• With more and more electric cars on the road, many people are reflecting on whether it makes sense to continue owning a traditional car with a standard combustion engine.
• According to French company Transition-One, they can convert your existing car to an electric one for just $9,500.
• The first prototype was a 2009 Renault Twingo that has an electric driving range of 180 kilometers

With more electric cars on the road and the negative environmental impact of traditional vehicle emissions on the forefront of many minds, some may struggle with their choice to drive a car with a standard combustion engine.

But what if you could just "convert" your car into an electric one?

French startup Transition-One says it can do it for only $9,500 — in fact, in France, you also get a subsidy for a converted car so it actually only works out to around $5,600.

Transition-One has developed a technology to modernize cars with an internal combustion engine using an electric motor and batteries, according to Bloomberg.

The first prototype was a 2009 Renault Twingo that has an electric driving range of 180 kilometers.

The company is waiting for the green light from the French and European regulatory authorities at the end of this year, but a start will be made with the market analysis in September.

More and more cities are banningolder diesel vehicles from the city center, so this option could be of interest to many people.

"I'm selling to people who can't afford a brand new 20,000-euro electric car," founder Aymeric Libeau told Bloomberg. "We're turning the best-selling models across Europe into electric cars."

The Twingo prototype has three packs of batteries on the front of the car and two on the site of the gas tank.

The range of the converted Twingo (180 kilometers) is pretty substantial when you consider the range of the electric Renault Zoe (260 kilometers according to ev-database.nl) in relation to its $36,000 price tag.

The French startup does the complete metamorphosis from a traditional fuel car to an electric vehicle in less than a day.

The original gearshift and gearbox are left in place and an electrical socket is installed where the gas cap would originally have been.

Of course, Transition-One's business model also has its drawbacks.

Markus Lienkamp, Professor of Automotive Technology at the Technical University of Munich, told Bloomberg there's a possibility the upgraded car might fail or that it might never get the necessary regulatory approval.

At the moment, Libeau is trying to raise $6.7 million to build a factory that, he says, could transform 4,000 cars in the next year.

The first models to be explored will be the Renault Twingo II, Fiat 500, Citroen C1, Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo and Volkswagen Polo.

 

Compiled by Olalekan Adeleye

Business Insider