Converting Vintage Cars Into Zero-Emission Electric Vehicles to Save Them From Landfills
Electric vehicles have been gaining momentum in the global market in recent years as the country is trying to tackle climate change and control its carbon dioxide release in order to control air pollution and global warming.
Recently a new startup called the London Electric Cars has been showing the way as to how we can convert vintage cars to EVs in order to save them from being dumped in landfills. As per the UK government’s green energy policies, 46 per cent of the total cars in the country would have to be electric by 2030 in order to meet the nation’s climate goals. As per a report provided, the government is already around 2000 GBP (roughly Rs. 2.03 lakhs) to motorists to dispose of their older cars. Compared to that the new startup now allows the classic motorcar owners to keep their vehicles without causing much pollution.
The company was launched in 2017 by the founder Matthew Quitter who converted his own 1953 Morris Minor by changing the fuel engine with a set of nine prismatic lithium-ion cells.
“I saw that companies in California were converting cars and at the time there was no one in the UK doing this,” Quitter told Euronews Next.
At present, the Companies team consists of 10 engineers who can convert petrol-based engines to clean-energy engines. They focus on converting vintage vehicles to zero-emission cars with the help of upcycled Nissan Leaf and Tesla batteries but, the team tries to conserve much of the original fixtures and fittings of the cars in order for it to not change much physically.
“One of the things we try to do is maintain the cars as much as possible for historical integrity,” said Quitter. For instance, indicators in vintage cars are not as consistent as in modern cars. But Quitter’s engineers keep them intact because owners are fond of such eccentricities.
Since vintage cars don’t consist of many of the modern features like power steering and GPS navigation, the cars are easier to convert and require less labour. The conversion price becomes more affordable due to this fact. As per the company, its team takes up to six months to convert a car and the cost of conversion starts from around 25,000 GBP (roughly Rs. 25.3 lakhs).
Since the company’s launch, many other electric conversion companies have emerged in the UK. But, according to Quitter, London Electric Cars is different because it tries to bring this facility to the mass market. They also have conversion kits that can be sent to the car owners. The company is also trying to convert a car in lesser time.
Credit: NDTV Gadgets 360 and Euronews Next.
Image credit: newatlas.com
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