|
In response to the world wide threat
of global warming we as citizens of the world need to explore
alternative modes of
transportation other than the internal combustion engine. So, to expose
students and ultimately the larger community that Delta Secondary
School is a part of to leading edge alternative technologies we will be
constructing an electric drag racing
vehicle.
Why
and electric vehicle and not a hybrid or hydrogen? Well, if you read
all the current literature two pieces of information become very clear.
One, hybrid vehicles still burn fuel and emit CO2.
Is this bad? Well it is better than driving a hummer but doesn't get
completely away from fossil fuels. In regards to hydrogen, making
hydrogen taken 3 times the
amount of energy that you might ever get out actually moving a
vehicle. So, it is a waste of energy to use hydrogen. Electric vehicles
are simple in design, have few moving parts compared to a combustion
engine and the technology already exists to make them a reality.
Why a drag racing vehicle? Well, time has shown,
if
you show that a vehicle can be fast and practical at the same time
people get interested in learning about what's it all about. Our goal
here is to get the students and public interested enough in fully electric vehicle technology to want to find out more.
Research
Like any project, the first step is
collecting information. Below is a collection of resources to prepare
for the building of such a vehicle.
NEDRA
- National Electric Drag Racing Association
EVDL
- Electric Vehicle Discussion List
VEVA
- Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association
EV
World - Electric Vehicle News
EV Photo Album - An online photo album of electric vehicles
CanEV
- Canadian Electric Vehicle Business on Vancouver Island
BCSSMA
- The
British Columbia Secondary School Motorsport
Association
The Parts
Vehicle:
We
will be converting a 1989 Toyota Pick up Truck. Why this truck you ask?
Well, it is a very common truck so parts will not be an issue. This was
a vehicle that we had donated because the motor was dead. So, rather
than send it off to the recyclers, we thought it would be a better idea
to give it a second life as a prototype project.
Motor:
We will be using a NetGain
TransWarp 11" DC motor.
Why a DC motor over an AC motor? AC motors and their
controllers are much more expensive than a DC setup. So, cost is the
limiting factor. Regardless, this motor is the equivalent of putting a
big block into the truck. Yes, I said a big block. Also, this motor
will be used in a direct drive application. This means that the yolk
you see on the left will be connected directly to the vehicles rear
differential.
This motors maximum voltage rating is 192 Volts. Taken from NetGain's
website product specification sheet,
this motor was dynoed at 72 volts and 435.8 amps which produced 135
foot pounds of torque. If we do some more math and solve for "X" we end
up with around 1600 foot pounds of torque. Yes, this is mind blowing
considering that this motor only has one moving part and weighs in at
about
With the vehicle running at 192 volts and a generous 1000
amps we will be able to produce an earth shattering 800 foot pounds of
toque, all at zero rpm. Yes, quite impressive.
Controller:
We will be using a Zilla 2K-HV electric vehicle controller from Cafe Electric.
The controller is like a dimmer switch. It controls how much electricity
the motor will receive. These controllers are know for their robustness
in regards to that amount of power they can deliver to the motor. Just
to give you an idea of the power involved, 1 HP = 0.7457 kW. This
controller is capable of delivering 600 kw of power. So, doing the math
really quick gives us 804.6 horse power. In our combination, even if we
were running at full capacity, which few if any ever do, this
controller and motor would be putting out around 800 HP and over 1600
foot pounds of torque. These numbers are at the motor and not at the wheels.
Batteries:
This
is the one area that is rapidly advancing. We want to go fast but still
have some sort of usable driving range. In regards to cost the options
are lead and lead. Lithium Iron Phosphate is where the industry is
headed but at this time (May 2008) the batteries are still too
expensive for what we are trying to accomplish on a high school budget.
Project Log
This section is where we will be keeping track of the progress of our conversion.
Here's the truck. A 1989 Toyota pick up with a bagged motor. Perfect for an electric vehicle conversion.
|
|