American Tour de Sol Reports, 1994 Sponsored by The AutoAuditorium System from Foveal Systems A Fully Automatic, Multi-Camera System that Produces Videos Without a Crew http://www.AutoAuditorium.com - - - - - - - - - The following are copyright Michael H. Bianchi. Permission to copy is granted provided each Report is presented without modification and this notice is attached. For other arrangements, contact me at +1-973-822-2024 . For more on the NESEA Tour de Sol, see the web page at http://www.nesea.org Official NESEA Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413 774-6051 , and 50 Miles Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 , and nesea@nesea.org . All media enquiries should be addressed to ... Jack Groh Groh Associates email: GrohPR@aol.com 401 732-1551 telephone 401 732-0547 fax 401 952-0886 cell/pager - - - - - - - - - 1st Report Sat and Sun, May 21 and 22, 1994 On 2 > perfect < days, the non-commercial ATdS entrants started to arrive in Battery Park City on the lower west side of Manhattan in the shadow of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Some of the cars have been here since Thursday, primarily for testing on a dynomometer. The rest were tested yesterday and today. I'm told there are 57 cars registered to participate. The following is copied from the NESEA list, (parenthesized comments are mine, based on what I saw yesterday and today. 3 cars are known not to be racing, as noted.) CATEGORY NAME PROGRAM NAME COMMUTER CATEGORIES Production Category Ford Ecostar Ford Motor Company (cute micro-van) Chrysler TEVan Jersey Central Power & Light Solectria E-10 Northeast Alternative Vehicle Chrysler TEVan PECO Energy Company Ford Ecostar Penna. Electric Transportation ForceGT 4 seat Solectria Corporation Electricar Sedan TravElectric/Virginia Power American Commuter Category Solar Bolt Bolton High School S 12.5 Brookdale CC/Jersey Central Kineticar II CT. Solar Racing Team Dane Hovey Vehicle Dane Hovey Racing ElecTruck Dartmouth Solar Racing Team Genesis I Genesis Team Solar Flair Greenwich High School Solar Electrical Storm Lauzun Corp. (based on Geo Storm) Sparky Magnets (displaying in NYC, Boyertown, Philadelphia, not racing) Project e- Chevy Mt. Everett Project e- Lightning Volt PHS/LCVTS EV Team KA1000 Polytech Electric Race Team (displaying in NYC, Liberty Science Center, not racing) Golden Gear Special Reading-Mulenberg Vo-tech RHAM Rod RAHM High School Solar Delivery Scott L. Isgar Eclectic Taxi SETS Racing Team ForceRS 2 seat Solectria Corporation Solectria E-10 Solectria Corporation Potential Difference Trenton State College Endura U. C. Davis Tour de Sol Commuter Aztec MIT Solar EV Club Sungo NHTI Solar Car Team Vortex SETS Racing Team (totally built from plans by High School team) RACING CATEGORIES Tour de Sol Racing Sunvox IV Dartmouth Solar Racing Team Suntech NHTI Solar Car Club Husky Sled Northeastern U. SPVP Helios the Heron Riverside School Photon Salisbury School Patriot Southwest Vermont Racing Liberty Belle Univ. of Pennsylvania Solar Car Mach .05 UVM Solar Racing Team Cross Continental Sun Dragon IV Drexel University Northern Light II Northern Light Solar Race Team Ottawa Orange II Ottawa Hills High School Tech SpiRIT IV Rochester Institute of Technology Kirenjaku II Team of Kirenjaku (cancelled, not coming) Spirit of (?) UMass Lowell EXTREME UQAM, Dept de Design TBA Winston Solar Car Team OPEN CATEGORIES Open Day Star Apollo Ridge H. S. Project TNE II Team New England Hopper EV Tom Hopper Open, One Person XCG C-M Sunpacer Cato-Meridian HS Technical Open, Motorcycle Environcycle I Central CT Solar Electric Environcycle II Central CT Solar Electric CityCat Schiller Power Group (cute Vespa-like scooter) TIE-2 Team Forest Sun Cycle II UFX Sun Cycle Solar Racing Open, Hybrid The Cornell Flash Cornell Hybrid Electrical Open, 3-wheel Solar Bullet Unatego High School Category Specifications: CATEGORY # PEOPLE PV ARRAY BATTERY OA DIM.1 60 kg min Watts peak Watt hours meters Production Commuter 2 as sold as sold as sold Tour de Sol Commuter 2 0 - 720 500 - 7200 5 x 1.8 Tour de Sol Commuter extra pass. add 0 - 240 ad 0 - 2400 5 x 1.8 American Commuter 2 or more 1 sq foot min. no limit 4 wheels 5 x 1.8 Tour de Sol Racing 1 120 - 480 1000 - 4800 5 x 1.8 Cross Continental 1 5m x 2m no limit 6 x 2 x 1.8 h Open 1 or more 1 sq foot min. no limit 5 x 1.8 Open, Hybrid 1 or more 1 sq foot min. no limit + APU 5 x 1.8 Most of the cars arrived on flat-bed trailers or in enclosed trailers (some with impressive art work). Some rolled out of the trailer and down to the "scruitineering" area where they were given a thorough inspection. Others developed a swarm of people putting finishing touches and parts onto the vehicles before they were ready to be looked over. As this is a road race on an open course, NESEA puts high emphasis on safety and road-worthiness. Inspections included how well the batteries were tied down and secured, driver seating and seat belts (there were a lot of 5-point harnesses in evidence), acceleration and braking, etc. I did not see the dynomometer testing, but one team member I spoke to was quite impressed at how they strapped the car down on the machine and then ran it up to it's top speed. I spoke with several of the teams, trying to get a sense of how they felt about their cars and teams. The SpiRIT IV and Sun Dragon IV teams had been in the SunRayce (Texas to Minnesota) and so this was old hat. The high school teams with the Lightning Volt and Ottawa Orange II were more impressed with the value of team-work and staying focused on getting things done. The range of approach in the high school teams is also interesting. The Lightning Volt is a Chevy S-10 pickup, modified using a kit from Solar Car Corp. in Florida, and following the advice found on the video tapes sold by Electro Automotive in California. Other S-10 conversions (and there are several) use parts and plans from Electric Vehicles of America in Massachusetts. At the other extreme, Ottawa Orange II was designed from the ground-up, starting with a popsicle-stick model to do elementary stress analysis before cutting and welding the box-tubing for the frame. It includes components from motocross cycles and other hefty pieces. Ottawa Hills HS had problems with mechanical breakdowns last year. They have clear plans not to let that stop them this year. My personal award for the most interesting vehicle (so far) goes to the