Indonesia's seriousness in starting the era of electrification of motorized vehicles has been well received by various automotive manufacturers. One of them is Toyota, which secretly cooperates with three state universities to turn the Toyota Calya into an electric car.
The three universities are the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), the University of Indonesia (UI) and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
Through a webinar entitled 'University Research Activities as Part of Efforts in Developing the Electrification Vehicle Population', the three universities explained the conversion of Toyota Calya to electricity.
A lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Indonesia, Mohammad Adhitya, said that his party has converted the Toyota Calya into an electric version using a battery from the Toyota Prius.
“To be able to convert the Toyota Calya into electricity, we must first know the type of vehicle in terms of dimensions, number of passengers, how fast the vehicle is. So we can find out the type and power of the engine and transmission," said Adhitya in a webinar, Friday (21/5/2022).
In placing the driving motor, according to Adhitya, it cannot be done arbitrarily, because this determines the weight or weight distribution and handling.
"So it must be known where we will put the driving motor, whether in the front, in the middle or behind," he said.
This is so that the conversion of electric vehicles remains safe, does not change the appearance or shape of the original vehicle.
“The cabin space accommodation has not changed much, information on the original vehicle such as the speedometer remains available. The technique of driving an electric car is also no different from the original vehicle," said Adhitya.
In addition, in his research on the electric Calya conversion, Adhitya found that the battery is safer to tuck under the front passenger seat.
"For the battery in the position under the front seat, because the location is relatively safe in the event of a front, rear or side collision, and the accommodation of the cabin space has not changed (relatively fixed)," he said.
Meanwhile, Bambang Sudarmanta, an ITS Lecturer, explained that his party succeeded in converting Calya into electricity using a battery developed by ITS. He continued, currently his party has carried out the development of electric Calya through several stages.
"First, improve the controller, which is intended for controller tuning optimization, through upgrading the PiD program system, upgrading the controller module system," he said.
The second is improve battery cell, which includes a modular battery system, battery types, and module battery monitoring facilities. The next step is to improve the IoT system, through the SoC program and the addition of early warning for abnormal conditions.
“The next step is to perform performance testing. And finally, standardization of the EV safety factor will be carried out," he said.
In other words, ITS will still continue to develop the electric version of the Caly to make it more perfect.
