As Adam Roe sees it, the fates of the internal combustion engine and the older vehicles that rely on it for power are sealed. Collector cars will be parked for good, only driven “in rare displays of proud defiance.” And, in the process, we’ll lose something as a society. “Without them, our memories of who we were will fade,” he writes. “Our time will be forgotten or lost.” So to keep those memories alive, he decided to build the world’s first electrified Ford Bronco.

Launched last week, the Zero Labs Bronco follows the design of the first-generation U-150 Bronco wagon, the Jeep-like SUV that Ford described as “a new kind of sports car with four-wheel drive.” Roe, who started Los Angeles-based Zero Labs in 2015 “to provide car lovers both the spirit of the past and a clean energy future but in today’s standards,” noted that he chose the Bronco for a couple different reasons, but primarily because he already owned a 1970 Bronco that he found difficult to drive on a regular basis due to its unreliability.

Keeping a legacy alive via electric powertrain.