The Tour de Sol Reports, 2000
Sponsored by
The AutoAuditorium System
from
Foveal SystemsA Fully Automatic, Multi-Camera System
that Produces Videos Without a Crew
Unfortunately, this set of reports was never finished. I still have the tapes of interviews. Maybe someday . . .
The following is 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
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
Table of Contents
Report #1: The 11th Annual NESEA American Tour de Sol -- Who's Coming?
Report #2: Dates/Highlights/Route
Report #3: 2000 ATdS Dedicated to George Bradford
Report #4: What To Expect At The American Tour de Sol
Report #5: Websites for NESEA ATdS Entrants
Report #6: The Tribes Gather at New York Hall of Science
Report #7: Topher Waring Wins George Bradford Award
Report #8: First Drop Out
Report #9: Tour de Sol Results on the World Wide Web
Report #10: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority on Display
Report #11: Ford "Think" on Display
Report #12: Corrections to the Website Addresses
Report #13: "New Jersey Genesis" Number 1
Report #14: "E.D." Number 4
Report #15: "Paradyne" Number 7
Report #16: "New Jersey Venturer" Number 9
Report #17: "Moo Rocco" Number 12
Report #18: "Artimus" Number 38
Report #19: "Honda Insight" Number 41
Report #20: "EPIC Minivan" Numbers 51 and 52
Report #21: "HEV Darango" Number 54
Report #22: "Garnet One" Number 62
Report #23: "The Trout" Number 64
Report #24: "Solectria NiCad Force" Number 67
Report #25: "Sungo" Number 72
Report #26: "Envirocycle III" Number 89
Report #27: Ford "Electric Ranger"
Report #28: On the Dynamometer
Report #29: Honda Insight Owner #1
Report #30: "Solectria Super Force" Number 11
Report #31: Tails from the Charging Trailer in New York City
Report #32: "Solar Black Bear" Number 20
Report #33: "Phantom Sol" Number 66
Report #34: "Spirit of Pioneering" Number 68
Report #35: More on the Fisher-Tropisch Diesel Fuel
Report #36: "Soljourner #2" Number 21
Report #37: "E-Ride Gen II" Number 34
Report #38: Nancy Hazard, NESEA American Tour de Sol Director
Report #39: "Response II E" Number 5
Report #40: "Spyder Juice" Number 31
Report #41: "Honda Insight" Number 47
Report #42: "Honda Insight" Number 48
Report #43: "Solar Bolt" Number 61
Report #44: "Sunpacer" Number 92
Report #45: "Blue Bird/Solectria School Bus" Number 60
Report #46: "Ovonic Scooter" Number 3
Report #47: Driving a Ford "Th!nk"
Report #48: "The Olympian" Number 16
Report #49: "Kineticar III" Number 18
Report #50: "Deer Valley HEV" Number 36
Report #51: "Polytech Ranger-Electric", Number 65
Report #52: "Hopper EV" Number 94
Report #53: Interview with Topher Waring
Report #1: The 11th Annual NESEA American Tour de Sol -- Who's Coming?
It is that time of year, again. For those of us with a bug for electric transportation, and electric cars, trucks and buses in particular, it is the time when we look forward to the NESEA American Tour de Sol.
This year the route goes from the New York City area, through New Jersey, into Deleware, Maryland and ends in Washington DC.
The list of 48 vehicles, below, (40 competing entrants, 5 DEMONSTRATION vehicles not in competition, and 3 control vehicles) was found on the sponsor's web site, www.NESEA.org . In particular, the Tour de Sol pages start at
http://www.NESEA.org/transportation/Your's truly intends to be your eyes and ears again this year. (Last year's effort was reduced due to health and career events.)
So please come along with us. Visit the web site for more details, and make plans to attend one of our public displays.
2000 NESEA American Tour de Sol Entrants (as of 4/20/00)Vehicle name, (vehicle description, battery manufacturer, chemistry*)
team name; city, state*PbA=Lead acid Battery, NiMH=Nickel Metal Hydride battery
PRODUCTION CATEGORY
Honda Insight (2-person coupe, HEV, Gasoline)
American Honda Motor Co.; Torrance, CAHonda Insight (2-person coupe, HEV, Gasoline)
Naoto Inoue; Kennebunkport, MEHonda Insight (2-person coupe, HEV, Gasoline)
DWRA; Santa Ana, CASolectria NiCad Force, ('95 Solectria Force, SAFT, NiCad)
Connecticut Partnership; Windsor, CTEPIC Minivan #1, (Minivan, SAFT, NMH)
Team EPIC; Southfield, MIEPIC Minivan #2, (Minivan, SAFT, NMH)
Team EPIC; Southfield, MICorbin Sparrow, (Purpose-built, Optima, PbA)
Motor Bike Imports Inc.; Pennsauken, NJBlue Bird School Bus, (School bus, PbA)
New York Power Authority; New York, NYDEMONSTRATION CATEGORY
Honda Insight (2-person coupe, HEV, Gasoline)
American Honda Motor Co.; Torrance, CAHonda Insight (2-person coupe, HEV, Gasoline)
Larry Dussault; Pataskala, OHEPIC Minivan #3, (Minivan, SAFT, NMH)
DaimlerChrysler; Southfield, MINissan Altra EV, (Minivan, Hatachi, LiIon)
Nissan North America; Gardena, CANissan Hypermini (NEV, Hatachi, LiIon)
Nissan North America; Gardena, CABATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY
59 Berkeley, ('59 Berkeley, TBA)
Boston University; Boston, MASolar Bolt, ('74 Fiat, Trojan, PbA)
Solar Bolt Team; Bolton, CTSparky Spartan, ('72 Porsche 914, Trojan, PbA)
Camelback EV Racing; Phoenix AZThe Olympian,('86 Ford Escort, Electrosource & Optima, PbA)
Pirates; Cinnaminson, NJERIDE, ('94 Chevy s-10 conversion, Trojan, PbA) plus 2 more vehicles TBA,
ERAD; Phoenix, AZSpirit of Pioneering, ('95 Chevy S-10, Trojan, PbA)
Delta College EVDP; Delta, MIThe Electrifly, (Pontiac Firefly Voltmaster, PbA)
Enviromotive; Cannington, OntResponse II E, (Purpose-built NMH)
Response LTU; Southfield, MISuper Force (Updated Solectria Force, PbA)
Team New England; Cambridge, MAPolytech Ranger-Electric ('88 Ford Ranger, Trojan, PbA)
Team Polytech; Woodside, DESundog, (Sedan, PbA)
Sol SARUM Race Team; Salisbury, CTSungo, (Purpose-built Sedan, Ovonics, NiMH)
SEV of NHTI; Concord, NHElectric Bull (Porsche 914, Trojan, PbA)
Shadow Mountain Electric Matadors; Phoenix, AZSpyder Juice ('57 Spider, East Penn, PbA)
Team Arachnids; Tallahassee, FLTBA, (Sedan, Trojan, PbA)
U. Maine Solar Vehicle Team; Orono, MEMoo Rocco, ('84 VW, PbA)
VT Technical College; Randolph Center, VTSoljourner #2, (Jeep Wrangler, TBA)
West Philadelphia Soljourners; Philadelphia, PA
US DOE HYBRID CATEGORY
Geocamino (Geo Metro, Trojan PbA +LPG)
Solar Electric Research Team; Waterbury, CTE.D., ('96 Ford Taurus, Ovonic NMH + Diesel)
LTU Hybrid Drive; Southfield, MIKineticar lll, (Chevy S-10,Trojan, PbA + LPG)
CSERT-NVCTC; Waterbury, CTHopper EV (purpose-built, TBA)
TBA; Concord, NHNew Jersey Genesis, ('94 Merc Sable, Adv bat + Borohydride Fuel Cell)
Team New Jersey; Trenton, NJNew Jersey Venturer , ('96 Solectria Force, Saft NiCad + Fuel Cell)
Team New Jersey; Trenton, NJGarnet One, ('96 Chevy Beretta, PbA + CNG)
Swarthmore College HEV Team; Swarthmore, PAThe Aluminum Cow, ('94 Mercury Sable, Moltech Power Systems, NiMH)
UW-Fut Car Team; Madison, WIParadyne, ('92 GeoMetro, Concord PbA + RFG)
Hurricane Motorworks; Tulsa, OK
SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATEGORY
Artemis, (Purpose-built, Johnson Controls VRLA, PbA)
BHS FAMS '00; Brighton, MISolar Black Bear ('98 Chevy S-10, Trojan, PbA)
U. Maine Solar Vehicle Team; Orono, ME
ONE PERSON CATEGORY
Sunpacer, (Purpose-built, Deka Dominator, PbA)
C-M Sunpacer Tech Team; Cato, NYEnvirocycle, 2-wheel, GMB Champion, PbA)
Solar Electric Research Team; New Britain, CTThe Trout, (2-wheel, TBA)
Team Millersville; Millersville, PANFA Sol Machine (3-wheel, TBA)
Team Newburgh New York; Newburgh, NY
CONTROL VEHICLES
PsyC3H8O, ('95 Kawasaki motorcycle, LPG)
Alternative Fuel Motorcycle; Blacksburg, VADodge Caravan, (Gasoline) (control vehicle for the EPIC)
NESEA; Greenfield, MAGeo Metro, (Gasoline)
NESEA; Greenfield, MA
Report #2: Dates/Highlights/Route
It's a long standing tradition that on even-numbered years the NESEA American Tour de Sol visits major population centers. Here is the event in considerable detail, largely lifted from the web page
http://www.nesea.org/transportation/tds00route.htmlYour's truly will be along, interviewing the teams and also acting as announcer during the event. If you see a heavy-set guy with a beard that's going white and and a head that's going bald who's always talking into a microphone, that's likely to be me. Stop by and say Hi.
The NESEA America Tour de Sol Itinerary
2000 NESEA American Tour de Sol New York City - Washington, DC May 12 throurgh 19, 2000 --- It's Clean Air Week!!
May 11-12, New York City
SAE/NESEA CONFERENCE Hybrid-Electric Vehicles in the Bus and Truck Markets: New Ways of Building Better Heavy-Duty VehiclesThis conference will attract over 150 key stakeholders from around the world involved in creating, marketing, testing, regulating and using heavy-duty hybrid-electric vehicles. Hybrid-electric technologies blend new technologies that produce heavy-duty vehicles with extraordinary capabilities, including fuel economy and low emissions. But in order to reap these benefits, the benefits must be quantifiable, certification processes must be in place, users must ask for these vehicles, and manufacturers must produce these vehicles. Presentations, panel discussions, poster sessions and a trip to the NESEA Tour makes this conference a "must attend" for people involved with air quality and transportation technologies.
Highlights:
EVENTS AND PARTERSHIPS WITH COMMUNITIES, ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES:
More businesses, agencies, organizations and individuals are involved in the local steering committees than ever before. Two Clean Cities seminars which will attract agencies and private companies that need to buy clean vehicles for their fleets, a renewable energy expo, and a seminar on renewable energy will be held along with the NESEA Tour this year. In addition, teacher workshops held in March will encourage educators to bring their students on a field trip to the NESEA Tour.
NEW YORK CITY: May 12-14
Bringing the NESEA Tour to the Big Apple is always exhilarating. We will hold a display on Friday at the New York Hall of Science for young people and professionals. The Environmental Business Association of NYS is taking the lead on a Clean Cities seminar, which will draw fleet customers. Professionals attending the SAE/NESEA Hybrid Vehicle Conference will join us, and our partnership with the NY Hall of Science will help us attract hundreds of students. Our weekend event will be at the South Street Seaport, a lively commercial shopping center with many ethnic eateries in lower Manhattan overlooking the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge. Test drives, music, and technical testing of the vehicles will attract thousands of people. Special thanks needs to go to the many NY agencies who are sponsors and partners of this gala affair, especially the NYC Department of Transportation, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York Power Authority, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
NEW JERSEY: May 15-16
NJ Governor Christine Whitman, the NJ Department of Transportation, the Pace Energy Project, and the Trenton planning committee have taken the lead to make the New Jersey portion of the NESEA Tour very special. On Monday, May 15, an event will be held in downtown Trenton that will include the NESEA Tour, the Pace Clean Power 2000 Expo, and a seminar offered by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, and the NJ Office of Sustainable Business. The planning committee is working with NESEA to reach out to legislators, business people, state agencies, and young people. Food, music, and test drives will all be used to attract thousands of people to this first-time event for Trenton. There will also be a display for students at the Grover Middle School, and a school just south of Trenton.
