[Electromotive]

LoL, disconnected-from-reality politicians and bureaucrats at their finest.

EV conversions will almost always be worse than a BEV designed from the ground up. You lose out on the benefits of the skateboard model so no low center of gravity, instead you get a heavy front or back.

As far as I see, EV conversion will be a niche industry worldwide and will probably be a non starter in India. Battery prices are headed south and competition in the BEV space in increasing so BEV prices are going to be highly competitive, there is no way a conversion is ever going to be cheaper than a new vehicle.

There is a higher probability of electric kit cars being more popular than EV conversion kits.

As for the ministers/bureaucrats encouraging conversions -- have they upgraded their fire fighting departments? Are the firefighters trained and equipped to fight battery fires? Good'ol water won't cut it.

[shivs2003]

So, after I saw the news on this yesterday, I spent 10-20 min to check whether anyone actually does Diesel to EV conversion.

I have a 2013 Honda City Dtec, and It would be a good city commuter, if converted to EV.

I came across this website: https://e-vehicleinfo.com/ev-convers...ing-companies/

I saw all the 8 companies mentioned on the list, a few don't seem to exist anymore. The rest are either selling their own EV products or have standard products which can be purchased from them, none are into conversions!

I think the Delhi govt simply threw a shot in the dark. Hoping that some people get into this and become the guinea pigs.

The idea is good, but the saying goes, "An idea without the required resources, is simply a hallucination".

[clementw]

The intent is good but will the economics support it? Also is the technology long term? So many questions but will be a good test run for the rest of country. My only grouse with EVs is that most of the electricity in the country is thermal and instead of diesel we will be burning coal somewhere.

[gururajrv]

While this is a welcome move, few concerns:

1) Why will I want to spend so much on the conversion kit when you can spend few more bucks and get a new car.

2) What’s the norms or regulations guarding the conversion process and the customer who selects this option over a new purchase? Considering it would expose the car and owners to risks such as battery fire, explosions and other issues associated to quality, we certainly need a law (high hopes) that would guard customers opting for this.

3) Are the OEMs okay to extend their expertise and bank upon conversions profits? Will it benefit them by any means? Because, if random shops come up for these conversions, reliability and safety is going to be main concern. Last thing anyone want is a battery exploding while the passengers are onboard.

Besides, I’m sure majority of cars with big diesel mills will not have a strong conversion kit that could even flock the car of that size to 100km range as well. I’m sure it might still be a long shot but a plausible one in a decade to come.

[lapis_lazuli]

The moment, you remove the original power plant from the car, you are removing the soul. Not the heart. You are putting in a new heart anyway. The entire dynamics change. The vibrations, the vehicle to driver feedback, the connect with the car....like everything is gone. It becomes essentially a go from A to B machine : a donkey with 4 wheels. Good for the commercial segment with its share of risks, abuse and misuse. Not for BHPians IMHO.

Coming to the technicalities : We are still years away from local well engineered battery packs, motor drives and motors, even when looked at them individually. An integration of the three, with related certifications, is expensive and a seperate project in itself. Not something a random start-up or trader could do with a few hired guns. As Indians, we do not want to pay the price of someone elses' R&D efforts or merits : just the raw material cost (well almost)!

I come from the semiconductor industry : I work personally on high performance motor drives and chargers, and I can responsibly state that the technology is available for the asking with multiple semiconductor vendors. We do not see too many desi adopters. The learning and adoption curve for this new technology has also been made less steep for the willing adopters : but, we are still some years away. It is happening, but there is definitely a lack of general will, money to invest and demand. Not IPO material really!

With imported kits and the kit manufacturer technical team not available for field feedback and continuous modifications and localization : it is better to stay a 1000 miles away from such vehicles. It takes a few seconds for one rogue cell in a pack of a 4000 cells to reach from ambient to 700F in 3 seconds.

[vasudeva]

Sadly could be a hit and run announcement. You can announce and then leisurely create infra.

[careind]

I guess this was not that well thought out. I am also guessing that the minister thought this is akin to CNG/LPG conversion where one just changes the fuel source and delivery mechanism.
If somebody actually points this out and he understands, then there would be no follow up speeches. But if there are follow up speeches along this line, then it would point towards him probably having a plan.
Let’s hope for the latter and wait with bated breath.

