electric cars to hit malaysian roads by june??? really?

The Star Online > Nation

Saturday March 19, 2011

Electric cars to hit the roads by June

By SYED AZHAR
newsdesk@thestar.com.my
KOTA BARU: Electric cars will be hitting the roads by June after legal standardisation of the vehicles is completed.
Road Transport Department (JPJ) director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said the Transport Min-istry was drawing up laws to enable 10 appointed companies to start producing the cars.
“We are now in the final stage of formulating the laws on the use of such cars on Malaysian roads according to the United Nations Economic Commissions for Africa standards pertaining to electric cars.(what is this standard? and why africa??
“We first have to get down to basics, where car manufacturers must meet specifications formulated like the type of battery, maximum speed and the braking system,” he said yesterday after opening the Malaysian Driving Institute Association annual general meeting and dialogue session.
Solah also said Parliament passed an amendment to the Road Transport Act 1987 last year to accommodate the electric cars in the Act, whereby only the chassis numbers of the electric cars need to be registered at JPJ.

He also said the ministry was working out other details on how to convert electric power to horsepower and the amount of road tax. (such a big deal lah!)

Earlier in his speech, Solah said the department needed the cooperation of driving institutes to self-regulate when handling new driving students.
He said the move will help create competition among the institutes to produce competent new drivers.

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© 1995-2011 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

Govt may ban electric bicycles

Govt may ban electric bicycles

The Star Online > Nation

Thursday March 10, 2011

Govt may ban electric bicycles

By LESTER KONG
lester@thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: Electric bicycles may be taken off the road if the Cabinet accepts a recommendation from the Transport Ministry.

Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said he will be presenting a paper during Friday’s Cabinet meeting to recommend disallowing electric bicycles, citing safety reasons.

He said continuing to allow electric bicycles, which have battery-powered motors, could result in a higher risk of injury or death.

“Electric bicycles do not meet the performance specifications of motorcycles.

“It is more than a bicycle but less than a motorcycle,” he told The Star on Tuesday.

While Kong acknowledged that electric bicycles were good for the environment, he stressed that the higher risk of death and injury from collision did not warrant their usage.

“If you want to talk about being environmentally-friendly, using a normal bicycle is still the best,” he pointed out.

He added that an electric bicycle could not be classified as an electric motorcycle.

“Anyone can use it as there are no restrictions on who can use a bicycle,” he said.

“There is no need to register an electric bicycle or obtain a driving licence, road tax, insurance or registration number.

“Any young child will be able to use the electric bicycle without a crash helmet and that means a much higher risk of accidents,” he cautioned.

Kong said the paper to be presented to the Cabinet would reveal all the facts involving electric bicycles.

Road Transport Department director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan said in a statement that electric bicycles currently being sold were designed to travel more than 40km per hour.

“According to road safety studies, bicycles that move at more than 20km per hour pose a much higher risk of injury to pedestrians, especially when both share the same lane,” he said.

Solah added that facilities for cyclists like special lanes were currently limited to residential and recreational parks.

“Cyclists, who use routes other than designated ones, will be exposed to the risk of traffic accidents and contribute to the overall number of accidents,” he cautioned.

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© 1995-2011 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

My electric bicycle experience....

This should have been one of the very first posts though... anyway so many things are not in sequence here...

Presented this at a conference in Shenzhen China Nov 2010

My first experiments with electrical propulsion started off the e-bicycles. I got a kit from china and converted a normal geared bicycle into electric. My Prof kindly approved this in return  for engaging some undergraduate students in projects which would count towards their final degree.  Hub motors are so cool, they eliminate the need for a transmission from motor to wheels and it really, its much less hassle.

hub motor 250W 36V

 This was the first attempt at electrifying the bicycle, i got 3 12Ah SLA batteries each weighing 4kg somehow attached to the frame. 12Kg hanging from the frame, wires flying here and there hooking up the controller in the rear carriage and i still managed to get an "EV grin" when i twisted the throttle and it zoomed uphill without even pedalling.

this was pretty messy and unstable

e-kancil gets VVIP attention...

Just for the camera...

for the Camera too...

Guess who is driving my e-kancil?

Everything is almost in place

This is what the front hood looks like with almost everything in place (well almost). At a glance you can see the controller (alltrax axe 7245) , maxwell ultracapacitor module (165F,48V) , 12V auxilliary battery for the headlights.. etc and also most importantly to enable the contactors. I am particularly happy with being able to install the vacuum pump and the vacuum tank for the brake system. the vibrations due to poor mounting of the pump is still a problem though.

 The rear compartment is  completely taken over by HEAVY trojan 220ah batteries ; 8 of them, totaling almost 240Kg!!! these are cheaper of course and we decided to experiment with these first before getting some lithium ( any sponsors?)

my electric "kancil"..

A famous city car in Malaysia, the Perodua Kancil, was chosen for conversion into a fully electric vehicle due to its light weight. The 660 cc (1997 model), three cylinder carbureted engine rated at 31 Hp (22.1KW) was replaced with a 48-72V separately excited DC motor rated at 8KW continuous and 20KW peak.

Specifications for kancil EV

v      Total weight of vehicle w/o engine – 600 Kg

v   Total Battery Weight – 250Kg

v  Curb Weight – 850Kg

v  Payload – 2 passengers for now i.e. 120Kg.

v  System Voltage – 48V

v  Battery -  T105 Trojan 6V ,225 Ah deep cycle lead acid battery  (x8)

v  Supercapacitor : 48V 165F module

v  Motor: Separately excited DC motor (high starting torque) 48-72V, 8KW continuous 20KW peak.

v  Controller: 400A controller

v  *Top speed – 80km/h

v   *Range per charge – 50km

v  *Efficiency : 70Wh/km

*These figures are estimated from theoretical calculations