Bisi Ezerioha’s Porsche Beats Tesla Hands Down
One of the many persons pushing the technology to the limit is Nigeria’s own Bisi Ezerioha. Ezerioha, owner of Bisimoto has gone ahead to convert one of his Porches to electric, and with huge success, just like multiple small companies rerouting their efforts toward electrification, as a need to convert gasoline-powered cars to electric power will most likely emerge in the near future.
Ezerioha is the principal engineer of Bisimoto Engineering and well-known for modifying cars to the limits of their performance, but until recently, only worked on traditional gas vehicles.
However, he has pushed a notch further by converting a Porsche 935 from gas to fully electric. The resulting car boasts of a 0 to 60 time of 2.06 seconds, quicker than a Tesla Model S Performance.
According to him, the sheer acceleration is unmatched. It does 0 to 60 mph in 2.06 seconds, and has much better performance than any Tesla out there.
His knack for converting to speed modes arguably comes from his experience on the tracks.
Ezerioha is a self-proclaimed gearhead, former race-car driver, and gifted engineer. And the starting point for this project was a mostly gutted Porsche 935 that would later become his first EV conversion.
His electric Porsche, the K3V, is the accretion of months of learning and toil. But the first step in the process was to purge the Porsche of all the parts associated with the engine. With the engine bay hollow, he added the electric drivetrain in its place. Next, he had to figure out how to power the car, and he chose to setup what would make 635 horsepower and up to 180 miles of range, making the car just as practical as it is powerful.
Describing the buildup to testing his innovation, Ezerioha said that , “The vehicle had wheels, it was able to roll, but had nothing inside. No interior, no exterior, no front bumper, no rear bumper, just a hood and doors. There were a lot of things that I didn’t expect. And I felt like, “how difficult, how complex could an EV conversion be? Boy, I was wrong.”
He added, “I have two battery packs, one in the front here and one in the rear. Each of those battery packs contains 16 kilowatt-hours, so I have a 32-kilowatt-hour setup, which, depending on my driving, can give me anywhere from a 100- to 180-mile range, when I am using regen at its max. And regen is the opportunity where I can use my motor as an absorption unit, so when I am braking or slowing down, it can put energy back into the batteries to charge it up a little bit to extend my range and performance.
“Dare I say electric vehicles are more fun than internal-combustion engine counterparts? You cannot beat the performance. Look at what Tesla is doing and what Porsche is doing with the Taycan, and then Rimac with their supercars. Petrol engines have a sound and a vibration that tends to dampen my contact with the surface. So now I hear the pebbles up in the wheel wells. I feel and hear the tires better. Having built this car taught me that having an open mind in science and technology can yield wonderful things. This is really a new chapter in the book of Bisimoto. ”
Ezerioha is a Nigerian-American engineer, professional race car driver, entrepreneur and engine builder. He is the current CEO and Chief Engineer for Bisimoto Engineering.
Ezerioha is involved in import drag racing, and pilots a 2006 Honda Insight in the pro stock ranks of IDRA, IDRC and CMI series. A chemical engineer by training, and entering university at the age of 15, he was a pharmaceutical researcher for years before he decided to branch off. His automotive creations have appeared in numerous films, television shows, toys and video games, according to Wikipedia.
But his pedigree is not surprising, considering his lineage. He was born on January 6, 1972, the son of Nigerian parents, Dr. Emesia Ezerioha, an industrialist and Chinyere Ezerioha, a biochemist, researcher and cosmetics pioneer. Ezerioha’s father holds bachelor’s degrees in earth sciences and geology from California State University, Los Angeles, master’s degrees in earth systems science as well as economics and a Ph.D. in international marketing.
Hailing from a scientific oriented family background, Ezerioha developed a keen interest and showed aptitude in chemistry while in secondary school in Nigeria. His curiosity about what powered automobiles and factory machinery led to his enrolment into Anambra State University of Technology, Anambra, Nigeria at the age of 15 to study petrochemical engineering.
After a year of study in Nigeria, Ezerioha transferred to Cerritos College and graduated with an honors associate degree in applied and natural sciences, before proceeding to California State University, Long Beach where he obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering and Engineering Management respectively, Wikipedia says.
