Thunder Sky is a major player in the development and production of LiYePO4 Rare Earth Lithium Ion batteries. Thunder Sky started experimenting with electric vehicles around the turn of the last century by converting existing petrol powered cars to electric power. This included, as you shall discover from this article, everything from the humble Geo Metro to über collectible Hongqis. Join me as I take you on a journey to discover one of the most ambitious, ingenious and downright insane (in a good way) companies we will ever discuss here on the pages of China Car History. A journey so long it has to be split across two articles. The first shall cover all their vehicles prior to 2007 and the second everything after. Please note that right up until the day of publishing we were uncovering more and more vehicles produced by Thunder Sky and likely may find more in the future so these articles will more than likely be updated.
Thunder Sky, or to give it its full name – Thunder Sky Green Power Battery (Shenzhen) Company Limited was founded in 1998 by Winston Chung.
Winston Chung developed large capacity LiYePO4 batteries in the 1990’s. Then he went into partnership with several other companies to produce the batteries in their factories. Unfortunately his partners decided to push him out and continued to produce his batteries without his consent. He therefore decided to go in alone and founded a new rare earth lithium battery manufacturing plant and in 1998 produced his first batteries. Winston Chung was very ambitious and quickly set out to produce prototype electric vehicles using the rare earth lithium batteries he invented.
Thunder Sky’s earliest prototype electric vehicle came out in 1998 and was based on a second generation GEO Metro.
Thunder Sky likely wasn’t actually responsible for converting it into an electric vehicle though, it’s seems they used their own batteries and changed some electrical equipment because…
…they probably got their hands on one of these – a Solectria Force. The Force was produced by Solectria Corporation of Wilmington, Massachusetts. Solectria obtained motorless Geo Metros from GM and put an electric drivetrain in them. Approximately 500 Forces were produced between 1996 and 1997 in sedan, hatchback, prefacelift and facelifted versions.
This is the engine compartment of a Solectria Force. The Force had a three phase AC motor with a single speed “gearbox” (really just a single reduction gear) powering the front wheels. The battery pack in the Force was comprised of thirteen 12 volt lead-acid batteries resulting in 156 volts. Range was rated at between 60 and 70km. The battery in the Thunder Sky car was just a little bit bigger – 51.90kWh to be precise, a truly massive capacity for such a small car, though the battery itself only weighed 240kg. That means the battery had a power density of around 216Wh/kg.
This is the engine compartment of the Thunder Sky EV-3. The biggest difference between the two cars is the silver box in the EV-3’s engine compartment. Thunder Sky also removed any remnant of Solectria branding. Note that the car is white in this picture, except for a small patch of green on the driver’s side of the engine bay that was missed in the repaint. That’s because…
…it was repainted. It also got new wheel covers, can you guess what they are from? More on them later. Also note that they replaced the original headlights with ones from a facelifted Geo Metro.
My colleague Erik Van Ingen Schenau actually paid a visit to Thunder Sky in Shenzhen in 2000 and got a chance to drive the EV-3 from the factory to Shenzhen Railway Station.
A view of the rear of the EV-3. From this picture we can see that the full designation for this car was EV8581A. The Chinese characters in front say 雷天 – Chinese for Thunder Sky. The text on the license plate says 雷天電動車 (traditional Chinese characters) – 雷天电动车 (simplified Chinese characters) and means Thunder Sky Electric Vehicle. The license plate in the back window is a special kind for experimental or test vehicles and the same basic format is still used today on test vehicles, though usually they only get a small paper version these days.
Here’s a photo of the EV-3 at the Third Beijing International Electric Vehicle Clean Fuel Auto Show in 2001. They added a nice cover over the electronics to tidy things up a bit. According to one source the EV-3 had a range of around 220km with 4 passengers and the air conditioning running. The EV-3 also had a top speed of 110km/h.
Hyundai Accent
During his visit in 2000 Erik photographed this Hyundai Accent that was converted into an electric vehicle by Thunder Sky. Note the missing wheel covers – they almost certainly ended up on the EV-3 when it was painted white.
