6 Benefits of converting your vehicle to electric
6 Benefits of converting your vehicle to electric
Would you like to drive an electric vehicle? Buying a new electric car is not the only option. You can also convert your existing vehicle to electric! Electric car conversion is the removal of the diesel or petrol internal combustion engine, and replacement with an electric motor, batteries and a control system. What are the benefits of converting your vehicle to electric? We made a list of six benefits of converting your vehicle to electric.
1 NO-EMISSIONS: DRIVING A CONVERTED VEHICLE REDUCES AIR POLLUTION (AND SAVES LIVES)
Compared to combustion engine cars, electric vehicles are much cleaner. When a car doesn't have a tailpipe, as is the case with electric vehicles, it won't produce carbon dioxide emissions while driving.
Electric vehicles can be charged with off-grid solar energy or renewable energy straight from the grid. With Opibus we provide a Type 2 charging solution for any of application. This includes AC chargers for residential offices/homes and DC fast chargers for public use. Meaning you can charge your vehicle anywhere you are! At the office, at home, or at a friend's place.
An electric vehicle gives little to no emissions, one electric vehicle can save an average of 1.5 million grams of CO2 over a year! As an example, that's about the equivalent of four return flights from Nairobi to Addis Ababa.
This reduction in emissions is well-needed in East Africa, as well as worldwide. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants that exceeds WHO guideline limits, and the highest exposures are found in low- and middle-income countries. This means that 91% of the world’s population live in places where the levels of air pollution exceeds those guideline limits.
Worldwide, air pollution cause around seven million premature deaths every year. From those yearly seven million premature deaths, about 4.2 million deaths occur as a result of exposure to outdoor air pollution. According to a study at NASA, air pollution causes about 780,000 premature deaths per year in Africa, largely as a result of increased mortality from lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, and more.
2 EXPENSIVE? DISCOVER THE LONG-TERM ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF DRIVING ELECTRIC
Converting your vehicle to electric not only lowers the initial investment of a new car, but also reduces operational costs. Opibus replaces a combustion engine with an electric powertrain with a high initial cost which is quite an investment, but in the end, after years of using the electric vehicle, you save a lot of money. Opibus has developed a calculator to calculate your long-term economic benefits if you would convert your car to electric. It calculates your total savings based on your driving patterns, fuel consumption, daily distances, and yearly maintenance.
When you convert your vehicle with Opibus, there is also an onboard fleet operations system integrated into the system, that monitors your driving patterns. It increases in-depth knowledge of routes, usage patterns, and optimization possibilities for lowering running costs. This gives you the opportunity to optimize your driving habits, to save even more money!
3 AN ELECTRIC CAR IS RELIABLE, POWERFUL, AND RESPONSIVE
To make sure the vehicles are powerful and reliable, we convert them with electric powertrains developed in one of the world's harshest terrains in Africa. We focus on performance, balancing torque, and high speeds, which makes our electric vehicle conversions reliable as well. You will therefore experience instant torque throughout the whole acceleration, as soon as you press down the pedal. We are creating a world-class off-road vehicle driving experience, by positioning the center range extension battery in a way it improves vehicle dynamics, minimizing roll moment, as well as installation speed while lowering the center of gravity.
4 CONVERTING YOUR VEHICLE TO ELECTRIC MEANS FEWER LIFE CYCLE EMISSIONS
Some may wonder if they should buy a new car or convert their car to electric. It's possible to convert your car to electric for the same costs, or even less, as buying a new conventional vehicle. There are many questions about how clean and green electric vehicles really are. The way in which electricity is generated, but also manufacturing concerns. Let's dive a little deeper into that!
