How can i make a electric car & bike myself?

Question

I want to make a electronics motor car(run on batery) myself.But i have not much more idea.Please give me some idea, data,diagrams,calculations& information about it.

Answer 1

Bangalore: As a sixth-standard student, he built a remote-controlled toy car and won a school prize. Later, he started building toy planes and a go-cart with a scooter engine. As a mechanical engineering student, he built solar and hybrid cars. Capping it all, he designed and built India's first electric car, the Reva. And, today, he claims he can make the Reva run on a mobile phone battery.

That is 33-year-old, six-foot-tall, broad-shouldered Chetan Maini, managing director, Reva Electric Car Company, Bangalore, for you.

"Even at the age of seven I used to fix electrical equipment and also did some carpentry. As a child I did break toys," says the third and the youngest son of Sudarshan K Maini, the founder of the Rs 80-crore Maini group.

Sudarshan Maini is known to do things differently. For instance, Maini Precision Products was the first Indian company to supply high-precision components to General Motors (GM) and the first small-scale unit to supply to Bosch, Germany. Similarly, Maini Material Movement became the first Indian company to export complete material-handling solution under the Indian brand name to Europe.

To emerge out of the overwhelming shadow of the father was tough. But the junior-most Maini has effectively accomplished that with his Reva car. "Going to the US at 18 to study was the first major turning point in my life," says Maini.

At the Michigan University, where he did his under-graduation, Maini undertook several projects to sharpen his understanding of automobile engines, particularly the unconventional ones. And vacations were spent working at the GM plant.

He came to prominence with the design and development of the $1-million solar car. "We spent two years in building the concept solar car," he says. The car building was part of an inter-university student competition and Maini's team won the 2,500-km car race (GM Sun Race) against 25 teams.

The next pit stop was in Australia to race in the World Solar Challenges with teams from auto giants like Ford Motor Company competing. "It was a 3,000-km, six-and-a-half-day race and we came third. Ours was the only car that didn't break down even once. The maximum speed the solar car gave was 75 km/hr and the overall average speed was 50 km/hr," he says.

The car was tested in the GM's wind tunnel and found to be the most aerodynamic. "It had special tyres, silver-zinc batteries, carbon-fibre body. Everything in that car was highly technical and it is now in the Henry Ford museum."

Soon after Maini graduated, the idea of starting an electric car company got seeded in his mind. Through his friend he got in touch with Dr Lon Bell, vice-chairman, Amerigon Inc, and the inventor of airbag sensors.

While working in Amerigon, Maini decided to pursue MS at Stanford University to specialise in electrical and mechanical systems. Here, too, he got involved in projects; notable among them is the building of a hybrid car while summers were invariably spent at the Amerigon plant.

"In 1994 I looked at the Southeast Asian countries and thought that an electric car will have good market reception," says Maini. According to him, the cost of a solar car is prohibitively high and recovery will be over a long period of time.

In the following year, his father, who was on a business visit to the US, met Dr Bell and decided to invest in further research. Maini Amerigon, a research company was formed (later changed to Reva Electric) with the Maini group holding 70 per cent and Amerigon 30 per cent. Consequently, two research teams were formed — one based in the US and the other in India.

The first prototype was built in 1996 and the car was put to extensive testing at Automobiles Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune. At that time very few had the experience of designing and building a car. And nobody had any experience in electric vehicle built with high-end plastics and onboard analytical computers.

Three business groups were formed to look after the motors/controllers, body panel and electricals, and market research was done in 26 states to estimate the potential.

A romance that got charged slowly

Even as his work developing the electric car was in progress, Maini's romance with the American girl Kim flowered. "I met him through a common friend. My roommate was an Indian," says Kim.

The two dated for six long years. "When we met we were studying and were quite young. I wasn't looking to fall in love with someone from India, before I met Chetan. We started out as friends," she adds.

And how did the friendship turn into a binding love? "He got me interested in many new things like adventure biking. He is intelligent, hardworking and sincere. Further, there is no other side to Chetan. You get a person whom you see. He was also nice to my family. He is also a man of two extremes — he loves adventure while remaining a family-oriented man."

According to Kim, their relationship progressed slowly, but steadily. Both had a career to decide and didn't rush things. "We wanted to make sure that everything worked out smoothly."

At the beginning of their relationship itself Maini made it clear to her about his plans to return home. "The car is his first love. Had I not agreed to come to India, we wouldn't have got married in 1997." Two years later the Maini couple headed to India.

Convincing Sandeep and Gautam (the elder brother of Maini) to back their kid brother's project was not difficult as they saw business sense in that and were involved in the project from the beginning. The car was christened with his mother's name, Reva. "In Sanskrit reva means new beginning," Maini says.

But the problem was in convincing the financiers like the erstwhile ICICI (now ICICI Bank) and the Technology Development Board (TDB) as electric car projects elsewhere in the world had failed.

"Our investment in R&D for five years before approaching the lenders was one convincing factor." Apart from the economics of Reva ownership, the driving pattern (mostly intra-city) and the possibilities of exports, as the Reva is produced at three times cheaper than anywhere is in the world, convinced the financiers.

A greater challenge was the development of the vendor base, though many of the components are similar to the material handling machines the group rolls out. As against a conventional fuel car having around 5,000 parts, the Reva has little less than 1,000 parts and not many are moving components. Nearly 900 components have been localised by Reva Electric.

Maini and his team explained to the vendors their volume constraint. "Also, we first had to understand their production process and their economies of scale to convince them about the business sense of supplying to us," Maini says.

Partnerships with key component manufacturers like Curtis Instruments Inc (motor controller), Tudor India (batteries) and Modular Power Systems (charger unit) were also developed. In addition, group companies (Maini Precision Products, Maini Material Movement, Maini Info Solutions) also contributed their share in supplying components and software.

