News about the EV projects

On November 19th Andrej bacame a fellow of The World Technology Network and had a speech at World Technology Summit:

Our goal in 2015 was to push the range of Metron 7 over 800 km driving at normal road conditions and traffic. We did it by improving efficiency, reducing weight and doing some additional work on batteries together with cell supplier Kokam

We did it: Winning WAVE 2015 and setting a new record of 826 km per single charge!

Projects 2014:

On 12th of october we started our journey from Bled to Dubrovnik without charging. The goal was to prove that it is already possible to drive normal speed at normal trafiic conditions and reach more then 700 km of range using today's technology.

There are rumours that we have overfilled the trunk with batteries to reach such a range. The truth is: yes, we have overfilled the trunk, but not with batteries :)

Plot, mistery or coincidence????

As you know or maybe not we have won Rallye Monte Carlo des energies nouvelles 2013  both in category IIIA "electric vehicles" and category "consumption". Till then Tesla Roadsters were dominating that rallye because the route was too long for all other cars. Except for our Dacia that finished first leaving behind two Tesla Roadsters. At next EV Rallye (Mendola Italy) our team was called by the organizer because they have received complaint by someone that our car is not street legal. After presenting the documents (COC) that the car is street legal, we were allowed to compete. We were leaving behind Tesla again and in the middle of the season (in July 2013) FIA released new Regulations that do not allow cars converted to electric to take part at rallyes in category IIIA.

I always thought that it was a coincidence till we noticed a month ago that our victory in category IIIA from 2013 somehow dissapeared from the official RMC page "Rallye Archive"! If you do not believe, check this page: http://www.acm.mc/documents/6/EN-26-Classement_Combine_IIIA.pdf and then try to find this page or this result at their new Archives page: http://acm.mc/en/rallye-monte-carlo-des-energies-nouvelles/archives-du-rallye/edition-2013/ or anywhere at RMC pages. And yes, it can still just be a coincidence that someone not being carefull enough deleted the link when making new "Rallye Archive" page.

But then I have read this https://speakev.com/threads/tesla-battery-range-degredation-forcing-return-to-petrol.3725/ and now I am no more sure that all this was a coincidence... It seems that the one whom all EV enthusiasts have adored the most has turned out to ba a "Fallen angel"...

If somebody could find out what or who is behind these coincidences, I would be very glad to receive your message. I still hope our idol has not turned bad...

At WAVE 2014 Metron 7 wan the "range competition" leaving all Tesla cars at least 130 km behind! Battery capacity is the same as in Tesla S, so it is the efficiency that makes the extreme range of Metron 7 possible.

Metron 7 on its way to WAVE

You can follow us at FB pages Metron or Metron homepage

Metron 7 almost finished!

Metron 7  first drive on 11th of april 2014: new project of 7 seater with range of 700 km!

Metron 7 - new long range electric car, working on it February 2014


- Electric range extender for Citroen C Zero and Peugeot Ion

November 2013 - Metron has attended EVS 27 exhibition in Barcelona

June/July 2013 - Team Metron (Andrej and Jasna) was driving Bolt at WAVE electric trophy and took second place
Spy story book based on WAVE 2013 will be published till mid 2014

24th March 2013 - 1st place in category consumption and first place in category electric vehicles at 14th Rallye Monte carlo des energies nouvelles

Februar, March 2013: we are getting ready for Rallye Monte Carlo des energies nouvelles 2013

23.11.2012 Students from technical high school Skofja Loka started to convert their Smart at Institute Metron

7.11.2012 Some more cars are in the finishing phase

This VW beetle convertible is quite a unique piece - 30 kWh Kokam LiPO cells, 35 kW propulsion (letrika motor and Curtis controller)

Converted Kangoo is used for spare parts delivery in Ljubljana by company Adel. 18 kWh Winston cells, Letrika motor 27 kW and Curtis controller

Solar roof done by Solar Flight for Sandero - 31.7.2012

Alternative energie sternfahrt 2012 from Villach to Aquilea

Bolt at Rallye Monte carlo des Energies Nouvelles

27.2.2012 - Piki 3 is driving!

