Last year, Perodua provided a glimpse of how its all-electric path might develop in the future by showcasing that vision through its Electric Motion Online (EMO) concept.
This year, building on that, Perodua unveiled its first working electric vehicle (EV) prototype – the Myvi Conversion – and would be the foundation on which the compact car maker builds its electrification technology.
The EV prototype, which consists of three main parts, the power bench, the power converter and overall styling and design was made in Malaysia, with only the power conversion technology development done by an Australian company called EV North.
According to Perodua, this is “Episode 1” of a few episodes toward the end product. Perodua stated that they have more than 60 local vendors to supply the needed equipment. Perodua also noted that they are not collaborating with Toyota or Daihatsu because neither of them has an “affordable EV.”
For this project, Perodua has collaborated with three local universities. They assist Perodua in understanding BEV system architecture with a clear focus on HV components and powertrain. The reason behind this is to boost and build the automotive industry in Malaysia by giving the young minds behind the project more exposure towards the technicality behind building an electric vehicle.
Twelve engineers from Perodua were selected for their backgrounds in electrical, electronics and mechanical engineering and a budget of RM2 million was allocated for this programme.
However, the EV Myvi that you see here will not be the final product. It will have an all-new look. This EMO-1 (EV Myvi) is a fully functioning prototype to carry out test such as a 0-100km/h timing, which resulted in a 7 second benchmark. It runs on a single electric motor producing 160hp and 220Nm of torque and power is sent to the front wheels. The targeted top speed is slightly above 150km/h.
Electric driving range wise, Perodua states that the EMO-1 has a NMC lithium-ion battery with 55.7 kWh and is targeted to do 350km to 400km. Charging wise, it takes around five hours full charge up with an 11kW AC charging 50kW DC takes over an hour to do so.
As for the pricing, Perodua stated that it would be somewhere above RM50k but below RM100k. We are eagerly waiting for the second phase to commence to see this astonishing project develope further.
