According to posts on EV forum Endless Sphere, Sansome's CRX EV build started in late 2011 with the acquisition of a ragged 1988 CRX and a Nissan Leaf powertrain, complete minus its battery. While dropping this drivetrain in would've been the simple way to electrify the CRX, Sansome wanted his Honda to have Tesla-tier acceleration, meaning much of the Leaf's economy-car hardware wasn't up for the job. Just a few months in, the Canadian committed to developing a custom controller for his car, an undertaking which his YouTube comments describe as taking multiple years and "tens of thousands of [Canadian] dollars."