Mehran converted to Full electric in Pakistan

Technology General Tech
#1

Dear all,

Posting this not for self-praise but to bring light to the fact that such work is possible in Pakistan. I have assembled and am currently using a fully battery electric vehicle (BEV) these days. Basically I converted a Mehran to a 26hp Electric car (similar power to the mehran). The car has a top speed of 75kmph and decent acceleration. Fuel consumption equivalence is about 70Km/liter (you can check out efficiency calculations on the website).

Feedback is welcome! The project has its dedicated blog:

http://www.elektraautomotive.com

The next project is a 80Hp Cultus / custom fiber body car WITH air-conditioning! That is destined to become my true daily driver. Keep watching!

#2

Awesome work!!!!! Keep it up, do you plan on introducing such systems in the market or are they purely for your own use??

And also, is this a private project? Without involvement form any 3rd party?

#3

Get a Solar powered roof for Cultus to power the AC only, like the upcoming model of Prius.

#4

Cool! But how much mileage does it do after a charge up and how long does it take to charge again?

#5

Answers to all the above questions:

1. This is a private project - funded from my own hard earned money

2. I am working on making it commercial but havent received good feedback yet - not enough to start something up. The best I can maybe do is sell converted vehicles as not many people are comfortable with spending 5-6 lakhs on a pakistani product. I dont know - I am working on a commercial plan - dont know what the correct timing is.

3. Total charging time is around 4-5 hours. Once charged the car should theoretically go 120km on my incoming batteries. Currently it only goes 30-35km on the Osaka IT 750s

#6

The idea was to produce a cost-effective electric alternative. Adding a solar powered roof would add roughly $5000+ to the cost for a 1Kw charge and is not ecnomically viable. My current setup can convert a mehran to electric for roughly PKR 400k (a 26hp version) and a cultus with lithium batteries in PKR 700k (with lithium batteries) for a 70Hp version (which would be more powerful than a vitz for the most part.) The cultus would be able to go (theoretically) 160+km on a single charge with battery life of 300,000km

#7

To be absolutely technically correct the exact consumption of the car is about 80Wh/Km in average driving. That basically boils down to roughly PKR 1 / km including charging losses.

#8

Which batteries do you plan to use? Personally, I would choose A123 batteries or else, higher C discharge rated lithium polymers. These batteries will be slightly expensive but they hold voltage well with high drain current. Their availability is also limited.

#9

Well done,

One of the biggest problem in BEV is the battery weight.

During my research phase of renewable fuels, I have realized, its best to use Fiber Glass body with reinforced steel structure. That will overall reduce the car weight.

I have been following this company for last 8 year France MDI AIR CAR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed-air_car

and

BYD China (battery & electric car)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_Company

A lot has been written about them on web and you will get alot of positive information.

For equal weight distribution of batteries, you should see VOLT battery layout.

These days, independent motor and seprate power to each wheel is quite popular, this concept is replacing the old joint power or front power concept in BEV.

Secondly, lets talk business now.

You have successfully done trial 1 of your prototype. Start looking for joint ventures for more investment pouring in for your experiments and future developments, it will put less burden on your pocket and the investor will get the profit share at the right time.

#10

Hope the media picks up on this!!!

#11

I am sorry man, I know you did a good job, but everything you are basing this on is theoretical data. I my self have been through research process. What you determine theoretically is not usually what you get practically, in fact if you do get it, you are damn lucky. The reason no body is putting their fate in your work is that they don't trust your abilities. You need to produce physical data to emphasize your research. What will be the actual mileage, the maintenance cost, the electrical cost per month, time it takes to do 60, you know there are many variables that you need to determine to support your work.

#12

@madskilled - there is no theoretical data! Did you check out the blog / site? The ONLY theoretical data is the range on the deep cycle batteries (that I have purchased and are in shipment). I am getting some true 6v deep cycles and based on EXISTING REAL data, they should extend the range to aboue 120km. THAT is the only theoretical part :)

#13

@Asad - you are right on about the battery weight. I actually am making TWO cars. The second one is a complete concept car made in a fiber body which shall resemble the cultus/vitz. I am going to be using awesome LiFePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries in that one. A123 is made for american pockets and is simply unaffordable for us 3rd world folks. Plus the 50C discharge rate is only useful in racecars like the Tesla. I am using chinese thundersky batteries. These are getting extremely popular in US DIY conversions:

http://www.elektraautomotive.com/?p=35

These batteries would weigh a total of 50Kg and privide 10Kwh of charge. That should be able to take me places! Also with a cost of roughly $0.4 per Kwh these are the cheapest and most durable Lithium batteries known to man.

TS cells have gotten over 3000 cycles in real world testing. This basically means that the cells are good for roughly 300,000km. The current 120v, 90Ah battery pack cost me roughly $4000 with a battery management system. A similar system from A123 would cost $15000

#14

[quote=", post:, topic:"]

they should extend the range to aboue 120km. THAT is the only theoretical part :)
[/quote]

And firstly you said there is no theoretical data ;) . Why don’t you change the “should” to “are” in the above quote by confirming it on a test run.

#15

^coz that would be incorrect grammar :P

#16

I will as soon as I get those batteries :) should be in a few weeks time hopefully.

#17

Great work! some time ago car conversions to bev came into my knowledge and i'm really impressed by your work! As we are are always present our views and only think about, but you are the one who did it.I think you should try reducing the weight of car body as it will also help increase the mileage.

The one of DIY projects, it maybe helpful to you:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build_your_own_Electric_Car/?ALLSTEPS

#18

@ahmsun - Thats the idea. The next project car is being built on a VW Chassis. Its going to be gearless with a Suzuki 4wd differential mounted in place of the VW's transaxle. The diff gears from a suzuki Pickup would be used as they give a great 5.7:1 ratio. A full fiberglass body and lithium batteries would be used for the project. This setup would be complete with air-conditioning! You should see updates in the next month or so on my blog

#19

Amazing! Simply amazing!

Though if you dont mind critisicm there are a couple of things!

You said cost-effective .... I dont think a conversion costing the same as the car is cost-effective. How much does the charge take in terms of cost of electricity ?

Secondly well, BEV isnt actually the future. Hydrogen is the future! But still ... doing this on your own is friggin a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

#20

Read up the fuel efficiency. The car costs around PKR 1 / km or 1.2/km to run. You can calculate yourself!. A CNG car is roughly 3.5-4/km and petrol is around 7-8. You also have to realize that these cars need ZERO maintenance (so no oil changes, filters, etc)

Hydrogren is the future in the next 100 years. BEV's are here now and is what the world is trying to make.