MARYLAND: May 16-17
W. L. Gore & Associates and Chesapeake City have joined NESEA to create a very special event in this picturesque community on the historic Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. On Tuesday, May 16, an event for the whole community that features electric car and boat exhibits, food, music, and test drives will go into the evening. Entrants will be competing in a special range event, held on route 301, as well as participating in a talent show! A partnership with the Maryland State agencies will make the Wednesday, May 17 event at Sandy Point State Park, near Annapolis, MD, a great educational resource. The Department of the Environment is taking the lead on outreach to students, while the Department of Energy Administration is organizing a Clean Cities seminar. Seminar participants will come to the NESEA Tour for test drives, while students will visit the cars and special exhibits. In the afternoon, NESEA Tour entrants will compete in events that will test the acceleration and handling capabilities of their vehicles.
WASHINGTON, DC: May 18-19
Washington, DC, home of the U.S. Department of Energy, title sponsor of the event, will host our finish-line and awards ceremonies. The Capital Building is a beautiful back-drop to our Thursday, May 18 event, which will attract legislators, decision makers and students. We will all celebrate and top placers will receive trophies. A Junior Solar Sprint competition for middle school students will also be held. The official Awards Ceremony will be held on Friday, May 19 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Virginia.
Friday, May 12
QUEENS, NY - New York Hall of Science, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
For directions to New York Hall of Science call 718-699-0675 ** Test Drives & Display: 9:00-am-3:00pm. ** Technical Testing & Registration: 9:00am-3:00pmSaturday, May 13
NEW YORK CITY - South Street Seaport, lower Manhattan
For directions to the South Street Seaport call 212-732-7678x5 ** Test Drives & Display: 10:00am to 6:00pm. ** Technical Testing on Water Street: 9:00am-6:00pmSunday, May 14
NEW YORK CITY - South Street Seaport, lower Manhattan
For directions to the South Street Seaport call 212-732-7678x5 ** Test Drives & Display: 10:00am to 2:30pm ** Technical Testing on Water Street: 9:30am-12:30pmRoute:
Vehicles will leave South Street Seaport at 2:30pm by taking left onto Peck Slip, left onto Pearl St, right onto Fulton St., right onto Gold St, left onto Beekman St, right onto Park Row; then over the Booklyn Bridge, straight onto Adams St which turns into Borerum St., right onto Bergen St, left onto Court St., left onto Union St., right onto 6th Ave., left onto 20th St., right onto McDonald St, right onto the Fort Hamilton Parkway to Rt 278W over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge then right onto Narrows Rd N., exit onto Richmond Rd., left onto Arthur Kill Rd., onto the Korean War Veteran Parkway & left onto Rt 35S. From Rt 35S take Rt. 9S, exit onto Raritan Rd, Right onto CR 535W. This Road runs thru S. Amboy, Parlin, Sayreville, South River, East Brunswick, Cranbury, and East Windsor into West Windsor, NJ, and the Grover Middle SchoolMonday, May 15
West Windsor, NJ, to Trenton NJ to Southern, NJ
West Windsor: Display for Grover Middle School Students: 7:45am to 10:00am
TRENTON, NJ - New Jersey State Museum, State Street
For directions to the New Jersey State Museum & Library call609-292-6464 ext 1** Test Drives & Vehicle Display: 10:00am - 3:00pm ** Pace Clean Energy 2000 Expo: 10:00am - 3:00pm ** Media Event/ Governor Whitman, honorary chair of the event(invited):12:20 ** Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Seminars: 9:00am -12:00pmRoute:
Vehicles will leave Grover Middle School at 10:00am and drive to the Trenton, NJ, event via Rt 535.
Vehicles will leave Trenton at 3:00pm and drive on Rt 206S thru White Horse, Mansfield Square, & Columbus. At Chambers Corners take Rt 537W thru Mount Holly, take left onto Rt 674W thru Mt. Laurel, Evesboro; left onto Springdale Rd to Rt 534W thru Blackwood to our overnight stop.
Tuesday, May 16
Southern, NJ to Chesapeake City, MD
CHESAPEAKE CITY, MD - Downtown
For directions call 410-392-3833 ** Test Drives & Display: 11:30am - 7:00pm
Range Event starts: 1:30pm Talent Show: 3:30pm - 5:00pmRoute:
Vehicles will leave our overnight stop at 10:00 am on Sewell Rd., go thru the towns of Sewell & Barnsboro. Sewell Rd turns into Breakneck Rd. Take left onto Rt45W past Mullica Hill & Woodstown. Take right onto Hainsneck Rd, take right onto CR 540, left onto Rt 130S, right onto I295W & cross the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Get onto Rt 9S. Go thru Collins Park & St. Georges. In Kirkwood take left onto Rt 71S to 301S to Rt 15W to Rt 286W into Chesapeake City, MD.
Wednesday, May 17
Chesapeake City, MD to Sandy Point State Park, MD
SANDY POINT STATE PARK, MD
Directions to Sandy Point State Park: Take Exit 32 on Rt 50 east ofAnnapolis** Test Drives & Display: 10:00am - 4:00pm ** Autocross event: 1:30pm - 4:00pm ** Seminar: "Advancing the AFV Choice": 9:00am - 12:30pmRoute:
Vehicles will leave Chesapeake City, MD, at 10:00am via Rt 286S to Rt 213S thru Cayots, Cecilton, & Georgetown. At Gelena take Rt 290S thru Chesterville & Crumpton to Rt 544W. At Kingstown take Rt 213S thru Church Hill, Starky Corner & Centerville, then take Rt 18W. Drive thru Graysonville & Chester; get onto Rt 50E, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, to Sandy Point State Park, MD.
Thursday, May 18
Sandy Point State Park to Washington D.C.
WASHINGTON, DC - East of the Capitol Building (tba)
** Test Drives & Display: 10:00am - 3:00pm ** Finish Line Media Event: 1:30pm (tentative) ** Junior Solar Sprint competiton: 11:00am - 12:30pmRoute:
Vehicles will leave Sandy Point State Park at 9:00 am via Rt 179W & pass thru Historic Annapolis. Take 665W then to Rt 214W thru Hall, Kolbes Corner & Largo into D.C.
Friday, May 19
Awards Ceremony and Brunch: 10:00am - 11:30am (by invitation only)
Report #3: 2000 ATdS Dedicated to George Bradford
Late last summer, the NESEA American Tour de Sol lost a great friend. George Bradford, technical co-director of the Tour died of cancer in September 1999. All of us who have worked with him, known him, and loved him will miss him.
George was the one who was always smiling, always seeing the humor and fun when others were a little too focused on winning or their misfortune. Because of his encouragements, many a team that would have thrown in the towel, packed their bags and gone home found the courage to stay. Because of his knowledge, they would then find the means to work though their difficulties and continue to run. He would often give the final "fun" prizes at the closing ceremonies, acknowledging both the extraordinary efforts and the clever, imaginative, and humorous turns in the rally. An educator himself, at the close of the 1999 Tour, he thank all for the things the teams taught him. "I am proud to be a part of _your_ event," he said.
This year's Tour is dedicated to George's memory As Tour Director Nancy Hazard said, "NESEA, our many sponsors, and partners celebrate George's life and his vision for a better future - a future with green transportation for the next millennium."
Report #4: What To Expect At The American Tour de Sol
Fair warning. This piece is my annual confession that I really don't care who wins what prize at the NESEA American Tour de Sol this (or any) year. It isn't why I go. So if you are looking for breathless commentary on who's beating who by how much, second by second, I'm afraid you will be disappointed.
Oh, I'll tell you who gets what prizes, and who's ahead day by day. But these reports will be more about the human stories and the technical challenges of the teams and their entries.
I first went to the 1993 American Tour de Sol because I was curious as to the state of electric car technology and the ATdS looked like a good place to see EVs "on the hoof". It definitely was and is! Since the Tour is a rally that is run on an open course (that is without any special traffic control or considerations) the vehicles have to deal with the real world as they find it. Traffic, people, weather, rules- of-the-road, and, some years, HEAVY WEATHER! The practical electric vehicle and the organized team should be able to handle them all. The trend has been to better and better vehicles capable of making it through the rally. Many more get all the way through without incident. Some of the more inventive new designs get stressed beyond their limits, but in 1999, for example, only one vehicle, custom built from the ground up, was unable to complete the course.
The underlying theme of the NESEA Tour is practical and reliable electric and hybrid electric transportation that is easier on the environment and sustainable. This year's tour will have some very interesting attempts in those directions.
For example, there will be two(!) hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles in the Tour. The "New Jersey Venturer", Number 9, returns, after becoming the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to ever enter an EV competition anywhere in the world! This is a hydrogen fuel cell car in the "classic" (classic?) model -- tanks of H2 gas fed into a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell.
But the second hydrogen fuel cell car, the "New Jersey Genesis", built by a team largely related to the "Venturer" people, produces the hydrogen gas from a chemical reaction that evolves the gas on demand. Moreover, both the liquid pre-reaction "fuel" and the post-reaction waste product solution are stable and relatively benign. In fact it's likely the waste product could be recycled back into the fuel form, creating a closed system.
The hydrogen fuel cell cars will be in the newly created RENEWABLE FUELED VEHICLE CATEGORY.
THIS is why I've come to the Tour -- to see cutting edge technology.
Cannot afford cutting edge technology? Me neither. Although I still enjoy my 1995 Solectria "Force" EV, my everyday car.
How about a commercially available gasoline electric hybrid that can be fueled up at your corner filling station? How about one that is for sale today? America Honda Motor Company is a gold sponsor of the Tour this year, and there will be ten(!) "Honda Insights" in sight at the Tour sites. (Forgive me.) 5 are in the DEMONSTRATION CATEGORY and are not competing. But the rest are in the competitive PRODUCTION CATEGORY, many entered by individuals.
The US DOE HYBRID CATEGORY will have 7 vehicles using a variety of fuels and control strategies: Diesel, Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Reformulated Gasoline (RFG). (I wonder if Tom Hopper will bring his soy bean oil bio-diesel hybrid this year? It smelled just like French fries going down the road.)
And of course there will be a herd of 17 BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY entrants, with lead acid, advanced lead acid, nickel cadmium, and nickel metal hydride chemistries represented.
Add 4 ONE PERSON CATEGORY with 2 cycles and a pair of 3-wheeled cars, and 2 SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATEGORY entrants, plus 3 gasoline and LPG CONTROL VEHICLES to collect efficiency comparison data, and you have world class event with something for every EV enthusiast, and those who think they might like to become one.
So why not come to the NESEA Tour? May 12 through 19th, New York City to Washington DC. Check out the web site, www.NESEA.org, or my previous reports. We'll see you there.
Report #5: Websites for NESEA ATdS Entrants
The World Wide Web is such a resource! It seems like _everybody_ has a web site. So why not in the EV world?
Indeed. Most of the teams in the NESEA American Tour de Sol have web sites. Here, from a quick scan of the entrant database, are the 27 vehicles that list web sites. I have _not_ tried to look at all of these.