Short movie about Superpiki
 

20.12.2011 We use our electric cars in summer heat and winter cold. But in winter conditions the range of Dacia that is in summer at 350-400 km drops to 200 km because of colder batteries, winter tyres and electric heating

30th of September we drove with our Dacia Sandero from our home to Starigrad close to Zadar at Croatian coast.

We did 340 km and still had 20-25%of the energy left (we will burn it in next 2 days to see the final range) driving at normal speeds with 2 persons and all holiday luggage. Average speeds were between 60 kmh and 100 kmh depending upon the road and speed limits (though we have been slightlly speeding and hoping not to be punished for 5-10 kmh too fast). We have been accompanied by a team of Croatian journalists from Auto motor i sport driving by with diesel Dacia Sandero. Report will be published on 6th od October. When we finally plugged in the car, we drove 391 km and had voltage of 3,36V per cell (about 10km left)

21. September 2011 - Piki 1 has a new owner (it has been sold) that lives in Pisece (near Krsko, Slovenia). The new owner is also quite well known in the solar industry as an inventor and manufacturer of the state of the art high accuracy sensory solar tracker controllers FUSIONSEEKER

Superpiki - new project together with company YUNEEC

Second Dacia Sandero driving powered by Iskra motor - july 2011

13. and 14.5.2011 - Sternfahrt in Austria

12.5.2011 - Bolt gets TIM 600 MES DEA controller. The result are sport car performances !

We have finished one more electric car - Dacia Sandero Elektro that made first 7 km drive for Christmas 2010.  Range is between 250 and 400 km! Energy consumption of Sandero and Smart is now being measured by Elektro Gorenjska and SODO and we will have quite exact date of two cars charging at two different ways - "smart" and "stupid" charging

Working on a joint project with company Isolants Victor Hallet to start small series conversion of Smart in Belgium November 2010

All cars have been presented at 5th Technological conference in Martuljek

29.9.2010 Smart made its first electric drive - First drive - video

31.8.2010 Converting Smart to electric power

7.8.2010 Preprototype of first series built Slovenian car Chebela has done first 20 km. It is powered by Iskra motor and has 15 Thundersky cells of 200 Ah. It has been built for testing purposes on the basis of Ligier car.

3.7. Opening of 5 EV filling stations in Slovenija: Jezersko, Preddvor, Bled, Bohinj and Kranjska gora
Slovenian EV fleet grows and so does the number of charging stations. Bolt is now equipped with vehicle to grid technology (small 250W pilot device), so we demonstrated power transfer from our car to the grid.

More power for Bolt: 4 additional cells raise the nominal voltage to 208V and increase power and range for 8%. We reduced the weight for 20 kg by removing unnecessary parts, so we keep the same weight though we have added more cells. 3.7. we drove 249 km without charging including about 70 km of highway and Jezersko uphill.

Austria - EV meeting at Worthersee 21.-22.5.2010

May 2010 - Working in China- converting BYD F0 to EV

Video of its first electric drive (9Mb)

Fast charger is finished - now Bolt can be fully charged in 5 hours!

We start a new project - conversion of two 5 door family cars to electric power. The goal is to convert a car for less money and get good performances at the same time. One car should have a range of 120-150 km and top speed 130 km/h with cost below 30000 EUR (new car included), the other should have a range of  more then 350 km and top speed above 140 km/h

Two Mazdas RX-8 on test -electric vs.Wankel - January 2010

Opening of new charging station in Kranj 9.12.2009

Bolt refuelling in Klagenfurt 4.12.2009 - two electric cars at the same time!