By life cycle emissions we mean all emissions related to fuel and vehicle production, distribution, processing, use, and recycling/disposal. All vehicles produce life cycle emissions, but an electric vehicle produces fewer life cycle emissions and emits fewer greenhouse gases and air pollutants over its life than average petrol or diesel cars. This is because burning gasoline or diesel produces more emissions than generating electricity. It depends on the electricity mix how many emissions are produced while generating the electricity. Depending on the geographic location, the amount of emissions produced to generate the electricity you use to charge your vehicle, can variate. The life cycle emissions can be minimized through the use of non-polluting renewable energy, like solar and wind. In Kenya around 67,5% of the electricity mix comes from renewable sources. As Kenya’s electricity grid is already for the most part energized by a mix of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, most of the electric vehicles in Kenya will be powered by clean electricity.
The production of electric vehicles requires a lot of energy. Especially the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, which are also used to convert vehicles to electric, uses a lot of energy during production. The production of those batteries has a major environmental impact. Around a third of the lifetime CO2 emissions from an electric car, come from the energy that is used to produce the battery itself. Even after taking battery manufacture into account, converting your vehicle to electric is still a greener option. This is mainly because of the reduction in emissions created over the car's lifetime.
The environmental impact of manufacturing lithium-ion batteries is significant, that’s why it is important to know how to extend battery life to the fullest when you drive an electric vehicle. If you don't use your electric vehicle that often, it's important to not park your car with an empty or fully charged battery. In this case, it's better to charge the battery between 25-75%. We also know that it is very tempting to charge your battery each time with a fast charger. In a short period, so much current into the batteries, that it will diminish them faster. Using a standard charging for eight years will give the battery 10% more battery life in comparison to eight years of using the fast charger.
Renewing your vehicle's fleet by converting it to electric, lowers operational costs. Emissions will be reduced from day one with the electric powertrains, but also CO2 emissions will be cut from both transport and production. Your converted vehicle will be like a brand-new car, that can last for years with the new electric motor, battery and control system inside.
5 A CONVERTED CAR NEEDS LESS MAINTENANCE
A lot of times when people want to convert their vehicle to electric, the vehicle is several years old. Everyone knows, the older your vehicle, the more maintenance is involved. This could be a good reason to convert your vehicle to electric. An electric vehicle requires less maintenance than a conventional vehicle. This is because electric motors have fewer parts than internal combustion engines. There is no need to change the oil, spark plugs, drive belts, transmission fluid, or fuel filters when you're driving an electric vehicle. Especially when cars age, this can result in significant savings, but no car is fully maintenance-free. Also, electric vehicles need to have a maintenance check every once in a while.
Gas-powered vehicles brake systems need to be replaced more often than the brake systems of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles use their friction brakes far less forcefully than regular cars, because of regenerative braking in the electric motor. The brake system in electric vehicles lasts longer, it only needs to be replaced half or even a third of the frequency of a gas-powered vehicle's brake system! Besides that, electric vehicles use the wasted energy from the process of braking to recharge the car’s battery. We call this regenerative braking. On an average petrol or diesel car, braking just wastes energy, but with regenerative braking, some of the energy can be reused to recharge the battery.
Of course, there are other parts of the electric vehicle that needs to be replaced from time to time besides the brake systems, such as the tires, windshield wiper blades, and windshield washer fluid. All these parts require the same maintenance in comparison to conventional vehicles.
6 ELECTRIC CARS ARE VERY SILENT (QUIET)
When you switch on the electric car, often the first thing people notice is the silence of the vehicle. While driving, you don’t hear an engine noise, you only hear the sound of the tires on the road. In big cities like Nairobi, there is a lot of noise pollution. Driving an electric vehicle in these cities, and outside as well, will contribute to creating a more peaceful environment for all of us. This is ideal for nature lovers who like to go outdoors. The silence of the electric vehicle brings you closer to nature, without disturbing your surroundings. This makes electric vehicles perfect for silent game drives and birth watching!
DO YOU WANT TO CONVERT YOUR CAR TO ELECTRIC?
As you can read above, converting your vehicle to electric has many benefits, especially in the longer term. You will save a lot of money, less maintenance is required and last but not least, driving electric is much better for the environment! Request your electric conversion today and soon you will enjoy all the benefits that electric driving has to offer!