Neil Young has revealed that he’s currently converting his 1959 Lincoln Continental to operate on an electric battery.

The singer believes that the process, which has seen him team up with Jonathan Goodwin, a mechanic from Wichita, will force big companies to think seriously alternative fuels for motor cars.

"Jonathan and this car are going to make history," Young said, in an interview with The Wichita Eagle.

"We're going to change the world; we're going to create a car that will allow us to stop giving our wealth to other countries for petroleum."

Young has invested almost $120,000 into the project with Goodwin, who has developed a reputation for re-engineering big cars to get greater horsepower for less fuel.

The singer said that the project had made him realise that it’s not possible to change the world using songs.

"You know, I thought long ago you could change the world by writing songs," he said.

"But you can't change the world by writing songs. Oh, you can inspire a few people, get some of them to change their thinking about something.

"But you can't change the world by writing songs. But we could change it with this car."

(by Jason Gregory)