New Tampere plant would replace internal combustion engines in cars with electric motors

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Tampere is hoping to become Finland’s electric car capital. On Monday the city showcased a project, in which an electric car centre has been set up in a former bus assembly plant. The people behind the project hope to develop electric car technology with the potential of creating thousands of new jobs, and the establishment of dozens of new businesses in the next five years.
      If the project succeeds, it would mean that not all old cars with internal combustion engines would have to be junked as fuel prices rise and moves are made to cut back on emissions.
      “You just drive your old car into the plant and come and get it three days later, after it has been converted into an electric car”, says Tampere Mayor Timo P. Nieminen.
     
The electric automotive field is undergoing a considerable upheaval and the industrial city of Tampere hopes to get its share of the action. As one example of the opportunities, the company has put forward its eCorolla - a 2004-model Toyota, which has been refitted with an electric engine and battery.
      Prospects are seen as promising. There are about 850 million cars in the world today that run on petrol or diesel. Erkki Leinonen of the Electric Cars Now network calculates that if just ten per cent of Finland’s internal combustion engine cars were to be converted to run on electricity, the move would result in a turnover of about EUR 5 billion.
      “This field of converted electric vehicles is still a completely new one, which cannot be seen in any state programmes”, Leinonen says.
     
A network of about 200 active enthusiasts has been developing electric car technology for a long time before concentrating on Tampere.
      Leinonen compares the operation with the idea behind the Linux computer operating system: an open source code, no patents, and no organisations, constant product development, and the possibility to become an entrepreneur.
      “The ultimate goal is to have electric cars available for everyone as soon as possible.”
     
Mayor Nieminen’s vision still looks into the distant future, as the product development so far extends only to the electrification of one Corolla.
      “Everything depends on how we get resources and labour. Now we have been operating on a hobbyist basis in the evenings and weekends. The fitting has to be done separately for each model”, Leinonen says.
      “If we compare the situation with the Lego world, we are now only making the bricks. When they are ready, it is easy and fast to put them together.”
      The next “brick” will probably be a Volkswagen Golf.


Links:
  Electric Cars - Now!

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