Here are 6 amazing EV retrofitted stories that you would love to read this weekend 

In 2019, the Hyderabad based E-Trio became the first company of India to get Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) approval for retrofitting the car kits for Maruti Alto and Wagon R. It is the first retrofit company in India. Likewise in this article, you will be able to read about 6 amazing EV retrofitted stories from India. 

EV retrofitted stories

NMAMIT, Nitte converted petrol car to electric

The department of electrical and electronics engineering, NMAM Institute of Technology, Nitte, Karnataka has transformed a petrol engine car into a zero-emission, energy-efficient and eco-friendly electric vehicle. As electric vehicles are in high demand and its growth is increasing every day. The NMAMIT has taken this initiative project by converting an ICE vehicle into electric.

The project mentor, Suryanarayana K said that power electronic converters designed and by the team successfully drives the electric motor and charge the battery array of the vehicle. Recently the NMAMIT principal, Niranjan N Chiplunkar launched this electric car at the premises and appreciated the efforts of the team.

Suryanarayana explained that the microcontroller unit designed and developed in the Research and Innovation Centre of the institute controls the electric vehicle with Semikron power electronic stack, an array of 25 batteries of 12V, 45Ah each. It has a three-phase 7.5HP induction motor.

The team has not only developed a microcontroller system with algorithms and required controls but also has designed a battery charging circuitry. The team has continuously worked for nine months for converting the engineering theory into the practise which has given the successful results. The electric car gets a speed of 50 kmph and it provides the estimated range of 80 km on a single charge.

TATA Nano converted to electric by Mysuru college students

The students of Mechanical Engineering, Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE) from Mysuru have developed a new electric car. They have converted an old ICE car to electric car.

The students say that “In the present day, air pollution is a major peril on human health. The foremost part of the air pollution is due to vehicles which run on power generated by Internal Combustion (IC) engines, namely petrol and diesel engines. The Government of India has taken a bold step to curb air pollution caused by vehicles. The alternatives for internal combustion vehicles are EVs.”

To support the government’s aim the students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed an electric car as their final year project “the conversion of IC engine car into an electric car.

The students call the team as a team of E-ight (E- Electric vehicle i-is g-good for ht-health). The team E-ight included Bharath Y. Kashyap and R.V. Sheshank (Team Leaders), Vishnu Appaiah, Chidananda A. Kashyap, K. Guruprasad, R. Punith, Dadabash Soudagar and R. Pratheek. They were guided by Dr G.B. Krishnappa, Dean (Research and Development), L.J. Sudev, Professor and Dean (Training and Placement) and D.S. Rakshith Gowda, Assistant Professor.

The team bought a second hand TATA Nano car from Tata motors for Rs.41,500 and converted it into an electric car by spending Rs. 96,658 including electric motor, batteries, controller, accessories and labour cost.

EVs startup of the week-E-Trio Automobiles

While looking at its technical terms, according to the students the converted electric Nano will provide a range of 40 km on a single charge and to charge it fully it will take 6 hours 36 minutes of time. The running cost of the car is the 1 rupee 15 paise per kilometre when it is driven at a maximum speed of 45 to 50 km. It will be 35 km (four members) and the running cost per km will be 1 rupee 32 two paise at a maximum speed of 35 to 40 km.

As the government-backed Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) has issued tenders for 20,000 EVs to deploy all over India. It aims an EV sales s penetration of 30 per cent or private cars, 70 per cent for commercial cars, 40 per cent for buses and 80 per cent for two-and three-wheelers by 2030.

Honda Activa converted into electric scooter ranges 45km

A Pune based EV specialist Hemank Dabhade converted a Honda Activa scooter into an electric scooter which gives a range of 45 km. As electric vehicles are very popular in India and its quite popular in the EV industry too. Currently in India, we have electric scooters from popular brands such as Ather Energy, Bajaj Auto, Hero Electric, TVS, etc.

Hemank Dabhade believes that electric powertrains have got immense potential when compared to petrol or a diesel vehicle.Hemank has developed an e-scooter over a first-generation Honda Activa. He while converting this scooter, completely focused on its internals and some of the ICE mechanicals were retained in the conversion. The CVT system is taken from the donor albeit tweaked.

