Battery crisis in electric car still unresolved
A game of making hybrid cars for 1.5 million from a Leaf car
Lanka Electric Car Club reveals
It has been almost two years since the import of vehicles was restricted due to the dollar crisis. Vehicle sales have skyrocketed. Meanwhile, those who dream of owning a car are breaking free. In the midst of all this, the government recently announced that it will prioritize the import of electric ca. In fact, a number of Western countries have now converted their future mobility strategies from fossil fuels to electricity. However Sri Lanka is in the opposite direction. Although the government intend to promote EVs, there is no proper comprehensive strategy to drive the concept further.
In this situation EV owners, who followed the world trend and bought cars are in a bumpy ride due to various issues. Electric Vehicles club of Sri Lanka, an organization consists with EV owners and relevant stake holders recently pointed out the various issues they are suffering at the movement. Also they suggested government pay attention to several policy issues that this to be implemented if the government concern on promote EVs in Sri Lanka.
According to the President of the EV Club Mr. Mahisanka Abeywickrama it has been about 6 years since the importation of electric vehicles and at present there are only 5500 vehicles in the country. 4700 of them are world famous, most common Electric car, Nissan Leaf s.
“The biggest problem many Nissan Leaf car owners face right now is getting a battery after its battery has been depleted. The biggest challenge for those who buy them is to get the batteries they need. Nissan does not supply us batteries. They do not sell Nissan Leaf in this country they only sell batteries for concessionary prices to reals exported country. Their battery usually costs around $ 12,000. It costs about half the price of a vehicle. That is not affordable. So the option is buying a used battery from a country like Japan or New Zealand with relatively low prices. . These batteries can last up to 5 years on average. But the problem is that this battery is among the imported materials that are currently banned by the Ministry of Environment. We have requested the Ministry of Environment to take action to lift these bans. But there is still no solution. They say so about the first challenge about the battery.
Mahisanka explains the second challenge facing Nissan Leaf owners: There are people in this country who reset the battery or replace the module and repair it. Some of them have become exploited by the owners of the troubled waters. Some people have given around Rs. 450,000 to these racketeers. We are now telling Leaf owners not to fall prey to these racketeers and be vigilant and look out when someone handover the battery to repair.
The Sri Lanka Electric Vehicles Club sees the of hybrid engines to these electric cars as the latest game related to Leaf cars. This is a process that contradicts the prototype of the vehicle without any standards. According to them, this is a system that incorporates the engine of a Toyota Aqua or Axio vehicle, including the hybrid battery. These adjustments change the balance of the vehicle. A dangerous situation is being created. We also informed the Commissioner of Motor Traffic that this was not a technically correct procedure.
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