Grandmother built her own solar-powered electric car to “escape” from the oil industry

He cost about $ 24,000 in less than a year, but he did it. Grandmother from Otago, New Zealand, Transformed a 29-year-old car into an electric car powered by its own solar panel..

My goal is? In addition to coordinating with the environment “Not so necessary” oil companies..

Oil independence

Rosemary Penwarden He is 63 years old.He created a vehicle from the body of a 1993 Honda City vehicle purchased at a junkyard. “Independence”..

Woman with her own hands I removed the motor and replaced it with an electric motorExplained RT.. In addition, he updated the gearbox, adding 24 batteries under the hood and 56 batteries in the trunk.

With the help of friends who know the industry, Got the parts And the guide I needed.

It happens that the supervision of the work Valley workshopA co-operative in the northeastern valley of Dunedin, she helped create six years ago.

Summing up the purchases of materials and effort, he spent $ 24,000 and invested about eight months of work.

According to what you posted GuardianIn this way, he managed to create a Honda City called “Frida” that he could travel to. 120 kg without chargingAnd it has been working perfectly for 3 years.

According to Rosemary, the car was the same size as the 2010 Nissan Leaf, one of the first electric cars to be released to the public. However, in this case, availability does not mean that it is cheap or accessible.

And in this sense, the local site thing, For example: In 2021, the cheapest new electric car on the market was just under $ 50,000. So The modification of this vehicle has been halved...

Why did he do that?

Despite the economic impact of this new car on women’s lives, the motivation behind the project was not the rise in fuel prices. Independence from the oil industry In general, he was an environmental activist for many years, RT..

“I think we should thank oil companies such as Anadarko, New Zealand Oil and Gas, Shell, OMV, Beach Energy … these are all my group companies. Oil-free Otago And I’ve been against each other for years, “he explained.

And he explained: Show that it is not necessary here“.

“The most important thing is Help stop the biggest pollutants as soon as possibleAnd I don’t think what we can do as individuals is so relevant. “

In the first person

Rosemary Penwarden grew up in the 1960s and 1970s.At that time, according to her own explanation, her children “Especially girls” were seen and not asked.

Today she is recognized as a local activist and guarantees that she has been taught what she can and cannot do throughout her life.

In this sense, and faithful to his beliefs, he believes in it To save the planet Almost half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are likely to be related to only 10 companies, so we need to take on the largest pollutants.