TIE-2, a 2-wheel recumbent motorcycle, where the drivers legs are out in front, under a split cover that hides the legs when under way, but which allow the driver to put both feet on the ground in a moment, such as when stopping. Informally referred to as the "Mike and Mike Electric Motor Bike", it was a private 4-year project made from mostly scrounged parts from a scrap yard. Motor: 3 HP, 300 ft-lb torque, series wound Battery: 36 V, 100 Ah, 140 lb Controller: custom built, 450 A, bi-polar chopper/transistor Range: 50 miles, 75 Wh/mile Weight: 480 pounds Cost: approx. $4000 - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 2nd American Tour de Sol Report; Sunday, May 22, 1994 I have found out that video tapes of the 1993 and (later) 1994 ATdS races are available from: Frank Posluszny 23 Kent Place Cos Cob, CT 06807 203 622-0149 The 1993 video runs about 1.5 hours. Cost is $30, $5 of which is donated to the ATdS. Sunday was the first official public viewing of the ATdS, at Battery Park City on the lower west side of New York City, on a > perfect < day. This report will based mostly on interviews with participants. My personal award for the Electric Vehicle I am most likely to get out of the way of is a prototype armored hybrid 8-soldier troop carrier. This is a tracked hybrid electric vehicle that uses either a 454 Chevy engine driving an alternator or 60 GNB lead-acid batteries. There are 2 275 HP AC motors which can be driven by the alternator alone or by the batteries alone. The battery-only mode is to cut down on the noise and infra-red signature of the vehicle, making it harder to spot. Battery only range is estimated at 25 miles, hybrid mode 205 miles including recharging. There were no tires to kick on this one, and frankly, I wouldn't want to try. (No, it isn't racing, just on display. It might crush over the competition; all that armor plate makes this a > heavy < dude.) A 22-seat, 45-passenger, 1 wheel chair electric bus from a fleet of 8 in active service in Chattanooga, TN, was on display. John Capell told me about the 22-foot long bus that has been in service for 2 years. Range 70 miles, last year it traveled about 14,000 miles. Manufactured by Specialty Vehicle Manufacturing Co, Downey, CA. The lead-acid flooded cells have about 400 cycles on them today, and they expect to get 1500 cycles before needing replacement. The motor is a DC Nelco, 32 kW, 40 HP. The batteries and PWM controller are by Chloride in a 216 V configuration and regenerative braking. 38 mph, 80-85 mile urban driving cycle range, 1100 Wh/mile. Batteries can be changed out in 15 minutes. John says they figure their energy costs at 4.5 cents/mile, vs 18 cents/mile for a similar diesel bus. Maintenance cost is about 1/2 that of a diesel bus. Public acceptance has been very high because it is quiet and smokeless, which Capell says the people of Chattanooga notice. The bus is not air conditioned, but, because it is use in short shuttle service, that has not been a major problem. They would like AC, but are looking for a more energy efficient systems. By the end in 1994 there will be a total of 16 of these buses in Chattanooga. More info: Call ETVI at 615 622-3884 At the other extreme (sponsorship-wise) is Christen Johansen, an architect in Manhattan who converted a Saab 96 V-4 to a 96 V system called "Sparky", used as a weekend runabout. He considers it a "detached hybrid"; he claims that for vacations and such he will tow this EV Saab behind his Saab 900 Turbo, and then use the EV for short hops. He used a Saab because he was thoroughly familiar with the car and likes the body style. Advanced DC 9.1 inch motor, Curtis PCM controller. $4500 went into the restoration of the car (which was a basket case) and $6500 into the EV components. Took 1.5 years, most weekends, finishing up 3 weeks ago. Christen quotes 60 miles/charge highway, 30 city (which sounds backwards to me, but that is what he said.) Murali Arikara of UC Davis was with a converted Geo Prizm using the Powercell Corp Zinc Flow Battery. In last year's ATdS, Texas A&M ran a Geo Metro with a 22.5 kWh, 120 V Zinc Flow Battery, which took them over 150 miles on a charge using a Solectria AC induction motor and controller. This year they have a 35 kWh, 400 V ZFB using Hughes AC Dolphin drive system which uses a 3-phase induction motor and an inverter/controller capable of putting out about 50 kW. Murali has been working on programming the inverter/controller to match the drive characteristics to the battery discharge. Ideally, the battery microprocessor and the inverter/controller would work in close cooperation, but that hasn't been accomplished yet. If you are not familiar with the Powercell Zinc Flow Battery, the 2- part charged electrolyte is stored in tanks. The electrolytes are pumped between the plates of the cell stack, discharged, and the discharged electrolyte is stored in other tanks. For charging, the system pumps backwards and the chemistry runs backwards. The interesting design aspect is that, to a greater extent than with other batteries, the range and power are decoupled. The range is largely determined by the amount of electrolyte in the tanks. The power is largely determined by the plate area of the cells and the number of cells. Thus it is easier to match the power-density and energy-density of the battery to the application. Also, when the pumps are not running and the cells are drained, a fully charged battery can be > totally electrically neutral real < hot!) In fact, Murali told me that the UC Davis car is designed to have safety systems within safety systems. The battery box which contains the tanks, pumps and cells have leak detectors to detect any electrolyte that escapes the system, and shuts down the car. On top of that, there are Ground Fault Interrupters that detect currents escaping the system, and they also can shut down the car. Finally, there is also a "Battery Mat" that absorbs and neutralizes escaped electrolyte. (Several years ago, there was a very unfortunate accident involving an early flow battery, and since then the concern for safety has been very high.) More info: Powercell Corp, (617) 374-9444 - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 3rd American Tour de Sol Report; Sunday, May 22, 1994 More interviews ... The Rochester Institute of Technology SpiRIT (Solar Power Inovation at RIT) is an orange and black, low slung, 4-wheel solar powered racer. It is one