Audi A6 (C4)
Erik also saw this Audi A6 (C4) with test plates. The Audi was also repainted – blue in this case, right down to the wheels.
SZ7220EZ
This is a Fengshen EQ7200 Nissan Bluebird converted into an electric vehicle by Hunan University using Thunder Sky components. This car actually had a model designation too – SZ7220EZ. It was planned that mass production of this car would commence in 2002, sadly this never happened.
Dongfeng Experimental Electric Vehicle
This Dongfeng experimental electric vehicle is pictured here in 2000 with former Vice-Premier Zou Jiahua about to take a test drive. It was called the EQ7160EV. We don’t know much about this car other than that it was equipped with Thunder Sky’s WB-LYP batteries and some basic dimensions. The wheelbase incidentally was the same as the Citroën Fukang and indeed sources indicate that the EQ7160EV was based on the Fukang.
EV-1
No not the General Motors EV1 but the Thunder Sky EV-1. Economy cars have long been a favourite car on which to base an electric vehicle, but few people have ever considered the lives of the highest of the upper classes – the government officials. Well, Thunder Sky thought of them and created these magnificent machines.
Yes that’s right, not one but TWO Hongqi CA770s! Until very recently we only knew of one but as I was writing this article I came across the first photo taken during the visit of Mr. Steve Green to Thunder Sky in 2004. Mr. Green recalls arranging a visit with Thunder Sky whilst they were on a trip to take the Trans-Siberian Railway from Beijing. Coming from Hong Kong they worked there way up central China stopping in Shenzhen along the way. To their surprise an “enormous black car equipped with flags on the front bumpers” was waiting for them at Shenzhen Railway Station, likely the car on the left in the photo. He recalls meeting with then CEO of Thunder Sky Ms. Lindo Ho and Winston Chung. The EV-1’s were apparently converted in 2002. Of note is the fact that the “license plate” of the car on the right does not say 雷天 EV-1 but 中国 Ev-1 with 中国 of course meaning China.
This is one of the Hongqi CA770’s. I can’t say for sure when the cars were converted but my colleague Erik didn’t see it during his visit in 2000. We did however find two photos of white CA770s on Thunder Sky’s old website:
A look at the front of this magnificent machine – nothing unusual here.
A look at the side profile. The three flags stand for: Socialist Construction, Great Leap Forward, and Peoples Commune. These were the three main government programs at the time.
The most telling sign that this is an electric car are the cables hanging from the bottom of the car.
The second sign are the SUV rims with 4×4 tyres. Putting 4×4 tyres on large cars is quite common in China, most Cadillac Fleetwoods and Lincoln Town Cars left driving are using them as the large profile road-biased tyres they would have come with are simply not available or too expensive. Seeing them on a Hongqi is most unusual and the rim/tyre combination on this car certainly gives it a unique look. Weirdly this isn’t the only old Hongqi running around on SUV tyres.
The third and final clue are the rear leaf springs. CA770’s normally had one or two leafs in each leaf pack, but Thunder Sky added almost ten leaves in each pack to compensate for the extra weight of the batteries.
A representative from Thunder Sky has confirmed that both of the Hongqis still exist and was kind enough to provide me with photos of the black car.
LSEV type car
At the 2004 Shenzhen International Auto Fair Thunder Sky displayed a Low Speed Electric Vehicle (LSEV) style electric car. I will simply call this car the LSEV.
The LSEV was a 3 door hatchback and was very small. It wore the very same yellow test vehicle plates that the EV-3 had worn.
The interior was very functional in its design but had everything you could need and some nice wood veneer detailing. It came with a radio and air conditioning.
A simple gear lever with three positions – Drive, Neutral and Reverse.
A view of the engine compartment. Unlike most LSEV’s this one appears to have been front wheel drive. Usually LSEV’s will have a motor on the rear axle. The LSEV came with a full size spare tyre.
I found this advertisement for the LSEV on Thunder Sky’s old website. It only appeared on the site for a brief period around June 2003. Wheels and colour may have changed on the one present at the show, but the big chrome mirrors thankfully remained.
Mr. Green was fortunate enough to see the LSEV during his visit to Thunder Sky in 2004.
