UCalgary Design Fair - EV Conversion Capstone

I am thrilled to share that our team placed second in the University of Calgary Design Fair alongside my teammates Pranav Reddy Vulupala, Dwayne Lewin, and Neel Marella.

More than 126 teams and 700 students actively took part in the University of Calgary Design Fair, and it was truly motivating to witness the immense effort put in by my colleagues throughout the past two semesters.

I am pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute to a project that aims to offer a practical and affordable solution for converting gasoline vehicles to electric ones. Working on this capstone project was an enriching experience that allowed me to develop both my technical and personal skills.

As fuel prices in the Yukon Territories keep soaring, our project aimed to tackle the economic challenges associated with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by optimizing an electric conversion of a Kubota RTV 500. We incorporated safety features such as buzzers, displays, and alarms, installed a data-logging system that automatically uploads vehicle data to the cloud, and altered the vehicle frame to safely contain large lead-acid batteries. We hope our project provides an affordable, modular, and replicable solution to the residents in the Yukon Territories.

I am deeply thankful for the mentorship and guidance provided by Danny Rowan, P.Eng, and Maureen Tang throughout the project. Their expertise and inspiration were instrumental in conducting a thorough greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions analysis, which helped me gain a deeper understanding of how electric vehicles can positively impact the environment over their lifetime.