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Kiira EV (Electric Vehicle) was manufactured in 2011 by Kiira Motors Corporation, an innovation held by 96% of the government of Uganda and 4% Makerere University. It’s important to note that Kiira EV was the first Electric vehicle to be made in Africa. In this article, these are the five unique things you didn’t know about Kiira EV.
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Contents
Brief details about Kiira Motors Corporation
| Type | State enterprise |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | Ntinda, Kampala, Uganda |
| Key people |
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| Products | Automobiles |
| Owner |
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| Website | kiiramotors.com |
Other products of Kiira Motors Corporation
| Product | Year of make | Quantity |
| Kiira EV (Electric Vehicle) | 2011 | 1 |
| Africa’s first hybrid vehicle | 2014 | 3 |
| Africa’s first solar electric bus | 2016 | 5 |
The five key unique things of Kiira EV
1.Battery power
- Starting with the type of battery Kiira EV houses, it is powered by Lithium-ion batteries capable of very high energy storage, high charge acceptance, high specific power, and high energy density giving it the ability to run many kilometers of the road without warning for a recharge.
- It uniquely consists of 4 battery banks with 64 cells connected in series (recalling some little high school physics) this therefore ensures effective battery monitoring increasing safety and reliability of good power supply, meaning it can’t just shut down instantly.
- The Kiira EV power train consists of three vital parts, thus; Energy storage bank, energy converter, and induction motor. It is powered by electricity which is stored in the battery bank through repetitive charging.
Note:
- Its battery bank capacity carries up to 40 AH and 207 V which is enough for an 80km journey. Recharging or energy restoration of this battery won’t be hard since it can as simply be achieved from a home wall socket or any readily available power supply in town.
2. The wheels
- The Front-wheel drive power transmission layout was adopted so as to achieve maximum torque transmission, elimination of additional components like the propeller shaft, reduction of mechanical power losses and to also create ample space at the rear for components including the battery charger, baggage and spare tire.
3. The Engine
- Kiira EV houses an engine that runs an induction motor due to its efficiency, rigidity, and torque output performance as compared to other motors used in similar roles in other car engines.
- Motor control is achieved through an efficient Vector control algorithm for effective power switching from the inverter.
- The inverter utilizes intelligent power modules for three phases switching to the motor. Driver communication of commands to the motor controller is through a distributed communication network implemented using the CAN protocol
4. Car care and safety
- Kiira EV is capable of controlling the car environment and safety of its passengers by the use of its real-time control system made of an intelligent communication network.
- In this way, the car provides information about the real-time state of all its systems available on the display system that provides guidelines for the location of faults that occur plus documents on how the faults can be corrected. All this adjusted to the conditions of our local environment.
- Kiira EV has a resilient system that makes it so adaptive to failure of some of its components, always finding out ways to solve these issues if the primary implementation fails. For example, if the indicators malfunction, the car will instead use the tail lights/brake lights to indicate the driver is turning left. Additionally, it has a high response rate, making it gain its top speed in split seconds.
5. Kiira EV Design Specifications
| Parameter | Value/property |
| Number of Doors | 3 |
| Seating Capacity | 2 |
| Length | 3000mm |
| Width | 1600mm |
| Height | 15000mm |
| Interior | Color Cream |
| Exterior | Color Green |
| Top Speed | 100 Km/hr |
| Wheel Base | 2175mm |
| Ground Clearance | 200mm |
| Dry Weight | 1000 Kg |
| Motor Type | Induction Motor |
| Power Consumed Per Charge | 15.6 kWh |
| Cost of Charging | 6000 UGX |
| Maximum motor Speed | 10,000rpm |
| Motor Power | 20kW/26 Hp |
| Maximum Power | 47 kW/62 Hp |
| Maximum Battery Voltage fully charged | 256 V |
| Battery Voltage fully discharged | 180 V |
| Charging time at 13 A 240 V | 5 Hours |