[turbowhistle]

Excellent job mate, eagerly waiting for the YouTube channel. Been following quite a few US channels which dabble into fixing vehicles and detailing but haven’t noticed any good channel on EV conversion. Would be treat for all the interested parties. Cheers!

[RahuKetu]

Awesome work Stuntfreak. I didn't come across something like this being done in our country. If we can purchase good second hand cars with seized engines at throwaway price and convert it to EV then cost will be same as that of conventional car? What do you think?

[JojyKerala]

stuntfreak, congratulations on your endeavours with EV conversion! The video is detailed and you've explained everything in a crisp manner.

Your Beat is the perfect example of how the conversion should be done. The finishing looks very good and is proof that work has been carried out meticulously.

Looking forward to your 800 conversion as well. May I ask which vehicle you have in mind for the 300 kms assured range car project?

[stuntfreak]

Originally Posted by TerraTrippers

Saw your article in the Team BHP's weekly digest and couldn't resist logging in to Congratulate you on the awesome feat achieved

Just seeking a clarity,

1) Whether 115 kms range is derived from single 15KW battery or both units put together.
2) Since you transform the vehicle transmission with your indigenous kits, how much time per vehicle would be involved.
3) Have you been able to put together the cost involved in transformation of one vehicle.
4) Are you using Lithium Ion batteries or any other

AIA, if the queries sound rudimentary compared to the sophisticated engineering marvel demonstrated by you.

Thank you So much for your appreciation.

1. 115 kms is achieved from my entire battery pack which consists of 16 Cells 250 AH

2. The time taken for conversion when we started a few years ago was 6-8 months. Today we convert cars within 6 weeks. We are trying to standardise things to bring it down to 8 hours eventually.

3. Yes costing is very dynamic as explained previously. Depending on your Range required, Acceleration, Speed and purpose, you can convert cars from as low as 4 lacs to 20-25 lacs. Totally depends on your purpose. The beat costed me 3.5 lacs to convert (Marerial Cost) Plus my labour not considered.

4. We are using Lithium Ferro Phosphate based chemistry. It’s much more safer.

No query is rudimentary. Knowledge is knowledge. Be it simple or complex. Together we can join forces to do something crazy.

Cheers brother.

Originally Posted by Jeep

What an effort and result...

Hope this can be done commercially at a large scale. Many of us would love to convert.

A silly question.. since the battery pack is under the seats.. what are the safety precautions for this set up

Hello Jeep. Thanks a lot. Yes it can be done commercially. Thanks for your good thoughts. We can make plug and play kits for interested people like yourself. But as of date I don’t have anything ready. We started this as a hobby and it has been a great adventure. I will consider your valuable inputs and see if it is commercially feasible. Since I am not a Business man. I cannot sell products. I am an Innovator and can make products. So I’ll see if it’s commercially feasible and get back to all of you 👍🏻

Battery being under the seat is safe because we are using LFP chemistry which are puncture safe.

Also every battery is interconnected using fuses. So in case of any short circuit or overload, the chain will break. Plus we have a battery management system to handle each and every cell.

But your point is valid, it can have dangerous consequences as a result of which all our future conversion are going to be with sealed battery packs outside the occupant compartment with even higher safety standards. We’re still in the learning phase. Hope you understand. Stay tuned for our next cars with better batteries.

Originally Posted by puntOOs

This is brilliant. I have been exploring the conversion of my 2011 Punto 90 HP mainly due to the damage fossil fuels cause to the environment.

I found a company called Altigreen researching this in Bangalore but they now do hybrids and not pure EVs yet.

I hope to do this in the next couple of years. Does anyone know if we can easily extend RTO renewals with no mileage restrictions beyond 15 years if we switch a car to EV?

Hello. Nice to have similar minded people on this forum. Converting your punto is a great idea. You should start off! Pls let me know if we can be of any help. We will be most glad to guide you along the way.

Regarding renewal of registration, you can renew your vehicle registration by producing it to the RTO for a health check up. And now the Authorities have made a provision to legally convert your car to EV. We are in talks with them to make this standardised. Will update when we progress on this.

