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
DEVELOPING Man sets self on fire outside New York court where Trump trial underway
A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump's historic hush-money trial was taking place as jury selection wrapped up, but officials said he did not appear to have been targeting Trump.
BREAKING Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter to prevent her from getting COVID-19 vaccine
Michael Gordon Jackson, a Saskatchewan man accused of abducting his daughter to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine, has been found guilty for contravention of a custody order.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
The Body Shop Canada explores sale as demand outpaces inventory: court filing
The Body Shop Canada is exploring a sale as it struggles to get its hands on enough inventory to keep up with "robust" sales after announcing it would file for creditor protection and close 33 stores.
Vicious attack on a dog ends with charges for northern Ont. suspect
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
On federal budget, Macklem says 'fiscal track has not changed significantly'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says Canada's fiscal position has 'not changed significantly' following the release of the federal government's budget.