American Tour de Sol Reports, 1996 Sponsored by The AutoAuditorium System from Foveal Systems A Fully Automatic, Multi-Camera System that Produces Videos Without a Crew http://www.AutoAuditorium.com - - - - - - - - - The following are copyright Michael H. Bianchi. Permission to copy is granted provided each Report is presented without modification and this notice is attached. For other arrangements, contact me at +1-973-822-2024 . For more on the NESEA Tour de Sol, see the web page at http://www.nesea.org Official NESEA Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413 774-6051 , and 50 Miles Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 , and nesea@nesea.org . All media enquiries should be addressed to ... Jack Groh Groh Associates email: GrohPR@aol.com 401 732-1551 telephone 401 732-0547 fax 401 952-0886 cell/pager - - - - - - - - - The 1996 NESEA American Tour de Sol was the eighth and the fourth that I attended. Before and during the course of the event I interviewed as many of the teams as I could and typed up those interviews into articles that were made available on the Internet at NESEA's World Wide Web. This is a slightly edited version of those articles. The changes are mostly the removal of redundant material, fixing of a few factual errors, and the repair of grammatical and spelling mistakes. The reports are more-or-less in the order in which they were created. In particular, the race results show a bit beyond the half way mark in the text, and then we go back to interviews recorded earlier in the week. That was the way the reports read as the race was in progress, and I've chosen, some what arbitrarily, to leave them in that order. My intent here is to help tell the stories of the people and organizations who choose to participate in this event which is dedicated to promoting the idea of electric vehicles as examples of transportation which is more benign to the environment and more sustainable than what we are using today. I focus mostly on the technology, because that is what interests me most, and the human stories of the people involved. (If you are looking for the drama of racing, who is in the lead and who is catching up to who, I'm afraid you will be disappointed.) I hope you find these articles interesting and informative. Mike Bianchi June 1996 NESEA American Tour de Sol: The Schedule Here is the schedule for the American Tour de Sol (taken from the NESEA Tour web page.) If you get to the race and see a overweight, balding, 40 something bearded guy, come by and say hello! Mike Bianchi FRIDAY MAY 10 NEW YORK CITY - SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MARKETPLACE 10AM - 5PM Public Vehicle Display and Sustainable Expo SATURDAY MAY 11 NEW YORK CITY - SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MARKETPLACE 10AM - 5PM Public Vehicle Display and Sustainable Expo 10AM - 5PM Vehicle Technical Inspections, open to the public, Water Street SUNDAY MAY 12 NYC TO NJ - SEAPORT TO LAMBERTVILLE ROUTE: South Street Seaport to Jersey City via Holland Tunnel and 1&9W. Follow 510 thru Newark and Elizabeth. Follow 27S to Lambertville via Rosselle, Rahway, Colonia, Woodbridge, Edison, Metuchen, New Brunswick, Franklin Park, Kendall Park, Blawenders, Woodsville, and Hopewell. (65.4 miles) 10AM - 2PM Public Vehicle Display and Sustainable Expo 1:30PM - 2PM Starting Ceremonies 2:00PM - 5PM Drive New York City to Lambertville, NJ MONDAY MAY 13 NJ TO PA - LAMBERTVILLE to BOYERTOWN MUSEUM ROUTE: Follow 220W into Pennsylvania thru New Hope and Buckingham to 313W thru Fountainville, Dublin and Quakertown to 663 thru Milford, Pennsberg, Layfield and New Hanover to 73W thru Gilbertsville to Boyertown. Boyertown to Owen J. Roberts School via 562S thru Colebrooksdale, Upper Pottsgrove, Pottstown, E Coventry, Bucktown and West Vincent. (67.5 required miles plus extra laps) 8AM - 10:30AM Display, Restart, and Drive Lambertville to Boyertown (51.3 miles) 11:30AM - 6:00PM Public Vehicle Display - Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles 12:30AM - 5:30PM Extra Laps (31 miles on route 100 or 7.1 miles on secondary roads) 6:00PM - 7:00PM Closing Ceremony and Drive to Owen J. Roberts MS (16.2 miles) TUESDAY MAY 14 PA TO MD - POTTSTOWN TO CHESAPEAKE CITY ROUTE: Route 23S from Owen J. Roberts School thru Bucktown, Coventryville, Knauertown, Warwick and Elverton to 82S thru Conestoga, Loag, Brandywine, Brandamore, Coatesville, S. Coatesville, Ercildoun and Doe Run to 841S thru Springdell, Chatham, W. Grove, Lewisville into Maryland, thru Fairhill to rt 213S, Elkton and Chesapeake City. (63.6 required miles plus extra laps) 8AM - 10AM Public Vehicle Display - Owen J. Roberts M.S., Pottstown., PA 10AM 11:30AM Drive Owen J. Roberts MS, PA to Chesapeake City, MD 11:30AM - 6:30PM NESEA American Tour de Sol Display - Chesapeake City, MD 12:30 -6:30PM Extra Laps (66 miles on highway, or 8.6 on secondary road) WEDNESDAY MAY 15 MD - CHESAPEAKE CITY TO SANDY POINT STATE PARK ROUTE: Chesapeake City 213S thru Cayots, Cecilton, Georgetown and Galena to 313S thru Massey, Millington and Unicorn to 300S thru Dudley Corners back to 213S thru Church Hill, Starkey Corner and Centreville to 18W thru Queenstown, Grasonville and Chester to 50W and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Sandy Point State Park. (71.4 required miles plus Autocross event) 8AM - 9AM NESEA American Tour de Sol display - Chesapeake City, MD 9AM - 10:30AM Restart Ceremonies and Drive to Sandy Pt State Park, Annapolis, 10:30AM - 6:30PM NESEA American Tour de Sol Display - Sandy Point State Park 12 NOON Welcoming Ceremony Media Event - Sandy Point State Park 12:30AM - 6:00PM Autocross Event & Acceleration Tests - Sandy Point State Park THURSDAY MAY 16 MD TO DC - ANNAPOLIS TO THE MALL, WASHINGTON, DC ROUTE: Rte. 213W from Sandy Point State Park thru Annapolis, Riva and Stewart Corner to 214W thru Davidsonville, Hall, Kolbes Corner, and Largo into Washington, DC. ( 43 required miles-these miles, though required, do not contribute to Tour Miles.) 8AM - 9AM Display and Restart - Sandy Point State Park 10:00AM - 11:45AM Drive to Washington, DC 10:30AM - 12NOON Jr. Solar Sprints - on the Mall at 3rd Street 10:30AM - 6PM ARPA Technology Fair open to the public - on the Mall 12NOON - 1PM NESEA American Tour de Sol FINISH LINE & Media Event FRIDAY MAY 17 WASHINGTON, DC - ON THE MALL AT 3RD STREET 9:30AM - 1PM NESEA American Tour de Sol display - on the Mall NESEA American Tour de Sol: Entrants list The following is taken from the list of entrants found in the press kit. Some of the abbreviations you'll see below are: Adv PbA advanced lead acid APbA advanced lead acid BECO Boston Edison Company CNG compressed natural gas GPU General Public Utilities Companies JCP&L Jersey Central Power and Light LPG liquid petroleum gas NAVC Northeast Alternative Vehicle Consortium NHTI New Hampshire Technical Institute NiMH nickel metal hydride NiCad nickel cadmium NiMH nickel metal hydride PbA lead acid PETC Pennsylvania Electric Transportation Council US DOE United States Department of Energy --- NAVC PRODUCTION CATEGORY --- Team Name Vehicle Name (Vehicle Number) Home Town Vehicle Type (Battery Mfg, Chemistry) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Allegheny Power System, Inc. Ford Ecostar (17) Greensburg, PA Ford Ecostar (Sodium Sulfur) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connecticut EV/NAVC Solectria / Horizon (50) Windsor, CT 95 Solectria Force (Electrosource, PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVermont / NAVC Nordic Challenger (7) Waterbury, VT 1994 Solectria Force (Sonnenschein, PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- JCP&L Solectria Force (15) Morristown, NJ Solectria Force (Interstate, PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Met-Ed Penelec/JCP&L/GPU Chrysler TE Van (14) Reading, PA Chrysler TEVan (NiCad) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NAVC Solectria E-10 (62) Boston, MA 1994 Chevy S-10 (GNB, PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solectria Corporation Solectria Force NMH (4) Wilmington, MA Solectria Force NMH (Ovonic, NiMH) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- STAPPA / NAVC Solectria E-10 (34) Boston, MA 1994 Chevy S-10 (GNB, PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technik & Design Twike (12) Germany purpose-built tricycle (Panasonic, NiCad) ========================================================================== --- US DOE COMMUTER CATEGORY --- Team Name Vehicle Name (Vehicle Number) Home Town Vehicle Type (Battery Mfg, Chemistry) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Alternative Energy Regenerative Braking (45) Glastonbury, CT 1978 Jet Industries Electrivan (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boston Univ. SEV Team B-U-LLET (24) Boston, MA Purpose-Built Commuter (Saft, NiCad) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bridgewater Solar Works Solar Bus (33) Bridgewater, CT 1969 VW Bus/Solar (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CSERT - NVCTC Kineticar (35) Waterbury, CT Chevy S-10 w/Solar (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EV Moore - CEVA Sparky (39) Richmond, VA 1986 Mercury Lynx (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FMRHS - Solar Racing Team George the Geo (57) Landon, NH 1991 Geo Metro (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Greenwich H.S. Solar Flair Roadrunner (54) Greenwich, CT 1979 Mazda RX-7 (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Genesis Team Genesis I (66) Saginaw, MI Dodge D-50 pick-up (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NAVC / BECO / Solectria Solectria Sunrise (63) Wilmington, MA Pre-production Prototype (Ovonic, NiMH) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Neocon / NYSEG OHM Ranger (88) West Babylon, NY 1994 Ford Ranger (Electrosource, Adv PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NHTI Electric Car Team Sungo (72) Concord, NH Sungo - Purpose Built (Electrosource, Adv PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ North Hunterdon H. S. Lectric Lion (82) North Hunterdon, NJ 1989 Chevy S-10 (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parkland High School Lightning Volt (74) Orefield, PA Chevy S-10 (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PETC Utility EV (46) Allentown, PA Pre-Production Prototype (Electrosource, APbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Polytech Chargers KA1000 (43) Farmingdale, NY Purpose Built w/Honda body (Deka, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ RMAVTS -- Golden Gear Racing Golden Gear Special (42) Reading, PA 1987 Fiero GT (Deka, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rocky Hill High School SolarSaurus (44) Rocky Hill, CT 1982 Dodge Rampage (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shadow Mtn. Electric Matadors Porsche 914 Electric Bull (32) Phoenix, AZ '73 Porsche (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Solar Electric Spyder Juice Spyder Juice (31) Tallahassee, FL Pre-Production Prototype (GNB, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Taylor-Dunn Electruck (47) Anaheim, CA Modified Production Electruck (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wallingford AC, Inc. trans2-AC Margate, FL Modified Production trans2-AC (Power, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wattsmen Electric Hare (65) Falmouth, ME 1984 VW Rabbit (US Battery, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wooster's Charge Sparky 2 (38) Danbury, CT 1972 Saab (Trojan, PbA) ============================================================================== --- SOLAR COMMUTER CATEGORY --- Team Name Vehicle Name (Vehicle Number) Home Town Vehicle Type (Battery Mfg, Chemistry) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONVAL Solar Car Team Sol Survivor IV (83) Dublin, NH Purpose-Built Solar Sedan (Powersonic, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Longhorn Solar Racing Team Texas Native Sun (36) Austin, TX Purpose Built Solar Commuter (Trojan, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Newburgh Free Academy Sol Machine (58) Newburgh, NY Purpose Built Solar (Concord, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Riverside School Helios the Heron (93) Lyndonville, VT Purpose Built Solar (Deka, PbA) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Villanova Univ. EV Team Commuter Car (75) Villanova, PA Purpose Built w/1969 VW frame (Trojan, PbA) =================================================================== --- CHRYSLER HYBRID CATEGORY --- Team Name Vehicle Name (Vehicle Number) Home Town Vehicle Type (Battery Mfg, Chemistry / Fuel) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cornell HEV Maelstrom (3) Ithaca, NY Hybrid Purpose Built (East Penn, PbA / CNG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEV Team of Virginia Tech VT Ani mul SL (81) Blacksburg, VA HybriLumina (Hawker, PbA / LPG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hopper EV Hopper EV (94) Concord, NH Hybrid Purpose-Built (Optima, PbA / bio Diesel) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mount Everett Project e Project e (96) Sheffield, MA Hybrid Chevy S-10 (US Battery, PbA / LPG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Penn State SAE Electric Lion (48) University Park, PA Hybrid Ford Escort (Exide, PbA / Methanol) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team Hyperion Hyperion (26) Boston, MA Hybrid Saturn (Optima, PbA / Ethanol) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Univ. of FL HEV Society HEV U Florida (19) Gainsville, FL Hybrid Neon (Saft, NiCad/CNG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- University