Originally Posted by adityadeva

Great job man.

I have a brezza which I dream of converting to electric someday. The car is still under extended warranty till 2021, so this is a long wait.

Moreover, I want to know about the legality (Registration, insurance etc and how long the registration will be valid - for eg, a newly registered car/bike is valid for 15 years in kerala).

Also kindly mention the specifications of the motor, type of battery, the cost and time of conversion in your future posts.

All the very best in your endeavours and who knows one day I will drive my brezza to your garage for the heart transplant.

Hello. Brezza is a light car and you can make it really nice. Pls let us know if we can be of any help. Warranty is the least of your concern. The amount of satisfaction one gets from driving an EV is completely uncomparable. Plus your running cost is so low that you can actually save money and keep them aside for future repairs if needed. Heart transplant 🤣

Originally Posted by amit162

Wow! Good God. So impressed by your initiative and determination and your superb engineering skills. Very inspiring!

Thanks. Means a lot.

Originally Posted by MegaWhat

Excellent job and what a result! Look forward to your other builds.
Had a query. What sort of tests do you do to ensure that the system is working as it should? I mean battery discharge, REGEN and to ensure its reliable overall?

Cheers!!

Our on board MCU monitors and logs everything and we constantly try to analyse the data and improve it for our current and next builds.

Originally Posted by vgsr

Stunning to read. Absolutely brilliant to know of this kind of work being done. It requires tremendous passion and commitment to do this sort of work.
Keep going. Look forward to reading all your updates.

Thanks buddy. We are sure you will enjoy our upcoming EV conversion vehicles.

[stuntfreak]

Originally Posted by turbowhistle

Excellent job mate, eagerly waiting for the YouTube channel. Been following quite a few US channels which dabble into fixing vehicles and detailing but haven’t noticed any good channel on EV conversion. Would be treat for all the interested parties. Cheers!

Hello. Just started my channel yesterday 😂 I’m not too tech savvy with all these online things. Don’t have Facebook, Twitter or Insta. But I guess it’s time I started to promote my builds. Lol. Our YouTube Series of EV converts will come in a month of so with monthly episodes with new builds. Meanwhile I’m posting some of my home shot videos on my channel. Lol. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by RahuKetu

Awesome work Stuntfreak. I didn't come across something like this being done in our country. If we can purchase good second hand cars with seized engines at throwaway price and convert it to EV then cost will be same as that of conventional car? What do you think?

We have been doing this since past 8-10 years now. Just not published anywhere. It was mainly just a hobby. We can definitely convert old cars and classics to lovel EVs. Cost would be very very less. You can hand say a full EV kick arse amazing Bmw 5 series (2005) fully refurbished and converted for like 15-18 lacs. Will be a steal deal. Thx for the idea. We can do one episode on this in our upcoming show.

Originally Posted by JojyKerala

stuntfreak, congratulations on your endeavours with EV conversion! The video is detailed and you've explained everything in a crisp manner.

Your Beat is the perfect example of how the conversion should be done. The finishing looks very good and is proof that work has been carried out meticulously.

Looking forward to your 800 conversion as well. May I ask which vehicle you have in mind for the 300 kms assured range car project?

Thanks a lot. The 300km vehicle is something you commonly see on the road coming soon..

[stuntfreak]

A small video showing the acceleration. It’s taken in Economy mode. Where performance is restricted to 60% and the range is quite high. But since I use only this 90% of the time’s, I thought it’s fair to take a video in this mode only. Also I have not used first gear. That could further make it go faster 😉

https://youtu.be/v5XyuoGLJiA

Enjoy

[psmenon]

For people like me who runs to a mechanic for minor issues, you are an Elon Musk Great build and great level of detail in the way you talk and describe things, hope that your builds get all the attention and approvals from Govt.

[suryakamal]

Fantastic job! Wish all the effort and passion you have put in will blossom into a nice business and put life into old cars and smiles on their owners faces!

