True Electric converts Saab 9-3 to electric drive, gets impressive numbers
A Swedish company is claiming that it can easily turn a new or used car into a full fledged EV with decent range while keeping performance and safety intact. Sounds good, but what are the details?
The company is called True Electric, and they supposedly use a small and lightweight "new high performance technology" and a "unique battery management system" to convert the vehicles. OK, so that wasn't exactly detailed. We did find mention of Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. The company's website is all in Swedish, and Google Translate isn't helping us find much more. Luckily, the Invest In Sweden Agency reprints an English press release that says that True Electric converted a Saab 9-3 to electric power and managed a 0-62 mph time of 6.5 seconds, a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph) and a range of around 93 to 124 miles. That all sounds good, but if you can find more details, please let us know. Thanks to Jonas C. for the tip!
[Source: Invest In Sweden Agency, True Electric (in Swedish - translated)]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mattias in Durham, NC 2:23PM (7/12/2009)
According to the website, if I understand it correctly (I can read in Swedish but I'm not an expert on the topic), there are two significant things that they do differently.
1) the way they manage the charging and discharging of the batteries. Each battery cell is managed individually instead of stringing lots of cells together. Sounds like a good idea. According to them, they get away with half the number of batteries to achieve the same performance. Also, if one cell was to die then it won't affect 5000 other cells.
2) the electric engine is of a type that allows the same (high) torque to be applied through the entire RPM range. Not sure how this works, but I'm pretty sure I've heard of fork lifts that are built this way. Also a good idea.
Some other details - thanks to having two engines (one on each side), they don't need a differential, and thanks to the torque range they don't need a gearbox. This translates into higher efficiency. They claim 80%.
Looks pretty interesting to me. I hope one of the big manufacturers buy their technology (because I want my electric car with range extender TODAY!)
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Ernie 2:48AM (7/13/2009)
"Each battery cell is managed individually instead of stringing lots of cells together."
Yes, this is called lithium ion battery management. If you *don't* do this, then the lifetime of the battery gets measured in months, not years. This doesn't really reduce the size of the battery any significant amount though, unless they're charging it to 100% and depleting it to 10 or 20%. That too would shorten the lifespan of the battery by a great deal.
"the electric engine is of a type that allows the same (high) torque to be applied through the entire RPM range"
Yes, that's called an AC electric motor.
They're not doing anything differently from anyone. Least of all Tesla or even Aptera.
Mattias in Durham, NC 8:30AM (7/13/2009)
I'm just reporting what their website claims re: battery management. Don't know if there is anything actually new they are doing with the motor - even I have heard of these before, in fork lift applications. But the Tesla has a gearbox (meaning some losses) and one single electric motor (meaning they do need a differential=some more losses), right?
Dave 6:32PM (7/12/2009)
And the Swedish consumer will laugh hysterically when he is told that the range is cut in half when u turn on the heat.
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Ernie 3:02AM (7/13/2009)
Thanks Dave, for spreading ignorance and misinformation.
To reproduce the sort of acceleration that the gas version has, you'd need to produce about the same amount of horsepower (in this case, 147 Kw).
A 1Kw ceramic cabin heater would be more than enough for this application. Compare the two.
Nevermind the fact that Swedes typically wear warm clothes in cold weather, mitigating the need for very warm heaters in their cars.
Dave 8:37AM (7/13/2009)
The engine will not consume a constant 147 kW.
And the heater will consume much more than 1 kW. And it will run for several minutes before each journey begins.
Spend some time in Sweden in February and get back to us on your ridiculous 1kw heater theory.
lazybones 4:03AM (7/14/2009)
"ridiculous 1kw heater theory."
1Kw sounds very over the top to heat a car, consider the product below..
http://www.daikin.com.au/product.asp?pid=311&tab=1
So this reverse cycle unit is capable of heating & cooling over 100 cubic meters (m3) of living space using a nominal power input of just over 800watts.
But you claim you'd need more to heat a car cabin of ( < 5 m3).
lazybones 7:53AM (7/13/2009)
"To reproduce the sort of acceleration that the gas version has, you'd need to produce about the same amount of horsepower (in this case, 147 Kw)."
Not exactly Ernie, you need less power in the electric motor due to its higher operating efficientcy. Check out these stats:-
Telsa 185Kw (0-100 3.9secs)
911 GT2 354Kw (0-100 3.6secs)
Dodge Viper GTS 336Kw (0-100 4Secs)
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Ari 4:31AM (7/14/2009)
The motor is slightly different type of AC that are used in other conversions. I had an impression that the motor has very low rpm compared to Tesla (under 2000? ). That's because they have connected AC straight to drive axle, one for each side. If Teslas engine would been connected this way, they would have too high top speed (if that's even possible:) ). Due the different type of engine (and controlling) the torque line stays up longer in the whole range. This is somewhat similar as in elec. trains?
The main reason for using heater is to keep windows clean. That heating (and cooling) problem is an infinite talking issue, and it's more about attitude. My home is 100km away from arctic circle, and even old gasoline volvo can't give enough heat for some people in there. If you can't stand the weather...
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Someone 12:15PM (7/13/2009)
One of the things that makes it special is the way they handle the batteries. They are currently using 160 cells for a total of ~250kgs. If one cell goes bananas, they can easily swap it with a fresh one. Compare this to the 6500+ cells of Tesla ( You have to swap the whole Tesla battery pack for $50k? )..
Also, the estimated cost lies just some 20% above the original car if put in production. The car weights the same and has the same weight distribution.. meaning it will handle nicely.
Heating will always be an issue for electric cars, using electricity to heat it is not an option since it will significantly reduce your range. The best option is to have some kind of diesel/ethanol/gas heater. A normal electric car will use some 1.5-1.7kWh / 10 kilometers with mixed driving.. compare this to the energy required to heat it.
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Dave @ iSAAB 8:48AM (10/29/2009)
Saab keeps pulling these out of the bag - what will the bring us next?
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