The future of transportation is electric. Even in India, electric vehicles are gaining popularity slowly. Recently, Tata Motors said that the demand for the Nexon EV is the same as the diesel variants of the Nexon. In India, we also get Hyundai Kona Electric and MG ZS EV. Maruti Suzuki is also working on their first electric vehicle which is expected to debut in 2022 or 2023. Here, is a video uploaded on YouTube by PluginIndia Electric Vehicles. In the video, we can see a Maruti Suzuki Dzire that has been converted to run on electricity.
The person behind the project is Hemank. The conversion is done at Northway Motorsport. He bought a brand new Maruti Suzuki Dzire and they had to design everything from scratch. Everything is analyzed and is tailor-made only for this Dzire. The charger, battery pack, converter, motor, fuses, switches etc are made in house. This is done so that they don’t have to alter the stock vehicle because of the electric kit. This makes it more efficient and cost-effective.
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Under the bonnet, you would see a lot of electrical components and no engine. Hemank did not reveal the details about the electrical components because most of the stuff was sent for patenting. The 0-100 kmph acceleration time of internal combustion-powered Dzire is around 12 seconds whereas the electric Dzire can do it under 10 seconds.
Electric motors are producing a lot more torque than the internal combustion engine. Due to this, this Dzire has hit a top speed of 160 kmph. The setup that the Dzire is using is smaller than the Nexon EV and Nexon EV has a top speed of 120 kmph.
The driving range depends on the battery pack you choose. You have 20 kW, 25 kW and 30 kW. The 20 kW battery should be able to deliver a driving range of 240 km. The battery pack takes 8 hours to recharge. Although you also have the support of fast charging which should charge the battery pack in just an hour. You also get regenerative braking. The charging port is located where the usual fuel lid is.
There is no compromise done to the boot capacity or the spare wheel. So, you get the whole boot space and even the chassis is unchanged. Everything is fitted underneath the body and in the engine bay. The certification of the kit is still pending for commercial production because they have not finalised the partner yet. However, the kit is certified for testing purposes.
Then Hemank takes the host for a test drive. He puts the vehicle in first gear using the clutch. Because the torque is always available, the Dzire starts with a wheel spin. The sedan effortlessly hits 80 kmph. Hemank says that the aim behind this is that the EV experience should be at an affordable price. The vehicle feels at par or faster than the petrol version of the Dzire. Because there is no engine, there is no noise and vibrations. So, the NVH levels have improved drastically. Overall, the conversion kit looks pretty good and the conversion has been done pretty neatly.
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