of Tennessee Hy Potential IV (21) Knoxville, TN Hybrid Neon (Alexander, NiMH / CNG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- UTEP Miners HI!BRID (29) El Paso, TX Hybrid Neon (Interstate, PbA / CNG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Washington Univ. Viking 25 (25) Bellingham, WA Hybrid Neon (Saft, NiCad / CNG) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Washington Univ. Viking 23 (23) Bellingham, WA Hybrid Purpose-Built w/Solar (Saft, NiCad / CNG) ============================================================================ --- OPEN CATEGORY --- Team Name Vehicle Name (Vehicle Number) Home Town Vehicle Type (Battery Mfg, Chemistry) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cato-Meridian HS Tech Team Sunpacer (92) Cato, NY One-person purpose-built (Deka, PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------- CTC NEastAdvVehTecCtr Electrobike (52) Westboro, MA Electric Bicycle (NiCad) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tech Prep Ottawa Orange IV (37) Grand Rapids, MI One-Person Purpose Built Solar (PbA) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Union College Proteus 1 (64) Schenectady, NY One-Person Purpose Built Solar (PbA) ==================================================================== And, yes, there is an entrant named "Lectric Lion" and one named "Electric Lion". And there is a "Sparky" and a "Sparky 2". I suggest those of you following the NESEA Tour print out this sheet and keep it handy. "You cannot tell one entrant from another without a program!" NESEA American Tour de Sol: Facts and Figures The day dawned misty and cold at New York City's South Street Seaport, and the smell of fish was everywhere as the early-morning wholesale selling and buying of seafood was wrapping up at 8:30 in the morning. The NESEA volunteers were arriving, finding places to park, getting organized and unpacking the vans full of banners, books, walkie-talkies, press kits, race programs, and what- not. Before long the fish people were gone and the EVs started arriving. About noon the weather turned suddenly spring-like and as the afternoon wore on, it got warmer and sunnier. Buses of school kids of all ages arrived and they quickly surrounded the various vehicles, asking thousands of questions. Just to tease you with what is coming, before I left I had seen and interviews with: <> A General Motors production engineer who is working on the EV-1 (the car that got away -- it will not be here -- wherein lies a story). <> Half-a-dozen hybrid car teams. <> A micro-van with > BIG < super capacitors as part of the drive system. <> A sexy, tire-smoking sports car. <> Two cars named "Sparky". <> A solar VW microbus. <> A purpose-built aluminum-and-composite pickup truck. <> A 2-passenger car built by > elementary < school students. So stay tuned. But first some facts and figures ... Part of the press kit for the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) American Tour de Sol US Road Rally Championship for Electric Vehicles is a list of facts and figures that show some interesting things, I think. There are 51 vehicles in the race; 50 from 15 states and 1 from Germany: MA 8 FL 3 VT 2 CT 8 TN 1 NH 4 NY 6 MI 1 CA 1 NJ 2 TX 1 WA 2 PA 6 AZ 1 VA 2 There are more Production and pre-production prototypes than ever before: 9 in the NAVC Production Category: Ford Ecostar (#17) Chrysler TEVan (#14) 4 Solectria Force sedans and 2 E-10 trucks (#50, 7, 15, 62, 4, 34) TWIKE 3-wheel 2-passenger from Technik & Design, Germany 3 pre-production prototypes in the USDOE Commuter Category: Solectria Sunrise (#63) Utility EV, by Pennsylvania Electric Transportation Council (#46) Spyder Juice, by Simpler Solar Systems 2 modified production in the USDOE Commuter Category: Taylor-Dunn Truck (#47), extra batteries for extended range trans-2 (#2), modified with an AC motor and controller ------Battery Type------ Category Sedan Van/Truck PbA Adv PbA Advanced TOTAL -------------------------------------------------------------------- Production 6 3 4 1 4 9 Commuter 13 10 18 3 2 23 Solar 5 - 5 - - 5 Hybrid EV 8 2 7 - 4 11 Open 3+bike - 3 - 1 4 TOTALS 36 15 37 4 11 51 PbA == Lead Acid Adv PbA == Advanced Lead Acid Advanced Battery Types: 2 Ovonic Nickel Metal Hydride (NMH) 1 Alexander Nickel Metal Hydride 7 Saft Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) 1 Panasonic Nickel Cadmium 1 ABB Sodium Sulphur (NaS) Fuels used in the Hybrid EVs: 6 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) 1 Ethanol 1 Methanol 1 bio Diesel 2 Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) Who built the vehicles: 15 corporations 30% 10 universities 20% | 2 colleges 4% | 4 technical schools 8% | 13 high schools 26% | 58% student built 1 elementary school 2% | 7 individuals/clubs 14% There are more purpose-built vehicles this year: 18 purpose-built 33 conversions NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `KA1000' Polytechnic University of Farmingdale NY, on Long Island, is back with their `KA1000' entry. Originally built in 1979-80 by Karl Acker (hence the "KA") this metallic blue conversion of a Honda Civic was originally based on plans published in a 1977 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine. As part of the conversion the car got a "nose-job" which gave it a unique appearance and presumably cut down on aerodynamic drag. It also holds 6 extra batteries. It started out with an aircraft starter motor and 12 6-Volt batteries and was used by Karl as a commuter car. In 1982 it was donated to a technical school as a security vehicle, but it fell into disuse. In 1993, Polytechnic acquired the car and students spent a year improving it. It was given a new motor and controller, 14 new batteries, and new paint. It was entered in the 1994 NESEA Tour, but they didn't finish building the car in time. But a new academic year, new students to replace the graduating team members, new ideas, new sponsors, and a lot of work yielded a car that in January 1995 was used as a daily commuter, was running errands and was collecting data. They entered and passed inspection for the 1995 NESEA Tour, coming in 3rd in the qualifying slalom and were 7th, out of 22, from the pole at the start. The first 2 days went smoothly and they were in 2nd place for efficiency in the Discovery Channel Commuter Class. But their charger was not replacing the energy used each day and so by the third day they ran out of charge along the route. The final day was cursed when the charger popped the circuit breaker over night and the car could not run. They did get a full charge in time for the autocross race in Portland Maine on the day after the NESEA Tour finished, and every team member got to drive the car that Saturday. For the 1996 NESEA Tour, `KA1000' returns with 16 batteries with HYDROCAP catalyst battery caps to preserve the electrolyte levels in the batteries. A BADICHEQ charge management system records data and brings each battery block to peak charge during each charging cycle, thus eliminating the need to do an "equalizing" overcharge every so often. They have also lowered the car's weight by removing extraneous equipment and lighter structures, given it new wheels and Goodyear low rolling resistance tires, and added a DC-to-DC converter. A now larger solar panel on the roof powers the radio. ((The NESEA Tour rules require that every vehicle have a solar panel that provides power for some useful purpose as a way of promoting the idea of sustainable energy use. "Sustainable" is, after all, NESEA's middle name.)) Motor: Advanced DC 8 inch Controller: Curtis PMC 1221 Batteries: 16 Trojan T-145 flooded lead-acid, 96 Volts DC/DC Converter: Curtis PMC I spoke with: Peter Voltz, faculty advisor, EE department Karl Acker, original builder of KA1000 Mark Strong, former student, driver in 1995 NESEA Tour Dan Murphy, junior, driver in 1995 Dick LaRosa, retired (read "downsized") engineer Ted Trask, junior, team member Coby Lichter, freshman, team member This is about half of team; there are about 10 consistent contributors. Mark always loved cars and was amazed how much he has come to love EVs. He hopes to work in the field, maybe even starting his own company. After last year's NESEA Tour he purchased a Honda Prelude which he has donated to the school and hopes to work it up into another EV for next year's NESEA Tour. So far it is stripped of the ICE components. Last year, while "breaking in" the new `KA1000' batteries Mark enjoyed the notice he and the car got around town. Peter says, "What impresses me is how student enthusiasm has grown over the last year. They do it as a totally extra curricular activity, on top of their normal course load, without receiving any academic credit. They do all the planning, design and work and I don't have to do anything." The team meets once per week for 2 hours and then works on the car at odd hours during the week. It is an small, enthusiastic, tight group that works real well together. The existence of the `KA1000' program has caused the university library to acquire EV related books and start an EV section. Karl is the driving force for the original project. During last year's race his camper, "The True Value 1000", was a tools and parts resource for many teams during the race. "Most people don't realize how much work goes into the NESEA Tour. It is a week-long car show." The schedule is very demanding and people find themselves worn out by the time the cars are plugged in for the night. Dan is a sophomore who was asked by a professor to research regenerative braking. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to add regen to the car because they didn't have the money to get a new controller; maybe next year on the Prelude. Dick is a professional engineer with a long term interest in conservation. His professional background was microwaves and surface acoustic waves, but now he is learning power electronics and helping to ensure that the electrical aspects of the car are safe. Ted heard about the project through IEEE chapter on campus and thinks "EVs are cool" but is finding it hard to put as much time into the project as he would like. He plans to be at the testing sessions in New York City. This is only Coby's 2nd semester on the project, but he is learning as much as he can. His interest in environmental engineering led him to the group, and his knowledge of gasoline cars was useful while stripping the gasoline components from the Prelude in preparation for next year. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `HEVy GATOR' The University of Florida team is in the Chrysler Hybrid Electric Category with a bright red Hybrid Neon named `HEVy GATOR'. The team is made up of a faculty advisor and 25 students divided into sub-teams working on Battery, Controls, Drive Train, Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC), IC Engine, and an Executive Board covering Finance, Solicitations, Public Relations, and Safety. This car also competed in the 1995 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Challenge where it finished 4th overall. This is the 2nd year of the project and the teams are mostly new folks drawn from the sophomore, junior and senior classes, plus one member from a nearby community college. Brian Skeldon provided me with a pointer to their web page, http://www.eel.ufl.edu/~skeldon/HEV, from which this report is derived. I also spoke via telephone with Dr. Gary Matthew, the faculty advisor, and Brian Skeldon who is working on his BSEE. Vehicle: 1995 Dodge Neon Powertrain: (series hybrid) Electric Motor is the primary mover APU provides charging capability to battery system Electric Motor: Unique Mobility SR218/4.5G 180 VDC brushless DC motor 43hp, 106 hp peak (32 kW, 79kW peak) Capable of Regenerative braking, Water/Ethylene Glycol cooled Power Amplifier: Unique Mobility CA-18/300 180 VDC nominal input, Three phase pulse width modulated output to motor Batteries: Saft Aerospace battery Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) Cells Nominal 1.2 VDC, 35 AH capacity, 3.3 lbs each 150 cells Provide 180 VDC Nominal Peak Voltage Total pack: 6,300 Watt-hours, 495 pounds Auxiliary Power Unit (APU): Kawasaki, 617cc (45ci) stationary industrial engine V-Twin, 4 stroke, 15 hp output running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Fuel System: 36 Liters Compressed Natural Gas, operating pressure 3600 psi Alternator: Fisher Electric, Three Phase output - 18kW @3200rpm, Rectified output charges battery system DC-DC Converter: Power source Converts 180 VDC to 12 VDC, Maximum capacity 900 W (75A @ 12 VDC) Performance: Top Speed - 65 mph, Range - 150 to 200 miles (expected) Drive Train The drivetrain consists of a three phase brushless DC motor coupled to an independent differential. The torsion bar mounts and shocks were redesigned to compensate for the extra weight of the vehicle. The CV-joints were replaced with double-yoke split-shafts to increase reliability. Coil-over shocks increase the capacity of the original suspension. The current setup allows adjustment of camber, toe-in, and ride height. Controls The controls group supplies voltage and current specifications for the desired equipment throughout the car. Each component requires power that must be included in the overall energy budget and control plan. For example, the amplifier circuit requires a high-current relay so the driver is not in direct contact with these high-current levels while turning the key. Meanwhile, the key switch is also controlling the 12-volt supply to the accessories in the car. Other control specifications consist of: <> Supplying 180 volts for the Heating and Air Conditioning group (HVAC) to drive their compressor. <> Supplying 300 amps to the amplifier to drive the electric motor. <> Supplying power to start the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in order to drive the 18-kilowatt generator. <> Writing software (C language) for the microprocessor so it can monitor several car operating parameters, including: Battery voltage and current levels Vehicle direction and speed Amplifier and motor temperature The microprocesor also performs some drive related functions, such as limiting the regen braking energy when the batteries are fully charged. Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) The IC group designs and implements the IC Engine, exhaust system, and thermal battery. What is a "thermal battery"? It is a heat accumulator used to keep the catalytic converter warm. That way the converter can "scrub" the exhaust gases even when the engine is started cold. The main objective is to increase the power output of the engine (which powers a generator to charge the batteries) from 12kW to 15kW while maintaining very low emissions. Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) This group removed the original heating and air conditioning equipment and replaced them with a full functioning heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system which employs a motor driven heat pump using environmentally safe R134a to provide efficient heating and cooling with zero emissions. The vehicle is unusual in that although it is based on a Neon, which is a front wheel drive car, the electric motor now drives the rear wheels! The CNG engine and generator are in the front under the hood, and the motor and amplifier are in the trunk. A radiator for cooling the controller is below the rear bumper. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Hopper EV' I've been to 3 previous American Tour de Sol's, and at each of those Tom Hopper has brought a version of his `Hopper EV' along. This one-person designed-from-the-ground-up personal project has transmogrified year to year and I cannot wait to see what Tom has done this year. In 1993 it had bicycle-handle steering and thin bicycle-like spoked wheels under a dull grey body. To get in, Tom had to climb through the window which was not easy as he is a big man and the window was small. In 1994 the suspension was "real", the throttle control and regenerative brake control were on the > steering wheel <, and the body tilted forward so anyone could get in easily. In 1995 it sported foot throttle and brake, and a new AC induction transmissionless drive system. But never one to leave well enough alone, Tom and co-team member Craig Cushing have added a 2-wheel trailer that turns it into a diesel fueled hybrid. Quoting Tom, "The specs tell a good deal of the story." Vehicle Vehicle + Trailer Length 114 in 180 in Width 44 in Wheelbase 72 3/4 in Weight 1100 lbs 1370 lbs Frame Aluminum; box-section tube and sheet, welded, epoxy glued riveted Body Fiberglass/closed-cell sandwich; hydraulically counterbalanced for entrance and egress Solar Array Solectria monocrystalline, 100 watts, permanently roof mounted Battery Twelve 12 Volt Optima "Yellow Top" spiral core lead acid in series; 144 Volts; 7700 Wh @ C/5 Motor Solectria AC GT20 induction Controller Solectria UMoC system Drive Gates toothed belts (primary and secondary) Suspension Three-wheel independent; coil-over-shock front, swingarm rear Wheels Lightweight aluminum alloy Tires 145/75R-13 Michelin Rainforce MX4 (front); 175/50R-13 Yokohama 72V (rear) Brakes Three-wheel hydraulic; split system Charger Solectria 1 kW; onboard Instruments kiloWatt-hour; speedometer; odometer; trip; total distance Hybrid Internal Combustion System System Format Series Packaging Two-wheel trailer; steel frame, honeycomb Nomex FRP body Engine Kubota 479 cc 2-cylinder diesel; 11 hp max, 6 hp nominal; meets 1996 EPA/DOT air pollution standards Fuel Bio-diesel if available; 6-gallon tank Generator 3.5 kW charger output continuous; direct-to-battery connection What the specs don't tell you is that Tom is a professor of Architectural Technology and Craig is a professor of English at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord. They are also advisors to the NHTI's Electric Car Team, which is bringing their `Sungo' ((more on that in a future posting)). "We're both in our sixth decade, and we both retain what I hope is a youthful enthusiasm for everything we do." "I derive great satisfaction in working with alternative energy, from my stand-alone home which is totally off-the-grid, to wind-powered watercraft, to human powered vehicles, to my solar-electric vehicle projects over the years. I'm convinced that leadership (and thus teaching) is also a product of example - `do what I do'. That's a big part of my motivation in solar- electric vehicle development, coupled with a desire to do a small part in making a cleaner natural environment." NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Solectria Sunrise' ((The following is based on an interview with Karl Thidemann, Director of Marketing of Solectria.)) The Solectria Sunrise returns to the NESEA Tour for its second year, having won the Commuter Category last year and taken home the Range Trophy with 238 miles per charge. Naturally they hope to do even better this year. Superficially, the Sunrise is a lightweight, full size, four passenger electric sedan, with interior space comparable to a Ford Taurus. The amenities include air conditioning, AM/FM stereo radio ((and I think I saw a CD player last year)), power brakes, dual air bags, and cruise control. But in detail, it is unlike any production car on the road today. It has almost no metal in the body or frame. The monocoque structure is a single piece of advanced composite materials (laced with carbon and glass fibers) designed to be both light and strong. How strong? Last November it was subjected to a standard frontal crash test and Solectria is enthused by the results. ((I saw a video of the crash and it was quite impressive. If you think plastic cars > have < to shatter when in a collision, think again. The passenger compartment not only held together, but it kept its shape and nothing came in. The windshield didn't even crack! All the energy was taken up in the front "crumple zones".)) The goal is to preserve the normal safety requirements or even improve them over conventional cars. The main reason for the composite material construction is to make the car lighter and give it advanced aerodynamics, thus it takes less energy to move down the road. The low weight and drag means that > any < battery pack will deliver double the range it would have in most conversions. Once again the Sunrise features a Nickel-Metal Hydride battery pack, the ability to recharge rapidly or use a standard low power overnight charger, and a battery thermal management system for cold-weather operation. The Sunrise is not a converted anything. It was designed from the ground up for mass production and so they are paying close attention to issues that will make it cost effective to build. They also want to make sure that all the manufacturing processes are "green" and environmentally responsible. The funds for the Sunrise project were provided by NAVC (the Northeast Alternative Vehicle Consortium), by ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) through NAVC, the Boston Edison company, and several automotive and advanced materials related companies. Will it be for sale, you ask? Karl says that the target date for sales is 1998. Before that they expect to have a small batch, limited production runs. ((Last year James Worden, CEO of Solectria, was saying that if they could get the production up to 20,000 cars per year, they could probably sell them for $20,000.)) NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Hyperion' `Hyperion' is an entry of the Wentworth Institute of Technology in the Chrysler Hybrid Category. Wentworth is a co-op engineering and technology school in Boston MA which tries to give its students both the hands-on learning and book learning needed to in today's industries. Shawn Newell is the faculty advisor to Team Hyperion and he tries to ensure that the experiences help them "see the equations at work". The group is currently about 16 students, 10 of which will actually get to go to race and, like the car, they are a hybrid. Academically, they include the disciplines of industrial design, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electro-mechanical engineering, and computer engineering. They are also an international group, with members from all over the Unites States, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, and China. In addition to exercising their engineering skills, the students learn the human skills and teamwork needed to work effectively with the other disciplines, personality styles and cultures. Although they don't receive any academic credit for their work, Newell says the students become "addicted to seeing the direct fruits of their labor. Their level of commitment to the project is remarkable." As the race deadline approaches every spare minute and late nights go into getting ready. It seems someone always winds up sleeping in the lab. But they love it, "they keep coming back for more," say Newell. The black and gold (school colors) `Hyperion' is a rework of a Saturn 1991 SL2 4-door sedan. While it still has the original body, it has a totally new front-wheel drive train. The fueled engine is a 3-cylinder from a Geo Metro (donated by Solectria) reworked to provide 89-to-100 horsepower burning E-85 (a mixture of 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol) with a 12.5-to-1 compression ratio. The engine is connected through a clutch to two 28-horsepower AC induction motors in tandem. The pair of motors are then connected through a second clutch and transmission to the front wheels. With this arrangement the car can run in 3 modes: as a Alternative Fueled Vehicle (AFV), a parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), and as a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV). When in the HEV and ZEV modes the electric power comes from twelve Optima 12 Volt lead-acid batteries which can provide 8 kiloWatt-hours of energy. Either one or both electric motors can be engaged. When in ZEV mode, the car has a range of about 55 miles. While the car has regenerative braking, technical problems, which probably won't be resolved in time for the race, keep the car from charging the batteries while under way or idling. A plug-in charger is still needed to charge the batteries. In the creature-comforts department, the car sports a custom interior and a "killer sound system," including 4 100-Watt amplifiers driving Bose speakers. The car was started 3 years ago and has raced in the 1994 Hybrid Electric Challenge, finishing 8th in its class, and in 1995, again finishing 8th in its class. Projects like this involve more than just the engineering challenges; the business and finance issues must also be addressed. "We are still raising money so we can go to the race," Newell told me. The students have raised most of the funding by creating formal funding proposals to sponsors, whose names and logos give `Hyperion' that race car look. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Viking 23' and `Viking 25' Western Washington University, in Bellingham WA, about 1.5 hours from Seattle, entered the only hybrid in the 1993 NESEA Tour, `Viking 21'. It was a "practice car", with a steel tube frame, fiberglass body, and a parallel drive train. The front wheels were electric and the rear wheels were driven by an internal combustion engine (ICE) running on propane ((if I recall correctly)). WWU returns to the NESEA Tour with two vehicles, both entered in the Chrysler Hybrid Category. The cars are among the latest (they're up to number 26) in a series of experimental vehicles built under a program started by Dr. Michael Seal, director of the Vehicle Research Institute of WWU. I spoke with Gavin Campbell, a faculty advisor for both cars, and Dan Greenberg, a student and team captain on `Viking 25'. `Viking 23' is a blue, 2 passenger car designed and built from the ground up. It is constructed with an all carbon-fiber and composite chassis and body. The race team consists of 5 people. The rear wheels are driven by a water cooled Honda 900 racing motorcycle engine with 4-cylinders, dual overhead cam, and a 6 speed transmission. In the NESEA Tour, the ICE will run on compressed natural gas (CNG) but the car has two fuel tanks, one for CNG and the other for gasoline. They expect they can get 500 miles on CNG and 360 miles on gas. The front wheels are driven by a tandem pair of air cooled, brushless DC electric motors from Unique Mobility, rated at 10 horsepower each at 4400 rpm. The motors connect to the front wheels through a 4-speed transmission and differential off a Honda 4-TRAX all terrain vehicle. There is the ability to apply regenerative braking, controlled by the brake pedal. The battery pack is 120 Volts worth of SAFT nickel-cadmium (NiCd) cells carrying 4.6 kiloWatt-hours of energy. The tires are Goodyear Invicta GAs on rear and Firestones on front. (They couldn't get Invictas in the correct size for the front.) The charger, made by Xantrex in Vancouver British Columbia, can deliver 3 kiloWatts from a 208 Vac, 3 phase circuit. The entire body, including the area that normally would be the rear window, is covered with 760 Watts worth of silicon solar cells. The driver's view of the rear is provided by a television camera and monitor. I imagine the