Vehicle Name New Jersey Genesis Vehicle Number 1 Category RENEWABLY FUELED VEHICLE CATEGORY Team Name Team New Jersey City Trenton State NJ www www.civeng.Rutgers.edu/Venturer
Vehicle Name Ovonic Scooter Vehicle Number 3 Category ONE PERSON CATEGORY Team Name Ovonic Battery Company City Troy State MI www www.ovonic.com
Vehicle Name New Jersey Venturer Vehicle Number 9 Category RENEWABLY FUELED VEHICLE CATEGORY Team Name Team New Jersey City Trenton State NJ www www.civeng.rutgers.edu/venturer
Vehicle Name The Aluminum Cow Vehicle Number 10 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Team Name UW-Madison Future Car Team City Madison State WI www www.cae.wisc.edu/~vehicle
Vehicle Name Moo Rocco Vehicle Number 12 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name VT Technical College City Randolph Center State VT www http://www.vtc.vsc.edu/clubs/solar
Vehicle Name Geomino Vehicle Number 14 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Team Name Solar Electric Research Team City New Britain State CT www www.club.ccsu.edu
Vehicle Name Kineticar III Vehicle Number 18 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Team Name CSERT-NVCTC City Waterbury State CT www www.nvctc5.commnet.edu
Vehicle Name Solar Black Bear Vehicle Number 20 Category SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name U. Maine Solar Vehicle Team City Orono State ME www www.ume.maine.edu/solar
Vehicle Name Soljourner#2 Vehicle Number 21 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name West Philadelphia Soljourners #2 City Philadelphia State PA www www.Phila.k-12.pa
Vehicle Name Spyder Juice Vehicle Number 31 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name Team Arachnids City Tallahassee State FL www Simplersolar.com
Vehicle Name E-Ride Gen II Vehicle Number 34 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name Deer Valley ERAD City Phoenix State AZ www dcartier@district.dvusd.k12.az.us
Vehicle Name The Wedge Vehicle Number 35 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name Deer Valley ERAD City Phoenix State AZ www http://drive.to/ERAD
Vehicle Name Solar Market Insight Vehicle Number 41 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Team Name Naoto Inoue City Kennebunkport State ME www talmasz ((I don't know what this means, and I cannot find anything in a quick Internet search. Probably a typo.))
Vehicle Name Honda Insight Vehicle Number 43 Category DEMONSTRATION CATEGORY Team Name Larry Dussault City Pataskala State OH www dussaultmarketing.com
Vehicle Name EPIC Minivan #1 Vehicle Number 51 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Team Name Team EPIC City Auburn Hills State MI www www.daimlerchrysler.com
Vehicle Name EPIC Minivan #2 Vehicle Number 52 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Team Name Team EPIC City Auburn Hills State MI www www.daimlerchrysler.com
Vehicle Name EPIC Minivan #3 Vehicle Number 53 Category DEMONSTRATION CATEGORY Team Name Team EPIC City Auburn Hills State MI www www.daimlerchrysler.com
Vehicle Name HEV Darango prototype Vehicle Number 54 Category DEMONSTRATION CATEGORY Team Name DaimlerChrysler City Washington State DC www www.daimlerchrysler.com
Vehicle Name Blue Bird School Bus Vehicle Number 60 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Team Name New York Power Authority City New York State NY www www.nypa.gov
Vehicle Name Garnet One Vehicle Number 62 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Team Name Swarthmore College HEV Team City Swarthmore State PA www http://www.engin.swarthmore.edu/org/HEV/
Vehicle Name The Trout Vehicle Number 64 Category ONE PERSON CATEGORY Team Name Team Millersville City Millersville State PA www muweb.millersv.edu/~nait
Vehicle Name Polytech Ranger-Electric Vehicle Number 65 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name Team Polytech City Woodside State DE www www.polytech.kiz.de.us/index.htm
Vehicle Name Phantom Sol Vehicle Number 66 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name U. Maine Solar Vehicle Team City Orono State ME www www.ume.maine.edu/solar
Vehicle Name Solectria NiCad Force Vehicle Number 67 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Team Name Connecticut Partnership City Windsor State CT www ourworld.com/homepages/jsime conndot/
Vehicle Name Sungo Vehicle Number 72 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Team Name SEV of NHTI City Concord State NH www www.nhti.net
Vehicle Name Envirocycle Vehicle Number 89 Category ONE PERSON CATEGORY Team Name Solar Electric Research Team City New Britain State CT www www.club.ccsu.edu
Vehicle Name PsyC3H8O Vehicle Number 98 Category CONTROL VEHICLES Team Name Alternative Fuel Motorcycle Team (AFMT) City Blacksburg State VA www http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/M/mmunsey/front824.htm
Report #6: The Tribes Gather at New York Hall of Science
It was wet and chilly in the area around New York City as dawn arrived on Friday May 12th. The Electric Vehicle Tribes were to congregate at the New York Hall of Science in Queens New York for technical testing, orientation, publicizing and socialization. Would this be another soggy Tour de Sol, like it was last time we were here?
No, it would not! As the day progressed, the rain stayed away, and the skys slowly became brighter. Only as the sun started to descend did the chill of evening return.
And the Tribes do indeed gather. There are teams and individuals; high schools, colleges and corporations; conversions, ground-up (meaning that was how they were built, not that they resembled hamburger) vehicles, and commercially available vehicles. Here is a electric motorcycle, called "Envirocycle" from Central Connecticut State University, and there is a big yellow school bus from Blue Bird.! There is a couple from Kennebunkport Maine in their silver Honda Insight, and a guy from Erie Pennsylvania in his silver Honda Insight, and a group from New York Power Authority with _their_ silver Honda Insight. (Are all Insights silver?) New York Power Authority has also brought along a pair of Toyota RAV4-EVs from their fleet. DiamlerChrysler is here with 3 EPIC electric vans and a Dodge Durango hybrid electric sport utility vehicle. There's a Ford Electric Ranger truck sold by a Syosset NY Ford dealer on display, and a big Solectria box delivery van used as a postal delivery vehicle, and a little Ford Think from Norway.
There is a dynometer set up to measure the exhaust chemistry of the hybrid electric vehicles, and groups of "scruntineers" looking over the vehicles to determine that they are safe for 5 days of driving through the city and country between here and Washington DC. They look to see that the cars have sound brakes, properly restrained batteries, and that they are free from the dreaded electrical "ground fault" (where high voltage from the battery pack shows up on the car chassis; Ouch!).
There is a lot of greeting of old friends and making new ones. There are busses letting off school children going to the Hall of Science museum and also visiting the Tour display.
"How fast does it go?" "How much electricity does it use?" "How come that one has solar panels and this one doesn't?" "Is it more likely to be hit by lightning?" "Did you build it yourself?" "Can I get one?"There's a converted VW Scirocco EV that moos like a cow for a Vermont College. A high school built black beauty, with solar panel wing above the roof, that looks like a cross between the Batmobile, Knight Rider, and something else. There are hybrids that run on diesel, and compressed natural gas (CNG), and liquid petroleum gas (LPG), and 85% Methanol (M85), and hydrogen (H2).
There are flooded lead acid batteries, sealed lead acid batteries, nickel cadmium batteries, and nickel metal hydride batteries.
Yes, I'd say the Tribes have gathered and it is going to be a great gathering.
Report #7: Topher Waring Wins George Bradford Award
The first award presentation was made at the end of May 12th, during the team orientation meeting.
The 2000 NESEA American Tour de Sol is dedicated to George Bradford, who served as co-technical director and head of the race jury for many years. Technical Director Rob Wills recalled George as the "Master of the Cooperative Solution" and one who always brought "equanimity and fairness" to the event. Nancy Hazard, Tour Director, presented a memorial plaque to George's wife, Nancy Bradford, and family.
As part of the dedication of the Tour to George's memory, a new award, "The Bradford Electric Vehicle Teacher Award" has been created. The first recipient is Topher Waring, for many years a teacher at the Riverside School in Lyndonville VT, and now a high school teacher, and member of the 2000 Tour race jury.
Readers of these reports in years past know of my great joy in visiting with the Riverside School's "Helios the Heron" teams. Topher Waring was one of the sparks of those teams. He guided 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in creating vehicles that were within their capabilities and yet could travel down the road, even though not one of the creators was legal to drive their creation. He would give a pair of 8th grade kids a $300 E-Meter, the instruction sheet, and say, "We only have one so it _has_ to be put in right. You have all day to study the problem, figure out the answer, and then do it. Call me if you have questions." And they _did_ do it, and they did it right. A week later, at the Tour technical testing site, I saw those same two 8th grade students, sitting in the middle of a bunch of high school students, helping the older kids figure out just how their E-Meter should be done.
Congratulations Topher! We applaud you.
Report #8: First Drop Out
The first few days of the Tour de Sol are all about getting ready to roll. Along with the technical testing, orientations, etc. it is the first day we find out who isn't going to make it.
The first casualty was the "New Jersey Genesis". A real ambitious project, with a pair of fuel cell stacks, a promising new means of producing hydrogen on demand, and an all aluminum chassis and body, it just isn't quite ready to run. Battery problems just as they were ready to integrate the whole has brought them up short. Still they plan to bring the vehicle to the displays, talk about the systems, and the promise these technologies through out the rally. And their stable mate "New Jersey Venturer" a hydrogen hybrid using bottled gas, will carry the team flag. (More in a detailed report later.) While we are at it, I'm told these are the official web site addresses:
NJ Genesis www.genesis.rutgers.edu NJ Venturer www.venturer.rutgers.edu
Report #9: Tour de Sol Results on the World Wide Web
Tired of waiting for my reports of who's doing what in the American Tour de Sol? Certain that there had to be a better way?
You're right. There is! And you can find it at
www.ensco.com/tourdesolEnsco, Inc. of Springfield VA is providing a sophisticated means to collect, organize and post the NESEA Tour results so all can see just what is happening. In some cases, even while the event is in progress. Using equipment and services provided by AirLink Communications and Verizon Wireless, five vehicles will have real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) reporting information that will be shown on one of the web pages, with updates every 30 seconds!
The web site also has a high level description of the underlying technology.
Report #10: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority on Display
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is displaying here at the New York Hall of Science, and they have been doing a lot with electric vehicles over the years. I spoke with Tom Collins, Communication Director for NYSERDA.
NYSERDA was instrumental in introducing the Orion Diesel Hybrid bus, displayed at the 1999 American Tour de Sol, to the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The NYC MTA is now running about 15 Orions in service.
NYSERDA also has been working on alternative fuel buses, and is now introducing Compressed Natural Gas buses (CNG) into the upstate New York markets, and also school buses.
In New York City, they have introduced about 400 electric taxi cabs conversions into the fleet, with another 200 scheduled to be added. They are also working with a company, GSM out of Plattsburg NY, on some new, light weight, composite body electric taxis for New York City. The photo showed a yellow and black taxi that would be very distinctive in a NYC traffic mix.
"We also are working with the taxi fleets to convert cabs to natural gas. We offer a $6000 incentive to convert to natural gas."
"Baker Electromotive, in Rome NY, is doing one of the largest conversion of electric vehicles in the country right now for the US Postal Service." The photo showed a large white postal delivery box van. This is successor to the Baker company in Virginia that did the truck conversions about 5 years ago. They have moved to Rome and are doing the contract in cooperation with Ford. "We are hoping to do about 5000 of them. This is the first mass production facility in the country that we are aware of, and they will employ a couple of hundred people."
The next picture on the board was a large tractor-trailer truck. "That's a heavy duty hybrid truck. We are working with Lockheed- Martin. It's a take off on some of the technology developed for the hybrid buses, and we realized there is another market out there and it is the heavy-duty truck market that is doing a lot of start-and-stop short haul business. We have three test vehicles so far, that Lockheed loans out to different companies."
And there was a picture of the "Pet", Personal Electric Transportation, scooter that took a prize in the 1999 Tour de Sol. "They are now being produced up in Plattsburg NY, at the old air base up there, they have a big contract with Los Angeles, and they just got into full production last month. We are real excited for the possibilities, both in this country and for export, where the scooter market is much bigger." The PET company was originally based in Hawaii. "We enticed them to New York."
And finally there is photo of human-hybrid pasta burner. It's a PediCab tricycle, with electric assist, for transporting a pair of people. "It's a fairly new project for us. There is a lot of interest in the beach areas, say on the boardwalks. It isn't that big an emissions thing, but we feel that if we can help people see electric vehicles in many different forms, styles and applications, we can help generate the market." There is also a picture of a tricycle hotdog cart in the same mode.
"We are very happy to see the commercial production of these vehicles after working on prototypes for years and years. It's through events like this that we are able to show these to the public and generate interest and excitement as we go."
