Electric car BUT SUPER EL II

After two years of work on the development of the BUT SUPER EL II electric car, it was homologated (approved to get on the road) in June 2011, , passed the State Technical Inspection test and was assigned the registration certificate and license plates. It is the only car that has a car make „VUT“ (Czech abbreviation of Brno University of Technology) in its technical certificate.

The development of electric car

In 2009, Brno University of Technology (BUT) received non-homologated car Skoda Superb 2.0 TDI as a gift from Skoda Auto to convert it to electric car. BUT students Martin Solař and Miroslav Svačina designed a concept and in cooperation with supervisor Jaromír Marušinec, they realized the construction of car while using some parts from non-homologated Škoda Superb II.

Works on the car took place in the company EVC Group s.r.o. BUT did not have sufficient financial resources, so costs for work and material were covered by sponsors EVC Group, TUV-SUD and TILIA. The electric car was fully mobile after the first year of works and was introduced at Autosalon Brno 2010. Although its individual parts were approved for the automotive industry, testing and approval of the vehicle as a whole took another year.

Due to the factthat original car from Skoda Auto was not homologated, it was not possible to apply for reconstruction permission. Therefore, it was necessary to obtain permission for construction of a new car and the gifted Skoda Superb II was used only as a source of parts. The new car received new VIN (as if BUT was a car producer) and name „BUT SUPER EL II“.

Homologation and tests were performed in TUV-SUD and on polygon near Mladá Boleslav. Testing included overall performance of the car, its consumption, braking, electromagnetic compatibility, isolation resistance in 90% humidity and quality of towing equipment and electric engine (tested by going up to steep hill with another heavy vehicle connected via towing equipment). BUT SUPER EL II has a range of  220 km off the highway and 160 km on the highway with maximum speed over 160 kmph.

Charging the car from the internal charger from one phase 230V 16A takes 10 hours, charging from three-phase 400V 32A socket takes 1 hour to reach 90% capacity and from 400V 64A socket ½ hour to reach 90% capacity. Developers are preparing the option to charge the car with direct current according to CHAdeMO standard which would enable to charge BUT SUPER EL II in 20 minutes to 90% capacity with 100W output.

Developers from the Faculty of electrical engineering and communication (Pavel Vorel, Dalibor Červinka, Jan Kuzdas, Ivo Pazdera and Jan Knobloch) are preparing new fast 48kW charger which will be able to charge the car for another 100km ride in 30 minutes.

Technical equipment

The electric car is equipped with ABS, electric power steering, electric power-assisted braking and electric heating. Developer team is preparing the possibility of electric air conditioning - heat pump. The car is also equipped with built-in navigation system, which displays 161 charging stations in the Czech Republic.

Practical use and planned development

The company EVC Group uses BUT electric car as a model for transformation of Škoda Superb II to electric version and offers it under the name EVC S7. In the following two years, BUT SUPER EL II will be equipped with robotic vision and control which can substitute driver in certain situations, and developers will test new batteries.