Retrofit

Where does this need come from?

Many business entities, municipal companies, companies working on behalf of local governments have to carry out work that requires transport in city centers, parks, alleys, and recreational areas. Cleaning, washing streets, signs, removal of leaves and grass or ordinary delivery of products to shops located in pedestrian zones, with limited entry by cars with combustion engines.

We are also awaiting the emergence of more green zones in city centers, where entry will only be possible with a zero-emission vehicle. Local governments themselves will also have to equip their fleets and fleets of local government companies with zero-emission vehicles. The Polish Act on electromobility and alternative fuels imposes on local authorities minimum limits for the share of electric vehicles in the fleet they use and in the fleet of entities performing public transport tasks on their behalf. The same act defines the conditions for establishing clean transport zones and, although it has been and will be modified, it is obvious that such zones will be created. Besides, wouldn’t it be nicer for residents if the night street sweeper machine was quiet and not rattling a diesel engine? And if a courier with purchases from an online store moved silently through the streets of the city center?

It is necessary to be prepared for the above described requirements, the sooner the better.

You can choose from the following options:

• for local government authorities, in fleets of company vehicles – only electric vehicles, with batteries (BEV – Battery Electric Vehicles) and vehicles fueled with natural gas,
• for companies organizing public transport – electric or … hydrogen buses.

An interesting fact is why the garbage truck can be powered by natural gas and the bus cannot. The definition put in a.m. Act of a zero-emission bus only talks about hydrogen electric drive and “an engine which working cycle does not emit greenhouse gases” – that is, an electric motor powered by other than fuel cells.

And what now?

If you want to join the group of electric vehicle owners for statutory reasons or high environmental awareness, image needs or any other reasons, there are two options:
– buy new vehicles,
– or to economically convert existing ones.

We will not delve into the issue of the purchase price of new electric vehicles, you know for yourself or you will find out that it is not a small expense. Especially if you check, for example, the value of the current vehicles that you would like to sell in order to obtain some funds for the purchase of new ones. Often, in accounting books, they represent a value equal to a fraction of the purchase price. I am afraid that the obtainable market price of a few years’ delivery van will not even cover the value of the initial payment for leasing or long-term rental.

It should also be remembered that in addition to the electric vehicles themselves, you need to design, purchase and install the charging infrastructure – which additionally raises costs. It is difficult for local government to park and charge their electric vehicles at public charging stations in the evenings. This infrastructure must be in place, often at your sole disposal due to the statutory objectives and missions.

We offer you a comprehensive service in the above-mentioned scope.

A special part of our activity is the conversion of combustion vehicles into electric vehicles (light vans and buses). Thanks to our own design department and our own technical solutions in the field of engines, inverters and chargers, we are able to transform the drive in your vehicles from a diesel or gasoline engine into an ecological, quiet, cheap and very efficient vehicle with an electric motor. The same applies to special vehicles such as street sweepers, small vehicles with refuse collection bodies, etc.

For economic reasons, such a “retrofit”, that is to install something new, in this case a drive and an energy storage, in an existing vehicle makes sense in vans and buses. We are ready to support the implementation of such solutions in rear-wheel drive vehicles, e.g. in the popular Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter models, and in virtually every bus.

Such action is part of the more and more popular concept of Circular-Economy, a concept that assumes minimizing the environmental impact of the created products through the selection of ingredients and design that will enable their reuse. The concept of cradle-to-cradle is also associated with the circular economy. It is a way of designing and producing items in accordance with the concept of sustainable development, so that they can be recycled at the end of their life. And this is exactly what we propose – a vehicle converted from an internal combustion engine to electric will not only be a cheaper solution. It will also have a significantly smaller carbon footprint and will allow for the circulation of funds in the local economy. Service, spare parts, conversion process – will be carried out by local resources of local companies. In this way, we will support our economy and minimize the redistribution of financial resources abroad, while supporting jobs on the local market. In this case, the obvious savings compared to the purchase of new vehicles (even more than 50%) may fall into the background.

If your current vehicles, for some reason, cannot be converted (due to their age, front-wheel drive or other specificity), we help in obtaining used cars for the conversion process. Selling the currently used and buying newer ones, also second-hand, is still a much cheaper solution than buying a new electric vehicle, which you will not be able to service yourselves for even several years due to warranty requirements – which will further increase costs.

We provide a complete set of the required assemblies: motor, inverter, gear, fasteners, wiring, battery set and control elements, and then we assemble it all in a specialized service. The disassembled components of the internal combustion engine may be sold as used on aftermarket or scrapped.