[Omkar]

Recent events have shown that the Government of India has been taking various measures to get the pollution levels in the country under control. According to media reports, the government has now allowed owners to convert their existing vehicles into electric hybrids.

The road transport and highways ministry is aiming to get BS-II and BS-III compliant vehicles converted into electric hybrids. The cost of these kits is expected to be just under Rs. 1 lakh and is expected to decrease when the demand increases. The government will be certifying manufacturers of hybrid electric kits like Bosch and Cummins to develop and provide hybrid kits for vehicles.

The road transport and highway ministry also plans to ask the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises to offer incentives to people who get their vehicles converted under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan. The aim of this plan is to achieve national fuel security by promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in the country.

Source: ET

[Bh.P]

I have always been wondering if this is possible, and if yes how efficient these would be.
And again, what actually are these hybrid systems going to do? Are they going to be quasi-hybrid like the mHAwk, SVHS etc., or true hybrids which run the car on electric power till the battery lasts and switches over to fuel after that. IF later, it would be a great help in reducing pollution in city since most daily rides would fit within a battery charge.

Edit:
I think it is more like the SVHS systems.
http://products.bosch-mobility-solut...d_systems.html

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by Bh.P

I have always been wondering if this is possible, and if yes how efficient these would be.

SVHS is pretty useless in a city such as Bangalore(most of indian cities are similar). I travel 50-60kms daily and the route taken is pretty much signal free(crawling) but has messy traffic due to cops managing manually. In such a scenario, SVHS or mHawk will hardly be of any help isnt it ?

[Rajiv0909]

Originally Posted by Bh.P

I have always been wondering if this is possible, and if yes how efficient these would be.

possible for sure, have seen some on Pune roads

http://www.kpit.com/Revolo/
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...echnology.html

[aim120]

Many people around the world ,including India have converted their vehicles to pure EV battery powered.
But for pure EV based ones ,its going to be hard to do that economically ,most of the cost is due to the batteries.

[GTO]

Not going to work, at least not until the kits are cheaper & provide significantly improved FE.

A related post from another thread:

Originally Posted by GTO

Such a product will be dead on arrival. There's no market for it. Instead, what the company should try doing is supplying it as an OEM to manufacturers, but then, manufacturers will squeeze them on the price.

No one is going to install it in the initial couple of years as it'll void the warranty. Effectively, Altigreen is targeting cars that are 4 - 5 years old.

Would anyone spend Rs. 60,000 on an old car, for a system that'll improve fuel economy by 1 - 2 km/l? I don't think so. First, there's the cost. Then, there's the challenge of reliability (product as well as installation).

How much is the replacement cost of a battery pack once it wears out? Surely won't be cheap.

That 55 kilo battery pack will eat up your boot space too.

Hybrids have a big future in India, but only when they're proper hybrids (the Toyota kind) and installed at the factory.

Originally Posted by aim120

Many people around the world ,including India have converted their vehicles to pure EV battery powered.

'Many' would be an exaggeration. I haven't seen a single conversion in India. Understand there are some shops in the USA providing such conversions; IMHO, if you want to buy an EV, buy one that's factory built. An aftermarket conversion can't match the factory version in terms of engineering depth, safety, reliability & efficiency.

[sgiitk]

Let me add another thing. If the batteries are Lead Acid then we are looking a replacement of the power pack after about three years. So unless you drive enough you may not recover the outlay.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by GTO

'Many' would be an exaggeration. I haven't seen a single conversion in India. Understand there are some shops in the USA providing such conversions; IMHO, if you want to buy an EV, buy one that's factory built. An aftermarket conversion can't match the factory version in terms of engineering depth, safety, reliability & efficiency.

Unfortunately, not all post them online or show it off publicly .Since any such modification might be illegal. I have seen lot of two wheelers converted but not much of cars.
Here is one such conversion. It's a Gypsy.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-NZApJYZng

[Mortis]

I would love to get my 5 year old petrol car converted to a hybrid. Unfortunately the only options are Revolo of which there has been no update for a couple of years and independent startup type companies where reliability/service may be an issue. I would also like a bit of improvement in driving pleasure and not just a km or two better mileage. A start-stop system doesnt interest me at all and seems annoying.

[sumeethaldankar]

Related topic. Startup claims to reduce your vehicle’s fuel consumption by 25%!

Altigreen Propulsion Labs, a start-up based out of Bangalore, has developed a low-cost technological solution that can essentially convert any existing fossil-fuel-based vehicle from bikes to trucks into their hybrid version, and in the process, improve the vehicle’s fuel efficiency.

What the HyPixi system essentially does is that it fixes the problem of the already existing millions of vehicles on the roads of the country. It costs between Rs 70,000-90,000, excluding state subsidies.

Source

The Product

[riteshritesh]

HyPixi looks promising. I wish them all the luck and I sincerely hope they succeed commercially in order to last for a very very long time (in India atleast).

I am not sure how they will survive, where OEM's already have hybrid variants, for e.g Japan.

[johannskaria]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not going to work, at least not until the kits are cheaper & provide significantly improved FE.

The government has already notified the draft rules, which is very proactive IMO.

[Guna]

https://auto.ndtv.com/news/governmen...ome-topstories
Government to allow after market hybrid and electric conversion.

[wanderernomad]

This could be a game changer and allow us to retain our older vehicles, which we are loathe to let go off due to various reasons.

[puntOOs]

This is very interesting..

I might retain my Punto 90HP for much longer if I can convert it to pure electric for city use.. are there any vendors already or in the pipeline?.. are such kits available overseas at reasonable costs?...