path, electrifying a classic truck design, albeit with much less power, by shoving a Nissan Leaf powertrain into a 1987 Sunny.

The truck, modified by South Carolina–based Tommy Pike Customs, uses a 40-kWh lithium-ion battery from a base Leaf S, paired with the single motor that's good for 147 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. That may not sound like a lot, but the Sunny is a small vehicle, and it has approximately twice as much power and three times as much torque as the car's original gas engine produced.