[Kumarhithendra]

Originally Posted by coolkurt

Another bold idea or just lip service without getting into the nitty gritty?

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot on Thursday announced that old diesel vehicles can now be retrofitted with electric kits. The transport department will empanel manufacturers of electric kits for retrofitting conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric ones. Once empanelled, this will allow old diesel vehicles to continue ply in Delhi-NCR even after 10 years.

I wonder why people come up with absurd ideas. I had earlier heard from a reliable source that London (UK) authorities had requested a leading emission control systems firm to retrofit 200 buses to comply with Euro 5 norms, and it was successful. Why cant they recommend this technology for old diesels?
Also, a car, bus, or truck is not just an engine but the other parts as well. Remove the engine and retrofit a CNG engine for that vehicle to run. Why go with substandard motor from China and cheap batteries at such a huge cost?
There was also an interesting article in Times of India about Ethanol as fuel and isn't it better they start developing flex-fuel engines? If Brazil has engines running on 80% ethanol, why cant India?
It all begins with the direction a government provides. Brazil started working on flex-fuel engines in 1980s but we are speaking about it now. And we have such absurd suggestions from lawmakers.

Mod Note: Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

[anjan_c2007]

Another idea here. Suppose a Zen Estilo is converted into and electric car, the owner should rightfully be able to badge it as:-

Zen Estilo EV

A Mahindra Scorpio EX [2009-2014] would be rebadged as :-

Mahindra Scorpio EX EV
People with think that is some rare EXECUTIVE version of the Scorpio.

What about some Mitsubishi Evo owner in Delhi who forgoes the low rider's 295 bhp ICE output and decides to go electric?

He badges it as:-

Mitsubishi Evo EV

[vasudeva]

It is like one announcement, picked up by syndication and newspapers, posted here, and reams of discussion. But as usual, announcements do not mean anything. In Aug 21, big hoopla over scrapping policy. It was reported in media and implied as if tomorrow. Same here.

[i74js]

Even after introduction of CNG to the Indian vehicle owners for past two decades. The non-OEM CNG conversion kits have limited success compared to the OEM CNG vehicles.

Putting your complete car for an aftermarket rebuild, I doubt if that makes any sense.

[Lobogris]

A lot of needless alarm. This would be done only by people having cheap vehicles and wanting something economical without having to spend on a new vehicle. Let's say a person has an old Zen or Alto and doesn't want to scrap it after 15 years. He finds someone offering a conversion for 3 lakhs which promises 120km range with 3 years warranty. The person may think it is great to spend 3 lakhs and then commute at 50 paise per km rather than spending 15 lakhs on a new EV. Of course the quality and reliability would be suspect but budget conscious people will accept it like they do with cheap CNG conversions. It would be slightly dangerous but look at millions of CNG retrofits that are done with varying degrees of professionalism. After people discover the drawbacks it might lose its popularity.

[Durango Dude]

I consider this madness. Cost of retrofitting a 10 year old car which will have other problems in suspension, brakes, rust and rattles and on top of the changing the powertrain from fossil to electric the cost would be prohibitive and this is a 'desi-jugaad' approach...

[busydrive]

I think this is a step in right direction. Today converting a dzire to EV I think costs around 4 to 5 lakhs if I remember one thread correctly. In 7 to 8 years this cost will come down. I for example will prefer spending 3 lakhs after 8 years and convert my diesel SUV to EV.

[84.monsoon]

This is not a far fetched idea. I was speaking to a friend who is working with Tiger reserves across India to covert the Gyspsies plying their to EVs. Apparently using the tie-ups he has put together, this can be done for about 6-7 lakhs and makes a huge statement about environmental protection in these precious habitats. Fully retains the 4X4 abilities of the Gypsies and also provides positive NPV and good return on investment in a matter of 2-3 years. They also have an all-inclusive plan to provide charging equipment, maintenance, break-fix etc. which will deliver 20% chaper total cost to operate per mile than average petrol costs, right from day 1.