Rum, mojito, cigars are the distinctive labels of Cuba in the Caribbean country, in addition to Havana's classic cars are also another business card of Cuba. In the streets of the capital Havana, Western models since the victory of the Cuban Revolutionary War in 1959 can be seen everywhere, as well as many old Soviet cars from the 60s and 70s, which is like a dynamic classic car museum.
The air in Havana is full of joy, the colorful buildings and the bright livery of the classic cars are interesting, under the beautiful appearance of these classic cars, but there is an embarrassment that cannot be concealed, most of the old masters are "organ transplant patients" who have all been replaced by the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys, the original old-fashioned large self-priming engine has long been dead, and a large number of japanese and Korean old-fashioned small displacement engines have become new residents in the engine compartment.
The embarrassment that classic cars face
1, refueling is difficult
Affected by the long-term economic sanctions of the United States, the supply of crude oil mainly depends on Venezuela's exports, and Venezuela is also subject to severe economic sanctions by the United States, which has led to a long-term shortage of fuel in Cuba, the supply is only about 50% of the actual demand, and the supply of vehicle fuel is particularly tight. In Havana, the capital region, there are frequent refueling queues, ranging from 3 to 5 hours to as little as half a day. Greatly affect the efficiency of vehicle travel.
2. High failure rate
Cuba is deep in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, with a tropical oceanic climate where hot and humid air accelerates the corrosion of vehicles. What is more headache is that these classic cars are in a serious over-age service state, metal fatigue is inevitable, coupled with the late matching of small displacement power is obviously insufficient, most of the vehicles have the problem of small horse-drawn vehicles, the engine long-term high load operation, coupled with the shortage of materials, poor maintenance conditions, "old men" the car condition is very poor, long-term injury and disease.
While worrying about the fate of the classic car, a bold idea flashed through the author's mind, as if Internacional was about to come true. Why not convert these oil-burning classic cars into pure electric drives?
What are the benefits of changing the oil to electricity of classic cars?
First of all, for operators: once the classic car oil is changed to electricity, it will greatly reduce the cost of daily use. Calculate an account, in Havana's local real-time prices to calculate, each kilowatt-hour electricity bill (foreign) with about 0.15 US dollars, the current mileage in the 500 km pure tram, battery capacity of about 85 degrees, full charge cost of about 12.75 US dollars, about 81.21 yuan.
The same is a pure fuel vehicle with a range of 500 kilometers, if calculated by 8L/100 kilometers of fuel consumption, the actual fuel demand is 40L, and the current Cuban oil price is about 1.4 US dollars / L (foreign). The full amount of fuel is about 254.8 yuan, which is more than three times the cost of pure trams.
At the same time, because pure trams have a simpler structure than fuel vehicles, maintenance costs, material costs, and labor costs are relatively lower. For classic car operators, it can save a lot of daily use expenses.
In addition, for passengers, the quality of pure tram driving will have a qualitative leap. Without the frustration of the fuel vehicle, the engine resonance, the unpleasant smell of burning oil and exhaust gases, the noise level has also been reduced a lot.
So here's the question:
Is the classic car suitable for changing to a pure tram?
The answer is yes.
First of all, the body structure of the classic car is wide, and compared with the compact body structure of contemporary mainstream models, there can be more ample space to place the battery compartment. Facilitate higher range for vehicles.
In addition, Cuba is a tropical climate, pure electric vehicles in daily use, the power battery efficiency of trams can be fully released, and will not be like many cold areas where the battery performance is seriously attenuated. In particular, lithium iron phosphate batteries can be used at a lower cost and safer, and they are more sensitive to low temperatures to come to the tropical holiday, which is simply paradise.
What problems will be faced by changing the electric drive?
1. The technical standards for transformation are not uniform
At present, Cuban classic cars can be described as a hodgepodge, but the main operating vehicles are mainly American and former Soviet models, because the models are very mixed, so a large number of different three-electric system combinations are needed to be adapted. This is indeed a challenge for operators of oil to electricity in the future.
2. Is the cost of renovation high? Is it cost-effective to change oil to electricity?
Usually the cost of the pure electric vehicle three-electric system accounts for about 70% of the total cost, and the three-electric system is also the core component of the classic car transformation. Taking the 400-kilometer pure tram as an example, the domestic self-owned brand model is roughly priced at about 70,000 yuan, and the value of the three-electric system is 49,000 yuan. Obviously, the cost of such a renovation may be too high, but considering that most of these classic cars are operating vehicles, the current price of classic car rental is 150-200 US dollars per car per day, about 955 yuan to 1274 yuan, taking the median of about 1100 yuan. That is, the number of operating days reaches 445 days, that is, 1 year and more than 2 months. The operating life of a pure tram is at least 5-8 years, which is obviously relatively reasonable.
3. Charging problem
Then comes the common problem facing pure trams around the world. Judging from Cuba's existing weak infrastructure, it will take some time for the networking of fast charging to be realized. The total area of Havana is 721 square kilometers, equivalent to the total area of Chaoyang District and Fengtai District of Beijing (431 square kilometers, 304 square kilometers), and its theoretical distribution is relatively concentrated because classic cars are mainly used for sightseeing in urban areas. Combined with the current situation in Cuba, it can be used to combine household 110V, 60Hz slow charging with 440V 60Hz industrial electricity fast charging, combined with the dense cloth of fast charging piles in key areas. Due to the high voltage advantage of the power supply system, the charging efficiency of the power will be higher under the same current condition.
prospect
As early as 2006, Cuba became the only country in the world to meet WWF's definition of sustainable development. Cuba's awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection from the government to the bottom is very strong. In addition, Cuba has a wealth of renewable energy storage, especially wind and solar energy is more abundant, which is very suitable for the development of renewable energy power generation.
The Cuban government proposed in 2016 that it plans to make renewable energy power generation rate reach 24% by 2030, which is obviously an important benefit for the development of pure electric vehicles. Since 2016, there have been Yutong, BYD, Foton and other car companies to put some commercial models on the market, and now the streets of Havana can be seen from time to time from time to time. However, in the passenger car market, especially in the field of passenger car oil to electricity, it is still a blue ocean.