In the last couple of years, the popularity of electric vehicles has gone up in India. One reason behind this trend is the rising fuel prices. Although an electric vehicle is much more expensive than a petrol or diesel car, in the long run, it is more profitable, and the running cost is also very low. Manufacturers like Tata, MG, Kia, Hyundai, and Mahindra have electric cars, and there are even more manufacturers when it comes to two-wheelers. Lately, we have been seeing several videos related to conversion kits where you can convert a petrol car into an electric vehicle. Here we have one such video where a person has successfully managed to convert his Hyundai Santro hatchback into an electric car in just three days.

The video has been uploaded by Making With Mihir on their YouTube channel. In this video, Mihir, who converted the Hyundai Santro into an EV, talks about the car that belonged to his grandfather. He converted the petrol hatchback into an electric car in just three days. The video mentions all the changes that he had to make to convert this petrol hatchback into an electric car. He calls it the strangest yet simplest way to convert an ICE car to an electric car. The video even shows a scale model of an Internal Combustion engine.

Also read: Tata Punch Diesel spotted ahead of launch

This was done to show how the engine powers the power steering and AC compressor on the car. By removing the engine completely, he would require more motors to make the steering and AC work, which would only complicate things and would not offer a clean look under the bonnet. To resolve this issue, Mihir removed half of the engine and left the pistons in it. He fabricated a mount that is now placed over the cylinders with an electric motor installed on it. This new electric motor works well with the overall existing AC and power steering setup.

This was the first time he was doing such a conversion job, so he took help from an experienced mechanic. They took the engine out completely to work on it. He even mentions that if anyone is planning such conversions on their car, they don’t have to take the engine out. The car now uses a 6kW, 72V BLDC motor connected to a 350A Kelly Controller. The battery is placed in the boot of the Santro, and the charging port is placed where the regular fuel was filled. The fuel tank has been completely removed from the car as it is not required anymore.

The car uses a 72V 100Ah Lithium Ferrophosphate battery. An electric brake booster vacuum pump was installed to improve the braking abilities of the car. The car also got a 72-12V DC-DC converter to bring the 72V from the LFP battery in the back down to 12V to charge the lead-acid battery to power the central locks, power windows, and the lights. The battery and the electric motor installed on this Santro are small and low powered. It currently has a top speed of 60 kmph and returns a range of 80-90 km. This is sufficient for a car that is used mostly inside city limits. The vlogger spent around Rs 2.4 lakh to convert this Santro into an EV, and currently, the running cost of the Santro is Rs 1 per km.

Also read: 10 DC Design cars & how they look in the REAL world: Maruti Swift to Mahindra XUV500