Report #11: Ford "Think" on Display
Seth Leitman of the New York Power Authority (NYPA) is here at the Hall of Science with a Ford "Think", which used to be known as a Pivco. Ford bought the Pivco company, based in Norway, a while back and now is moving to make these little, two-place EVs with plastic bodies into a commercial product. The body is obviously plastic, as it does not have the polish and shine of a painted metal panel, or even a polished composite panel. Instead it is a matte finish. The Think logo, with the dot _under_ the i, is molded into the front of the car. This one is colored sort of dark blue on the bottom with a light gray top. A fairly large area behind the two seats could handle grocery bags, packages, or whatever. A hinged glass vertical panel serves as both rear window and access to the package area.
NY Power Authority Electric Vehicle Program is testing the "Think" for a demonstration program. "These are currently built in Norway and shipped here. What Ford plans to do in 2002, when they plan to mass market it, is to build plants in the US to make it cheaper to sell. We are showing this to people who might be interested in a demonstration project in the New York area."
"It has an aluminum frame, with a composite plastic body. It uses 220 Volts ac to charge, and takes about 6 to 8 hours to charge. I believe this one has nickel cadmium batteries." The charging plug is a three prong male labeled "16 Amp 250 Volts", a bit bigger than an XLR audio plug; I believe it is a standard European connector power. The batteries are below the seats. "A typical charge will give you 50 to 55 miles. The regenerative braking helps."
"New York Power Authority has provided over 185 electric vehicles in the New York City metropolitan area, to customers as well as our fleet. They include EPIC minivans, Toyota RAV4-EVs, Ford Electric Rangers, that Blue Bird/Solectria school bus over there which we just got." The "Think" is being considered for a station-car program, where people ride the train, and then unplug an electric and drive the rest of the way to work. At the end of the day, they drive back to the station, plug in, and take the train home. New Jersey Transit has a successful program based on Solectria "Force" cars, and NYPA has one in White Plains NY. The "Think" would take up less room, and also be a more affordable way to support 2-person commuter pools.
Report #12: Corrections to the Website Addresses
Here are website corrections that have come in ...
NJ Genesis www.genesis.rutgers.edu NJ Venturer www.venturer.rutgers.edu
Connecticut Rideshare ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JSime_ConnDOT/
Report #13: "New Jersey Genesis" Number 1
The "Genesis" is not running in the NESEA Tour. They just didn't have enough time to pull it all together. Still it represents one of the most exciting glimpses into how hydrogen fuel cells could change the way we drive. The car will be on display throughout the rally. I spoke with Ben Fratto of Team New Jersey on Friday at the New York Hall of Science.
The first thing to notice under the hood is two tall HPower Fuel Cell stacks. "Two 5 kiloWatt fuel cells, in series, for 10 kiloWatts total." Behind the stacks is a Solectria drive system, of the type they use in buses. "We didn't want to be lacking in power, so we put a power house in there." Since the batteries were not installed things looked uncrowded. Also, using a Mercury Sable as the base vehicle gives you a lot more room under the hood. There was plenty of room for the humidifier and pump. I suspect it will become more cramped when everything is installed.
Inside the car, the center console has been modified and is now taller and boxier. It houses the Solectria motor controller, and a pump for running the borohydride system (which we'll discuss in a moment). On top is a small reverse/forward/power-level switch for the motor, and a laptop computer for data collection.
In the trunk is the Millennium Cell hydrogen generation system, or at least the components that eventually will be connected to create it. The Millennium Cell technology starts with a sodium borohydride solution which is stable under normal conditions. However, when it is brought in contact with ruthinium metal you get hydrogen. "It's a reduction oxidation (redox) reaction. You have NaBH4 and water (H20). One is reduced and the other is oxydized which gives you 4 hydrogen atoms and the borate. The waste product could, in theory, be regenerated back into the NaBH4 form. They are still developing that technology." The liquid tanks are made of plastic, and there is a metal pressure bottle for storing the hydrogen at relatively low pressure, about 60 pounds per square inch. The actual reaction chambers, where the hydrogen is produced, are a pair of cylinders, maybe 16 inches long and 3 inches in diameter.
The car itself is light weight. "Light weight seats, light weight wheels, light weight body! The body will not take a magnet. It's all aluminum. Aluminum brake calipers." The car may be a third lighter than the steel equivalent. "Ford donated the car. 20 of these were built. 16 were crash tested; 4 were left. This is one of them."
Vehicle Name New Jersey Genesis Vehicle Number 1 Category RENEWABLY FUELED VEHICLE CATEGORY Organization Rutgers University Team Name Team New Jersey City Trenton State NJ Description New Jersey Genesis (1994 Merc Sable, NiMH+ fuel cell) www www.genesis.rutgers.edu new this year? New car, returning team No People in Project 200 Motor Solectria; 3 phase AC Induction; 56kw cont/118 kw peak Batteries GP/NiMH; 30 cells/series/$15K; 14600whr/312v/ 600lbs Controller Solectria; AC Inverter Charger none Charger Offboard Solar charge station, custom built PV Array type amount 20 w; Solarex; Polycrystalline Construction 1994 Mercury Sable ; Frame: Mercury Sable; Aluminum body Dimensions LxWxH 15' 6"; 6' 8"; 4' 7" Hybrid HPower Fuel cell; Hydrogen; TBD No of Passengers 5 Maximum Speed mph 85 Range miles 1,000 Weight pounds 2585 Program blurb Team New Jersey's latest development is the New Jersey Genesis, an advanced vehicle which could give Tour attendees a glance at what the future of transportation may look like. The Genesis vehicle looks like an ordinary Ford Taurus. But the resemblance isn't even skin-deep! The body and frame are an all-aluminum prototype donated by Ford Motor Co. Many advanced lightweight parts further refine the efficiency of the vehicle. Under the hood is a 100-HP Solectria electric motor and a 10 KW H-Power fuel cell. Advanced NiMH batteries provide intermediate power storage. Like the New Jersey Venturer, the fuel cell is powered by hydrogen, so the vehicle's only emission is pure, clean water. It is the method of storing hydrogen, though, that is the most exciting and unique feature of the car. Hydrogen is stored in the form of a solid powder which is a non-toxic and non-flammable, yet highly concentrated fuel derived from borax, a common household substance. The powder is mixed with water to form a liquid fuel stored in an ordinary fuel tank. The concentrated form of the fuel gives the vehicle an estimated 450 mile range. It will also make it possible in the future to generate the fuel from centralized renewable sources of clean power like hydropower or wind power. Team New Jersey believes that the Genesis vehicle's introduction at the Tour de Sol 2000 will represent the first truly practical demonstration of a totally clean transportation system.New Jersey Department of Transportation, which is a major portion of the team, will be showing a highway electric display sign in Trenton that uses a fuel cell running on hydrogen generated by a Millennium Cell.
"Genesis", like "Venturer", was built by a team drawn from state government, industry and education. Most of the partners are from New Jersey.
Report #14: "E.D." Number 4
Jessica Green gave me the update on "E.D.", which stands for Electric Diesel, which has been at the Tour de Sol before, but has not had the best of luck. What's different this year?
"It's had some major modifications in some areas. It's the same in others. It's a diesel hybrid that starts in electric mode and then uses the diesel engine to assist when needed. At higher speeds it switches to diesel mode and the electric is used to assist the diesel.
"To reduce the drag we used prismatic mirrors and no door handles. Instead the doors are opened with small push buttons that cause them to pop open. The trunk hood has a small rise in the middle that causes the air to flow over the sides rather down the back. You'll notice we have fender skirts over the rear wheels to flow the air around the wheels and reduce drag."
A sign on the side says "F. T. Diesel". "That stands for Fisher Troppe. The fuel comes from South Africa and has better emissions." I'm also told it's a diesel fuel made from natural gas.
Vehicle Name E.D. Vehicle Number 4 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Organization Lawrence Technological University Team Name Current Advantage City Southfield State MI Description 1996 Ford Taurus (Diesel + Ovonic NiMH) new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 40 Months to Build 12 Motor Unique Mobility; Brushless DC; 32kw cont./64kw peak Batteries Ovonic/NiMH; 13 cells/par/$90,000; 16.25whr/171.6v/360lbs Controller Unique Mobility; Microprocessor Charger Solectria/204-330kw; Input:230-110v/20a; High freq/ss Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount 100 w; Solarex; MSX50 Construction 1996 Ford Taurus; Steel frame; Alum. & steel body Dimensions LxWxH 15' 8"; 5' 7"; 5' 0" Hybrid Volkswagen; 1.9L parallel; Diesel/77 mpg No of Passengers 5 Maximum Speed mph 112 Range miles 600 Weight pounds 3800 Program blurb Lawrence Technological University's 2000 team consists of some 30 mechanical and electrical engineering students. Built on a 1996 Ford Taurus chassis, the charge depleting parallel hybrid electric powertrain consists of a 58-hp Unique Mobility electric motor and a modified Volkswagen 1.9 liter direct-injected turbo-diesel engine coupled in parallel to a Volkswagon transmission. This year's vehicle is powered by a 194 volt battery pack with 13 Ovonic Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries. This year, the vehicles's performance has been imporved by modifying the transmission along with relocating and modifying multiple components.
Report #15: "Paradyne" Number 7
I spoke with James Thrasher of the Hurricane Motorworks team from University of Tulsa Oklahoma. He started as a freshman on the project and this is now his third year in the club. Financing comes from the local community and the university.
This car won the USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY in 1999 and returns to defend its title with a new paint job. It is now a deep blue instead of white. "We've been working on the PLC (Programable Logic Controller) control system this semester, so the driver doesn't have to think about everything. Instead the PLC decides which mode the car is in, controlling its efficiency. It will switch between pure electric, pure ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), and hybrid modes all by itself." The original car was bought off a used car lot with 80,000 miles on it, and then converted by the students to hybrid operation using the original 3 cylinder, 1 liter engine. Last year they ran regular gasoline, but this year they are running 35 gallons of low-sulfur gas donated by Philips Petroleum. The low-sulfur formulation is supposed to cut down on acid rain.
Last year the team averaged 50 miles per gallon. They hope to beat that this year. Last year the driver had to make all the decisions about which mode to run in. This year it will all be decided by the ZWorld PLC.
There has also been considerable work on the exhaust system to quiet it down and reduce emissions.
Vehicle Name Paradyne Vehicle Number 7 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Organization University of Tulsa Team Name Hurricane Motorworks City Tulsa State OK Description 1992 Geo Metro (RFG +Concord PbA ) new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 25 www www.hev.UTulsa.edu Motor Solectria ACgtx20; 144AC Induction; 12kw cont./30kw peak Batteries Concord/PbA; 12 cells/series/$720; 7whr/144v/600 lbs Controller Solectria; Motor controller Charger Zivan N63/2.5 kw; Input: 230v/19a; Hi freq./ss Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount none Construction 1992 GeoMetro; Steel frame; Steel body Dimensions LxWxH 12' 2"; 5' 1"; 4' 5" Hybrid Suzuki 3cyl; .0L/ par; Gasoline/48mpg No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 85 Range miles unlimited Range 99 493* Weight pounds 2300 Prize 99 1st place+ Range+2ndAcel Program blurb The TU Paradyne is a parallel-hybrid vehicle based on a converted 1992 Geo Metro with a 1.0 liter engine and a 22kW electric motor. The University of Tulsa's team consists of 20 undergraduate mechanical and electrical engineers, one graduate student, and three faculty advisors. Paradyne took first place in its category at the 1999 NESEA Tour.Another car, Tulsa'a third, called the "Proxima" is in the works. Brad Cummingham says it will be a totally new vehicle, designed from the ground up, with a light weight carbon fiber frame.
Report #16: "New Jersey Venturer" Number 9
Ben Fratto, who in past American Tour de Sol's was associated with car from Cinnaminson High School, "The Olympian", is now on Team New Jersey with their pair of hydrogen fuel cell cars. "Venturer" is the vehicle that entered last year's ATdS and became the first fuel cell powered car to enter an EV competition anywhere in the world, to the best of our knowledge.
The car is a conversion of a conversion. It started life as a Geo Metro sedan, became a 1996 Solectria Force electric, and then was converted in 1998 and 1999 to hydrogen Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell operation. Nine spiral-wound fiber glass gas bottles are in what used to be the back seat area.
They have a new, graphite fuel cell stack. "The graphite makes it lighter. We've also modified the fuel cell controller. We should now be able to develop 5 kiloWatts, which should be able to sustain 38 to 40 miles an hour without drawing anything from the battery." They figure they are good for about 90 miles running on batteries only.
