PROTON Holdings Bhd is currently in talks with the government as well as highway operator PLUS Ex pressway Bhd on the possibility of setting up electric charging stations in the country, to help drive its soon-to-be-launched hybrid vehicle.
"We know that in order for the project to take off on a big scale, we need to have the infrastructure in place, infrastructure like charging station for the electric car," said Proton lead engineer and head of electric vehicle project Ilham Shamsul Ibrahim in Cyberjaya yesterday.
The company plans to launch its hybrid vehicle sometime next year. Unlike most hybrid cars where engines are powered by either petrol or electricity, or both at the same time, the ones by Proton will be slightly different.
The car's engine will be electric-powered, but there will be a petrol-powered motor, which will be used to charge the battery.
"We know that in order for the project to take off on a big scale, we need to have the infrastructure in place, infrastructure like charging station for the electric car," said Proton lead engineer and head of electric vehicle project Ilham Shamsul Ibrahim in Cyberjaya yesterday.
The company plans to launch its hybrid vehicle sometime next year. Unlike most hybrid cars where engines are powered by either petrol or electricity, or both at the same time, the ones by Proton will be slightly different.
The car's engine will be electric-powered, but there will be a petrol-powered motor, which will be used to charge the battery.
The electric car, on its own without another motor to charge the battery, can only run about 140km. But with the motor, its mileage can increase to over 500km, said Shamsul.
Currently, the REEV system is being tried out on the Exora.
There are about 10 of these REEV-version of Exora on the roads now for test runs and trials. Tests have been ongoing for about two months.
"We are currently in prototype stage 1. Once stage 1 is completed, we will get feedback on all the prob lems we faced, and solve it, and then move on to stage 2 and so forth," said Shamsul. In total, there will be at least three stages of tests.
According to Shamsul, the REEV will be very en vironment-friendly and will help ease the burden of rising fuel prices.
A full charge of the REEV would cost less than RM8, based on the current power rate. With that full charge, the car can go about 140km (without the help of the fuel-powered engine). This means, for RM40, the car can travel more than 500km, the common mileage a car can achieve on a full tank.
So far, Shamsul said there are still some issues with the system. However, he stressed that it is common as it is still in the first stage of testing. -btimes.com.my
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