vehicle is a bit tricky to handle, since both the front and rear drive systems are under the driver's manual control. On the left side of the steering wheel are the ICE controls, including a rocker switch that selects between gasoline and CNG. On the right side are the electric vehicle controls. There is only one shifter, but it has two gates (shifting patterns), ICE and electric, side-by-side. One clutch pedal activates both front and rear clutches. So how would you drive such a thing? In purely ICE or Electric Vehicle (EV) mode, it would be pretty straight forward, although in EV mode you would probably just use 2nd and 4th gears. But in hybrid mode, it's a bit different and you have to be experienced. For example, let's say you want to accelerate hard. "To start with," Campbell said, "you would just put the EV side in 4th gear. It will just give you a steady boost during acceleration." Then you would just shift up through the 6 speeds on the ICE side. They expect this will let them get from zero to 100 mph in 1/4 mile. As you can see the driver must be totally aware of what is going on in two drive systems. Eventually the two systems will be placed under computer controls, possibly before NESEA Tour starts. `Viking 25' is a red conversion of a Dodge Neon. It was entered in the 1995 Hybrid Electric Vehicle challenge and won the award for best Consumer Acceptability, meaning it came closest to being a car anyone could just jump in and drive away. It also won 1st place for range. The current team is 6 people, and specific efforts on the car can be used for independent study credit. `Viking 25' is still a 5 passenger vehicle with stock interior. Like its stable mate, it runs on CNG and electricity. But the drive system is very different. The ICE is a stock 2.4 liter, 16 valve engine, running the stock 9.8-to-1 compression ratio, and a stock power control module (PCM). To accommodate the different fuel, the injectors have been changed to Siemens natural gas injectors, and customized circuits on things like the oxygen sensor and throttle position sensor "fool" the PCM so that the injectors are fired appropriately for CNG. Also, the PCM learns as it runs, trimming the algorithm that pulses the injectors. The result should be that the car adjusts automatically for peak fuel performance. On the EV side, the 5-speed transmission's input shaft was extended to accept the contribution of a 43 horsepower Unique Mobility brushless DC motor. It in turn is controlled by a custom built "bunch of MOSFETs" (Dan Greenberg's term). The battery is made up of 144 SAFT NiCd cells (that's a lot of connections!) providing 180 Volts. The charger is a 1000 Watt unit from Xantrex. An air conditioner pump is attached, through a clutch, to the shaft on the back of DC motor. The driver has the choice to select ICE, Zero Emission Vehicle (pure electric), or Hybrid Electric Vehicle (both) operation. There is also the choice of having regenerative braking or not. The only tricky bit of driving is when up- or down-shifting. Because the electric motor is tied to the transmission input shaft, there is more inertia, and the mechanical synchronizers within the transmission have a hard time making the input shaft slow down or speed up to match the speed of the gear you are shifting into. As a temporary fix, there is a rocker switch mounted on top of the gear shift lever to speed up or slow down the motor to help the synchronizers find a match. Of course, they want to replace the rocker switch with some smart circuits that will automatically do the gear speed matching. If successful, this electronic solution could eliminate need for mechanical synchronizers. This approach could be also be useful in large trucks. To demonstrate the practical potential of hybrid vehicles, Dan Greenberg told me they intend to drive `Viking 25' all the way home after the race. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Texas Native Sun II' Katherine Duval heads the corporate team and is the public relations maven for the `Texas Native Sun II' from the University of Texas in Austin. It will be racing in the Solar Commuter Category. These notes are based on a conversation between her and Jack Groh. Built from the ground up, at first glance the `Texas Native Sun II' looks like a normal economy car, with its rounded front and full size windshield. It measures 1.2 meters high by 4.4 meters long by 1.8 meters wide. Closer inspection reveals that it is a one person vehicle with solar panels on top, sides and hood. It is painted white with navy cells. Katherine is a petroleum engineer who got interested while building the carbon fiber body. Since she had some free time and got interested in staying with project, she now handles the PR. The team, a student organization known as the Longhorn Solar Race Car Team, currently has existed for about 18 months and has 17 active members, although in the past up to sixty have been involved in the design and construction. Some have graduated and others have moved on; you know how it is. The membership is all undergraduates, predominantly from the engineering disciplines, although there is one geologist, and a business major. They work on campus in the basement of the science building. The faculty adviser to the project is electrical engineering professor Dr Gary Hallock. Before him, the project was advised by Dr Fred Gilliam, now at University of Tennessee at Knoxville. As it turns out, Dr Gilliam will will be accompanying the team to the Tour de Sol, since Dr Hallock cannot be there. The project is funded by corporate donations. Dow Chemical, the Project Management Institute, Autodesk, National Instruments, the City of Austin, the Lower Colorado River Authority, Motorola, and the Schleicher Group (a systems control firm) are the major contributors. They figure the car will cost $500,000 from design through construction and they are still raising money. It will have its debut at the NESEA Tour and then will race in the Winston Solar Cup Challenge in Dallas later this summer. Next year they expect to be in the Sunrayce and maybe maybe go to Australia for the World Solar Challenge. I got the car's specifications from Chet Krushefski, BSEE student of the class of 1996, who serves as project manager. The chassis is a space frame of welded 6061-T6 aluminum tubing weighing just 48 pounds. It is designed to withstand an impact of 5 Gs and a rollover acceleration of 3 Gs. The front suspensions are unequal length, double wishbone arms, with the coil over the damper (shock absorber). The rear suspensions are trailing arm, also with coil-over-damper. The body is made from 3/8 inch balsa inside a sandwich of 0.02 inch carbon fiber vinylester, shaped to a prototype mold using a SCRIMP vacuum process (and no, I don't know quite what that means). The motor is the result of 2 years of research and development. It is a custom-built in-hub DC brushless PM motor on the right rear wheel. There are 6 magnets on the rotor, and of course it has to be designed especially thin to take a reasonable tire. Hub-motors present some special problems as they can raise the unsprung weight of the wheel and they are subject to severe shock. This design uses some possibly patentable techniques to deal with those issues, so Chet wasn't willing to describe it further. The team figures it will deliver about 5 horsepower (peak) at between 60 and 96 Volts (they hadn't decided on final configuration when we spoke). The controller is also a custom-built unit, using Motorola MOSFETs driven by the MC33035 controller chip. They plan to have regenerative braking, but that might not be ready in time for the Tour de Sol. Since this car is racing in the Solar Commuter Category, the solar cells are very important. They are using terrestrial grade silicon solar cells totaling about 1000 Watts, and the peak power tracker (which keeps the solar cells at the best voltage and current for maximum energy collection) is from Solectria. The batteries are Trojan flooded 12 Volt blocks, totaling between 60 and 96 Volts (again, not finalized at the time of this interview). At 60 Volts they would hold 5.7 kiloWatt-hours of energy. There will be a charger, as backup for cloudy days, but which one is not yet determined. `Texas Native Sun II' will weigh about 900 pounds with driver and batteries. Chet says they have calculated the range to be between 120 and 150 miles per charge, with a top speed well above 60 mph; it should be able to do 75-80 mph. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `HI!BRID' ((One of the joys of this job is to read a well-written paper, either about a team or a technical explanation of a car. This report is based on the paper "The UTEP Hybrid Neon Conversion Entry into the 1995 HEV Challenge" by Juan Aguirre, Benjamin Gonzalez, Debbie Marquardt, Billy Olson, Anthony Perez, Ernesto Ramirez and Simon Vega.)) The `HI!BRID' is entered by the UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso) Miners. Originally built for the 1995 HEV Challenge, it is a conversion of a Chrysler Neon to a series hybrid. The electric half is based on a 100 kiloWatt AC induction motor and controller from AC Propulsion, and the fueled half is a 1-liter, 3-cylinder 1991 Geo Metro engine modified to run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The project was sponsored by the El Paso Sun Metro transit authority as a response to the poor air quality of the region. Sun Metro already has half of its bus fleet running on natural gas, and the project is considering using the components of this car in a later demonstration bus. A series hybrid uses fuel to run an engine, which in turn runs a generator, which charges batteries. The energy in the batteries is then used to run the electric motor that pushes the car down the road. (A parallel hybrid has both the engine and the motor directly connected to the wheels.) The UTEP Miners decided that a series drive train had the best chance to achieve low emissions. Before they even started the Neon conversion, they decided to first convert a golf cart from pure electric to hybrid operation. That exercise taught them about the problems of interfacing electrical systems that have different reference grounds. They also built a mock up of the Neon's engine compartment and attempted to place cardboard versions of both the engine and motor in it. That proved to them that the engine would have to go in the back. Finally, they did detailed vibration measurements on the Geo engine to help them design the engine mounts for the rear. The electric side is an AC-100 motor and controller pair that weighs 77 pounds. They are driven by anywhere between 240 and 400 Volts dc. Because the motor delivers a flat 110 foot-pounds of torque from zero to 5000 rpm, they decided to just use one gear ratio between it and the wheels optimized for 55 mph. They modified the stock transaxle by removing all the internal pieces associated with the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and reverse gears, locking the 2nd gear so that it is always engaged, and removing the shifting forks and linkages. When they attached the motor to the transaxle, they included a phenolic insulator to separate the motor's ground from the chassis ground. The batteries are 28 Concord PVC-1234s which deliver 11.1 kiloWatt- hours of energy at 336 Volts. In pure Electric Vehicle (EV) mode, the car should do 120 miles at 30 mph. The AC-100 controller has recharging circuits built in, both for regenerative braking and plug-in charging from between 110 Vac to 240 Vac. The batteries can be recharged from a 50% depth-of-discharge in 1 hour! A special circuit attached to each of the batteries automatically equalizes the charging. Once a battery reaches 14 Volts a small amount of current is shunted around it by this circuit. The charge cycle is stopped when the batteries reach 14.4 Volts. The same circuit provides the driver with block-by-block indications of when 14.4 Volts and 11.1 Volts ("full discharge") are reached. To accommodate the batteries, the CNG tank and the engine, the car had its original floor pan, from the dash board to the rear bumper, removed. Extensive structural modifications provided support for the batteries and the fuel tank, bracing of the body, seat belt attachments, and a new floor that is 2 inches lower than the stock floor. Stiffer column springs recovered the 1/2 inch clearance loss in all that. The Geo engine in the rear was used (budgets, don't you know), so they coated the valves, pistons, and combustion chamber with a ceramic to help achieve a higher compression and to cut down on heat loss. The engine drives a Fisher Technology Inc. 3-phase alternator, externally rectified, rated at 18 kiloWatts. To keep the alternator speed at 3000 rpm, a universal aftermarket cruise control, sensing the speed of the flywheel, manages the throttle. The car switches between Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) modes automatically, although the driver can force it manually to be one or the other. Fully charged and fueled, the car starts out in ZEV mode running only on the batteries. When the voltage of the battery pack reaches a minimum level, selected by the driver, the CNG engine is started, generating electricity to both run the car and charge the batteries. Once the batteries reach a higher voltage the engine is shut down. The whole operation is under the control of a Motorola 68H11 8-bit microprocessor, without an operating system, running a custom built control program that fits in 32 kilobytes. It monitors various HEV and ZEV functions and provides the driver with information via light emitting diodes and vacuum fluorescent displays. For creature comforts, the car has a 1850 Watt resistance heater and the stock air conditioner compressor is driven by a 5 horsepower, 240 Volt, single-phase AC induction motor driven by a home-made DC-to-AC inverter. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profiles - `Roadrunner' In past NESEA Tours, Greenwich CT High School's Solar Flair Team ran a VW Rabbit conversion (called `Solar Flair') with the roof lowered 6 inches. This year they have a red 1979 Mazda RX-7 they are calling `Roadrunner' (number 54). I spoke with Mark Smith, Christian Anderson, and Raphael Llamas. I've heard of several people dreaming of converting an RX-7, but this is the first time I've seen on done. The guys said it was quite a challenge finding places for all the batteries. They had to cut out the floor of the trunk and fabricate the battery boxes to fit and still keep the body strength. They got it running a week or two ago. They expect the aerodynamic lines will help their efficiency and they know the sexy lines will turn more heads than the Rabbit. They > drove < the car to the display on Friday, and expected to drive it home that evening and back on Saturday again. Then they'll charge. On the way down they had a brake problem, but a garage helped by fixing the right- rear brake cylinder. Specs Batteries 20 Trojan T-145, 120 Volts 1 12 Volt accessory battery Motor Advanced DC, 60 HP Controller Curtis 1221B Solar Panel 65 Watt, charges accessory battery or 4 of traction batteries Range 120 - 150 miles The old Rabbit is going on to another phase of its life; it's now being converted to a hybrid. They also have a project building a solar car. They have finished to two sides of the frame of the car, which next need to be welded together. They expect it to be ready for next year's NESEA Tour. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Sparky' I spoke with Jim Robb and Ernie Moore of the Central Virginia Electric Auto Association (CEVA), two of the members of "Team EV Moore". The base vehicle is a 1986 Mercury Lynx converted in 1994 by Mark Laidlow, Paula Laroure and Ernie Moore, all of Richmond VA. The conversion is based on a kit for Solar Car Company in Melbourne FL, with some other parts, including the transmission adaptor, from KTA in California. It sports 20 Trojan T-125 6 Volt batteries, a 28 hp Advanced DC motor and they say they expect between 70 and 90 miles/charge. "The conversion itself was relatively easy," says Ernie. "The hardest part was figuring out where to put all the batteries. We ended up with 12 under the hatchback and 8 under the hood." Ernie is a nuclear engineer and has always been interested in tinkering with things and alternatively powered vehicles. When he saw a newspaper article about the CEVA where Jim was interviewed, he joined the club and within 3 months was starting his own project. About 4 months and $7,000 later the car was done. It now has 13,000 miles as an electric. Ernie averages 200 miles per week commuting to work and back. This is not the first event `Sparky' has entered. In 1995 they went to the "Sunday Challenge" in Daytona Beach FL and won the Commuter Category. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Sparky 2' Immediately after interviewing the people with `Sparky' (number 39) from Virginia, I ran into Christen Johansen with `Sparky 2' (number 38) from New York City. `Sparky 2' is run by a team known as "Wooster's Charge" from the Wooster School in Danbury CT. They were also in the 1995 NESEA Tour when we went from Waterbury CT to Portland ME. Christen was a member of the Wooster Class of '68, and so he loans the car to them for the race. Why `2' you ask? Because their race application form arrived later than that for the Virginia team. The vehicle is a conversion of a 1972 Saab 96, picked because of "my family's need for commuter transportation and fond memories of my first car. The conversion ... to electric power was a practical means to [avoid] maintaining a twenty-five-year-old engine." Originally it had a 96 Volt battery pack. That was extended to 120 Volts in 1995 to get the additional range needed for the race (at the expensive of the back seat), and this year a new Curtis PMC 1231C controller increases the power and efficiency. An Advanced DC FB1-4001A motor connects to the Saab 4 speed manual transmission (with the free wheel position; remember that?). It weighs in at 3080 pounds. I'm discovering that the EV world is highly interconnected. At one time Christen had planned to carry the extra batteries needed to go from 96 to 120 Volts in a trailer that would roll behind the car. "The more I thought about it and that shift weight in the back, the less attractive that idea became to me. I decided to put the extra batteries on board. However, I sold that trailer to Fred Whitridge of the Blue Sky Club (who entered his converted VW Cabrolet in the 1995 NESEA Tour) and that's what he ran last year. He did OK with that, but we came in just one ahead of him. Maybe that was the difference." Christen still thinks he is better off keeping everything on board and keeping the added weight low and between the wheels. NESEA American Tour de Sol: The `EV-1' almost shows up, but ... This is a story about the one that got away. Would you believe that a GM `EV-1' was in New York City, for an appearance on the "Today" show (which didn't happen), and here it is the first day of the NESEA Tour. What could be more logical than to display it?! The `EV-1' that was in New York is one of the first production units. It is being used as a training vehicle for the Saturn service departments. But I ran into the next best thing, I think. Donald Lasell (LA sell) is a Senior Project Engineer in the Exterior Body Systems area of GM Advanced Technology Vehicles, Troy MI. An `EV-1' lapel pin caught my eye and we talked Friday morning before the race vehicles started to arrive. Donald was originally from Vermont, and was involved with the 1994 race, when his son was in the high school team that entered the solar racing vehicle known as the `Patriot'. Donald was also involved with the manufacturablity studies for GM's `Impact' prototype. Now he is a "release engineer", directly responsible for the hood, deck lid, and roof, and several other fiberglass reinforced parts. He is about to also join the project engineering team supporting the production of the `EV-1'. The `EV-1' body structure is made of aluminum stampings, foldings and extrusions, assembled in Lansing MI using a process called "weld-bond" that was developed by Alcan. This space frame has the fenders and quarter panel attached to it. These elements are reinforced-rim reaction injection molded urethane. The whole point of using aluminum and composites is to get a strong yet light body structure. Don says that technique is exceptionally effective at reducing the weight. The `EV-1' weighs a little under 3000 pounds, including the 1300 pound pack of 26 lead-acid batteries. Don spoke about the satisfaction of seeing the results of the crash testing program. They spend a lot of time figuring out how to make the energy absorbing features of the frame and body, and it was quite comforting to see things crush and fold where they were supposed to. Now the design is into three life-cycles of durability testing where they slam the doors, trunk and hood repeatedly. One lifecycle for a door is 65,000 slams. One body just came off a shake-stand that simulated 300,000 miles of shake, rattle and roll. Another was drowned in water. Another was tested with a simulated catastrophic battery failure which evolves hydrogen. The `Impact' PrEView fleet of 50 cars has accumulated 700,000 miles of use, and the couple-of-dozen `EV-1' models in proving-ground testing have accumulated about 200,000 miles. We talked for about 20 minutes about all sorts of details of the car, but Don's final thought was, "It is the most impressive car I've ever been involved with. (Although I'm prejudiced.) I think the time is coming when we will all be driving electric cars and I'm fortunate to be in one of the programs that will make it happen." NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Nordic Charger' Harold Garabedian is with the car carrying the Vermont license plate "EV-7", also known as the `Nordic Charger' (number 7), racing in the Production Category. This 1994 Solectria Force was in last year's NESEA Tour and took NESEA's Efficiency Award in the Production Category and also Best Sedan using Lead-Acid Batteries. When not winning races, it is in daily use in Vermont and now has accumulated about 20,000 miles. Their handout shows a picture of the car charging at a solar array in Middlesex VT. It is one of the EVermont demonstration program cars. "It is given to people to use the way they drive cars. It's not dedicated to any [particular type of use]. It's been a commuter; it's been traveling; it's been everywhere." They currently have 18 vehicles in the program, evaluating how EVs work in Vermont's cold climate and hilly terrain. They put data loggers in the cars and have shown that 12,000 miles a year uses about as much electricity as a home refrigerator. The batteries are the original 12 Sonnenschein gelled electrolyte lead-acid batteries (manufactured under license in the US by East Penn Manufacturing, Lyons PA). They have required no maintenance so far. This car has been through Vermont winters. It has seen 20- to 30-below-zero weather, goes through slush and ice very well, and has driven up and down Mount Mansfield. A thermal management system keeps the batteries warm, and "an onboard, fuel-fired heater is for the depths of winter." I found the heater particularly interesting. It is installed in front of the rear battery box, where the back seat might have been at one time, and looks like a DustBuster for the BatMobile. It's a black cylinder about a foot long and 7 inches in diameter. Cabin air is drawn at one end, heated using kerosene, and then directed through a flexible pipe to the front of the car and into the usual driver controls. I was a bit concerned that the exhaust of the heater just went into the passenger compartment, but Harold said that 3 gallons of kerosene would last one Vermont winter season, which implies a very modest burn rate. (I guess it's like having a gas stove in a house.) The unit is made by a company called Espar. EVermont has a newsletter, "The Electric Voice". For a copy, write The Electric Voice EVermont 103 South Main Street, #3 South Waterbury VT 05671-0402 NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Project e-' Mr. Everett High School of Sheffield MA returns with their `Project e-' pickup truck. In 1994, `Project e-' was a pure EV that came in 9th in the American Commuter Category. For the 1995 NESEA Tour it was converted to a propane- fueled Hybrid EV. It took first place in the Hybrid Category and the NESEA trophy for Best Overall Hybrid. Asked why they were coming back to the NESEA Tour, they said, "We feel that we are a part of a large group of others trying to make the next generation of automobiles better for the environment, and consume less energy than the cars of today." I'd say the evidence of last year's performance supports that. The team consists of: Paul O'Brien Tech. Ed. Dept. Head, Mt. Everett Arthur Batacchi community member Stan Dupont community member Bob Fedell student, Mt. Everett Jake Dupont student, Mt. Everett Jason Cross student, Mt. Everett B. J. Law student, Mt. Everett Robert Martin student, Mt. Everett Schools take on such projects to provide hands-on learning experiences, and nature has a way of supply them. A few weeks ago, a battery in the front of the truck had exploded while no one was around. "It taught us all to be more safety conscious and to definitely wear safety glasses when in the shop at all times." When asked what they wanted from their participation in the NESEA Tour, they said, "We want people to remember that we helped to make vehicles that use less energy and that are safer for the environment." They chose a pickup truck because of the safety factors of having a strong frame on which to hang the heavy batteries, the fact that the batteries were outside the passenger compartment, and because the school district could use the truck as a maintenance vehicle. Originally a pure EV in 1994, in 1995 they converted it to series hybrid operation running on propane. Last year they won the Hybrid Category, but the competition is much stiffer this year, with 11 Hybrid entrants. Still the students I spoke to are confident they can "take the category" again. I spoke with Robert Martin, Jason Cross, and B. J. Law, students who helped out on the truck. Robert removed the original inside door panels and replaced them with lighter plastic, to help reduce the truck weight. They also replaced the 3-year old batteries with a new set of 20 6 Volt US Battery blocks. Jason told me that they tuned the regulator to use less propane and B. J. said they had replaced the controller with a newer Curtis model. Last year they got about 9 miles per kiloWatt-hour (kWh). Their tests this year show them getting 13 miles/kWh, a big improvement. In hybrid operation they are hoping for 200 to 300 miles range. Specifications: Vehicle 1985 Chevy S-10 pickup truck Transmission 4 speed, 4:56 rear end change Steering converted from power to manual Motor 28 HP DC brushed motor Engine Kohler propane 22 HP (12 kW output) Alternator Fisher 3 phase (12 kW, 120 Volts, 92 Amps) Solar Panel three 50 Watt panels in series Regen Braking 30 Amp alternator with electric clutch Charge Time 6-8 hours for full charge Range 300+ miles Top Speed 70 miles/hour More info at 413-299-8734. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Other Vehicles - `RAV4-EV' Frank Fontana is Consolidate Edison of New York's Manager of Alternative Fuels. He was displaying a Toyota `RAV4-EV' that they got just about 3 weeks ago and they are evaluating as a company vehicle. The car looks like a scaled down sports utility vehicle, with 3-doors and 4-seats. The back two seats can be folded down to make room for more cargo. When the back seat are up, there is only a small amount of room for cargo between them and the rear door. The car is quite high, over 5 feet, so you sit relatively high up. Under the hood is very clean and neat. A long radiator for the heat pump sits low, behind the front bumper, leaning forward. Two fans force air through it. A second, tiny (about 9 inches square) radiator with fan is for the coolant from the electronics box which dominates the center of the "engine" area. The regen braking is controlled both with the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal. When you take your foot off the accelerator pedal you get regen braking comparable to compression braking in a gas car. Then the first portion of brake pedal travel adds more regen braking. There is a "shifter" (there is no transmission) has a "heavy regen" position which adds considerably to the regen braking effect. There are two recharge ports on the passenger side front fender, each behind its own "gas cap" door. One is for normal charge and the other is for quick charge. (My impression is that normal charge uses an on-board charger and quick charge uses an external charger. The normal had what appeared to be a normal male AC plug (or maybe it was a 220 Vac plug), while he quick had a pair of round female sockets.) There is a State of Charge meter that looks very much like a gas tank gauge in the instrument cluster. From the handout and interview: Dimensions 145.5 in long, 66.7 in wide, 63.4 in high 86.6 wheelbase, 57.9 front tread, 57.3 rear tread Motor Permanent Magnet, air cooled, 20 kW (26.8 hp) continuous, 45 kW (60.3 hp) peak Battery valve regulate lead-acid, 12-Volt, 60 Ah (@ 3 hr rate), 24 blocks, 288 V, 17.3 kWh or valve regulated nickel-metal hydride 12-Volt, 90 Ah (@ 5 hr rate) 24 blocks, 288 V, 25.9 kWh HVAC Heat pump (for air), plus electrically heated seats, plus electrically heated windshield (defrosting) ConEd also has been involved with EVs for some time and also have Solectria Forces, Chrysler TE Van, and Ford Ecostars. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Other Vehicles - `Sewanhaka Central High' At the South Street Seaport display for the NESEA Tour, there are vehicles on display that are not in the race. One of those is a restored and converted Chevy S-10 pickup from Sewanhaka (sea WAN e ka) Central High School District in Floral Park NY. I spoke with Myron Rock, Director of Occupational and Continuing Education, Bill Ragona of the faculty and students Joe Simon, Joseph Loeven, Mike Sowinski. The truck was a 3-year project for the technical education school. The body was saved from the crusher and the students did a complete body and chassis restoration first, which took a year. The second year went into modifying the chassis to accept the batteries and installing the EV system components. Battery support frames were welded into the chassis under the truck bed which was hinged to allow easy access. (The welding job is very clean and professional looking.) The electric system components are from Bob Batson's Electric Vehicles of America and are typical of his systems. 20 Trojan T-145s that make up the 120 Volt system that power a Curtis 1221B controller which drives a Advanced DC 9 inch 120 Volt motor. The electronics are all contained in a removable box. All the connections in to and out of the box are connectorized to make isolation and removal easy. They added a large vacuum booster from a police car which provides the extra braking power for the added weight. A professional paint job was donated by a former student. Joe and Joseph were new on the truck team this year, but Mike was there in the very beginning, when he was in 10th grade. Now he graduates with the entire experience of the restoration and conversion in his resume. He plans to work a year and then go on to either Ohio Auto Diesel or Universal Technical Institute (UTI). NESEA American Tour de Sol: Snippets and observations I ran into Dan Greenberg, team captain of the `Viking 25' (number 25), a hybrid conversion of a Dodge Neon that uses Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as it's fuel. He was explaining the advantages and disadvantages of CNG (which is compressed methane) to a visitor, and made an important point, I think, about the current infrastructure for alternative fuels. At the moment there are only about 1,100 CNG stations in the United States, run by about 25 companies, so you have to plan your trips and stops. For example, Western Washington U. is in Bellingham WA. They drive up to White Rock, British Columbia, about 40 miles north of the campus. In Canada, CNG is much more available. (This reminds me of the late 1960s, when I owned my first Diesel- fueled car. Every truck stop had Diesel, but they were not always along-the- way. To this day, I carry 5 gallons with me, though I haven't needed it in years. Old dogs and all that.) At one point they had a tank of CNG and compressor on campus, but it was not built correctly. One day they unplugged after a fill-up and squirted compressor oil all over the car. Some oil also got into the tank. Those non- methane hydrocarbons gave them really bad emissions. Dan says, "Compressor technology and maintenance is very expensive, which is one of the limitations to CNG stations. That will have to be overcome in the future." But when it is done right, CNG gives a very clean, fuel economic vehicle. "I believe we passed the ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) standards. The methane is CH4 (one carbon and 4 hydrogen atoms), a very simple molecule that breaks up very readily." - - - - - - - - - - Eric Wong is mechanical engineering major with the `HEVy Gator' (number 19), listed as `HEV U Florida' in the official lists. He was responsible for the heating and air conditioning on the car, which is provided by a heat pump. Unlike a regular car, where the air conditioning compressor is connected to the engine with a clutch, here the heat pump compressor is driven by a Fisher electric motor. Inside the trunk lid I found the signatures of team members; Eric's was accompanied by the slogan "The Wong Way or No Way". Other slogans included "$3 Bill", "The Lawnmower Man", "Troll 1", "The Funk", "Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God", "Disco Joe/Sidetrack". (Ever since the Apple folks signed the inside mold of the Macintosh case ...) - - - - - - - - - - Janet Sapadin is the Pollution Prevention Coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2, which serves New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. EPA Region 2 funded the NESEA Tour through two different programs; the Environmental Education Program, to develop materials for student visitors to the race, and the Pollution Prevent Program. They have a booth that is part of the display area. Janet's program funds efforts to prevent pollution generation. The whole idea is to avoid creating the pollution at the source, so that it does not have to be cleaned up or even recycled. They also publish a newsletter on various EPA sponsored pollution prevention efforts. To get on the mailing list, or to apply for a pollution prevention grant, write: Janet Sapadin US EPA Region 2 290 Broadway, 26th floor New York City NY 10007-1866 US EPA Region 2 has a home page at: http://www.epa.gov/Region2 - - - - - - - - - - Cruising Equipment Corp's "E-Meter" is in evidence just about everywhere since this is the way the US Department of Energy (DOE) plans to collect in-vehicle energy use data from the race. It's a bit more than 2 inches round, and has the ability to display Volts, Amps, Amp-hours and time remaining. An RS-232 option can deliver, at 9600 Baud in ASCII, second-by-second readings of: time since last Amp-hour reset kiloWatt-hours Amps Volts Amp-hours Peukert Amp-hours Peukert Amps time remaining Connect it to your laptop PC or a Cruising Equipment Memory Module and you get data coming out your ears! For more info, call 206-782-8100. - - - - - - - - - - I ran into Nick Karditsas of Ovonic Battery Company (aka Ovonics) who is accompanying the Solectria team. Solectria's Sunrise has Ovonic Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, same as last year, and they have a Force NMH sedan which is also running NiMH. The Force NMH will be carrying 23 kiloWatt-hours on board, in a 200 Volt string of 15 modules. The energy density of the modules is 70 Watt-hours per kilogram (which calculates to about 330 kg (728 lb) of battery) and they expect to get 600 cycles from the battery pack. Nick said that the batteries now are available, although they are very expensive because they are still in pilot production. But they are working with GM Ovonic to bring the price down. They think they can get to $200 per kiloWatt-hour. And things are getting better. There are modules in early development delivering over 80 Watt-hours per kilogram (that includes packaging). Along with improved energy density, they are also making improvements in lifecycle, and cost reduction. - - - - - - - - - - NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Spyder Juice' Among the US DOE Commuter Category entrants we find `Spyder Juice' (number 31), a pre-production prototype of a car Al Simpler intends to market. They finished building it in 1995 and took it to the "Sunday Challenger" in Daytona Beach FL, and won two First Place prizes and set new track records. Next stop was Phoenix for the EV 500 where they took 2nd place in the under-300 Volts drag race and 2nd place in the 40 km, and 3rd in the 80 km. Al says, "It has never been beaten by a street legal car, and it is street legal. It is also SCCA qualified." `Spyder Juice' is featured in an article in "Kit Car Illustrated"'s June issue, out now. The car is a bright yellow two-place sports car, set very low to the ground, custom built with a tubular frame and fiberglass body. It is configured for racing with a roll bar, impact bars, padding, and 6-point seat belts. (It looks fast just standing still.) It weighs 2700 pounds. The batteries are from GNB. Because the batteries are sealed, absorbed electrolyte technology, some of them can be, and are, mounted sideways, with their terminals on the side. They add up to 216 Volts and 18 kiloWatt-hours. The controller is a custom-made unit that can handle 120 kiloWatts, drawing up to 600 Amps from the pack and deliver as much as 800 Amps to the motor. The gear box is a Volkswagen transaxle, flipped upside down, mounted with an SHO clutch to a DC, 8-brush, high torque motor, a prototype from Advanced DC Motors. There are 4 forward gears, although they almost never use first. They intend to build a coupe; information on that will be available soon. More info: Solar Systems of Tallahassee FL, Inc. 904-5-SOLAR-5 NESEA American Tour de Sol: Nancy Hazard - Race Director The American Tour de Sol is one of NESEA's two big electric vehicle events; the other is the Sustainable Transportation and Solar & Electric Vehicles conference in the fall. Nancy Hazard is responsible for making both these events happen. The NESEA Tour is a bigger undertaking because of all the logistics of lining up people, places and organizations to handle all the things that have to happen at each of the seven stops we will make this year. It helps to have significant sponsors. "This year we have four Title Sponsors: the US Department of Energy (US DOE) through Argonne National Labs, Chrysler Corporation, the Northeast Alternative Vehicle Consortium (NAVC), and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. This kind of partnership indicates the growing interest in the electric vehicle industry. I see this as evidence that EVs are `taking off'," Nancy says. "This year we have 30% industry built vehicles, and 60% student built vehicles, both up from past NESEA Tours. The number of entries built by individuals has gone down. "We are also seeing 18 purpose-built vehicles this year, which I think is more than we have ever seen before. "Two modified production vehicles are particularly interesting. One is the `trans2' which represents an important niche market; off-road vehicles. That company is just taking off. They started production last October and now have over 800 orders. They've modified a `trans2' so it can do the long legs and cross country legs of the NESEA Tour, and are also going to be exhibiting. And the Taylor-Dunn vehicle is also modified to make it through the race." Nancy also pointed out the huge representation of hybrid vehicles. "We have 11 hybrids this year, up from 3 last year. And we are seeing many different fuels." The rules for the Solar Commuter Category are totally reworked from the solar categories of the past. Before there was a huge penalty for charging from the electric grid, to the point that some teams figured it was better to trailer over some legs of the race if they didn't get enough sun. "Now the rules expect that teams will charge from the grid, but the scoring will favor those with higher fractions of their energy coming from the sun." Three different groups are giving NESEA money to research and development studies this year; US DOE, NAVC, and the Electric Vehicle Research Network (EVRN) which is a part of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The EVRN sponsored study will be looking at power quality issues associated with chargers that are of interest to the electric power companies. These include things like induced line noise, harmonics, and power factor, all of which effect the ability to deliver electricity from the power plant to the ultimate user without loss or interference. The US DOE study is focused on vehicle efficiency, collected from instruments installed on the cars. The NAVC study complements the US DOE study by looking at the power inputs to the individual chargers. Between the DOE and NAVC studies, we should be able to determine efficiencies of the chargers, the batteries, and the vehicles overall. All this information together will help in determine the winners of the NESEA Energy Challenge, where the prize is for "the vehicles that use the least amount of energy to travel down the road." The calculation provides an equivalent-miles-per-gallon comparison with today's fueled vehicles. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Twike' Again this year we have an example of a human assisted electric powered vehicle (or is that an electric assisted human powered vehicle? I can never remember). Last year it was a special racing vehicle ridden by a professional bicycle racer. This year it is the `Twike' (number 12) racing in the Production Category. Wolfgang Moscheid of Rosenthal Germany explained the "twin bike" to me. The `Twike' was first designed for the "Innovative Vehicle Design Competition" during the Expo '86 in Vancouver, Canada. The vehicle brought to the race is the prototype of a series of vehicles which they will build and sell when they have 200 orders. (See below.) The idea is a two-passenger recumbent tricycle, 1-front wheel, 2-rear, with a pair of pedals for each passenger plus an electric drive system. The body is a low, wide, molded "tub" of "Luran S" made by BASF (which appears to be an ABS plastic), with a high rear and a wide, clear windshield. When closed, the result appears to be quiet aerodynamic. The tub is on an aluminum space frame for rigidity and strength. The pedals connect to a 5-speed hub and coaster brake, thus pedaling backwards applies the rear brake. The left hand passenger has a handle to his or her left which includes the parking brake and the front hand-brake. It has a 7 meter turning circle. Both rear wheels are driven, through a differential, by both the pedals and the electric drive. The passengers sit side-by-side, with a steering tiller sticking up between them. Either passenger can steer and operate the buttons on the end of the tiller. A pair of buttons control acceleration and deceleration, with the deceleration performing regenerative braking. Also between the passengers, on another stalk coming up from the floor, is an instrument panel with an speedometer, controls for windshield defrosting, windshield wiper, turn signals, head lights or running lights, and horn. The electric power system uses a combined charger/controller that manages a battery of 218 cells totaling 336 Volts offered in either a 2 kWh or 3 kWh pack. (The vehicle they are racing has 5 parallel strings.) The batteries are NiCads used in electric screwdrivers and other hand tools. The power is delivered to a 5 kW AC induction motor. They expect they can get about 62 miles of range on the batteries. The system can be run just people-power, just electric, or both. They expect that most people will provide about 10% of the power from pedaling and the rest will be electric. All 3 wheels have independent suspension with shock absorbers. The brakes are hydraulic drum rear, mechanical drum front, and regenerative (aka "recuperation) braking from the electric motor. The vehicle is for sale, if they can get enough orders, and the price on the flyer is listed at sFr 21,000, including batteries. For more information contact: Moscheid Automotive (umlaut over the `o' in Moscheid) Solartechnikburo (umlaut over the `u') Felgasse 6 35119 Rosenthal Germany phone: 0049 6458 388 fax: 0049 6458 1388 NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Helios the Heron' When I was in elementary school, a couple of friends and I built "Bolts", a robot made out of Erector set parts, cardboard boxes, a speaker and a tape recorder. We thought is was neat (the word "cool" hadn't been invented yet) and we got our picture in the local paper. Maybe that's why I have a special place in my heart for the kids from Riverside School in Lyndonville VT and their `Helios the Heron' series of vehicles. `Helios the Heron III' (number 93) is a rework of `Helios the Heron II' which was in the 1995 NESEA Tour. I spoke with Nina Berryman (6th grade), Andra Hibbert (7th grade), Daniel Wilson (6th grade), Karen Budde (English, Latin, Physical Education teacher/driver), Topher Waring (Science, Shop teacher). `Helios the Heron III' is a much more mature car than either of it's predecessors. HHI never ran at all. HHII had a personal best of 16 miles and placed 4th (ie last) in it's division. HHIII has already run 145 miles on it! The outside shell is new, made from Kevlar and fiberglass and plywood. There are eight 12-Volt batteries, plus a another accessory battery charged by the 100 Watts of previously owned (read "used") solar panels. The car frame, the solar panels, dash board and mirrors are from last year's car. New seats (made from plastic school chairs) are new. There are two new doors, made of plywood and Styrofoam. Topher emphasizes that the materials have to be things the kids can handle. There are now two seats in the car. For the first time the kids actually get to ride in the car while it is moving. Karen Budde will drive and one of the children will act as navigator. A wire loop on the outside of the car pulls an emergency disconnect inside the car that disables the drive system. Above the windshield on the roof is a 2-inch tall, silver painted wood carving of the school mascot, the Heron, made by one of the team members last year, a Russian exchange student named Vesilli Germoloe. A larger, hand- painted version of the Heron-on-wheels logo was painted on the noise of the car, again by one of the students. 11 kids are on the A team for Friday to Tuesday, they swap The entire class of 46 kids, grades 5 through 8, worked on the car. Specifications (taken from their flyer, written by student Colin Browne): Battery 9 Deka Dominator Jell Cells Motor General Electric 20 hp traction motor, 6000 rpm Drive Chain drive of rear wheel Top Speed 60 mph (but I'd never want to see it try) Chassis Ford Festiva front end, aluminum and plywood frame held together with rivets, industrial glue, and duct tape. Body light-weight aircraft foam and fiberglass The flyer also speaks of some of the challenges: Getting globs of industrial glue off one's hands. A brake pedal that beeped the horn. Rapid fire turn signals that made no distinction between left and right. Headlights that only turned on when they felt like it. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Regenerative Braking' William Glickman, of Alternative Energy in Glastonbury CT, has been doing EVs since (what seems) forever. I first met him at the 1993 NESEA Tour when he entered his `Lightning Bug' VW conversion. This year he has a Subaru microvan he calls `Regenerative Braking' (number 45). He told me he has > big < capacitors in his car. "They're super capacitors! They are 9 inches in diameter, 12 inches long, 48 pounds each, rated at 28 Volts DC, and each one is > 85 Farads 90% @ All RPM Weight: 86 kg (190 lbs) Controller Specifications: Manufacturer: General Electric Model Number: EV2000 prototype Controller Type: IGBT Inverter Input Voltage Range: 180 Low (V) 385 High (V) Current Limit: 300 (amp) Efficiency: > 90% Dimensions: 52 L x 42 W x 27 H (cm x cm x cm) Weight: 13 kg Battery Specifications: Manufacturer: Hawker Energy Corp. Model Number: Genesis 26 A-h EP Battery Type: Valve-regulated, sealed Pb-A Total Pack Weight: 300 kg Number of Batteries: 28, 12 V each Battery Pack Voltage: 336 V Battery Pack Capacity: 28 amp-hr 9.4 kWh for c/20 rate of discharge. 22 amp-hr 7.4 kWh for c/2 rate of discharge. Cycle Life at a Depth of Discharge (DoD) of 80%: 350-500 Battery Charger: Manufacturer: Hughes Model Number: Magne-Charge SCM Efficiency: 92% full power, claimed Charger shutoff mechanism: timed, voltage, and/or current cutoff Charger Input: AC voltage 208-240 V AC current 30 amp Charger Output: DC voltage 432 V DC current <20 amp Required Charge Time: 6 hrs from 80% DoD to full charge Series Generator Information: Manufacturer: Fisher Model Number: custom Generator Power Rating at Speed: 18 kW Efficiency 95% @ 2800 RPM Charging/Power Usage Strategy: constant power, constant speed operation driven by battery SOC, with over-voltage limit Transmission: Manufacturer: American Axle and Manufacturing Model Number: from 4WD Chevrolet S-10 Blazer front differential Year: 1983-9 Number of Gears: 1 Does it have a clutch? No Axle ratio: 3.4:1 Transmission gear ratio: 3.4 x 4.29 Braking System: electric vacuum pump with OEM braking system Hybrid Control Strategy: APU (Auxiliary Power Unit, i.e. engine+generator) APU on when battery SOC falls below 30%. APU off when battery SOC reaches 80% or bus voltage reaches 385 VDC. Describe Hybrid Control Hardware (computers etc.): Motorola microcontroller 68HC11 controls APU start/stop, APU speed. Custom-built boost rectifier contains soft start, over voltage, over current, under voltage limits. Emissions Control Strategies: Clean burning fuel (LPG), constant speed, constant power operation, closed-loop fuel control, ignition with custom ECU tuning, exhaust catalyst formulated for LPG. Additional Instrumentation: Manufacturer: Cruising Equipment Model: kWHr+2 Information monitored: Bus voltage, current, kWhrs. APU voltage, current, kWhrs. Additional Features or Information: Power steering HVAC (heat, ventilation, air conditioning) (Whew!) At the New York City display, I spoke with Randy Senger, Greg Pettit, and Matt Merkle. After reviewing the specs and history (above) Randy felt that the experience of doing last year's Neon taught them a lot of "what not to do, more so than what to do. Our experience paid off in that we were able to put it together quickly. I think we did a very nice packaging job." NESEA American Tour de Sol: Day 1 Snippets I ran into the `Helios the Heron III' folks, with one student wearing safety goggles and Playtex Living Gloves leaning into the rear section of the car. He was putting wire nuts on the ends of wires and taping them over with black electrical tape. The charger interferes with the driver's controls if left installed, so they disconnect it from the wiring each morning and seal up the dangling ends. At the end of the run they rewire the charger in. - - - - - - - - - - Rick Shanahan is a volunteer with the NESEA Tour who works for AeroVironment (of the Gossamer human-powered aircraft and GM Sunraycer fame). They have been doing electric vehicles and "in the process of building packs and cycling batteries, we basically built a cycler. Now we find people want the cycler, so we are now selling the technology that we had to develop so they can build the cycler." It is a 100 kW cycler, but different from every cycler I have ever heard of. Most cyclers have high power, very low ohm rating resistors to load down the batteries during discharge. "We actually put the current back into the electric power grid, and make the meter run backward." They also create very detailed reports during the tests, reporting numbers most people don't see, such as battery energy losses at many different charge/discharge rates and profiles. "For example we have found that when you hard-charge (with high current) a deeply discharged lead acid battery, it likes it better than when it is slowly charged." It accepts the charge better, faster, and also gives better cycle life. - - - - - - - - - - Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company is a title sponsor of the NESEA Tour this year, and along with a sizable display presence, they are providing additional logistical support. I spoke with Mike Sellers, who is providing tire and wheel services to race participants, Dave Russ, who is in Public Relations, and Petula Prudencia, an intern working the displays. Engineer Bill Egan is also here to give technical advice to the teams. They have a small tire shop in a van, so they can unmount, repair, remount and balance any team's tires that might require repair or changing. Goodyear has several low-rolling-resistance tires on cars in the race (sometimes provided through sponsorships), including their Invicta GLR on cars and Conquest, originally developed for Chrysler minivans, on trucks. They also have a tire called the Momentum which is purpose-built for the EV market. These tires came about due to Big-3 interest in getting their CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) numbers down to acceptable ranges. Low rolling resistance comes about through things like rubber and belting formulation, sidewall construction, and higher inflation pressures, all combined in the design. "Tires are composites of literally hundreds of parts and you can fine tune many of these in the design," says Dave. Goodyear is also driving a Solectria Force as part of their fleet, for media and VIP drives. - - - - - - - - - - OK -- Pop Quiz! What is the difference between methane, propane, Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)? Pencils down! LPG and propane are essentially the same, and CNG and methane are the same. LPG is about 97% propane, plus a few other distillates. At the race, we are scheduled to have six hybrids running on CNG, one on LPG, one on RFG (reformulated gasoline), one on E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) and one on bio-diesel. What do they smell like? E85 smells like Old Granddad (whiskey), LPG is cooking gas and doesn't smell much (to me), and bio-diesel smells like cooking oil. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Ottawa Orange 4' This is the 4th year for a team from Ottawa Hills Technical Prep High School from Grand Rapids MI, this time with `Ottawa Orange 4' (number 37). This "black beauty" is a rework of the frame from the last two years with a new, black plastic body that should improve the aerodynamics. January Slater is a junior who worked on raising the money to pay for the trip to New York. She wrote letters and phoned and, apparently, they now have enough, "about 7 to 10 sponsors." There about 20 in the team, of which 8 students, plus 4 teachers, were able to come to the race. Josh Ike helped both last year and this year. The car has a reconstructed frame, a new seat, and a 5-point harness. They changed it up to a 48 Volt system, and got a Monte Carlo kit-car body from a sponsor. The batteries are 8 12-Volt blocks in 2 parallel strings. There is a solar panel producing 800 Watts. Last year they got just about 70 miles. With the larger voltage they hope to go farther. Ted Lovelady is the driver, and was also on the electrical team. Adding the extra batteries involved adding an extra supporting frame. The driver's seat is a deep, comfortable racing model with high sides that holds the driver firmly in position. A windowed hood covers the driver's position, but looks like it could get quite hot. Ted says that a pair of box fans under the dash provides enough air flow to help keep him cool and were a big improvement. NESEA American Tour de Sol: May 13 Morning Race Summary This report is based on the Race Summary handed out at the driver's meeting on Monday morning. It is the best information I have at that moment. There are several substitutions from previous lists. * Tied for First Place in Category ** Tied for Second Place in Category X Did not show up or maybe out of the race NAVC Production Category Number Car Team 4* Solectria Force NMH Solectria 7* Nordic Challenger EVermont/NAVC 34* State Power STAPPA/ALPA 50* Solectria/Horizon Connecticut EV/NAVC 17** Ford Ecostar Allegheny Power 15** Solectria Force JCP&L 14 Chrysler TE Van Met-Ed Penelec/JCP&L/GPU US DOE Commuter Category Number Car Team 12* Twike Technik & Design 31* Spyder Juice Solar Electric Spyder Juice 32* Porsche 914 Electric Bull Shadow Mountain Electric Matadors 33* Solar Bus Bridgewater Solar Works 35* Kineticar CSERT - NVCTC 39* Sparky EV Moore - CEVA 42* Golden Gear Special RMAVTS - Golden Gear Racing 43* KA1000 Polytech Chargers 44* SolarSaurus Rocky Hill High School 46* Utility EV PETC 57* George the Geo FMRHS - Solar Electric Racing 65* Electric Hare Wattsmen 66* Genesis I Genesis Team 63 Solectria Sunrise NAVC / BECO / Solectria 72 Sungo NHTI Electric Car Team 38 Sparky 2 Wooster's Charge 47 Electruck Taylor-Dunn 88 OHM Ranger Neocon / NYSEG 74 Lightning Volt Parkland High School 79 54 Berkeley Team New England 45 Regenerative Braking Alternative Energy 82 Lectric Lion North Hunterdon High School 54 Roadrunner Greenwich High School Solar Flair 2X Trans2-AC Wallingford AC, Inc 24X B-U-LLET Boston University SEV Team Solar Commuter Category Number Car Team 36 Texas Native Sun Lonestar Solar Racing Team 83 Sol Survivor IV CONVAL Solar Car Team 58 Sol Machine Newburgh Free Academy 93 Helios the Heron III Riverside School 75X Commuter Car Villanova Univ. EV Team Chrysler Hybrid Category Number Car Team 26* Hyperion Team Hyperion 81* VT Ani mul SL HEV Team of Virginia Tech 94* Hopper EV Hopper EV 96* Project e- Mt Everett High School 84* The Paradigm Team Paradigm 28 Hybrid Lumina Clarence Ellers 19 HEV U Florida Univ of FL HEV Society 21 Hy Potential IV University of Tennessee 23 Viking 23 Western Washington University 25 Viking 25 Western Washington University 48 Electric Lion Penn State SAE Open Category 37 Ottawa Orange IV Tech Prep 64 Proteus 1 Union College 52 Electrobike CTC NEastAdvVehTecCtr 92 Sunpacer Cato-Meridian HS Tech Team NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Electric Lion' Duane Hobbs is from Penn State Society of Automotive Engineers, here with the `Electric Lion' (number 48) in the Chrysler Hybrid Category. Base Vehicle 1992 Ford Escort Weight 3753 pounds Top Speed 95 mph Passengers 2 Engine 22 hp Kawasaki Generator Unique Mobility Fuel Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) Motors 2 Solectria AC Induction (1 on each front wheel) Controllers Solectria, with regen braking Batteries Exide, 11,520 Wh Range 40 miles ZEV, 200 miles HEV Since there are two motors, each one independently driving a front wheel, the "differential" is a computer inside the glove box. A steering position sensor determines the amount of left or right turn the driver is requesting and then adjusts the power to the motors so the outside wheel will have more torque and turn faster as the car goes around the corner. The independent motor control also allows the computer to determine exactly what each wheel is doing (as compared to what is desired) and the power to the wheel can be adjusted appropriately. The result is full time traction control, sort of like anti-lock brakes, but active all the time. This helped the car achieve superb times during the handling performance tests weaving around traffic cones. A second computer controls when the engine is started or stopped, depending on battery voltage. Most the time the driver just drives the car. The driver can force the car into ZEV and ICE modes if required. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Proteus 1' I spoke with Terry Gilbert a mechanical engineering student at Union College in Schenectady NY. He showed me their `Proteus 1' (number 64) racing in the Open Category. Range 100 miles Speed 60 mph Weight 850 pounds Wheels 2 front, 1 rear (cog-belt driven) Dimensions 10'6" L x 4'6" W x 3'6" H Passengers 1, 200 pounds Design purpose-built space frame, cromolley 4131 steel fiberglass & epoxy body Batteries 60 Volt, 1200 Wh, lead-acid Motor Advanced DC Controller Curtis 1209-B A team of two mechanical engineering students designed the car and three other students helped put it together in about 10 months. The body is shaped like a tear-drop, blunt-end forward, with the upper half of the front end serving as the windshield. The springs in the suspension for the 2 front wheels are two stacks of 4 composite leaf springs. Teflon sheathing between each spring allows them to slide over each other as they flex. The company that manufactures them donated them to the car. (Last year we saw a similar idea made from a snow ski.) The frame without the body has several hundred miles of testing, but the body was added just a couple of weeks ago. The NESEA Tour will be the first serious test of the entire vehicle. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `SolarSaurus' Tony Guida and Eric Berner showed me the `SolarSaurus' (number 44) from Rocky Hill High School in Rocky Hill CT. One glance told me this was a Bob Batson EV design. Bob likes to lay out all the major electrical components, controllers, contactors, shunts, interconnects, etc. on a large piece of plywood or phenolic that sits high in the "engine" compartment. He lays out the color- coded wiring in a very neat, almost rectilinear manner that lets you read the circuit schematic diagram directly from the wiring. The result is a system that is easy to read and understand and, I dare say, cuts down on "where does this wire go/come-from" questions or mistakes. `SolarSaurus' is just such a vehicle. A tyranosaurus logo is on the hood. (Rocky Hill has a state (national?) park with dinosaur tracks in the rocks.) Base Vehicle 1982 Dodge Rampage Battery 120 Volts, Trojan T145, lead acid, 22 kWh Controller Curtis PMC 1221-C Motor Advanced DC Ben and Jerri's donated the truck. The team started working in November, ripping out all the gas parts and putting in all the EV stuff. The Rampage is a sporty pickup truck, and the battery box is made of (what looked to me to be) polypropylene sitting in the truck bed just behind the cab. The wiring here is again very neat and obvious. This gets my vote for one of the neatest conversion vehicles at any NESEA Tour I've attended. There are a few college students and adults who could learn a thing or two here. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Solar Bus' I spoke to Ed Witkin and Amelia Shrader-Witkin (his daughter, age 7) about `Solar Bus' (number 33). Base Vehicle 1969 VW Microbus Solar Panel 480 Watts Battery 120 Volts, Trojan T145, lead acid, 22 kWh Controller Curtis PMC Motor Advanced DC, regen alternator "We are also Bob Batson groupees here." The battery "tank" is mid-ships and serves also as the support for the middle bench seat. Ed has been into solar energy for many years. He used to do "music in the mountains" near Atlanta. The generator was always too noisy and was always breaking down, and that's when he discovered the sun. When they moved to Connecticut, he built a solar house. Ed ran the solar powered sound system for the NESEA American Tour de Sol in 1991. After the third engine burned out on the bus ... , well, you know the story. Now it is their every-day vehicle. The alternator used for regen braking is connected via an electric clutch to the tail shaft of the motor. It sends back 30 amps into the batteries. Ed got those parts from Solar Car Corporation in Florida. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Sungo' I spoke with Randy Kezar, Spencer Allen and Scott Hall of New Hampshire Technical Institute who are with `Sungo' (number 72) racing in the US DOE Commuter Category. `Sungo' is back for its fifth year. Once again it has two motors separately driving the rear wheels with an electronic differential, on a welded aluminum frame and a composite molded body. New for this year is a demonstration of an auxiliary battery system. Like the old VW bug and most motorcycles, where there is some undrainable fuel that could be gotten at in an emergency, this car has some undrainable energy held in reserve. In addition to the regular battery pack good for approximately 100 miles, there is a second "limp home" auxiliary pack good for about 10 miles. The main pack is made up of Electrosource Horizons holding 11 kWh and the auxiliary pack is made up of Deka Dominator gel-cells holding 1 kWh. Both packs are 120 Volts made up of 10 12-Volt modules. The main pack is managed by a BADICHEQ battery charge controller which controls charge current to each of the modules. Most chargers only read the total string voltage when attempting to determine state-of-charge. One weak module in the string, or even a shorted cell, can cause the charger to overcharge the rest of the modules while trying to make up for the "missing" voltage of the weak module. This shortens the life of those remaining modules. BADICHEQ has a wire going to each of the module terminals and thus can read the voltage of each module. It also has a small, 20 Watt power supply and can add extra current to some of the modules that are lagging behind the others. Over several charge cycles, the lower voltage modules get the extra current they need to come up to full charge with the rest of the string. Modules with shorted cells are also easily identified. Which is exactly what happened in `Sungo'; Spencer told me that they found a bad battery a week after they installed the system. New in the safety department are a pair of side-impact bars made of 4130 cromolley steel inside the body to provide more of a cage around the passengers in case of a side collision or roll-over. These were Scott's senior project. NESEA American Tour de Sol: Team Profile - `Viking 23' I spoke with Roseanne Gile, a vehicle design major, and Jeff Scott, a manufacturing engineering tech major, both from Western Washington University. `Viking 23' (number 23) is a CNG fueled parallel hybrid capable of 30 miles as a ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle), and 400 miles using its ICE (Internal Combustion Engine). The car is very similar to `Viking 21' which was the only hybrid in the 1993 NESEA Tour and which served as a mule for `Viking 23'. What caught my eye is the car is basicly two pieces; a 3/8 inch thick carbon fiber Nomex sandwich chassis topped by a body of essentially the same construction. Even the roll bars are composite construction. The chassis weighs 90 pounds. The body is a little less. Add all the batteries, motor, transmissions, engine and glass, etc. and it weighs about 2000. The selection between modes is entirely manual, and there are separate gear boxes (which share a shift lever) for both electric and ICE operation. My first impression is that it would be helpful to have 4 legs and 3 hands, and Roseanne agreed it sometimes seemed that way. But Jeff made the point that the car is usually used in one mode or the other (ZEV or ICE). Driving in both can be done, but is tricky. Not surprisingly, their strategy is to run electric around town and ICE when on the highway legs. The body is covered with satellite grade solar cells which convert 17% of the sun energy to electricity(!), but cost $18,000. The car can also burn gasoline as its fuel, but that tank was removed for this competition. The engine has separate injection rails for CNG and gasoline. Roseanne reminded me that they "are completely donation funded, so donations are appreciated." NESEA American Tour de S