A 2 foot long silver tube, about 2 inches in diameter, is a humidifier. "The fuel cell operates more efficiently with warm, humidified air." Since the exhaust from a fuel cell is steam, the "Venturer" recycles some of that back to the humidifier. A small pump delivers the humid air at 2 pounds per square inch, which also makes the fuel cell a little happier.
The fuel cell produces 42 Volts, which is far below the 196 Volts needed to charge the Nickel Cadmium batteries, so a "buck converter" boosts the voltage.
Vehicle Name New Jersey Venturer Vehicle Number 9 Category RENEWABLY FUELED VEHICLE CATEGORY Organization Rutgers University Team Name Team New Jersey City Trenton State NJ Description New Jersey Venturer (1996 Force, Saft NiCad+ fuel cell) www www.venturer.rutgers.edu new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 200 Motor Solectria; AC Induction; 24 kw cont/42 peak Batteries Saft/NiCad; 26 cells/$11,000; 15600whr/156v/700 lbs Controller Solectria; AC Inverter Charger none Charger Offboard Neocon 7kw ; Input:208v/35a; High frequency PV Array type amount 18 w; Solarex; Polycrystalline Construction Geo Metro; Steel frame; Steel body Dimensions LxWxH 13' 8"; 5' 10"; 4' 8" Hybrid H Power fuel cell; Hydrogen; TBD No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 70 Range miles 400 Weight pounds 2700 Program blurb Team New Jersey is a multi-disciplinary partnership of State government, New Jersey hi- tech companies, and academic institutions which last year developed and fielded the first hydrogen-powered car in the U.S. at the 1999 Tour de Sol. The New Jersey Venturer, returning this year, is a hybrid electric vehicle using a 54 HP electric motor, a 21 KWH NiCad Battery pack, and a 5 KW hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Hydrogen is stored in high pressure, lightweight tanks. The Venturer has an estimated 325-mile range.Since last year "Venturer" has been making the rounds to the sponsoring companies, often at a picnic. Then there was a trip back to H-Power for the new fuel cell, and to Neocon Technologies for new batteries, and finally a trip to the New York 2000 Auto Show.
Report #17: "Moo Rocco" Number 12
This car was a novelty favorite last year. It made a mooing sound going under the finish banner; lots of heads turned. I asked Jeff Laughlin and Steve Kopeck what's new.
Among the changes for this year, the battery pack was changed from Trojan T-105s to T-145s, 96 to 120 Volts. They put in an 800 Amp Kodiak controller, but it failed, and they are back on their 400 Amp Curtis. The new battery box, lined with 1-inch shower stall wall, is lower in the car, lowering the center of gravity. New custom springs in the front have improved the handling and the carrying of the weight. "It now has a horn that works."
Last year, what impressed me was the so-called "bottle cap sensors", the PICEMS (PIC Electronic Monitoring System) project. A tiny integrated circuit, made by Microchip International, is epoxied into a plastic bottle cap, measuring the voltage on each battery block and the temperature on each battery terminal, as seen by a thermistor. Those values are communicated to a central display by plastic fiber optic cables, which means the likelihood of an unfortunate short or ground fault is much lower. At least that is the plan. The sensors didn't actually work in 1999. This year? "We are about 2 millimeters from having it work. We intend to have it at least partially functional by the time we get to Washington DC. It will be sending data over the radio to our chase vehicle." They finished their bench test just before they came to New York, and believe it will operate as expected when they install it. Is the design for the sensor system on the Internet? "We do hope to go into production some day, so we are not releasing the intimate details of our design."
Vehicle Name Moo Rocco Vehicle Number 12 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization Vermont Technical College Team Name VT Technical College City Randolph Center State VT Description Moo Rocco (1984 Volkswagon,Trojan PbA) www http://www.vtc.vsc.edu/clubs/solar new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 50 Motor Advanced DC; 8" 203-06-400 1A; 14kw cont/49kw peak Batteries Trojan/PbA T-145; 20 cells/series/$1,900; 25whrs/120v/1440 lbs Controller Curtis Pmc; 1221C-7401 Charger K & W /2kw; Input: 125v/20a; Transformerless Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount 160 w; Solarex; Polycrystaline Construction 1994 Volkswagon Scirocco ; Steel frame; Steel body Dimensions LxWxH 13' 8"; 5' 4"; 4' 1" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 85 Range miles 60 Weight pounds 3550 Program blurb In February 1999, we converted our 1984 Volkswagon Scirocco to electric power. The hallmark of our club is student involvement. Students and alumni are responsible for nearly the whole Moorocco project. Students have designed and constructed many complex electronic systems, including a regenerative break and vacuum pump controller, and a computer monitoring system.Between Tour de Sols, this car has been showed off a lot. "We showed it at the Burlington Vermont Earth Day Festival, parading it down Church Street. We got a lot of good press and TV coverage."
"We would like to thank Vermont Tech Student Government which has helped us out these past two years, and the administration for its support."
Report #18: "Artimus" Number 38
John Gillis is a Manufacturing Science and Chemistry teacher in Brighton MI. All the students were elsewhere on Friday, so I spoke with him.
"It has solar panels for charge assist, but not enough to fully charge the batteries. A 72 Volt system; 12 6 Volt batteries. 20 horsepower peak motor, 13 continuous. Top speed around 42 miles per hour. The frame is custom made." Last year it was covered in black tarp material. "The guy who welded the frame for us had this Fiberglas body, based on a VW Scirocco, in his garage. He said if we wanted it we could have it and we put it on here. We're probably 100 pounds heavier than last year, but also a little more aerodynamic.
"Along with the new batteries, we repostioned them. You'll remember at the autocross last year we tore the tire off the wheel with the hard cornering. Our center of gravity is more forward so that shouldn't happen this year.
"The solar panels last year were 2 on the hood, 2 on the roof and 2 on the back." Now they are all mounted on a frame mounted above the body.
"The car was built as part of a Ford sponsored 2-year program where the students learn business, organization, statistics, job search, design engineering, manufacturing technologies. Ford started this program about 10 years ago because they need people interested in manufacturing."
"Artemis" was transported to the Tour de Sol in the same car carriers that brought the Lawrence Techniclogical University cars, "E.D" and "Responese II E". The new batteries are ones that Lawrence Tech was no longer using. "Our association with them worked out real well."
Vehicle Name Artemis Vehicle Number 38 Category SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization Brighton Area Schools FAMS Program Team Name BHS FAMS 2000 City Brighton State MI Description Purpose-built (SAFT, PbA) new this year? Returning car and team. No People in Project 25 Motor Advanced DC; Brushed 75054; 18 kw cont/peak Batteries NiCd; 72v; 12 6-Volt blocks. Controller Curtis; 1209B Charger none Charger Offboard K&W BC-20/; Input:120v/20a; Transf/rectif PV Array type amount 350 w; Solarex; Polycrystalline Construction Purpose built; Light steel frame; Fiberglass body Dimensions LxWxH 13' 11"; 5' 10"; 5'' 10" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 55 Range miles 75 Range 99 38 Weight pounds 2000 Prize 99 (24% solar) 1st Solar Category Program blurb The Artemis is a solar-assisted electric car using a 72-volt, 11 horsepower motor. It is built on a modified off-road racing vehicle chassis. It uses one-wheel drive and is equipped with front drum and rear disk brakes. The car was built by last year's Ford Academy of Manufacturing Sciences class and has been improved by this year's class. Approximately 35 students and several staff members have worked on the car. The car would not exist without the help of dedicated parent volunteers.
Report #19: "Honda Insight" Number 41
Naoto Inoue has a couple of businesses, named "Talmage Solar Engineering" and "Solar Market", so it's natural that he should want something like a "Honda Insight" He and his partner, Susan Roberts, are here to rally in the entire Tour.
"I did an electric car conversion in 1991 using a 1983 Nissan Sentra using Mike Brown's parts. The moment I was done I realized I had created a dinosaur. I had intended to run in the first NESEA Tour that went from New York City to Washington DC, in 1996, but realized I could not get back home without a trailer or truck. I realized how much extra environmental damage I would cause by driving an extra truck, so I dropped out and waited."
And, in time, Honda came out with the "Insight" and Naoto bought Serial Number 105 in February. "It's great. It's got everything I need. It has great fuel milage, safety, and it's fun to drive." He has got an overall average of 57 miles per gallon, but he has gotten 78.4 mpg in a four hour trip. "I hope to get it above 80 during the Tour de Sol." That's going to call for a real light feather foot.
Vehicle Name Solar Market Insight Vehicle Number 41 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Organization Naoto Inoue Team Name Naoto Inoue City Kennebunkport State ME Description Honda Insight (Gasoline-electric hybrid + NMH) www gosolarmarket.com new this year? New car and team Motor Honda ; Induction; 10 kw peak Batteries Panaonic P Cell/NiMH; 120 cells/series/; 900 whrs/144v/45 lbs Controller Honda; AC Charger none Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount none Construction Honda Insight HEV; Aluminum body; Plastic/steel frame Dimensions LxWxH 12' 11"; 4' 5"; 5' 7" Hybrid Honda; 1 L/parallel; Gasoline/60 mpg No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 80 Range miles 600 Weight pounds 1878The fact that the "Insight" only seats two people is a plus to Naoto. "Sit by the side of the road and count the number of people in most cars. It's one. This vehicle meets the commuting needs of most people."
The Maine license plate reads SOLR MKT .
Report #20: "EPIC Minivan" Numbers 51 and 52
Shelia Wood of "Team EPIC" was showing the pair of "EPIC Minivans" that will be running in the NESEA Tour. EPIC stands for Electric Powered Interurban Commuter. There is a third EPIC for ride-and-drive demonstrations at the public displays. The "EPIC" won the Customer Acceptability prize at the 1999 ATdS.
Since them, the EPICs have been to other shows, such as the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure show in Atlanta, where they drove 353 miles using Norvic fast charging technologies that can bring the battery to 80% of full charge in about 30 minutes. That's good for 50-55 miles. Aerovironment also makes a fast charger that works with the EPIC. "Those fast chargers are used at Los Angeles Airport to charge electric shuttle EPICs used to shuttle passengers from the express parking lots to the terminals and back."
Numbers 51 and 52 are being driven by students from Lawrence Techincal University. Lawerence Tech also has a couple of cars entered in the NESEA Tour. "They did a wonderful job last year."
A Dodge Caravan which is esentially the same body, but gasoline powered, will shadow the EPICs, which will allow NESEA to compare the efficiency data.
Vehicle Name EPIC Minivan #1 Vehicle Number 51 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Organization DaimlerChrysler Team Name Team EPIC City Auburn Hills State MI Description EPIC minivan (1991 Dodge Caravan Electric Powered Interurban Commuter,SAFT, NiMH) www www.daimlerchrysler.com new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 94 Months to Build NA Motor Northrop Grumman; AC Induction; 75kw cont/100kw peak Batteries Saft/NiMH; 14 mod/series/; 31899whr/336v/ Controller Northrop Grumman; AC Induction Charger none Charger Offboard Lockheed/14kw; In2.08kv/24010a; Switch hi freq /cs PV Array type amount none Construction 1999 Dodge Caravan; Steel frame; Sheet metal body Dimensions LxWxH 15' 6"; 6' 5"; 5' 9" No of Passengers 3 Maximum Speed mph 80 Range miles 90 Weight pounds 4875 Program blurb DaimlerChrysler will be returning this year as a Bronze Sponsor of the NESEA Tour. For the second time, they are partnering with students from LawrenceTechnological University, of Southfield, MI, on the entry of two EPIC electric minivans. In addition, DaimlerChrysler is also showcasing an EPIC minivan which will be available for some test drives, and a prototype hybrid Darango. The EPIC is being sold in selected markets. It has a certified range of 96 miles and a top speed of 80 MPH. DaimlerChrysler
Vehicle Name EPIC Minivan #2 Vehicle Number 52 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Organization DaimlerChrysler Team Name Team EPIC Program blurb DaimlerCrysler and engineering students from Lawrence Technological University have once again teamed up for this year's competition. The students will be driving two production Dodge Caravan EPICs equipped with liquid cooled NiMH batteries with fast charge capability. Current fleet customers in the states of New York and California are utilizing this unique fast-charging technology to recharge the EPIC and be back on the road in less than 30 minutes. The EIPC's minivan utility and consumer appeal are just a few of the reasons Team EPIC took 1st place for Customer Acceptability at the 1999 Tour de Sol.
