Thread: Electric Cars in India

For about 6 months now I have been toying with the idea of converting

a car to full plug in electric for personal use.The commercially available


Reva was a huge disappointment when i test drove it..and an immediate NO.




I have tried Electric two wheelers and while they are good for senior citizens, kids and women

as neighborhood vehicles..they can be awfully risky on main roads full of vehciles

of all shapes and sizes.Besides they lack the wizz of a good bike and I need that.



That led me to start researching DIY conversion project for my own little EV car.

I studied and studied and talked to a lot of people online.6 months of work has borne fruit

and coming 8th or 9th sept ..my team has informed me that the physical work will be over and i can drive out my

new car


This is a 2007 Maruti Suzuki Estilo and the specs are as follows


Charging time on 220 V ,15 A mains 6 to 8 hrs


Peak speed in test arena 102 kmph


run size per full charge 70 to 80 kms



the battery pack charges to 80% capacity in abt 2 hrs



the car carries a Brushless DC motor rated at 48 V 110 Ah


Does not have an AC as of date


Cost: the actual conversion has cost me abt 3.6 lacs

..so if u get a good car chassis for abt 1 lacs


the car could cost u less than 5 lacs.



That has also led me to talk to a few banks and a US based research company

for toying with the idea of a small company which can convert cars for me commercially



i am really excited abt that idea coz potentially the market for such a product is mind bogglingly

huge here.it could be a million vehciles a month...and the Nanos of the world will beg to


find a buyer in that case!



My US partner has informed me that they have already started a unit there

and will be happy to do it here too..if funding can be arranged.


Banks can be a tricky issue..but i am still very very hopeful . ne VCs can contact me at atul292 at gmail dot com



lets see how that goes.

Hi,

Electric cars are hundred emission free in the industry, they are known as zero emission vehicles. Because they do not burn gasoline or diesel fuel, polluting exhaust is not poured out into our air and heat does not get radiated from the engine.

There is a however the question of the Lead/Acid batteries (however maintenance free). An electric car has a battery bank. In about 3~4 years (maybe longer) the bank will need replacement. So these old batteries, unless cleanly recycled, will add to environment pollution.

But it is agreed that electric cars are far less polluting.

The ideal solution is of course mass rapid transit systems such as overground or underground (electric) trains, electric trams, etc.

Originally Posted by just4kix

There is a however the question of the Lead/Acid batteries (however maintenance free). An electric car has a battery bank. In about 3~4 years (maybe longer) the bank will need replacement. So these old batteries, unless cleanly recycled, will add to environment pollution.

But it is agreed that electric cars are far less polluting.

The ideal solution is of course mass rapid transit systems such as overground or underground (electric) trains, electric trams, etc.

j4k is right.the bateries have to be replaced in 3-4 years.
but thats also true that these are less polluting.