Kolkata resident Shankha Mukherjee has a rather unusual car. While it looks like any other old Maruti 800, it is unusual in one respect. It runs on electricity.
Mukherjee says he has been dreaming of making an electric car since he was in school and he finally was able to pursue his dream when he joined engineering college. As part of an assignment in his fourth year of college, he had to build a car, which gave him valuable insights.
And in November 2014 the 24-year-old bought the second hand Maruti 800. For the electric motor to replace the petrol one, he bought car batteries and other equipment.
Luckily he wasn’t alone in his plan.
His father, who is also an engineer, backed the project and even allowed him to use his factory in in Beleghata, on the outskirts of Kolkata.
It took Mukherjee nearly 6 months to complete his project.
“In an electric car, a traction motor powers the driving wheels. The motor is powered by batteries, through a speed controller. A power figure of 5 HP sure sounds puny, but the way an electric motor delivers power, is totally different from of an internal combustion engine,” Mukherjee told ScoopWhoop.
Mukherjee, who presently works at Tata AIG, explained how the car works.
“The car takes 10 hours to be charged completely and runs up to 30 km with full power battery. But presently my speed controller is primitive and inefficient. I’m looking for an advanced controller. There are lots of things I still have to work on. I presently use this car only in my locality where people won’t complain,” he said.
The car would cost around Rs 50,000 if he were to sell it. But Mukherjee is very clear he has no intention of letting go of his brainchild any time soon.
Here are a few more photos of this car:
Feature image source: Shankha Mukherjee