Private cars and transport vehicles are one of the nation’s largest sources of carbon emissions making finding low or non-polluting alternatives a major priority over the next decade. 

There are a multitude of alternative personal transport options from bikes through to trains, but very few alternatives to support individuals and businesses transport goods and services.

 

Since 2007 CERES has been involved pioneering the design and conversion of, VicRoads compliant, electric vehicles (EVs),  including a project with Swinburne TAFE School of Engineering which will results in to the establishment of Australia’s first accredited electric vehicle conversion and  maintenance courses.

 

CERES specialises in the retrofit of existing vehicles to electric drive, in contrast to newly manufactured EVs, in order to produce EVs that eliminate the additional carbon emissions that result from the manufacture of fleets of new electric vehicles.

 

Using an existing car frame also has the added benefit that the car already complies with current Australian safety standards.

 

CERES is now embarking on the design and conversion of one of Australia’s most popular large delivery vans, the Mercedes Sprinter, to an electric motor that will be able to travel a minimum of 100 kilometres per charge and carry 880 kilograms of cargo.

 

The outcome will be to providing a model of a positive transport solution for business that addresses the dual challenges of climate change and peak oil.

Click here to view the photo gallery of the EV conversion.

Mercedes Sprinter Van

 

 

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are cars that use batteries to power a non-polluting electric motor. The batteries in an EV can be charged by drawing electricity from the mains power supply, or from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

 

Regardless of the source of electricity, electric motors are probably the most efficient systems for propelling cars making EVs both financially and environmental less costly than petrol powered cars.

 

EVs are also faster, quieter, more energy efficient and more mechanically reliable than petrol engine cars. They also hold the road better, respond instantly and smoothly to the acceleration pedal and have a better safety record.

 

Carbon emissions from cars, trucks and other forms of transport make up between 9 -12% of Australia’s carbon pollution emissions. At the same time oil, used to power most transport, is reaching the point at which half the world’s reserves have been used up.  The second half is lower quality, the extraction process highly damaging to the surrounding environment and expensive to buy.

 

Cars that use traditional fuels have almost reached their limit as far as increasing efficiency and reducing carbon emissions are concerned. Although it is possible to keep improving engines with more sophisticated computers and pollution control mechanisms, the results will be neither fast nor significant enough to achieve useful carbon reduction targets.

 

Advances in electric vehicles has meant that EVs can now travel up to 350 kilometres on a single charge, reach speeds of 120 kph and the batteries only need to be replaced after 1000 cycles (discharge and recharge events), or approximately every seven years under typical usage patterns.

 

New lithium batteries for EVs are relatively expensive, but this is only due to economies of scale. The price is expected to drop significantly as lithium batteries become more widely used in the rapidly expanding hybrid vehicle market. These batteries are also much less toxic than older batteries and better battery technology is producing very rapid charge times (90% charged in 5 minutes).