The advanced technological innovations helped Maini to keep the project cost low. For instance, the Reva plant does not have the high investment sheet metal press shop and paint booth as in the case of a conventional car project. The Reva's body is made of strong and coloured polymer plastic. The plant does not have a conveyor line as the shell is first fixed with wheels fitted with tubeless tyres and rolled from one workstation to another.

The 6,000-unit-per-annum capacity Reva car plant at Bommasandra near Bangalore is the smallest car plant in the country today.

The road ahead

"Our technology map has been laid down and we know where we want to reach over the years," says Maini. By 2004-06 Reva will be powered with lithium ion battery, the next step will be fuel cell (2009-13) and finally a car powered by solar/fuel cell (2015-20).

"Next-generation motors, electronics and battery will bring down the price and increase the vehicle performance." When cited the interest of Tata Motors in an electric Indica, this race-bike enthusiast says technology will be the differentiator.

"The Reva Electric is ahead of others in technology. For instance, the car's battery-charging unit is 15 per cent more efficient than others are. The car is controlled by two onboard computers. We can even make the car Internet enabled," says Maini. The Reva is the world's first car to have a remote-controlled pre-cooling air-conditioning system, and Maini plans to install climate-controlled seats in the car.

Amerigon's EV models

The corporate plan now is to launch newer and bigger vehicles and scale up capacity to 50,000 units. The Rs 12-crore equity-based company is discussing with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other institutions to raise $15 million.

Currently there are around 500 Reva cars on the road. The company rolls out 50 cars a month. "By next March the production will go up to 200 cars per month and the target for this fiscal is to sell 1,200 cars," says Maini.

Towards that, the company is expanding its distribution network by entering new markets. The plan is to appoint two new dealers every month. In next six months the company plans to have dealers in 14 cities.

The Reva's initial cost vis-à-vis the Maruti 800 is a major inhibiting factor. According to Maini, the central and state governments should come out with subsidies and tax concessions for environment-friendly vehicles to encourage people to buy them.

On the export front, the showcasing of the car in the Auto Mechanika last year has resulted in good export orders and enquiries. Today the Reva car runs in the UK, the US, Japan, Malta and Norway. Technology-transfer discussions have been initiated with countries like China, Sri Lanka, Israel and Malaysia. According to the Freedonia group, by 2009 sales of alternative fuel vehicles will be around 1.6 million units.

About himself

As for himself, Maini drives his Reva (KA 01Z 5610) daily to his Bommasandra office. Sundays are reserved for riding his 600cc Suzuki bike or mountain biking with Kim.

Maini's other interests include daily yoga and scuba diving. "My favourite food is tandoori chicken and my favourite joint is Gladstone in the US where the fish is very tasty."

Complains Kim: "But in general the fun time is coming down these days. We don't have quality time together now as we used to earlier, owing to his work pressure."

Answer 2

Electric bike... there are kits for sale on E-bay.. appx $300 "buy it now"  Gives you a new front wheel with built in motor. the control system and batteries.  Appx 20 mph top speed and about 30 mile range.

One version has regenerative braking, which can substantially extend range.

***************

eletric car converions are expensive and give low range...  60 mph is possible, but you get about 30 miles per 48 hours on the charger...

Answer 3

Search the strings "electric hybrid" AND "conversion kit"

Answer 4

THERE ARE ELECTRIC CARS ALREADY AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET AND IS IN USE. IT NEED TO BE CHARGED ONCE IN 300 KMS OF RUN. THE BATTERY DISCHARGES VERY FAST AND UNLESS YOU HAVE RECHARGING FACILITY AT DIFFERENT DESTINATIONS IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR THE USER TO USE. IT IS AN ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY VEHICLE BECAUSE IT WILL NOT GIVE OUT ANY CO2 GASES LIKE YOUR DIESEL OR PETROL ENGINE. THIS IS RUN BY A D.C MOTOR. IF WE CAN MODIFY AND MAKE USE OF SOLAR ENERGY DURING DAY TIMES THIS WILL BE A GOOD DEVICE FOR TRAVEL AND ENVIRONMENT. YOU CAN BE A PARTNER AND IMPLEMENT YOUR DESIRE OF MAKING IT AND YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE FOR IMPROVEMENT.

Answer 5

An electric bicycle is pretty simple, as they sell kits which you can put on your existing bike.  Here's one example website:

http://www.electricscooterparts.com/bicy...

There are many, and you can also buy such kits on eBay, for example.  My old bike was in bad shape so I just bought an electric bicycle (electric motor already installed):

http://www.amazon.com/E%252dZip-Mountain...

It works quite well, making my 13 mile commute to and from work quicker and easier.

Making an electric car is a much more difficult proposition, unless you're some sort of engineer.  You can buy an electric car such as the ZAP Xebra:

http://zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=188

but I don't think you can just build one from a kit.

Answer 6

This is a complicated topic. You must be able to choose designs, fabricate parts yourself and select, install and wire up several components from batteries to speed controllers to motors and everything in between. There is a community called DIY Electric Car Forums that helps people do all of this. I'll list the link down in the source.

Answer 7

Dear friend,

I am also working on it. Please start with electric cycle kit. You can search on google for 'electric cycle kit' or 'geared motor' etc. Many chinese companies supply it. This will enable you to know about its components and also visit http://www.cn-dcmotors.com/Product2.aspt...

Good luck

Answer 8

yes i do have the same interest mail me we'll do the magic

Answer 9

Check these sites below that should be of help to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEq-GbVcF...  (global TV newscast)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymFIVX9V...

..

http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1091

..