Report #21: "HEV Darango" Number 54
Jim Kane told me about the prototype Hybrid Electric Darango sports utility vehicle that is entered in the NESEA Tour.
"A 3.9 liter V-6 engine propels the rear wheels through a transmission, a 55 kiloWatt electric motor runs the front wheels through a differential on the motor. The goal was to improve the fuel economy and get the same performance out of the V-6 as you could get out of the 5.9 liter V-8. You treat this as a gasoline car. There is no charge connector (except we do have one on this prototype for our development). The stock V-8 Darango gets 15.5 miles per gallon. In this hybrid we get 18.5 to 19. I'd have to guess at the weight, but it must be almost 3,750 pounds."
"This uses patented through-the-road hybrid technology. The only way the engine and electric motor are connected is through the road via the tires. Except for control signals from the throttle pedal, the fuel-powered system and the electric-powered system are completely isolated. During launch, you really use the electric motor to assist the V-6, and during breaking you can recapture energy through regeneration from the front wheels. You can capture energy through the wheels during cruising, to keep that battery at a good state of charge. At the moment there is a small 1.2 kiloWatthour lead acid pack in the rear.
"It's been driving for about 8 months, after 6 months of development work. We have almost 10,000 miles on it so far."
Vehicle Name HEV Darango prototype Vehicle Number 54 Category DEMONSTRATION CATEGORY Organization DaimlerChrysler Team Name DaimlerChrysler City Washington State DC Description Darango HEV proto (Gasoline-electric hybrid) www www.daimlerchrysler.com new this year? Returning team, new car No People in Project 94 Months to Build NA Motor Northrop Grumman; AC Induction; 75kw cont/100kw peak Batteries lead acid; about 1200 Whrs Controller Northrop Grumman; AC Induction Charger none PV Array type amount none Construction 1999 Dodge Darango; Steel frame; Sheet metal body No of Passengers 7
Report #22: "Garnet One" Number 62
This CNG series hybrid electric conversion of a Chevy Beretta was built as a senior design project at Swarthmore College. All the original students have long since graduated and gone elsewhere. Luis Quinones, David Knouf, and Tong Lin have inherited the vehicle, and are working on it for credit. Three other students also help.
"After coming in 3rd 2 years ago, the manual transmission broke down. Last year we spent the majority of the effort putting in an automatic transmission. That was a big project because we had to come up with different aligning tools, transmission plate, motor plate and spacers." The DC motor drives the automatic transmission, and in the past I had heard that meant that the motor had to run all the time to keep the transmission "pumped up". But that is not what this team has done. "It doesn't have to run all the time. We have a little jolt when we start up but it really is not a big problem." The driver just plans for that and deals with it. The internal combustion engine (ICE), located in the trunk of the car, also got a lot of work. "It now has ceramic coated exhaust pipes and muffler so all the exhaust heat from the ICE gets radiated out a lot faster." They had to raise the trunk lid a little bit, on four posts, to get some more air in there for better cooling. "The generator cannot exceed 250 degrees F."
Vehicle Name Garnet One Vehicle Number 62 Category USDOE HYBRID CATEGORY Organization Swarthmore College Team Name Swarthmore College HEV Team City Swarthmore State PA Description 1996 Chevy Beretta (Pba + CNG) www http://www.engin.swarthmore.edu/org/HEV/ new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 6 Months to Build 12 Motor Advanced DC; FBI 401A; 21kw cont/60 peak Batteries Trojan T-105/PbA; 20 cells/series/; 52800whr/120v/1200lbs Controller Curtis 1221B-7401; Transistor Charger none Charger Offboard Land W BC20; Input:125v/20a; Transformer PV Array type amount 10 w; Solanex; Polycrystalline Construction Chevrolet Beretta; Steel frame; Steel body Dimensions LxWxH 12' 0"; 5' 0"; 4' 0" Hybrid Kawasaki ; 70cc Ser; (CNG-1999) No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 70 Range miles 150 Weight pounds 3700 Program blurb In a well-hidden garage behind Parazian hall at Swarthmore College, a group of engineering students gather around a white Chevy Beretta. With some observation it becomes clear this is no ordinary car: a DC motor wired with electronics is packed under the hood, a compressed natural gas engine sits in the trunk, and the back seat is filled with batteries capable of supplying 300 amps of current. Garnet One is the product of Swarthmore's HEV project, now in its third year. The project was started in 1996 as a senior design project by five seniors and Prof Nelson Macken of the department of engineering. The Garnet One placed 3rd in its category in 1998.
Report #23: "The Trout" Number 64
In 1996, there was a Tour de Sol entrant, a project built by two guys, which was a motorcycle that had the drivers legs up, in front. Sitting in it was like sitting in a recumbant bicycle. The design let the driver quickly put his legs down on either side to support the cycle when standing still. This motorcycle from Millersville University has a similar design, although it is much bigger and longer. I spoke with John Wright, electronics professor at the school, and a former member of the Central Connecticut State University Tour de Sol team of 1991. "The original Envirocycle was my baby, along with Professor Daryll Dowty. We built the first motorcycle to complete every leg of the Tour de Sol. I was the project manager. 10 years later, now, I'm the advisor with a brand new team."
The cycle is a bit over 9 feet long, with a box-beam chassis stretching a Honda "Shadow" 1100cc about 3 feet in the center. It hauls advanced glass mat batteries, powering a pulse-width modulated controller, connected to a new Lynch permanent magnet DC motor, which is actually two motors in parallel in a single case. "Our controller is designed for a series wound motor, so we had to do some engineering, along with Sevcon, to make this run." It has regenerative braking, but they don't have a lot of experience with it yet. They'll be learning during the rally. A chain reduction off the motor then drives a shaft drive to the rear wheel. It weighs about 800 pounds, and can do 60 miles per hour.
The goal of this one is to break the 81 mile Tour de Sol distance record set in 1991 by the Schiller Power Group of Germany.
The name, "The Trout", comes from the fiberglass shell that covers frame. "The shape is copied from one of the most efficient animals in nature." However, they won't be running with the shell. "We're just testing the drive train this year." Next year they will have the shell and a "landing gear" that can drop when the bike stops.
Vehicle Name The Trout Vehicle Number 64 Category ONE PERSON CATEGORY Organization Millersville University, NAIT Chapter Team Name Team Millersville City Millersville State PA Description Purpose-Built electric Scooter (Deka PbA) www muweb.millersv.edu/~nait new this year? New vehicle and team No People in Project 20 Months to Build 9 Motor Lynch. Batteries Deka Advanced Glass Mat lead acid; 6 cells/parallel/$3500; NA/whrs/6v/400lbs Controller Sevcon Charger none Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount none Construction Purpose built ; Steel frame; Fiberglass body Dimensions LxWxH 9' 4"; 2' 8"; 3' 5" No of Passengers 1 Maximum Speed mph 60 Range miles 150 Weight pounds 850 Program blurb not receivedAbout 13 students have been working on the design of this extraciricular project for about a year, although the actual construction took place over the past 6 weeks.
Report #24: "Solectria NiCad Force" Number 67
Over the years I've gotten to know Jim Sime of the Connecticut Department of Transportation. He brought me up to date on their vehicle and the detailed analysis they have been performing over the past 6 years. This car was originally a lead-acid battery "Force" and it ran 4 years in the American Tour de Sol, with two different lead acid batteries; 95 Amp-hour batteries and 85 Amp-hour batteries, both from Electrosource. Before the 1999 ATdS, it was switched to SAFT nickel cadmimum batteries. "This will be the final year for this car at the Tour de Sol. Last year we did the hilly course and this year we'll do the level coastal course."
Between ATdS events, this car is used at the DoT in work trips and for commuting. "Our objective is to see if we can run it at the advertised 60-70 miles per day, year round, in cold, storm, rain. They claim the NiCd battery is long-lived. We have to find out if that is true before they are going to spend more money to buy more of these for the fleet. Over the winter, we took it out of service and sent it to E-Vermont, which won a prize in the Production Category. They are specialists in cold weather systems. They installed the Espar keorsene-fired heater. That provides heat and defrosting without taking any energy from the battery. That should address our observation that the car has 10 to 15 miles less range when using the electric heater and defroster. We got it back in late February. It has worked well. We are really looking forward to seeing how it does next winter.
"E-Vermont also suggested putting in electric seat heaters, as putting the energy where it did the most good. So we said why not."
"We are going to run this car for a total of 4 years. If the battery is really in exceptional condition, we may ask to extend the project until the battery is no longer serving us to establish a life-cycle."
This car has been used to collect detailed data to evaluate if EVs could replace some of the 115 subcompact cars the Connecticut DoT uses.
They have added a "charge later" timer switch to the charging circuit. The timer turns on the charger after running out the set time. "We did some brain storming with James Worden and the Solectria engineers after the last Tour de Sol. These batteries charge at greater efficiency at lower temperature." Letting the batteries cool before starting charging should help improve the efficiency with which the batteries take on energy. We are going to collect some data, with or without the delay, to see if it makes a difference." As long as they leave enough time for the charge to complete, there should be no difference in drivable range, but more of the energy will go into the batteries and less willl be loss as heat during charge. "It's just really learning more about fine tuning a NiCd car."
Jim reminded me that in these NiCd batteries, the electrolyte of all the blocks are interconnected, so they balance electrolyte automatically. And there is a cooling jacket around the blocks, also inteconnected, with a radiator under the car and a pump, to help cool the pack when it is being charged or discharged agressively.
They also blocked up the opening in the front of the car, normally used to cool the engine radiator. Since there isn't a radiator in the EV, they think they can cut down on the aerodynamic drag.
Vehicle Name Solectria NiCad Force Vehicle Number 67 Category PRODUCTION CATEGORY Organization Rideshare Company (The) Team Name Connecticut Partnership Program Name Connecticut EV/NAVC City Windsor State CT Description Geo Metro (SAFT NiCad) www ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JSime_ConnDOT/ new this year? New car, returning team No People in Project 4 Motor Solectria; AC Induction; 12kw cont./37kw peak Batteries SAFT/NiCad; 13 cells/series/$8,000; 15600whr/156v/675 lbs Controller Solectria; AC 325 Charger Solectria BC/3.3 kw; Input:250v/16a; High freq/ss Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount none Construction Geo Metro; Steel frame; Steel body Conversion Geo Metro Dimensions LxWxH 13' 8"; 5' 2"; 4' 7" No of Passengers 4 Maximum Speed mph 65 Range miles 80 Range 99 130 Weight pounds 2513 Prize 99 3rd place: Light duty Program blurb Connecticut Partnership to Evaluate an Electric Vehicle. Team #67 is a partnership between the Connecticut Department of Transportation and The Rideshare Company. Through a partnership effort, an electric subcompact car (Solectria Force) with nickel cadmium batteries is being evaluated to determine its viability in Connecticut for commuting and work trips.This car climbed up Mt. Washington and, oddly enough, drove back down. But unlike a gasoline car, an EV with regenerative braking can recover energy as it is slowing down. How much energy can you recover? Well, this car recovered 38.6% of the energy it cost to make the climb. "We tapped the service brakes once or twice on the way down, because of traffic. Otherwise in came down at between 20 and 25 miles per hour on only regen." It cost 7 kiloWatt-hours to go up, 2.7 kiloWatt-hours were recovered coming back down.
They had a minor accident last summer that dented the hood. When they went to repair it, they decided to replace the front hood and rear trunk lid with fiber glass. That saved 17 pounds.
Report #25: "Sungo" Number 72
Low and wide, this two-seater with the tilt forward cab for entry and the separate motors driving the rear wheels has been at the NESEA Tour at least as long as I have and is one of my perennial favorites. The base vehicle is a custom built aluminum frame with fiberglass sandwich body. Over the years it has changed drive systems (gone from toothed belts to gear boxes), battery chemistry (lead acid to nickel metal hydride), paint schemes (white- with-stripes to color-changes-with-viewing-angle blue-purple) and, of course, team members. I wonder where they are now.