of those that raced from Texas to Minnesota in 1993. Improved for the ATdS, it has an improved drive train, power strategy and telemetry systems, and lightened. The motor is a 5 HP peak DC brushless motor from GE. The battery pack is 5 kWh 156 V lead-acid. The telemetry collects system bus voltages and currents, and several temperatures and sends them to the chase vehicle where they are displayed and graphed. The driver gauges are a Solectria Watt-hour meter and 2 Radio Shack micro Digital Multi-Meters showing bus voltage and current. The solar panel develops 1100 W peak at 156 V. It is composed of 9 separate arrays that develop 230 V at 0.5 A. 9 separate peak power trackers (made in Australia by REL and apparently favorites in the solar cars) manage the load on the solar cells for peak power. Mechanically, only the right-rear wheel is driven using a 2-speed friction transmission (RIT design) and a sprocket drive. The other 3 have disk brakes. The car weighs 800 pounds and is mostly aluminum frame with fiber-glass farings. This, like most of the solar cars, is a very tight fit for the driver, who is invariable a small, light persons (often women). Computer Aided Design programs are everywhere. All the college and several of the high school teams talk about doing their design on various CAD packages. I've spoken about high school teams, but sometimes it's a bigger team than that. For example, the Patriot is owned by the Green Mountain Electric Car club and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. But it was built by the Mount Anthony Union High School Career Development Center. Local elementary and middle school students helped with the papering the sides and applying Bondo (which I take to be a auto body filler that is relatively easy to use to smooth out uneven surfaces and give a smooth surface for paint once sanded.) The car is registered in Vermont until 1999 -- a gift from the legislature. PV array: 70 V. Battery: 4 - 12 V K-Mart auto batteries Motor: 1.6 HP Honeywell Transmission: 5-speed Honda (motorcycle?) (1 gear inoperative) The car registration issue is actually an important point. ALL of these cars have to be registered as a road vehicle in one of the states. ElecTruck is a Chevy S-10 conversion from the Darmouth Solar Racing Team. A 5-person effort. Motor: GE Series DC, 20 kw continuous, 39 kw peak Controller: GE Battery: 19800 Wh Sears DieHard deep cycle Range: 65 miles Max speed: 82 MPH Day Star was built from the ground up by 40 students at Apollo Ridge High School in Spring Church, PA, north of Pittsburgh. It is one of a couple of "door stop wedge" shaped vehicles (the thin edge is to the rear and supports the solar cells). It is made of welded box tubing, with an aluminum skin. Several people spoke about the state troopers that helped them by critiquing the car for state car inspection. PV: 4 100 W panels, 17 V each, 68 V total Motor: 17 HP DC motor Controller: Curtis PMC Battery: 96 V, 8 12 V lead-acid Weight: 1360 lb, + 150 driver Vortex is by the SETS Racing Team, Enesburg Falls, Vermont is a 3-wheel vehicle built from plans. It has a wooden chassis. Motor: Advanced DC, 1.2 kw continuous, 3 kw peak Controller: Curtis SCR Control Unit Battery: 8640 Wh Speed: 35 - 50 MPH Range: 75 M (est) - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 4th American Tour de Sol Report; Monday-Tuesday, May 23-24, 1994 This year's ATdS had two starts. An "official" start that included New York City and State officials, plus US government and military officials, and a "race" start, where the cars actually started moving in competition. Monday was the "official" start, held in the literal shadow of the World Trade Center twin towers in Battery Park City. Along with static displays of the electric cars, a couple of electric buses and that electric armored troop carrier (mentioned earlier) there was a `Junior Solar Sprint' race where kids who had constructed cars of their own design, using a provided solar cell and motor, raced the cars about 100 feet along guide wires. It was another > perfect < day, except, because it was a normal work day, the entire city was in a thick brown haze, cause (by my reconning) by cars. Approaching the Holland Tunnel from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, I was facing the lower west side of the city. The haze was clearly visible up to about the 30th floor level. Anyone who saw that sight and then the electric cars had to understand the connection. Not all the cars were at the Monday display. After the "start", those cars that were present had to negotiate the Holland Tunnel, where 8 lanes of traffic are reduced to two. Some did, some went by trailer. I am told that "The Vortex" slipped a drive chain while in the tunnel, but I have not confirmed that with the team. Once at the Liberty Science Center in Liberty State Park (behind the Statue of Liberty), the cars were put on display for bus-loads of school kids and LSC members. They also did some required laps to qualify for the actual race. This caused a few anxious moments. For example, "Endura", the UC Davis/Powercell car, would not start. The reason turned out to be that the pot box (serves as accelerator pedal sensor) was not firmly fashioned down. I interpret the explanation I heard to be that the pot was never at the neutral position and the safety circuits in the controller refused to let the car "leap" forward when the system was turned on. Today, Tuesday, the "race start" occurred at the LSC on the 4th > perfect < day in a row. (Can we keep this up?) Most of the cars got away OK, but I have no details on the couple that did not. I do know that the Solar Bullet from Unetego High School suffered a suspension breakage when it hit a pot hole. Anyhow, the mid-day stop was at the Jersey Central Power and Light building in Morristown, NJ, and the final stop was at the North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, NJ. I hope to have end-of-first-race-day standings for tomorrow's posting. More Interviews: "The Potential Difference" is from Trenton State College was in last year's race. For 1994, they added a 12 V accessory battery for running accessories and the lap-top which records data while running. They also added a box to carry 10 auxiliary solar panels with them as they race. Since they are part of the car during the race, they are allowed to deploy them during the mid-day stop and charge, which could help them