A startup’s Hoffman Badger turns Teslas into 11-seat minibuses and pickups

A small Wisconsin company showed a boxy electric vehicle called the Hoffman Badger at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas, built on parts from used Teslas and sold as anything from an 11-seat minibus to a pickup. The first example reached the show floor under its own power, driven from Wisconsin and charged on Superchargers along the way. Sales are expected to begin next year.

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Hoffman EV, the startup behind it, built its reputation converting old British cars to electric power, and the Badger moves that skill set to a very different customer. Instead of reviving a vintage roadster, the company starts with a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y donor and keeps most of what makes the donor work: the motors, seats, dashboard, steering wheel, door handles, and the hardware and software that run them.

A new chassis under a Model 3 or Model Y drivetrain

InsideEVs’ Iulian Dnistran reported that the Badger sits on a new chassis that lifts the high-voltage battery 1.5 inches and delivers 8 inches of ground clearance. Structure and body panels are powder-coated aluminum, and most of the new material is recycled, apart from a few small 3D-printed parts. Doors, roof and most seats are removable, which is how one platform can be arranged as a minibus, a pickup or something in between. The vehicle is titled as an 11-seat bus, according to the InsideEVs report.

The company’s own site describes Hoffman EV as a Madison, Wisconsin, converter of classic vehicles that lists Rolls-Royce and Bentley, DeLorean, air-cooled Volkswagen and Land Rover conversions, and sells an EV chassis. The Badger is not mentioned there, so the best account of the new model comes from the SEMA debut coverage and founder Geoffrey Hoffman’s remarks in the Out of Spec Review video that InsideEVs cites.

Kits, VINs and a 100-unit-a-year ceiling

Hoffman EV says it could build about 100 units a year, though details are not settled, and buyers would have two routes. One is a ready-made vehicle. The other is a kit that comes with a VIN, for which the customer must find a donor Model 3 or Model Y. That second path puts the sourcing burden on the buyer, since the donor car supplies the motors and electronics the Badger reuses, and the finished vehicle then carries its own VIN rather than the donor’s identity.

No range estimate has been given. Improved aerodynamics are planned for the first quarter of 2027, so the boxy shape is still a work in progress. The drive from Wisconsin to Las Vegas was the closest thing to a public endurance test the vehicle has had so far, and the Superchargers it relied on belong to the same brand whose cars supplied its parts.

Badger pricing against new vans

InsideEVs expects pricing to land between the Slate truck and the Tesla Cybertruck, a span it puts at $26,400 at the low end and as high as $77,000 if the base dual-motor Cybertruck is the upper target. That figure is the outlet’s estimate rather than a published Hoffman EV price list, and the company has not confirmed final numbers. The Slate comparison points to the Slate EV truck first drive that InsideEVs published earlier, the low reference point for the comparison.

Read at face value, the range implies a vehicle priced above the Slate truck but below Tesla’s own pickup, assembled around a car Tesla already sells. The base the Badger borrows from is covered in InsideEVs’ 2026 Model Y review. Nothing in the coverage says Tesla has any role in the project, so warranty terms, parts support and crash-test status are questions the startup would have to answer, and none of them has been addressed publicly in the material available so far.

Part of the appeal is what the donors cannot do on their own. Drivers who want seating for eleven or an open cargo bed cannot get either from a Model 3 or Model Y, which is the opening a conversion specialist is chasing with its removable doors, roof and seats. The reuse strategy also explains the odd mix of old and new: the interior and controls come from a mass-produced Tesla, while the frame, aluminum structure and body are new parts made for the Badger. How the ride, crash protection and range change with the taller battery and boxier body is the information a prospective buyer will want first, and the coverage does not supply it.

What decides whether the Badger becomes a product is mostly paperwork and money. Hoffman EV has not stated how it plans to certify a vehicle that is titled as a bus yet can be rearranged into other body styles, whether the 100-unit ceiling reflects demand or capacity, or when the first customer vehicle ships. InsideEVs says only that sales are expected next year, and the company has so far shown one example, the SEMA debut vehicle, rather than a production run. Until Hoffman EV publishes specifications, a price list and an order process, the Badger remains a prototype with a clear concept and a long list of unanswered practical questions for anyone thinking of buying one.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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