I spoke with Carl Patton from New Hampshire Technical Institute's Sustainable Energy Ventures (SEV) Club. What's different? "Last year we were 144 Volts nominal. This year we're 156 Volts with a new GM Ovonic nickel metal hydride battery pack. We have two 22 horsepower AC 3-phase industrial sized motors going into a total gear reduction of 8.5-to-1 back to the rear tires. We have 4-wheel disk brakes, with the front disks changed from 6 inch rotors up to 10 inches so our stopping is more aggressive. We've improved 4 meters-per-second-squared decelerating from last year. ` Last year, during the acceleration test (held at a drag strip) "Sungo" suffered what looked like, at first glance, a gear box or motor failure. From where I was in the announcer's tower it looked like smoke came out of the rear. "It was the rubber coupling that mated the axel and the gear box together. Some of us were sure they were going to break, and we went through 4 sets of them last year. So this year, we have roller chain couplers, used widely in industry. We don't even have a spare with us. We're not worried about them breaking this year."
"We finally got an Electrical Engineering Technology student on our team, so it was a lot easier to do the wiring and electronics. We now have fuses half-way through the pack and between the motors and the pack for safety."
During the summer and fall, the car gets driven around Concord NH and turns some heads. But after January it's up on blocks and completely dismantled, worked on, and then put back together. The changing of the brake rotors turned into a 5-week project.
Vehicle Name Sungo Vehicle Number 72 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization SEV Club of NHTI Team Name SEV of NHTI City Concord State NH Description Purpose-Built Sedan (Ovonics NiMH) www www.nhti.net new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 13 Months to Build 18 Motor Solectria; ACgtx20 induction; 21 kw cont/28 kw peak Batteries GM Ovonic/NiMH; 13 cells/series/$5,280; 12480 whr/156v/650 lbs Controller Solectria; Networked CD MOSFET Charger none Charger Offboard Mentzer/2420kw; Input:230v/10a; hi freq/ss PV Array type amount 100 w; Astropower; Monocrystalline Construction Purpose built; Aluminum frame; Fibergl/foam body Dimensions LxWxH 7' 9"; 4' 9"; 3' 7" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 90 Range miles 130 Weight pounds 1600 Program blurb Sungo was built by and continuously improved by members of the Sustainable Energy Ventures (SEV) Club of New Hampshire Technical Institute. Sungo is a purpose built, all-electric commuter class vehicle. It carries 12 Ovonics Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries. Two 22 Hp AC motors drive the rear wheels. The car can reach speeds of over 90 mph. Sungo has taken first place finishes in the NESEA Tour de Sol in 1997 and 1998. The Club has also recently completed construction of a 2Kw tracking solar array at the school. It will be used to charge the various electric vehicles used at the school.
Report #26: "Envirocycle III" Number 89
Every once in a while, a vehicle that comes to the Tour de Sol disappears and then reappears a year or two later. In this case, the "Envirocycle III" from Central Connecticut State University in New Britian CT was last seen in 1995. I asked student Blake Mantel and Professor Daryll Dowty to tell me what has happened since then.
In the intervening years it has been used for student research projects. "Four students designed test jigs for testing various components of the cycle as senior projects, so the motorcycle was the base around which they worked."
"We spent a year trying to develop a transmission to meet the constraint that we not have to change the configuration of the frame." They tried to use off the shelf stuff that works, but were unable to find anything. So they went back to a series wound DC motor with battery pack. "It runs great and it's fun. Don't know if it will make 55 miles or not, but ..."
They are having problems with overheating of the motor in start-and-stop traffic. The lack of back-EMF in a DC motor at low speed means high in- rush current at slow speeds which means it can get too hot. "We are going to try some cooling modifications and watch the temperature carefully so we can pull over if we need to."
Vehicle Name Envirocycle Vehicle Number 89 Category ONE PERSON CATEGORY Organization Central Conneticut State University Team Name Solar Electric Research Team City New Britain State CT Description Motorcycle (GMB Champion PbA) www www.club.ccsu.edu new this year? Returning team No People in Project 10 Motor Advanced DC; Series wound; 8.2 kw cont/11 kw/peak Batteries GNB Champion; 6 cells/series/$850; 100 whrs/72v/510 lbs Controller Curtis; Pulse modulated Charger none Charger Offboard K & W BC 20; Imput:120v/20a; Transformerless PV Array type amount 20 w; ICP Canada; Silicon Construction 1995 Suzuki GS; Aluminum frame; Plastic body Dimensions LxWxH 4' 10"; 3' 0"; 2' 8" No of Passengers 1 Maximum Speed mph 60 Range miles 80 Weight pounds 1100"Environcycle" also goes on display at schools. On the May 31st it will go to the Great American Electric Vehicle Race for Connecticut high schools. The schools construct vehicles that are limited to about 2 feet by 3 feet and 12 Volts. "Something that the technology teachers can put together on a reasonable budget."
Central Connecticut State University has been working on a hybrid that they had hoped to enter this year, but "we've had a couple of streaks of bad luck. We had a fire in the generator control wiring two nights ago, so the hybrid is not here."
Report #27: Ford "Electric Ranger"
George Gluck, from Syosset Ford on Long Island, is at the New York Hall of Science with a year 2000 Ford "Electric Ranger" with lead acid battery. In California the vehicle is available with nickel metal hydride batteries. There is a possibility of NiMH batteries being available in New York later.
How many have they sold? "Over the past 3 years, about a dozen." Most are sold to companies that have "closed loop" operations, where the truck starts and ends at the same place and drives a relatively predicatble route. "A mail or package truck that travels between the buildings of a university or among the schools in a school district is an ideal application. Then there was the fuel oil dealer who bought one to be the first guy on the block."
Report #28: On the Dynamometer
I wandered over to the dynamometer while "ParaDyne" Number 7 from University of Tulsa was on, for the second time. John Henshaw told me what was going on.
"We were the first ones on this morning, and since then they've made a lot of changes to their procedures after their experiences with us. During the first two runs on the IM240 (240 second) cycle their computer kept rebooting itself and they would loose all the data. On the third run, our car overheated, because we're running it under high load, standing still, so the there is no air flow through the engine compartment.
"Now they are now letting the team driver run the car instead of their driver, because all the vehicles drive so differently. And they also went to a much simpler driving cycle. The IM240 has a lot of stop and go, up and down hills, and velocity changes. Now their just accelerating to 30 mph, staying there for a while and then slowing down.
The other problem they had was adjusting to the different hybrid fuels used. "We run reformulated gas. There is also a bio-diesel, a diesel, an LPG, a CNG, an M85 and an ethanol. It has been a big learning curve for everyone here."
Report #29: Honda Insight Owner #1
Bruce Arkwright Jr. is here at NY Hall of Science, having driven from Erie Pennsylvania where he lives. He has had his "Insight" for about a month. A 34 year old tool and die maker, Bruce bought his "Insight" "because I knew that society could do a little better than it is. Since 7th grade I've been interested in solar power but didn't have the information to do anything. About two years ago I started Home Power magazine." Someday he wants to have an solar panel house. "I had saved up $10,000 for the solar panels, but this came along and I put it down on the car."
He was also looking at the Toyota "Prius", but since the "Insight" showed up first, that is what he bought.
Amercian Honda Motor Company sent letters to the people who purchased the first 300 "Insight" hybrid-electric cars offering expenses and a stipend if they came to the Tour de Sol to show their cars and talk with people.
This is the first time I've seen the inside. The driver's instrument display is a digital display panel, with speed presented in big, orange digits. There is a battery meter to the right of the speedometer, which indicates electric charge or discharge of the battery pack, labeled "CHARG" and "ASST". Below the speedometer is a display that shows fuel efficiency in two parts. There is a "MILES PER GALLON" number (reset by the trip meter?) and an instantaneous miles per gallon graph, labelled from 0 to 150 mpg! "And you really have to watch that bar graph to get your 70 mpg. Just the operation of the car makes you a more conservative driver." Do you run the risk of driving down the road staring at the display? "Yeah. I wish they had a heads-up display; that would be helpful."
There are also a tachometer (0 to 7000 revolutions per minute), hot-cold coolant temperature gauge, oil pressure light, and starter battery light.
The transmission is a 5-on-the-floor manual, with clutch pedal. "When the car comes to a stop and you put the clutch in, the engine stops, so the car does not idle for any length of time."
Regenerative braking is part of the system. "Applying the brakes calls for regen, and if the battery is below half full, the car trickle charges the battery up to half."
The battery pack is made of 120 D-size nickel metal hydride cells in series, creating a 144 Volt, 900 Watt-hour pack. "I haven't had the battery cover off yet, but I got a copy of the service manual so I'll know what I'm looking at."
Bruce has a 12 Volt solar panel that he brought along. In the sun, he plugs it into the "cigarette lighter", also known as the "accessory outlet", to top of the starter battery.
"I'm a little peeved with Pennsylvania. They are supposed to have an incentive (tax break?) for alternative fuel vehicles, but they don't consider the Insight an AFV."
Report #30: "Solectria Super Force" Number 11
Olaf Bleck and Ted Bohn of Team New England have returned with the same vehicle they entered last year, one of the early Solectria "Force" hatchback cars with a trailer holding a second battery pack. "Last year we talked about making it into the "Super Duper Force" with three battery packs, but we looked at the simulation data and that tells us that the optimum for this event is two. We have 2 strings of 152 Volts at 80 Amp- hours". Multiply that out and you get 24,320 Watt-hours. "There is a For Sale sign on the car again. Last year we had the batteries for sale. This year we'll sell both the car and the batteries."
"This year our secret weapon is now a commercial product. Power-Cheq Charge Equalizer. We can now charge the entire battery pack without worrying about gassing any battery. This is a modular battery management tool." Unlike some battery equalizing systems, this does not bleed current around the more fully charged batteries. "These are actually miniature battery charges that shuffle current between two batteries if one is higher than the other." It's bidirectional, and one module manages a pair of of battery 6 Volt, 8 Volt, or 12 Volt blocks. "The next module interleaves in another block, so in, say, a 3 block string, the middle block is in common. Because the modules are all identical, there are no configuration issues. You use N-minus-one PowerCheqs in an N block pack. 19 blocks; 18 PowerCheqs." In a long string, if the first block is the least completely charged and the last block is fully charged, the excess current will be daisy chained down through the pack to the block (or blocks) that need it. When the entire pack is charged, the LED on all the modules stop blinking and the string charger, which can be anything, sees a string voltage which is N times the N block voltages. So the string charger stops charging. (In strings without equalization technologies, the first block to get to full charge is driven into overcharge while the string charger tries to bring the entire pack up to full-charge voltage. Overcharging causes that block to give off hydrogen, which is both a hazard and weakens the block.)
The "Super Force" went 156 miles on a charge last year, a NESEA Tour lead- acid record. Olaf and Ted were predicting they'll beat their own record "with a new pack and better battery management".
Last year the "Super Force" was the only car with a trailer, but this year the "Electrifly" from Canada also is sporting one. "If we can get Fred Whitridge (who brought a trailer in 1995, '96 and '97) to show up we can create a TRAILER CATEGORY."
Vehicle Name Solectria Super Force Vehicle Number 11 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization Team New England Team Name Team New England City Nahant State MA Description Geo Metro (Delphi PbA) new this year? New car and team No People in Project 6 Motor Solectria; AC Induction; 15 kw cont/35 kw peak Batteries Delphi/ PbA; 19 cells/ combin/$2,850; 27360wh/150v/1604 lbs Controller Solectria; 3 phase inverter Charger none Charger Offboard Solectria/ ; Input:10v/ 10a; High freq/ss PV Array type amount 10 w; Astropower; Polycrystalline Construction 1993 Geo Metro; Steel frame; Steel unibody Dimensions LxWxH 16' 6"; 5' 4"; 4' 8" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 70 Range miles 180 Range 99 156* Weight pounds 3300 Prize 99 Best Range with PbA- Record! Program blurb Team New England is returning with their Solectria Super Force this year. This vehicle, originally built by Solectria Corporation, has been significantly modified, and a trailer, which holds additional lead acid batteries has been built to increase the driving range of the vehicle. Last year the Solectria Super Force captured the range prize for lead acid battery vehicles after driving 156 miles. Their goal this year is to beat the record they set last year.The Power-Cheqs are make by Power Designers, LLC. 608 231-0450. www.powerdesigners.com
Report #31: Tails from the Charging Trailer in New York City
It is now Saturday morning. The movable feast of Tour de Sol vehicles has moved from the New York Hall of Science, in Queens NY, where at least some of them were tested and displayed to the South Street Seaport area of lower Manhattan, New York City. Today the testing and displaying will continue, and on Sunday the feast will begin to move in earnest, heading over the Brooklyn Bridge into (where else?) Brooklyn, over the OuterBridge Crossing, and through urban and rural New Jersey to West Windsor.