every-so-slightly in the range department. PV: 480 W Batteries: 18000 Wh, US Battery 1450s, lead acid Motor: Advanced DC, 23 kW continuous, 26 kW peak Controller: Curtis PMC 1221 B "The Dane Hovey Vehicle" is a 1975 MG-B converted to an MG-E by putting an approximately equivalent EV system. It was built over the past year with the ATdS as a target date. By the way, "Dane Hovey" is name of the unofficial partnership between Dan Raydock and Peter Howey; a misprint in a newspaper when they were rowing together just "stuck". The car is driven to work and in and around Philadelphia. Batteries: 120 V, Exide GC-5 Motor: Advanced DC 15 kW cont, 52.2 kW peak Controller: Curtis PCM 1200 series "The Electrical Storm" is a converted Geo Storm owned by Lauzun Corporation, which makes controllers for EVs. Dr. Qianyi Jiang is the designer of the controller in the car, which drives a brushless DC motor > and < a hydraulically activated continuously variable transmission. In last year's car, the continuously variable transmission was from a snowmobile. That transmission used flyweights to vary the drive ratio, but during regenerative braking it `did the wrong thing'. Now, the controller determines both the call for regenerative braking and the drive ratio at which it the motor/ generator is being driven. Dr. Jiang uses `fuzzy logic' software in her controllers. She claims more than 85% recovery of the kinetic energy. (!) More info: Lauzun Corporation, 718-476-1030 Batteries: 11400 Wh, Genesis Motor: Pacific Scientific DC brushless, 10.5 kW continuous, 31.5 peak, 6-phase Controller: Lauzun controller Ford Motor has 3 "Ecostars" traveling with the ATdS; 2 in the race and one strictly for display. They are demonstrating the Sodium Sulfur battery, invented by Ford in 1965; the patents have expired. Two German companies are now developing the prototypes. Sodium Sulfur boasts 80 Wh/kg; about 4 times lead-acid. The battery operates at 600 degrees F (~300 deg. C). If the batteries are charged and discharged in a steady use cycle, the batteries retain that temperature. If, however, they are not used for a long time, the battery goes dormant, or "freezes". It takes 12 hours to reheat the battery back to operating temperature. In the Ecostar, it takes 2-4 days for the pack to "freeze", depending on outside air temperature. The charging circuitry automatically maintains both charge and temperature. A single cell provides about 1.9 Volts. The cells in the Ecostar are long thin tubes, about 14 inches high. Ford sees 1998 as too soon for Ford to introduce EVs. The think that a pilot plant for high capacity advanced battery (such as the sodium sulfur) development, is a requisite first step, followed by a couple of years of "prove-out" before you can say that you have it right and move into commercial production. 2000 is a more reasonable year, in their opinion. Roberta Nichols, a manager in the Ford Electric Vehicle segment, provided this information. Ms Nichols also agreed to comment on the report of an Ecostar "burning up". Here is what she said. ``One of our customer cars out at EPRI, Electric Power Research Institute, had a battery that increased in temperature which resulted in (a) rear tire burning, but the vehicle itself didn't burn. It turned out that once we got the battery back to the manufacturer, ... it was one of four that they had manufactured using a slightly different process on the cells ... Three of those four were rejected, but they shipped the fourth one ... So we think it is an isolated incident.'' More info: 1-800-ALT-FUEL Batteries: 37000 Wh, ABB Sodium Sulfur Motor: GE 30 AC induction, 26 kW continuous, 56 kW peak Controller: GE IGBT technology Efficiency: approximately 300 Wh/mile "The Aztec" is the entry from the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Club. Very similar to last year's entry, this year's car is boasting about 40 Wh/mile(!) It's a 3-wheel vehicle, driven by a brushless DC motor to the rear wheel. There are 2 20-inch front wheels, 26 inch back wheel, cromolly steel tubular frame, body is carbon-fiber, honeycomb composite. It's claim to fame is a drag coefficient estimated to be 0.13 (about 1/3 of a regular car), light weight (780 pounds), thin tires, optimized suspension -- anything to make the car efficient. For the 1994 race the kinematics of the suspension and the drive train have been changed. The on-board instrumentation for the driver has been much improved. PV: 200 W, Astropower, poly-crystalline silicon Batteries: 6800 Wh Johnson controls lead acid Motor: Solectria DC brushless, 6.2 kW continuous, 11 kW peak Controller: Solectria - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 5th American Tour de Sol report; Wednesday, May 25, 1994 OK folks. What you have all been waiting for: > NUMBERS! < After Tuesday's run from the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City to the North Hunterdon High School in Anandale, NJ, 63.0 miles in two legs, the > unofficial < results are: POLE CAR TEAM NAME VEHICLE POLE POSITION NUMBER CATEGORY TIME 1 39 PA Ford Ecostar Production 1:14:16 2 63 Endura American Commuter 1:14:30 3 53 Solectria ForceGT Production 1:27:08 4 54 Solectria ForceRS 2Seat American Commuter 1:33:24 5 23 Fordd Ecostar American Commuter 1:37:23 6 25 Solar Flair American Commuter 1:53:14 7 55 Solectria E-10 American Commuter 1:56:29 8 12 Solar Bolt American Commuter 1:11:54 9 32 Sungo Tour de Sol Commuter 2:20:16 10 34 NAVC Solectria E-10 Production 2:35:42 11 45 RHAM Rod Tour de Sol Racing 2:49:50 12 50 Solar Delivery American Commuter 3:02:34 13 30 Aztec American Commuter 3:02:34 14 24 Genesis I American Commuter 3:13:50 15 20 ElecTruck American Commuter 3:13:50 16 76 SunDragon IV Tour de Sol Commuter 3:14:32 17 51 Eclectic Taxi American Commuter 3:15:21 18 21 Sunvox IV Cross Continental 3:27:46 19 33 Suntech American Commuter 3:30:22 20 48 Photon Tour de Sol Racing 3:31:16 21 60 Hopper EV Open 3:32:16 22 41 Lightning Volt American Commuter 3:32:19 23 16 Envirocycle I American Commuter 3:38:06 24 26 JCP&L TEVan Production 3:45:36 25 36 Northern Light II Cross Continental 3:55:06 26 29 Chevy S-10 Project e- American Commuter 4:08:18 27 18 Kineticar II American Commuter 4:11:14 28 22 Envirocycle I American Commuter 4:14:09 29 15 C-M Sunpacer American Commuter 4:24:25 30 37 Ottowa Orange II Cross Continental 4:33:21 31 62 Potential Difference American Commuter 4:34:21 32 47 SpiRIT Cross Continental 