A Uruguayan company teaches people how to turn regular cars into EVs
This is encouraging. We need more of these EV retro-fit kits in developing countries, where buying EVs is prohibitively expensive. Obviously, we need a way of safety certifying the kits and the end product as well.
Uruguay is among the most developed countries [1] in South America (2024 nominal GDP per capita: ~$23K; Chile ~$16.5K) with human development index of 0.83 (very high). Yet, the list price of new vehicles is easily 1.5x - 2x that in the US, and EVs are quite out of reach for most residents. (ex: Honda Civic HEV is listed for USD 55K [2])
By offering modestly priced EV retrofit kits, a market need is clearly being met.
- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Uruguay - [2] https://www.hondauruguay.com/civic-e-hev.html
Is there a reason not more popular to create hybrids that have no traditional powertrain? IT seems like it would be cost effective.
i.e. the petrol engine effectively just runs a generator to the batteries. You don't need prop shafts/gearboxes/transfer case/axles/alternator/starter etc.
If you can integrate the motor assembly into the wheel hub you don't need any kind of axle at all.
If/when the batteries degrade and lose capacity, you can just rely on the engine more.
The engine won't ever have to 'work' too hard, because when you accelerate hard the energy dump can just come from the battery reserve. Like it could just idle along at a more-or-less fixed rpm.
Electro Automotive did this in California for 30 years. The owner recently retired and shut down. There's something of a business in converting classic cars to electric, because maintaining the antique technology costs more than a conversion. There are plenty of kits for this sold online.
The usual "custom part" needed is an adapter plate to attach the motor to the transmission, and possibly a spline. Plus motor mounts. Once you have the adapter plate pattern for a car model, it's possible to drill one from a blank. Here are some adapters.[1]
Where to put the battery? Real electric cars put it under the floor, which keeps the CG low and provides enough space for a large battery. Conversions have less battery space and may be top-heavy.
I visited Uruguay every year in the 1980s and 90s. There were tons of old cars and trucks. My great-uncle had an English car from the 1930s which he still drove.
They have almost all disappeared. My most recent trip was in 2023 and I only saw two old Fiat 500s.
The irony is that they have gas BYDs, which I had never heard of until last year.
Anyway, Uruguay is a small country but it has a very good educational system, so it's not surprising that many interesting companies come from there.
Back in the 90s, I carpooled with a friend who had a retrofitted Honda CRX. I remember the first time he picked me up in it, we rolled out of my driveway and then started down the street and I was wondering when he‘d turn the engine on and stop relying on gravity to move the car (I used to use the same trick with my stick-shift Miata) and then I realized that he was, it’s just that the electric motor was silent.
The other fun thing was watching the battery gauge fall as we went up the ramp on the 10-57 interchange in San Dimas. Being an early adopter, the commute from Claremont to Orange County was just within the range of his EV. He later went on to be one of the first lessees of the EV1 and was interviewed in Who Killed the Electric Car?
I happen to be in Uruguay right now (from the US). I rented a car -- didn't see an EV option. I've driven from Montevideo to Punta Del Diablo and I haven't seen a charging station :-( I wasn't looking for one, and checking the map just now, they do exist.
Also: Uruguay is awesome.
Here is one from Australia
"Bolt-On Kit Wants To Turn Your ICE Car Into A Hybrid From $3,200" October 21, 2023
> The young Australian engineer behind the kit hopes to sell it for just $3,200 and enable buyers to have it installed in a single day
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/10/bolt-on-kit-to-convert-com...
Looks like a backyard operation so far "REVR (Rapid Electric Vehicle Retrofits)"
https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/en-AU/2023/project/revr/
REVR-lutionising the car industry: RMIT student crowned national James Dyson Award winner with electric vehicle retrofit solution 13 September 2023 https://www.dyson.com.au/newsroom/updates/james-dyson-award-...
(Sorry for all the links! but looks like an interesting way to do the conversions!)
Regular cars were carefully designed to fold like an accordion in case of impact, so people will be safe
Now add to the equation a big flammable battery below the people in the areas designed to fold and you will have a lot of scorching fun if the car that you drive eventually hit something.
Do we really need to explain why this is a recipe for trouble?.
The conversion is labor intensive, and thus it makes sense in the countries where labor is relatively cheap (and regulations are usually more relaxed), and has no way in the US and Western Europe.
The conversion itself is no brainer - you old beat up car with the older and weaker and relatively inefficient ICE engine, may be even carburetor one, becomes more performant, easier to maintain, cheaper to drive (especially given that electricity is frequently government subsidized). And the conversion is pretty cheap if you bring the parts from Alibaba, the prismatic batteries for example are well under $100/KWh.
What is the evolution regarding energy density, I have a PHEV with 11kWh in the trunk. If it was 20kWh, it would cover my daily commute. Are anyone offering battery upgrades to existing EVs?
There is a thriving forum for ev conversions[0].
All the retrofits I've seen only have AC charging. Is there a reason why they don't support DC charging, even at lower power if necessary?
I look at car channels on YouTube and there’s all this community around engine swaps and similar so it remains disappointing that there isn’t any real gas->EV equivalent market. I assume part of it is imply lack of secure space for the giant explosive mass that is current lithium battery tech, but it’s still surprising that there’s seemingly next to no option.
This is what the world needs.
One of the image captions just says:
> Each new component for the vehicle is custom-made.
... which to me is kinda shocking. Both in terms of the cost of components and the labor needed to figure out each vehicle's specific conversion, this seems expensive, slow, and perhaps is a source of quality/safety concerns.
While I love the idea of being able to convert existing vehicles, more cheaply and with fewer resources than building all-new EVs, I'd think that you'd want:
- standardized components
- standardized math on safety implications (e.g. for the amount of increased mass, how do the breaks need to change to keep a reasonable stopping distance? Given some assumptions about driving speed, where does the center of mass need to be to avoid increased chance of rolling?)
- a slowly expanding database of specifics for each model and year, so if you're converting a previously-converted model, you can just follow a pre-compiled list of steps
Do they have charging stations?
I don't have an EV in Southern Europe because there are hardly any charging stations and as we live in apartments you can't charge it at home either as the communal parking doesn't have a charging station.
They're also doing well on share of new cars that are EV:
https://cleantechnica.com/2024/07/20/uruguay-ev-sales-report...
Makes a lot of financial sense when your local grid is hydro heavy and most of your oil is imported.
Can anyone recommend a learning resource or YouTube videos on English? (Autolibre has a course but I believe it's only in Spanish)
Reminds me of Exponential Motors, a startup/project created by a chilean, an argentinean and a mexican in Singularity University, who made somo prototypes converting cars to hybrids with supercapacitors.
yay my country in HN :-D
For those in NJ, I can recommend this place:
https://www.rongrosinger.com/welding-101-sign-up/electric-ve...
I took his class and Ron is great. Sharp, curious and an entertaining teacher.
The key innovation to make Tesla a success was regenerative braking along with the transmission to make it work.
Just replacing the engine with an electric motor and batteries works, but is significantly inferior.
This makes me wonder though wheather the grid infrastructure in Uruguay is ready for a scenario where a substantial percentage of the countries cars need to charge their batteries regularly?
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This is amazing. It's a shame how western media and governments aim to cover up such information and then try to regulate the movement out of existence... Again under the guise of 'safety'.
If this movement picks up, you know for sure that governments will be doing PsyOps to stage and draw attention to battery explosions and then claim "Look, we told you it was unsafe." Disgusting.
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Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to drive actual golf carts than to pay to convert?