Evaluation of Electrification of 4W Light Commercial Vehicle

Abstract

Road transport is a prime contributor to CO2 emissions in the Indian transportation sector. The motor vehicle fleet in India is responsible for 90% of the total energy consumption in the transport industry and of this, 45% is consumed for freight transport. Currently, petroleum is used primarily to generate energy for road transport and most of it is imported. With the increase in environmental issues and oil prices, it has become necessary to switch to alternative propulsion systems. Current ICE vehicles can be adopted for Electric vehicle retrofitting which aids in reducing the transport sector emissions. In this paper, the process of conversion of a 4W Light Commercial Vehicle into an Electric Vehicle adhering to the vehicle conversion norms in India is discussed. A numerical analysis of the vehicle was done to evaluate its performance. A cost comparison of the ICE vehicle, a Retrofitted Electric vehicle, and a New Electric vehicle was carried out. The results showed that the converted vehicle has better performance than that of an ICE vehicle and costs lower than the new electric vehicle.

Keywords

• Conversion
• Electric Vehicle
• Internal Combustion Engine Vehicle
• Light Commercial Vehicle
• Regenerative Braking
• Retrofit

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