Is it worth converting ordinary cars into electric ones?

Berlin, Oct 24: In a workshop in the eastern German city of Erfurt, a decade-old bus has had its diesel engine removed in preparation for a refit. The new electric engine is waiting to be installed."It will be easy, but very high-tech," says Hans-Georg Herb, CEO of Elerra, a local firm that specializes in converting regular vehicles into electric ones.

The former engine bay now has enough space for batteries."We can install eight battery packs with a capacity of roughly 250 kilowatt hours, which is enough for the bus to travel around 250 kilometers."

Herb says turning diesel buses into electric ones isn't just fascinating from a technical point of view, he also believes it makes economic sense.

Depending on the battery, converting a regular bus into an electric one costs €300,000 to €340,000, which is roughly half the cost of a new one.

Herb plans to up his bus conversion game over the next while. "We want to get three buses done this year," he says, adding that he's aiming for around 70 in 2023.

More e-buses on the road

The EU's Clean Vehicles Directive is pushing up demand battery-powered buses in urban transport systems. Around 15,000 buses across the EU, and 3,000 in Germany will have to be powered electrically in the coming years, according to some estimates. And large manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand.

E-buses could be a money-saver for transport companies because they require less maintenance. Driving with electricity is also up to 60% cheaper than using petrol.

Declining battery prices and increasing mass production of components have made converting petrol-powered vehicles to electric ones more attractive."I can imagine that more than half of the buses that are currently driving will be converted one day," Herb says. "If we want to manage decarbonization, we won't get it done without this kind of conversion."

Is it worth converting cars as well?

Swapping out combustion engines for electric motors is technically possible for all cars. It requires the removal of the old engine and gearbox to make way for the electric one and batteries. Engineers have to develop specific electric steering systems for each car.

The first car Herb converted was a Porsche 911 back in 2014. He caught the bug and started transforming even older cars into e-vehicles, before moving onto buses.

Converting a vintage car costs around €60,000, Herb says and points to a black Jaguar Daimler limousine from 1993.

"The customer wants to have it electrified. In this case, we'll use Tesla modules," says Herb.

Assembly kits to install e-engines and batteries for vintage cars cost at least €10,000 and require more than 100 hours of labor. The technically minded who want to take on the project themselves can save a lot of money and pay companies like Elerra to simply advise on the process.But Herb says converting classic cars isn't worth it from an economic perspective.

"Vintage cars don't usually get driven a lot and so operational costs don't matter as much. Converting them is more of a hobby."

And he has a similar take on smaller regular cars. Herb says he regularly has to advise customers that buying something like a Volkswagen e-Up electric vehicle would be cheaper and better than converting a VW Polo.

"It doesn't really make sense to convert a VW Polo and I have to stress that point often."

Converting cars for the city

Alongside the buses, three new trucks are waiting to be converted in Herb's workshop. One of them is a Mitsubishi Fuso mini truck, which for now is only available with a regular combustion engine.

Herb's team is converting the vehicles to electric four-wheel drives. Each will be fitted with batteries and specially designed software.

"These vehicles are really good for driving in winter and that's why we are working on a small series of electrically powered four-wheel drives for cities," says Herb.

His is not the only workshop in Germany or Europe retrofitting regular vehicles with e-motors. With European cities working to decrease air and noise pollution, and following the new EU climate protection rules, there's plenty of work going.

Even delivery companies, such as UPS, are increasingly converting regular vehicles to electric ones.

Source: DW