4:35:24 33 67 Liberty Belle Tour de Sol Racing 4:14:51 34 38 PECO TEVan Production 4:43:11 35 27 Electrical Storm American Commuter 4:44:28 36 58 TNE II Open 5:36:12 37 57 TIE-2 Open 5:47:42 38 19 The Dane Hovey Vehicle American Commuter 6:11:19 39 49 CityCat Open 8:16:59 40 14 Brookdale CC American Commuter 8:20:56 41 52 Vortex Tour de Sol Commuter 8:22:20 42 43 Golden Gear Special American Commuter 8:47:50 43 64 Sun Cycle II Open 9:29:27 44 66 Solar Bullet Tour de Sol Racing 9:53:00 46 11 Daystar Open 9:29:55 47 69 Mach .005 Tour de Sol Racing 11:30:00 48 17 The Vortex Open 49 28 Sparky American Commuter 50 35 Husky Sled American Commuter 51 44 Woodland Warrior American Commuter 52 46 Helios the Heron Tour de Sol Racing 53 61 US Electricar Sedan American Commuter 54 65 Spirit of Massachusetts Cross Continental 55 68 EXTREME Cross Continental 56 70 TBA Cross Continental Yes, yes, I know there are some inconsistencies between this and earlier postings and I can only say that I'm dancing as best I can. NONE OF THIS IS OFFICIAL and the race isn't over and the results are not published until NESEA says it is over and published. (217 more words of disclaimer elided.) "Vortex" and "The Vortex" are different cars. Vortex is the SETS Racing team car from Enosburg Falls, Vermont, and is the only one I have seen. Any prior reports on "The Vortex" refer to "Vortex", I think. Other information. Bob Larson of Argone National Labs, which is doing technical measurements during the race, awarded the first place Ford Ecostar team an efficiency award, which Ford donated to the North Hunterdon High School. The Ecostar got 5.48 miles per 1000 kiloWatt-hours (182.5 Wh/mile). I am told by the Electrical Storm team that they got 200 Wh/mile, and the Team New England (TNE II) is reported to have achieved 62 miles/kWh (16.1 Wh/mile)! At the beginning of Wednesday morning's run to Lyons PA, 3 cars did not make the starting flag: RHAM Rod, The Dane Hovey Vehicle and Potential Difference. All were rumored to have had battery/charging difficulties. Lyons PA is the home of East Penn Manufacturing Co, makers of the Deka line of batteries. They hosted the ATdS with plenty of good food under a big tent, a large staging area, and tours of their battery manufacturing and > recycling < facility. Their tour hand-out says that they recycle 100% of 25,000 lead-acid batteries every day, recovering lead, plastic and sulfuric acid. The lead goes back into batteries, the plastic goes back into cases, and the acid is used in a portion of the manufacturing. They make industrial and commercial batteries ranging in size from a couple of ounces to over 20,000 pounds! A video showed the big one. It must have been 10 feet, by 5 feet, by 4 feet, and is used in a mining application. If you are ever near Allentown PA, south east of it by about 20 miles is Lyons PA. Call and see if they will arrange a tour -- I found it well worthwhile. At 4 PM, the perfect and near perfect weather ended with a heavy, long lasting down pour. Having the big tent available made it much less of a mess than it might have been. - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 6th American Tour de Sol report; Wednesday, May 25, 1994 Followup on yesterday's posting about Deka Batteries from East Penn Manufacturing. More info: James Sikora, 215 682-6361 Sometimes the it is the non-electric things that get you. The ElecTruck from Dartmouth was being towed to Battery Park City with the rear wheels on the ground. While in tow, the transmission dropped into gear and destroyed the clutch. The team was able to find a replacement clutch in NJ. More interviews ... Dartmouth Solar Racing is racing Sunvox IV, which has been in the ATdS four years. This year's car has a new steering system and a beefed up rear suspension. They also had a on-board data collection system, but isn't working. Wheels: 3, 2 front, 1 rear PV: 480 W, Astropower, 232 monocrystaline Batteries: 72 V, 3666 Wh, US Battery, lead-acid Motor: Solectria DC brushless, 8.2 kW continuous, 15.4 kW peak Controller: Solectria BRLS 150 The Mach .05 was built by 12 students (8 ME, 4 EE, and 2 from the Art Dept) at the University of Vermont in Burlington. They estimate 5000 person-hours spent working on the car since September, and a cost of about $8,000. There is 5 speed small "'70s era" Kawasaki transmission, and a custom-made drive hub. Gear shifting is performed by a windshield wiper motor. The front wheels are on a twin A-arm suspension, and hydraulic front brakes. The rear wheel is supported by 3 segments derived from old down-hill skis! Each ski's flex geometry is printed right on the skis. They have been watching them to see if there has been any stress relaxation; so far - none. The body is made from box steel and box and tubular aluminum. Wheels: 3, 2 front, 1 rear PV: 420 W, Siemens, monocrystaline silicon Batteries: 120 V, 3500 Wh, Johnson Controls, deep cycle lead-acid Motor: 3.5 HP brushed DC, 3 kW continuous, 4 kW peak, Inertial PM Controller: Solectria DC 100H Scott Isgar from Staten Island NY has a converted '82 Voltswagon Vanagan that used to be a diesel, had 140,000 miles on it when it was burning a little oil. Between the choices of a new engine, truck or conversion, he chose to turn it into the "Solar Delivery", with his friend and mechanic Angilo Esposto. It is now 2 years old, 15000 miles, about 650 cycles on the batteries. On the back of the van, Scott has written: "You are following NYC's first commuting battery electric vehicle. Charging for 60 miles is about $1.30. As compared to an internal combustion engine, you need not buy things like, gas, oil, filters, points, catalytic converter, plugs, mufflers, radiators, antifreeze, distributor caps, tune ups, emission tests, fan belts, timing belts, gasket, water pumps, starter, hoses, rings, valves." It is painted in blue and yellow and is quite a stand-out. Angelo has been a mechanic for over 30 years. He says that garages put out a lot of waste that goes to dumps. A lot of items in that list above contribute to the land-fill problems. He thinks that EVs will help reduce the amount of "garage garbage." PV: 480 W, Siemens, on the roof, can be tilted to either side. Batteries: 96 V, ? kWh, 16 Trojan T-145, lead-acid Motor: Advanced DC, 15 kW continuous, 30 kW peak Controller: Curtis 1221-B Tires: Goodyear Invicta GAL Sungo is from New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord. It is