Welcome > Themes > Hybrid & Electric > Featured > ECE
Creating a buzz about electric cars
Dutch consortium Electric Cars Europe is trying to bring a bit of glamour to an electric vehicle market hamstrung by public apathy.
Frustrated by public ignorance and the low profile of electric cars, Electric Cars Europe (ECE) plans to make people sit up and take notice by producing electric vehicles (EVs) that are sporty and desirable, as well as practical and efficient.
The company is currently focusing on plans to plug the gap between the current market and a future when electric cars hit the mainstream, by converting Lotus Elises and Volkswagen (VW) Golfs to electric power. The vehicles run on lithium ion batteries which, using specialist, high-power charging equipment, can be can be ‘fast charged’ in less than fifteen minutes. ECE hopes the glamorous image of these conversions will help raise the profile of electric driving.
Terrible
Hjalmar Engel, one of ECE’s directors, explains that, "the profile of electric cars is terrible. You don’t see them in the street. And if you don’t see them, you don’t want to buy them. We need the public to realise that electric driving is possible.”
Retrofitting the VW Golf will finally lend electric cars some street cred. (Photo: CC DigitalK)
Profile-raising
Hjalmar readily admits that major CO2 reductions will not realistically be achieved by the introduction of electric Lotus Elises. The Lotuses are about image-making and profile-raising in the here and now, he explains. The longer term plan is to import electric cars. “Converting Lotuses is expensive,” he says, “but you have to start somewhere.”
ECE is funded by its founders and private investors. Established in 2008, it has already converted eight Lotuses, and is working on five VW Golfs. When they’re ready, they will be sold to companies who want to be seen promoting green technology. According to Hjalmar, this kind of high profile promotion is crucial to raising awareness.
Hearts and minds
But he admits that lack of awareness is not the only thing preventing a sceptical public from seeing EVs as a feasible alternative to the petrol and diesel cars they know and love. Price and infrastructure must also be tackled, he says, in order to win over public confidence.
“The cost of ownership for EVs is still quite high. The vehicles we’re converting are expensive, at EUR109,000 for the Elise, car included and EUR75,000 for a Golf conversion, excluding the car. This is because the battery technology we’re using is so expensive,” he explains. “And then we need to get the infrastructure right. The range of the vehicles we produce is more than enough for the average urban driver. And you can use the sockets you have at home to charge, without a problem. But if you’re talking about taking your caravan to the South of France, then you need a large infrastructure.”
Fully charged, the 150Kw engine Lotus Elises will have a range of between 200km and 300km, and accelerate from 0km – 100km/h in 4.7 seconds. The VW Golfs have smaller 75Kw engines, and make 100km/h in nine seconds, with a range of 200km.
Stumbling block
Whatever the barriers, Hjalmar is emphatic that electric vehicles will come to the mainstream. He anticipates that by 2025, 1.8 million cars on Dutch roads will be electric. ECE itself has signed up to produce fifty retrofitted vehicles for utility company Essent, and has a provisional order from an undisclosed client for one-thousand vehicles. To produce this amount of vehicles, ECE will need substantial investment - something that might prove a stumbling block given the current financial climate.
“We’ll need a production line and a much bigger team if we want to produce hundreds of cars,” he explains. “We’re waiting for clients, investors, and the bank. At the moment, it’s not that easy to find money.”
Download PDF version of this page
charge-stations
F. Finks
Tuesday 21 September 2010