[sajaijayan]

Absolutely brilliant. Very nice to see someone purely on their interest doing something like this. Hope to one day soon do something similar and your help/advise would be forthcoming.

[sreeharipv]

Hey man! Finally a proper EV conversion project out of India. Very excited!!!

Thanks for finally coming out!


I was dreaming of one day opening a garage and convert older W12X series Mercedes or otherwise good cars with blown engine or transmission (I think someone already has mentioned this in the thread). I have an Optra Magnum for example which has enough Engine bay space to put the motor and batteries (not sure about weight distribution though!).

I think you already know this, but try focusing on fleet vehicles (Auto?). Although I would love to drive an EV, I think we need our fleet vehicles to convert first as it benefits everyone and fast.

I'm stuck in Malaysia and can only hope! Will be following this thread and your youtube channel.

[stuntfreak]

Originally Posted by sreeharipv

Hey man! Finally a proper EV conversion project out of India. Very excited!!!

Thanks for finally coming out!


I was dreaming of one day opening a garage and convert older W12X series Mercedes or otherwise good cars with blown engine or transmission (I think someone already has mentioned this in the thread). I have an Optra Magnum for example which has enough Engine bay space to put the motor and batteries (not sure about weight distribution though!).

I think you already know this, but try focusing on fleet vehicles (Auto?). Although I would love to drive an EV, I think we need our fleet vehicles to convert first as it benefits everyone and fast.

I'm stuck in Malaysia and can only hope! Will be following this thread and your Youtube channel.

Thanks for your kind words.

I thought of the Mercedes W124 but did not find a good car to begin with.

I’m not really focusing on fleets and stuff right now. I’m more of an R&D guy and love doing this for the fun of it. Anyways thanks for your inputs. Will think over it.

Hope you return back to your home land and do something for the country soon. Take care buddy. Good day.

[abumani]

Excellent work stuntfreak. Really appreciate the drive to experiment the new developments in the automotive segment. You have a great journey ahead and I am sure that you will be an inspiration for many enthusiasts across the globe. Also I believe you will be soon economically successful R&D guy, that many guys dream of.

[KMT]

[quote=stuntfreak;4810587]Thanks for your kind words.

I thought of the Mercedes W124 but did not find a good car to begin with. /QUOTE]

Finally an awesome pure/different car related thread on tbhp. With the lockdown, we had began to go into so many different topics on tbhp ( all good threads but many non car ones).

Can you share some more details such as-
A) appx cost of converting the Beat for parts and labour.
B) RTO formalities.
C) Insurance.

Thanks for sharing and please do keep it updated.

[stuntfreak]

[quote=KMT;4810612]

Originally Posted by stuntfreak

Thanks for your kind words.

I thought of the Mercedes W124 but did not find a good car to begin with. /QUOTE]

Finally an awesome pure/different car related thread on tbhp. With the lockdown, we had began to go into so many different topics on tbhp ( all good threads but many non car ones).

Can you share some more details such as-
A) appx cost of converting the Beat for parts and labour.
B) RTO formalities.
C) Insurance.

Thanks for sharing and ease do keep it updated.

As mentioned before in my posts. Conversion can be between 4 lacs to 25 lacs based on your range, acceleration, speed, and purpose requirement.

Registration formalities include TYPE certification from ARAI post then you need re passing and RC change from RTO. Currently only 2 - 3 companies provide insurance for EVs and you need to valuate your car but most of the times you end up with a third party insurance.

Cheers mate

[dreamliner17]

That’s some very impressive work by you and your team!
The overall job looks great and nicely done.

A few questions-
1. What’s the impact of the modification on the weight of the car now?
2. You mentioned you are continuing to use the existing gearbox setup (2 speed). Wasn’t it better to go with a single gear? Maybe you could achieve more weight reduction and free up space in the engine bay? Did you have to tweak the gear ratios? Since you’ve done this modification on a beat diesel, I’m assuming that the original gearbox provided much higher low end torque compared with the petrol beat (I happen to own a beat diesel myself).
3. I just saw the pictures of the car again and didn’t see the clutch! Fundamental question - How do you change gears?