built from welded aluminum box tubing. Each rear wheel has it's own motor, belt drive. Last year the two motors had two, separate pot boxes, one for each controller. Now one pot box drives an isolation control unit that talks to both controllers and allows the controllers to communicate, which helps stability when under way. There are also new lighter brakes and wheels. The body is fiberglass over foam. Wheels: 4 13-inch tires on aluminum rims PV: 96 W, Solectria monocrystaline Batteries: 96 V, 7200 Wh, Sears, lead-acid deep cycle Motors: 2 Solectria DC brushless, 8.2 kW continuous, 11 HP Controllers: 2 Solectria 180 A The Golden Gear Special is from Reading-Muhlenberg Vo-Tech in Reading, PA. They sponsored by Metropolitan Edison and General Public Utilities. It is a 1987 Fiero GT converted by the students. It is a racing equipped car, with 5-point racing harness, roll cage, etc. Essentially the entire school was involved in the car, from completely reworked interior to decals; about 120 students were involved. The motor is not directly connected to the transmission. Instead a toothed belt makes the connection, allowing them change the motor-to-transmission drive ratio (currently 7:1), and also prevents misalignment caused by the motor hanging off the transmission. Unfortunately, the students could not get out of school for the race, so the car is being driven by one of the advisors. It is a very clean looking car. Batteries: 120 V, ? Wh, 10 12 V Exide, lead-acid Motor: Advanced DC Series wound, 15 kW continuous, 52.2 kW peak Controller: Curtis, MOSFET The Solar Bullet is from Unatego High School from Olego (upstate) NY. One of the "door-stop wedge" shaped cars, it is made of steel tubing and this is the 3rd year in the ATdS. Since last year they have cleaned up the alignment and got the bugs out. The team is 3 girls and 1.5 boys (one guy has a broken arm). PV: 8 panels, 396 W, Kyocara polycrystaline Batteries: 48 V, 6800 Wh, Trojan T-105, lead-acid (3rd year in use) Motor: Advanced DC Controller: Sevcon The Salsbury School from Salsbury, CT, has entered the "Photon" in the race. The front suspension is from a Yamaha ATV, the single rear wheel is from a motorcycle. The car was 3 years in the making. The first year was research and design, the 2nd year was building and this year is testing, evaluation and racing. The ATdS is it's debut. Side of the car has the names of all the people involved painted on it; I'm guessing about 30 names. During the LSC to Morristown leg, they suffered a flat less than a mile from the finish line. PV: 480 W, Solarex silicon, 13% conversion. Batteries: 84 V, 4800 Wh, Sears DieHard lead-acid Motor: Solectria BRSL 8, brushless. Controller: Solectria BRSL 100H Team New England is made up of people from MIT, University of Massachusetts, Boston University, plus others and they built the "TNE" vehicle to race in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. They didn't do as well as they wanted to, but the decided to modify the car to compete in the "city" environments that are a big part of the ATdS. It is a > tiny < 3-wheel car, weighing 400 pounds, and it sits > very < low to the ground; doesn't even come up above my knee. The front wheels are mounted on ski sections. It is also very aero dynamic. In the ATdS configuration, they are estimating that they can do 200-250 miles on a charge. In Australia, they did 400 miles on a charge on silver-zinc batteries! At 70 MPH! I'm told that the first day it got 62 miles/kiloWatt (16.1 Wh/mile)! PV: 20 W, Spacetrolab/Lockheed Batteries: 5000 Wh, ICI/Sears lead-acid Motor: Solectria BRLS 8, 6 kW continuous, 12 kW peak Controller: Solectria - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 7th American Tour de Sol report; Thursday May 26, 1994 Standings after the second day of racing ... these are in a different format. Total Adjusted Race Time and Total Miles are separate, mostly unrelated measures. No, I cannot explain it, as I don't have a rule book (not sure I'd want to try even if I did). I can tell you that Race Time includes rewards and penalties and total miles includes "extra laps" after completing the point-A-to-point-B run each day. As before, NONE OF THIS IS OFFICIAL UNTIL NESEA SAYS IT IS. STANDING TEAM TOTAL ADUSTED TOTAL RACE TIME MILES Production 1 39 PA Ford Ecostar 0:50:20 323.3 2 23 Ford Ecostar 1:11:37 330.0 3 53 Solectria ForceGT 1:27:44 293.4 4 34 NAVC Solectria E-10 4:10:16 159.1 5 26 JCP&L TEVan 5:42:17 124.3 6 38 PECO TEVan 6:49:09 129.0 7 61 US Electricar (not racing) American Commuter 1 54 Solectria ForceRS 2-seat 0:39:43 355.6 2 63 Endura 1:03:14 311.7 3 12 Solar Bolt 2:42:53 258.6 4 25 Solar Flair 2:52:27 220.8 5 55 Solectria E-10 3:51:30 173.3 6 25 Genesis I 4:38:34 179.2 7 45 RHAM Rod 4:38:50 169.5 8 50 Solar Delivery 5:16:54 134.1 9 41 Lightning Volt 6:10:04 144.4 10 29 Chevy S-10 Project e- 6:24:05 144.4 11 20 ElecTruck 6:36:07 124.3 12 18 Kineticar II 6:52:53 124.3 13 51 Eclectic Taxi 8:59:31 118.7 14 27 Electrical Storm 11:16:43 107.0 15 14 Brookdale CC 12:35:11 111.9 16 43 Golden Gear Special 14:39:12 111.9 17 62 Potential Difference 15:29:02 66.3 18 19 The Dane Hovey Vehicle 17:24:19 58.8 19 44 Woodland Warrior (not racing) 20 42 KA1000 (not racing) 21 28 Sparky (not racing) Tour de Sol Commuter 1 30 Aztec 3:52:28 189.5 2 32 Sungo 4:04:25 187.2 3 52 Vortex 15:25:25 79.1 Tour de Sol Racing 1 33 Suntech 6:06:01 124.3 2 48 Photon 6:28:35 124.3 3 21 Sunvox IV 8:01:51 120.9 4 67 Liberty Belle 14:25:01 71.6 5 69 Mach .05 14:26:32 69.7 6 56 Patriot 21:06:00 30.6 7 35 Husky Sled (not racing) 8 46 Helios the Heron (not racing -- but HERE!) Cross Continental 1 76 SunDragon IV 6:28:44 124.3 2 36 Northern Light II 7:52:27 124.3 3 47 SpiRIT 11:15:58 124.3 4 37 Ottowa Orange II 12:24:46 96.5 5 68 EXTREME 23:59:00 2.5 6 59 Kirenjaku III (not racing) 7 65 Spirit of Massachusetts (not racing) 8 70 TBA (not racing) Open 1 60 Hopper EV 5:53:10 124.3 2 15 C-M Sunpacer 8:05:19 124.3 3 16 Envirocycle I 9:15:24 124.3 4 49 CityCat 9:50:47 115.4 5 57 TIE-2 10:16:37 109.7 6 58 TNE II 10:52:52 147.1 7 22 Envirocycle II 18:01:02 70.8 8 11 Daystar 18:51:11 60.8 9 64 Sun Cycle II 20:42:27 30.6 10 66 Solar Bullet 20:42:55 30.6 11 17 THE VORTEX (not racing) Today, Thursday, was when the ATdS went to the Mayfair in Allentown, PA. The Mayfair is a food, music, crafts, arts, what-have-you event that runs from May 26 through May 30. Last night I visited the high school