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3xE - electric cars: EV conversions, lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO4) battery cells, chargers...
Smart ForTwo - converted into ELECTRIC in "3xE - electric cars" company. (power: 30 kW, range: 100 km, batteries: lithium)
You can hear a lot about electric vehicles in media,
also because of opening of first charging station for electric vehicles in Warsaw
and debut of "Re-Volt" ("SAM") - first polish electric vehicle.
Interesting event was presentation of electric sport car: "Tesla Roadster" in Poland.
"Re-Volt" and "Tesla" are series electric vehicles,
but there are companies in Poland,
which can convert typical petrol-car into electric car (EV - Electric Vehicle).
RafaĆ Ramotowski - "3xE - electric cars": Company exists since 2008,
but I work on electric vehicles since 2006.
This is when I bought and rebuilt first electric car.
Smart is our second car. We use it as show- and test-car.
Basing on this we present the company to investors.
Smart is a typical "city car". Most of us stay in it,
so this useful car with range of 100 km is enough.
Electric drive is installed in place of combustion engine components.
Trunk and passenger space remains like in original.
It is possible to use additional space to extend range of the car.
Converted car remains practical.
It looks very similar to the original one.
You can be only surprised checking what is under filler cover.
It is natural to look for the plug in place of filler cap.
This is how we installed the plug in the car.
There are practically no changes of the car look.
The exhaust pipe is not visible... because it is not there any more.
Inside the car there is LCD touch screen informing the user about battery capacity
and about remaining distance. We are developing system estimating
the remaining distance based on satellite GPS positioning.
Single-gear transmission is limited to 90 kmh,
but electric motor has high torque starting on low speed. Driving with single gear only is smooth and comfortable.
On customer demand it is possible to use original (manual) transmission [higher top speed].
Operation cost is very low. Driving 100 km costs 4 PLN (about 1 EUR).
Batteries can last total distance of about 350.000 km.
Complete electric installation can be moved in future to the next car.
Conversion cost of a small car like Smart or Fiat Panda is 45.000 PLN (about 11.000 EUR).
Conversion of Opel Astra: 55.000 PLN (about 13.400 EUR)
Conversion of Toyota Avensis: 60.000-65.000 PLN (about 14.500-15.800 EUR)
But this investment returns.
For typical customer driving about 10.000 km per year, this investment returns in about 6-7 years.
But for people who drive more, like: taxi drivers, pizza deliverers or for those who live outside the city
this investment returns in about 5 years or even faster.
Maybe it is worth to buy an electric car today to speed up development of charging infrastructure,
and create the demand for electric charging stations.
Like it was about 100 years ago,
when rising number of petrol-cars forced development of gas stations.
Before this petrol was available only in pharmacies.
[ more information: www.3xe-electric-cars.com english@3xe-electric-cars.com ]