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.