where all the cars that don't get there juice from the sun were plugged into the portable charging station which travels with the race. The charging station is a BIG electrical panel that is wired into the grid, I suspect it's almost like a sub-station. It then provides either 110 or 208 VAC, and lots of orange or black extension cords snake from the cars (parked all around it) to the plugs mounted on the panel. I'd guess that 40 of the cars were plugged in last night. The two TEVans are being charged off the Norvik Minut Charger, which is a trailer unto itself. It contains a big portable generator and the Norvik electronics, and can bring the TEVans up to 80% charge in 20 minutes. Topping off the charge to 100% takes much longer, as the batteries' ability to accept charging decreases with increased state of charge. After the usual 40 mile lap and display, there was a hill-climb test. The cars started at a standing start and climbed a hill I'd guess to be 1/8 of a mile long and maybe a 6% grade. My unofficial observations are that all of the Production category cars and the UC Davis Endura (all of which have AC induction drive) climbed the hill quickly and easily. Most of the pick-up truck conversions were a bit to a lot slower, but still climbed the hill. (While we were doing this, there was normal traffic on the hill and some of the smaller gasoline cars were slow climbing also.) The Drexel SunDragon Cross Continental car made it up the hill OK, and the SpiRIT from RIT also made it up, but at a very slow rate. For those asking for info on the MG-B conversion to an MG-E (The Dane Hovey Vehicle), call Peter Howey at 215 849-4800. M-F, 9-5 Eastern. More interviews ... A note needs to be made about Helios the Heron. This is a car built by The Riverside School in Lyndonville, VT; an independent school for students grades 4-8. They have been with the race since Sunday, working hard on getting their vehicle ready. It has been on display several times, including today. Helios is the Sun god, and the Heron is the school mascot -- hence it is a sun bird. The solar cells are round, 2-inch diameter disks, and there are 480 of them glued all over the car with silicon. It is a front-wheel drive, front wheel steering 3-wheel vehicle. The rear wheel only has brakes. The front wheel drive has been bending the spoked front wheels. The 6 elementary (5 in 8th grade, 1 in 7th) students started in November. PV: 375 W, ARCO (seconds), trace controller Batteries: 72 V, 4750 Wh, Sears DieHard Motor: GE DC traction, 14.9 kW continuous, 25 kW peak Controller: GE computer The Liberty Belle was built by 20 people at University of Pennsylvania. It originated as a senior (class of '94) design project for 8 mechanical engineers, and 1 materials engineer. The body is a monocote design made of 5 layers of carbon fiber between 2 layers of Kevlar over Nomex honeycomb. The body shape was made by designing the body on a CAD program. Then the cross-sections were plotted out on sheets of 1-inch thick foam. The cross-sections were glued together to form a solid model called a "plug". The plug was used to form the body parts made of the sandwiches of materials. A Stack data recording system, the same type of unit as use in Indy cars, collects various voltages and currents in 512 K bytes of memory every second. The 3 wheels are of custom design and construction, again out of composite materials. There is no transmission between the motor and rear drive wheel, just a 2-step chain drive. Each day they anticipate their driving needs and put in the drive ratio they think is best for that day. PV: 480 W, Astropower, monocrystaline silicon, 17 modules in series, peak power tracker Batteries: 96 V, 3800 Wh Power Sonic lead-acid Motor: Uniq Mobility DC brushless, 8.4 kW continuous Controller: Uniq Mobility The public address system for the ATdS is being provided by Richard Gottlieb and Carol Levin (husband and wife) known as Sunnyside Solar, in Brattleboro VT. Their van has a 200 W solar panel on the roof, which charges a 24 V battery pack. This in turn is passed through a 500 W sine-wave inverter to provide 110 VAC for a sound board and speakers. A recording monitor watches the system, and so far, in the course of the race, the PV array has produced 3383 Watt hours, and the sound system has consumed 2550 Watt hours, all from the sun. More info: 802 257-1482 Chris deYoung was the driver for the Ottawa Hills High School team last year. He, Brad Anderson, and Stephen Steele have formed a company called Electrum Enterprises. They have plans to build an on-board computer which would act as an economy-meter for electric cars. They also do electric vehicle consulting. Right now they are helping a high school design an Electrathon (miniature EV racing) vehicle. They formed the company 2 months ago. More info: 616 247-0394 Lin Higley of Olvonic Battery Company spoke with me about the nickel metal hydride battery pack being run in the Solectria ForceRS 2-seat. This car is a stripped-down-to-the-essentials beast, with a small ((to my eyes)) battery box. Yesterday, it went 215 miles on a single charge. The battery is made up of 20 modules, 145 V, about 27,000 Watts, weighing 700-800 pounds (the weight of a gasoline engine) with about 3-times the energy density of a lead-acid system. Each cell is 1.3 Volts, 10 cells per module. While the pack in this car is unspeakably expensive, the claim is that volume production could bring the cost to about $5000 per car, maybe in 2 years. Lin drives an EV running on these batteries and last winter, in -40 degrees F., he says he had no problem driving. In fact, he picked up people who had been stranded by their gasoline cars. An odd feature of these batteries is, as they discharge, they tend to cool themselves; the discharge reaction is endothermic. "Think of it as hydrogen gas expanding out of the plates. ... yet, because it is hydrogen chemistry ... which has the fastest (ion) transport. So whether it is cold or hot, you still are able to get the energy." The charge characteristics are easy to read and so a charger can easily detect full charge. More info: 313 362-1750 The Sun Cycle II was built by UFX Enterprises of Conshohocken PA. It is a BMW motorcycle frame (drive-shaft model) that has had two motors mounted on it. The bike starts out on one motor, for acceleration, and the other is for cruising. The driver manually switches between the controllers at about 35 