Opportunities to Increase the Range of Converted Electric Cars

This paper proposes a methodology for selecting a suitable mass-produced cars with internal combustion engine to be converted into an electric car with a sufficient range for use not only in the city but also outside. To extend the range, models with low mass and low frontal aerodynamic resistance were chosen. Despite this energy efficient approach, the resulting range of the converted electric cars is about 110 km extra-urban driving at 90 km/h due to the limited mass of the battery from the permissible gross weight of the selected cars. In order to further increase the range, ways were sought to reduce the own mass of the vehicle and the mass of the payload to install a larger battery. Conversions of suitable production cars are considered, where there is an opportunity to reduce the payload mass depending on the application of the converted electric vehicle, as well as conversion of all-wheel drive cars, where only one axle drive is retained, or both axles are driven with two electric motors without using the original heavy and complicated transmission. The range in the various conversions reaches up to 250 km at 90 km/h.