On any average day, a bus ticket from Bengaluru to Chennai would cost you between ₹350 and ₹950 or more. A flight ticket would range from ₹2,600 and upward. So when Syed Mubasheer Ali revealed that he had managed it within a tight ₹65, it was a little surprising. Then he showed us the Endura 330, the car that travelled 467 kms on a single charge.
Syed embarked on a journey that he calls the ‘Endurance Drive’, to prove the potential of lithium ion batteries. With very little data available, he commenced on the inter-city expedition on a single charge or one E-fuel tank. The car he chose for the drive was a used 2007 Reva electric . But the car, christened Endura 330, was upgraded with a 30kWh lithium polymer battery, replacing its original 10kWh lead acid unit.
But this was not just a power upgrade. While the car’s original battery weighed 240 kg and had a range of 60 to 80 km, the new lithium polymer battery weighs 205 kg along with the accompanying accessories, and offers a range of 330 to 380 km. So it was surprising, even to Syed, when the battery ran the car for 467 km. That’s more than the range of the Tesla Model S’ 85kWh. The new battery was designed to fit into the same space that hosted the car’s official battery.
Being a product designer, Syed has been in the business of designing and developing custom lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries for commercial purposes. His company, d-ESPAT Pvt Ltd, which he’s the director of, has been building lithium ion batteries for extreme operations, customised for Indian industry and strategic applications. Talking more about the battery, Syed said, “The idea was conceived many years ago, back in 2013. When I got access to one of the best technology cells, I took the initiative to design. It took five months of designing, three months to procure the components, and four weeks to build the vehicle.”
The Endura 330’s battery is designed to use residential AC power for charging. However, its battery can also be charged in less than half the normal duration of 13 hours, using industrial grade grid power. To extract maximum range, regenerative braking capability has been integrated into the vehicle, which means when the driver is not pressing down the accelerator pedal, the axle-mounted motor works as a generator, constantly putting back energy into the battery in a controlled manner.
Starting from Banaswadi in Bengaluru, they drove through Old Madras Road, passing through the picturesque hilly roads leading to Palamaner and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, before joining the Chennai-Bengaluru highway until they reached Chennai. The route had a good mix of highways, city roads, and upward slopes.
Before the start of the journey, the car was charged to full capacity, and during flag-off, it had about 6% less than full capacity. To utilise the last drop of juice in the battery, the drive was completed without any creature comforts like air-conditioning, and they didn’t use any lights or horn either.
As the rest of the world is planning to adopt full electrification in a decade or two, Endura 330 comes as a promising showcase of the technology prowess we have for an alternate source of power. Even India has a vision of achieving 100% electrification of public transport and 40% electrification of personal mobility by 2030. But current conditions are not viable for electric vehicles (EVs). The cost to own EVs is high for personal use and the public acceptance and awareness of EVs are still in the infant stage. Syed says the solution to this is for the government to adopt EVs for public transportation on a larger scale. He believes that when the volume of electric vehicles on the road increases, people will have more confidence in accepting them. Use of EVs in segments like last-mile connectivity, intra-city, fixed route transport will not only reduce the pollution blanketing our cities but also help in large-scale adoption as well.
Before we went our way to take a drive in the Endura 330, Syed showed me some amazing concepts of his other works, that include a 27 kg Advanced Light Helicopter ground start battery that can be pulled around like a trolley (the Government currently uses a 85 kg battery that needs to be towed).
We got into the car with almost-untouched interiors. As the smoke spewed out of buses and other vehicles at the traffic signal, we spoke about a world of mobility, where we could also breathe.