Both electric cars showed to public at the Institute Jozef Stefan in Lhubljana 8.10.2009

New EV "Bolt" has been finished on the 8th of september 2009 and has a range of 250 km and top speed of 150 km/h We dismantled the EEspace and the components were used in the new car - the Bolt

Bolt filling electricity at EV filling point in Ljubljana Kodeljevo

Electric km stand of The Bolt 16000 km (21.12.2010)
Electric km stand of R5 Elektro 29000 km (21.12.2010)
Electric km stand of Smart Piki: 1500 km (21.12.2010)

20.4. 2009 We took LiPo batteries out of E Espace and put it in R5 elektro. It beame a real rocket and has an incredible range of about 250 km! E Espace will be dismantloed and the component used in a newer and more attractive car. The generator will not be installed as with LiPo it is no longer needed.

E Espace has made a 135 km trip to Austria over Ljubelj mountain pass and back. In Celovec we tested if the filling points for electric cars are really there or this is just a tale for the media. We found one at Wirtschaftskammer and filled in some energy.

PV has been finished, now starts the bureocratic battle to connect it to the grid.

11.3.2009 We are building a bigger  3,3 kW PV power plant equipped by sun tracers SAT Control. The power plant will produce enough clean energy to drive our E Espace and R5 20000 km per year

28.2.2009 More power for E Espace - Miro Zoric is upgrading the regulator to 400 A transistors that will feed the motor with more power. How much more and what will be the performances is still unknown as it has to be tested not to burn the motor.

We use both cars also in winter time. Winter experience: lead acid batteries of R5 lose 20% capacity at freezing point temperature (compared to room temp), LiPo of E Espace about 10%. Without auxilliary cabin heater it is impossible to survive driving -:) We must take care that LiPo are not charged below freezing point as it can damage them. As we live high and start our drive with descent, there is also a danger of regenerative braking when too cold. That's why we keep E Espace in a garage (non heated) during the night.

12.10.2008: R5 Elektro finished. It was the first Slovenian electric car built by Miro Zoric in 1993 and now "refurnished", improved and back on the road again.

 5.Sept 2008:Another electric car is almost finished - 192V 105 Ah lead acid Trojan batteries, 40 kW Stoja electric motor, range 30-65 km, top speed 140 km/h
                   

18.August 2008: Electric defroster/heater 100W installed as foggy and rainy days will come. Motor cooling has been improved, no more overheating under full power during hot days

23th July 2008: We drove 193 km on pure electric drive without charging the batteries and they still had 3,56V per cell what means about 20% of the total capacity!!! The rear part of the car with battery compartment has been refurnished and now looks like this:

14th July 2008: 4500 electric km done with E Espace till now (Diesel generator has not been used since we installed LiPo batteries). We use it for every day driving, no problems till now! We are working on a proper charger for Li-Po and till we do it, we charge them in series, check the voltage of each cell and every 10 charges equalize them half manually. We had some problems due to extremelly high temperatures outside while frequency regulator is temperature limited to 66 degrees Celsius and when outside is almost 40, the difference is very small. So cooling system had to be redone...

June 2008 Another car has been converted to electric - a small city car with cheaper lead acid technology. Actually this is not a new conversion, but the first Slovenian EV done by Miro Zoric in 1993 as a prototype for Renault factory in Slovenija.

18.5.2008 - EV car gathering in Austria was a good chance to meet other people developing the same idea and to show the people that there already are electric cars on the roads. About 30 different vehicles gathered and the organizer (Eurosolar) prepared many activities like evening meeting in WiFi hall, visit of Solar modul factory, Kelag power plant etc. E Espace did a non stop trip of 130 km passing a mountain pass Jezersko (1200m). Overall it did 300 km in 2 days.

Parade of electric vehicles in Austria 16.-18.5.2008

Those 4 boxes contain more power then 1000 kg of lead acid batteries! We bought excellent 200 Ah Li-Po batteries from KOKAM and they work perfectlly even without BMS (of course with manual control)

7.5.2008 - Kokam Li-Po batteries have arrived - 200 Ah 3,7 V cell with weight of only 4 kg!

May 2008 - E Espace is homologated and now has 150W of PV cells installed. Next week we expect Li-Po batteries 200 Ah 192V that will increase the EV range far over 100 km. Up till now 2500 km done without troubles, max.speed 120 km/h.