Specifications 

The retrofitted scooter is equipped with a 1kW (1.34bhp) BLDC motor coupled to a 1.44kWh lithium-ion battery pack. It can give a top speed of 65 kmph. On a full charge, it can give 45 km on a single riding and with a pillion, it can give 35 km. It can be charged with a regular wall charger which will take time around 4 to 4.5 hours. The battery is placed under the seat storage compartment and Hemank wants to move it to footboard in his next electric scooter.

Hyderabad youngster converted a Moped into a hybrid bike

A Hyderabad based youngster Ch.Ramya Priya. She has innovated with a moped and converted it into a hybrid bike which runs on both petrol and also on battery. She loves the wheels whether it is a bike, bicycle or a car. She loves to work on them and loves to add new features, altering and adding an eco-friendliness to them.

This youngster is a Secunderabad resident and spent years learning about vehicles and their modification. With her gained knowledge, she modified a 1994 model TVS XL by wrapping, changing its exterior fittings, seat and equipping it with a motor which is suitable for both fuel and battery.

Ramya innovated a TVS moped which has been taken a new shape and motor as it is converted into a hybrid machine in just seven days. If we talk about its specifications it can provide a range of 50 km on charging it for three-hours she says.

This is not the first innovation of Ramya last year also she made an electric pedal bike and that too in just three days. “It is a bike and when it runs out of charge, it can be pedalled like a bicycle,” she added.

A man converted his second-hand Maruti van into a solar-powered vehicle

Dilip Chitre from Nagpur converted his second-hand Maruti van into a solar-powered vehicle last year. It took 25 years for him to attain perfection in his innovation. His electric vehicle has so far covered a distance of 3,500 kilometres without any jolts and hurdles.

Every day he uses to cover approximately 25 kilometres by driving it from his house to the school. It requires no additional maintenance and service. The only requirement of the car is sunlight for a smooth run. People park their cars in the shade, but he parks his solar car under the sun.

Specifications

He replaced the car’s engine with a 48-volt battery, a DC motor, gearbox, charge controller and an electronic accelerator. He installed a speed regulator in the car and also installed solar panels with a capacity of 400 watts on the roof of the car.

The battery stores the electricity generated from the solar panels and sends it to the motor. There the electrical energy gets converted into mechanical energy with the help of the gearbox. For charging the battery, he uses to recharge it only four times in eight months.

By seeing the success of the van, Chitre wishes to arrange the same system in school buses and rickshaws. But due to financial constraints, he is unable to do that now.

Scrapped Yamaha FZ bike turned into electric in just 98k

A team of six final-year engineering college students of Thiagarajar Polytechnic College, Salem in Tamil Nadu.

The team of six final year students Elavarassan, Abinash, Ahmed Taufeeq, Balachandran, Chandradevan and Jagadeeswaran made an electric bike using a scrapped Yamaha FZ as a donor bike that was purchased for just Rs 10,000. Then the bike was converted into an all-electric motorcycle.

Specifications

The team named it as ‘Fuerza’, which means strength or force. The bike can give a maximum range of 80 km on a single charge, at present it gives a top speed of 40 kmph.

It is equipped with a lithium-ion battery which can be charged with a regular home socket as well, using a 15 amp input, the battery can be charged up to 3.5 hours. If it is charged with a 5 amp or 10 amp socket, the charging time would be approximately 4 hours. Its 48v lithium-ion battery is fixed which is sourced from Green Energy Solutions in Chennai. The battery powers a BLDC electric motor. To adjust the battery and motor on the bike the frame has been tweaked.

While looking into its features, the headlamp and the turn indicators have been taken from a Yamaha RX100. The team is working for the conversation from petrol-powered bike to electric bikes.

Cost of conversion

Coming to its cost for conversion is it took Rs 98,000 which includes the cost for purchasing the scrap bike along with all the testing and trial runs. The students say that if this bike goes for the production it will just cost them Rs 65,000 to Rs 70,000.

The team says that the battery can be charged from 0 to 100 per cent with the consumption of just 2 to 3 units of electricity. The cost to fully charge the battery is under Rs 20.

The Fuerza electric bike was showcased at India’s first new Clean and Intelligent Mobility Mission Festival 2019-2020 that was organised under All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the bike was awarded the first prize with a cash reward of Rs 50,000.

Not only Chitre, but many people are striving hard towards pollution-free vehicles. But many of these experiments fail to see the light of the world due to lack of resources and support. We hope the government and organizations working in the field will come forward and support such innovative ideas which will, in turn, help the nation. Have you also ever taught to convert your vehicle into an electric or converted one?  

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