University of Calgary students turning vintage car into electric vehicle
Ratik Kapoor is a University of Calgary student who wants to create a world-wide electric vehicle culture.
To help achieve that, he's formed a team called Relectric made up of more than 40 students from various faculties. They're starting off with a 1966 Volvo station wagon and stripping out the old engine, replacing it with an electric motor.
"I think what makes us different is that we're not just doing a conversion for the sake of doing the conversion," he said.
"We're tying all the different aspects of the conversion together because we want it to be something that people want to drive at the end of the day, we want this to be people's daily driver."
Kapoor and the team face many challenges in taking aftermarket conversion pieces and connecting them all so driving a converted vehicle feels more like operating a brand new, electric vehicle for the cost of a good used car.
There are other companies converting gas powered vehicles but Relectric wants to make the process easier.
"If you convert just any car out there, you might not have the same level of integration," said Kapoor.
"Like a touchscreen that has everything, all the bells and whistles that you'd expect from a car today, that's what we do different from everybody else that's out there."
Kapoor has broken the students into five teams specializing in mechanical, electrical, software, geomatics and geospatial positioning.
Brooke Kindleman is heading the software team and is in her fourth year in the university's software engineering program.
She didn't know much about cars when she started but knows a lot about computers. She's tasked with connecting all the technology so information is easily accessible for the driver.
"What we are able to do is make a display that is very close to an existing display," said Kindleman.
"So it's not a shock for somebody who gets into that vehicle but at the same time you have the features that you want an electric car, you're able to see what's your battery discharge rate, you know, how far is the nearest charging station."
The project began in late 2019 and teams worked separately on their tasks.
"As you're starting out on this car a lot of the teams were able to work individually," said Kindleman.
"If you're working on a part, like the mechanical team was able to work separately from every other team, but as we're getting into it and we're now reaching the point where we're having the different teams going OK, we actually need to connect our stuff."
Kalen Cameron just finished his second year of chemical engineering and heads the mechanical team. He says it's been a challenging project so far.
"We have had to strip down (the car), take out all the seats, the engine bay and stuff like that had to be completely cleaned," he said.
"Replace brakes, it's been it's been a mix, but definitely a challenge for everybody."
The idea is to keep the look of the 1966 Volvo wagon, but make it modern.
"So we're incorporating some modern features like climate controls," said Cameron. "Air conditioning wasn't exactly standard in the '60s so we're trying to modernize it and really get it back to some modern comforts."
Kapoor wants to make it not only easy to convert vehicles but economical.
"Our main goal as a University team is to basically open source the technology that allows people to convert cars so we want to basically kick-start the culture of converting old cars into electric," he said.
"We post online for free so anybody can use it, modify it and build off of it, and we really just want to build that community, I think is where we want to go with this."
Learn more about Relectric online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Town of Fort Nelson, B.C., ordered to evacuate due to wildfire
The entire town of Fort Nelson, B.C., as well as the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has been ordered to evacuate due to an out-of-control wildfire.
Snowbirds in Vancouver for puck-drop flyby as Canucks face Oilers
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be performing a flyover across downtown Vancouver at the start of tonight's Stanley Cup playoff game between the Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Video shows naked raccoon catching B.C. family by surprise
When Marvin Henschel spotted a strange and hairless creature wandering through a front lawn in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, he could barely believe his eyes.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.
Out-of-control wildfire prompts evacuation alert for Fort McMurray, Saprae Creek Estates Friday night
An evacuation alert was issued for two Wood Buffalo communities Friday night, as crews battled an out-of-control wildfire near Fort McMurray.