This is the 3rd time the NESEA Tour to start at South Street, under the FDR Drive. In past years that overhead roadway has afforded some shelter from the rain, but there isn't any rain today. It is spring and feels it.
At least once a day, all but the hybrid EVs must plug in to "get their juice". To provide all that power, NESEA brings along the "Charging Trailer", which can be connected into the power grid and the provides a properly sized and protected plug for each vehicle. That simple statement creates considerable work, and this year Rick Ritter and Steve Kurkoski perform those duties. I found them Saturday morning and asked if there had been any issues the previous night. "We had one circuit breaker that was humming a bit loudly, which we'll cycle a few times to wipe the contacts. There may be some carbon build up. If that doesn't fix it, we'll change it out."
This year the smallest thing to be charged will be the little Ovonic Scooter, with a simple 110 Volts AC socket, and the biggest will be the Blue Bird/Solectria school bus with its 208 Volt single phase 100 Amp connector. The Chrysler EPICs will each use a 3-phase circuit. The EV1 will use a MagneCharge paddle. Most everyone else will use either 110 or 220 Volt 20 or 30 Amp plugs.
In past years the charging trailer has been heavily instrumented to get detailed data from each plug. Last year and this year, each team has a digital Watt-hour meter in line with their charger. Readings from the Watt-hour meter can be taken in a few seconds, using an infrared download link to a laptop computer. So all the current transducers for the individual plugs have been removed and, Steve says, they will be put in NESEA's headquarters building in Greenfield MA. There are current and voltage sensors on each subpanel, so they will be able to look at the current balance.
At other sites, it is sometimes difficult to get a place to tie the trailer into the grid and have enough parking space. In those cases, a large portable generator will feed the charging trailer. Our next stop, West Windsor NJ, will be one such place.
Report #32: "Solar Black Bear" Number 20
A sign proudly announces that the University of Maine "Solar Black Bear" is defending its 1999 1st place finish in the Solar Category. Of course, it doesn't mention that the competition was "Helios the Heron", built by 4th- through-8th grade students.
This is yet another Chevy S-10 pickup truck conversion, sporting a kiloWatt of solar panels mounted on a flat frame above the truck, from hood to tailgate.
Jacob Pellegier told me that since the last Tour de Sol, it has been used as a utility truck around campus. "We call it our most practical solar vehicle. We can do most anything with it. When we go to parades, we can throw 10 people into the back. We go to the dump, haul gravel, carry lumber. Every weekend, when we needed a truck to go get parts (for the Phantom Sol, Number 66), we jump into the Black Bear."
"Last year we were not very impressed with acceleration. It does weigh almost 5000 pounds. So we put a 410 rear end in. It also has anti-sway bars, front and rear. With the big solar array up top, the center of gravity isn't as low as we might like. It's solid as a rock, now. We know it's going to do well again."
Vehicle Name Solar Black Bear Vehicle Number 20 Category SOLAR-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization University of Maine Solar Vehicle Team Team Name U. Maine Solar Vehicle Team City Orono State ME Description Solar Black Bear (1987 Chevy S-10, Trojan PbA) www www.ume.maine.edu/solar new this year? Returning car and team No People in Project 15 Months to Build ?? Motor Advanced DC; NA; 13kw cont/60kw peak Batteries Trojan T-145/PbA; 24 cells/series/$2,400; 30096whr/144v/1728lbs Controller Curtis; 1231c-8601 Charger none Charger Offboard Alltech Elect/3kw; Input 208v/16.4a; Transf/rectifier PV Array type amount 1020 w; BP Solar; Monocrystalline Construction 1987 Chevy S-10; Steel frame; Steel body Dimensions LxWxH 17' 5"; 6' 2"; 5' 0" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 70 Range miles 95 Weight pounds 4800 Program blurb Watch out! The Solar Black Bear is back to defend its first place finish in the solar commuter category. A new excited and diverse team of 15 has given the Black Bear more appropriate handling and acceleration capabilities. This converted Chevy S-10 pick-up has traveled all over central Maine, introducing the force of solar/electric power to the general public with its 144V, Trojan T-145 battery set and 12, 18V solar modules.
Report #33: "Phantom Sol" Number 66
What do you do when you have a successful vehicle that won it's category in the 1999 Tour de Sol? If you are the University of Maine Solar Vehicle Team, you build another, different vehicle, in a different category, but with the intention of transferring as much knowledge as possible from the former to the later. (You also reenter the winning "Solar Black Bear" into the Solar-Electric Category). "With this vehicle we took everything we learned last year from what worked with the Solar Black Bear. But we built an electric roadster that is basicly raw power." A 1200 Amp(!) controller can give them up to 250 horsepower from the same motor that delivers 110 in the Black Bear.
The "Phantom Sol" is low, low, LOW! The roof is just 3.5 feet off the ground. Jacob Pellegier told me that they deliberately built the "Phantom Sol" on the same Chevy S-10 truck chassis as the "Solar Black Bear" has. "We used exactly the same vehicle and ripped off everything except the frame and structural material. We made a nice, lightweight body from high impact Lexan thermoplastic. We can melt and curve the plastic in ways we needed to create the body. All the plastic weights less than 100 pounds, which is pretty good for a sixteen foot long car." It should be very aerodynamic. And they expect it to be stable. "Our center of gravity is 8 inches off the ground." Although the frame has been driven for quite some time, the body is being completed just before Technical Testing on the Saturday before the rally begins.
Because it is so low, the driver and passenger sit in and among the truck chassis. Some 40 8-Volt battery blocks are also low down, and carried in front, outboard in boxes along the sides, and in the rear. "This vehicle is 60 percent battery weight." The blocks are wired as a pair of 160 Volt strings, normally run in parallel. "We could run on either string alone if we decided too."
The driver and passenger sit with their legs straight out in front. In front of the driver, the steering wheel is on a long shaft, to bring it back to the driver's reach. A long bar with T-handle is the emergency disconnect which pulls the pair of Anderson connectors handles, one for each battery string, visible under the Lexan hood. Another long handle connects to the 4-speed transmission, which is very much forward of the people. Because the people are sitting low, with their legs forward, behind the front wheels, the motor and transmission are way up ahead of them.
Students can work on the "Phantom Sol" and the "Solar Black Bear" for credit, in a class called Bio Resource Engineering, or can have it as an extracurricular activity. "The team is pretty much half and half."
Vehicle Name Phantom Sol Vehicle Number 66 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization University of Maine Solar Vehicle Team Team Name U. Maine Solar Vehicle Team City Orono State ME Description Phantom Sol (sedan, Trojan, lead acid) www www.ume.maine.edu/solar new this year? New car, returning team No People in Project 15 Months to Build 8 Motor Advanced DC; FB1-4001; 13.2kw cont/176kw pk Batteries Trojan T-185/PbA; 40 cells/parallel/$1,785; 44800 whrs/160v/2520 lbs Controller DC Power Sys; Raptor 1200 Charger none Charger Offboard Alltech Elec/3kw; Input:208v/16.4a; Trans/rectifier PV Array type amount 85 w; BP Solar; Monocrystalline Construction Purpose built; Steel frame; Lexan body Dimensions LxWxH 16" 0"; 6' 2"; 3' 7" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 70 Range miles 95 Weight pounds 4800 Program blurb This Chevy S-10 pick-up is being engineered with the same philosophy of significant battery voltage and solar power as was used on the Solar Black Bear which we entered last year. The dynamics of airflow have been utilized along with the importance of having an agile body and frame. The team is dealing with new, cutting edge ideas daily to improve its performance and efficiency. Most of the vehicle parts have been donated by friendly foundations in Maine.Next year, the "Phantom Sol" will probably sport a kiloWatt solar array, like its predecessor.
Report #34: "Spirit of Pioneering" Number 68
Philip Boullion is from Delta College, University Center, Michigan, just outside of Saginaw. He is here with a converted 1985 Chevy S-10 pickup truck. "It had an extended cab originally, which we have replaced with a standard cab, hence the gap between the cab and the back of the truck bed." They originally intended to have a fiberglass faring to flow the air around the vehicle, but that didn't get finished. So they are making do with polycarbonate, Styrofoam and duct tape, creating a clear plastic cover over what would have been the hood area. The result is a very visible set of workings up front, but well protected from probing hands. Visible is a big Anderson connector with a pull-handle can be operated from the cab so they can disconnect the controller from the pack in an emergency. A rope, tied to the reverse tie of the transmission "is because we blew the transmission two days ago." They are running a 4-speed Volkswagen transmission instead of the normal 5 speed. "We have the two forward gears that we need, 3rd and 4th, but to push the rail up for reverse, we use that fine piece of string." He claimed that they only had to be able to go in reverse, not do so quickly, according to the rules. (Tech testing might have a different interpretation.) Using the 4-speed saves 30-40 pounds, and let them lower the center of gravity some.
"We are using ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene in our battery boxes, under the truck bed, which means we used less steel than otherwise. It has the strength and characteristics of carbon fiber material, plus it go to about 500-to-600 percent elongation before it fails. We used it instead of polypropylene, using a little bit less steel, by using an extremely strong plastic." I think he called it Trisbain 1000, by HiPoly in Illinois. (I probably have messed up the spelling there.)
They have LED tail lights.
Due to a mix-up in getting the tires and rims, they have 15-inch wheels on the rear, and 14-inch on the front.
The truck is a volunteer project. Most of the work was done at Philip's father's store, where they had access to tools and such. They fact that they have a generator of site and are willing to share makes them popular with the other teams.
Vehicle Name Spirit of Pioneering Vehicle Number 68 Category BATTERY-ELECTRIC CATEGORY Organization Delta College Team Name Delta College EVDP City University Center State MI Description Chevy S-10 pick-up (Trojan PbA) new this year? Returning team after 5yr No People in Project 50 Months to Build 5 Motor Advanced DC; FBI-4001A; 21kw cont/63kw peak Batteries Trojan T-145/PbA; 26 cells/series/$2,600; 29520whr/144v/1728lbs Controller DC Power Sys; Raptor 600 Charger Zivan WG3/2.8 kw; Input:208v/30a; High freq/ss Charger Offboard none PV Array type amount 75 W Construction 1985 Chevy S-10; Steel frame; Steel/compos body Dimensions LxWxH 15'' 0"; 5' 6"; 5' 0" No of Passengers 2 Maximum Speed mph 75 Range miles 75 Weight pounds 3200 Program blurb After a four year absence from the Tour De Sol we have decided to return. We are returning with a 1985 Chevrolet S-10 Pick-up. This conversion took 5 months and included 30 students from Delta College, other local colleges, and high schools. We look forward to some friendly competition.
Report #35: More on the Fisher-Tropisch Diesel Fuel
I mentioned that "E.D." (pronounced Ed) from Lawrence Technilogical University was labeled as using "FT Diesel" and that I had heard it was a diesel fuel made from natural gas. Al Hodges of Miami Florida did some research and sent me the following ...
Conversion of natural gas (the burn off in oil fields) produces a high octane, low emission diesel. Process dates to two Germans in 1920 who developed the process to convert coal gas to diesel fuel. South Africa is among world's leaders in low cost plant ($300 million) and petroleum prices must exceed $18 per barrel for economic feasibility.
Shell has a plant in Malaysia producing 12,500 barrels per day. Exxon working on process in Louisiana and Pittsbu