Mercedes-Benz W220 S-Class
In 2008 the team behind the Solar Taxi paid a visit to Thunder Sky during their trip around the world and rode in one of Thunder Sky’s electric Hongqi CA770’s.
The original gear lever had been removed and replaced with this controller. Weirdly this picture was in the brochure for an electric Volkswagen Santana Vista produced by Thunder Sky (spoiler alert).
BlueSky-EV45KW
The EV45KW was a 21 seat minibus based on the Toyota Coaster. Many of Thunder Sky’s vehicles had two selectable power outputs. Normal power for the EV45KW was 45 kW and max power output was 90kW. Torque figures for those respective power outputs were 180Nm and 360Nm. The EV45KW had a 216kWh battery and was good for a maximum speed of 100km/h and a range of around 300km.
BlueSky-EV70KW
The EV70kW was likely based on the King Long KLQ6791 series bus. It was seen here at the 2004 Shenzhen International Auto Fair. It was a 23 seat bus with a normal power output of 70kW and a maximum power output of 110kW. Torque figures for those respective power outputs were 290Nm and 530Nm. The EV70KW had a 228kWh battery and was good for a maximum speed of 100km/h and a range of between 250 and 320km.
I found this press photo of the EV75kW on Thunder Sky’s old website. The EV75KW was actually used during the BOAO economic forum in 2003 or 2004. This forum takes place on sunny Hainan island so Thunder Sky had this photo created.
BlueSky-EV2008
The EV2008 was not a single bus but rather a series of buses produced in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Here is an EV2008 on display at the 2004 Shenzhen International Auto Fair
Traditional Chinese text says 綠色新能源 環保電動車 (simplified: 绿色新能源 环保电动车). Translated this becomes “Green Energy Environmentally Friendly Electric Bus”.
A couple EV2008’s seen by Mr. Green.
An EV2008 at the 2004 Michelin Bibendum in Shanghai with yellow test plates from Shenzhen (number 0050).
The same EV2008 at the 2004 Michelin Bibendum in Shanghai. Beside it is parked another Thunder Sky product – the EV6700.
Whilst trawling through Thunder Sky’s old website I came across a brochure for the EV2008 from 2005! The EV2008 had a normal power output of 90kW and 350Nm or a maximum power output of 180kW and 650Nm. The battery had a capacity of 300kWh and with air conditioning running a claimed range of more than 300km.
Interesting to see the gear lever for a manual transmission.
EV-2
The EV-2 was an electric minibus with 21 seats., seen here in 2005 at the Beijing International Clean Automobile Exhibition. It was likely based on a King Long Coaster.
EV6700
There were actually two vehicles produced by Thunder Sky named the EV-6700. The first and oldest was based on the Toyota Coaster. It had a normal power output of 45kW and a maximum power output of 90kW. Torque figures for those respective power outputs were 110Nm and 210Nm. The battery had a capacity of around 250kWh. Range was claimed at 280km with air conditioning running.
EV010
The EV010 was a low-floor city bus released around 2004 with a normal power output of 100kW and 470Nm and a maximum power output of 180kW and 850Nm. Battery capacity was around 280kWh. Unfortunately this is the only photo I could find of the EV010.
Electric bikes
Thunder Sky produced a wide variety of electric bikes throughout the 2000’s, presented below are two snapshots of their product lines from 2006. Compared to bikes of the same period and even today Thunder Sky’s had far bigger batteries, some as large as 4+kWh whilst most bikes today max out at around 1.5kWh for a 72v setup.
And so this concludes part 1 of my series of articles on Thunder Sky. In the next article I will introduce to you many more of their electric vehicles – everything from buses to limousines and the humble Volkswagen Santana!
Good article. Very minor point but I think you meant to say wood veneer, not vernier.
Checked and changed, thanks!
Thanks for a very thorough and informative article. I did wonder what Erik’s impression was of the EV he drove to the Shenzhen train station.
[…] is part 2 of the story of Thunder Sky and their experimental electric vehicles, part 1 can be found here. In my last article I introduced Thunder Sky and gave you an overview of their early history as […]