MPH. Both motors can be used during hill climbing. Two pot boxes are connected to the hand-throttle. The motors are connected to the drive shaft by Kevlar toothed belts made by Berg. The bike started running last Thursday, but one of the belts broke on Wednesday. PV: 200 W, Kyocera polycrystaline Batteries: 48 V, 6240 Wh, Trojan T-105, lead-acid Motors: 2 Pacific Scientific DC Permanent Magnet brushed, 1.3 kW continuous, 3.5 kW peak, each Controllers: 2 Curtis MOSFET PWM Suntech, from New Hampshire Technical Institute, has been in the ATdS since 1989. They have placed in 1st (last year), 2nd, and 3rd in the Tour de Sol Racing category. This year the car has a new solar panels on a new "wing", new suspension and a new steering system. The most efficient speed is between 25 and 35 MPH. PV: 478 W, Solectria monocrystaline, 12% efficient Batteries: 72 V, 3000 Wh, Bede Picher lead-acid Motor: MPM Brushless DC, 3 kW continuous, 10 kW peak Controller: custom IGBT The Eclectic Taxi is being raced by the SETS Racing Team of the Enosburg Falls, VT, Vocation Center. It is a 1980 Renault LeCar that the team acquired partially converted. They finished it up and raced it last year. PV: 20 W, student built Batteries: 52 V, 25000 Wh, Trojan T-145, lead-acid Motor: Advanced DC Controller: student built SCR - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 8th American Tour de Sol report; Friday May 27, 1994 Standings after the third day of racing ... As before, NONE OF THIS IS OFFICIAL UNTIL NESEA SAYS IT IS. STANDING TEAM TOTAL ADUSTED TOTAL RACE TIME MILES Production 1 39 PA Ford Ecostar 1:47:23 390.7 2 23 Ford Ecostar 2:07:26 397.4 3 53 Solectria ForceGT 2:24:13 360.8 4 34 NAVC Solectria E-10 5:39:13 220.9 5 26 JCP&L TEVan 9:24:43 182.7 6 38 PECO TEVan 10:32:12 181.8 7 61 US Electricar (not racing) American Commuter 1 54 Solectria ForceRS 2-seat 1:36:01 423.0 2 63 Endura 1:59:11 379.1 3 12 Solar Bolt 3:43:17 326.0 4 25 Solar Flair 3:52:44 288.2 5 55 Solectria E-10 5:23:41 235.1 7 45 RHAM Rod 5:46:06 236.9 6 25 Genesis I 5:54:09 241.0 8 50 Solar Delivery 6:44:55 195.9 9 41 Lightning Volt 7:32:04 211.8 10 29 Chevy S-10 Project e- 7:57:41 206.2 12 18 Kineticar II 8:21:42 186.1 18 19 The Dane Hovey Vehicle 11:01:50 181.9 13 51 Eclectic Taxi 13:11:58 171.5 11 20 ElecTruck 16:24:07 133.3 15 14 Brookdale CC 16:57:39 170.3 17 62 Potential Difference 17:19:14 128.1 16 43 Golden Gear Special 19:17:37 164.7 14 27 Electrical Storm 21:04:43 116.0 19 44 Woodland Warrior (not racing) 20 42 KA1000 (not racing) 21 28 Sparky (not racing) Tour de Sol Commuter 1 30 Aztec 4:52:20 256.9 2 32 Sungo 5:30:39 254.6 3 52 Vortex 19:26:25 122.8 Tour de Sol Racing 1 21 Sunvox IV 5:49501 182.7 2 48 Photon 8:13:57 168.1 3 33 Suntech 13:28:01 124.3 (dropped out of race) 4 67 Liberty Belle 16:39:35 109.8 5 69 Mach .05 21:36:50 82.9 6 56 Patriot 25:36:17 86.8 7 35 Husky Sled (not racing) 8 46 Helios the Heron (not racing -- but HERE!) Cross Continental 1 76 SunDragon IV 7:58:23 177.1 2 36 Northern Light II 12:34:46 177.1 3 47 SpiRIT 13:37:33 177.1 4 37 Ottowa Orange II 14:09:54 143.7 5 68 EXTREME 32:52:00 2.5 6 59 Kirenjaku III (not racing) 7 65 Spirit of Massachusetts (not racing) 8 70 TBA (not racing) Open 1 15 C-M Sunpacer 8:05:19 186.1 2 49 CityCat 9:50:47 168.2 3 58 TNE II 10:52:52 203.3 4 57 TIE-2 10:16:37 154.7 5 60 Hopper EV 5:53:10 124.3 (dropped out of race) 6 16 Envirocycle I 9:15:24 143.5 7 22 Envirocycle II 18:01:02 85.8 8 11 Daystar 18:51:11 60.8 9 64 Sun Cycle II 20:42:27 30.6 10 66 Solar Bullet 20:42:55 30.6 11 17 THE VORTEX (not racing) By the way, there are no hybrid vehicles in this year's race. The Cornell Flash, which is listed as a hybrid, did not show up. Ottawa Hills only ran a part of today's (Friday's) leg. With the rain on Thursday, the Ottawa Orange II did not get much sun and hence not much charge. The rules regarding plugging in for the Cross Continental cars are such that they decided not to run much today, charge in the sun this afternoon (and there is a lot of sun) and making a full run tomorrow. Two of the three cars from New Hampshire Technical Institute have dropped out of the race, Hopper EV and Suntech. The Hopper EV suffered a sheared pin in the steering while in yesterday's run. The pin was under spec (an unfortunate surprise) and therefore just replacing it was not an acceptable option. Since the Suntech car has the identical steering, and presumably an under spec pin, they decided to not risk it and pull Suntech from the race also. More interviews ... Bob Larson of Argone National Labs and a couple of people from his group are traveling with the race taking technical measurements. Many of the cars have watt-hour meters provided by Argone built-in and, as the race progresses, some of the cars are being equipped with a "Model EV Memory Module" that records second-by-second data on the electrical efficiency of the vehicle. The module can record 11.5 hours of samples taken every second. Later the data is down loaded and analyzed. When I talked to Bob, he was in the process of installing one in the Solectria car that is running the nickel- metal hydride battery. They have been taking data from the "vehicles of interest". For example, the small, light, slick Team New England TNE II car got 20 miles/kiloWatt-hour (50 Wh/mile). The module includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, so each sample includes latitude and longitude, voltage, current, kiloWatt-hours, and time. It can also collect output from an "inclinometer" (measures incline), but only one car has that meter permanently installed, so that data is only coming from that car. Physically, the module is (eye-ball measurements) 1.25 x 6 x 14 inches. Weighs (hand-held measurement) a little over a pound. It was developed for Argone. More info: Cruising Equipment Company, 206 782-8100 Chrysler is producing 50 TEVans in 1994 and two TEVans are running in the ATdS. One is running nickel-iron batteries and the other is running nickel- cadmium. The car is based on the Caravan frame, beefed up to handle the extra weight. The charger can accommodate either 240 VAC 3-phase or 208 VAC single phase current. The battery packs are mounted mid-ships under the floor. JCP&L has been using the the vans as shuttle vans for picking up people at the train station, and for employee-loans for short trips. Both TEVans are being charged off the Norvik Minut Charge system. The system is designed to drive the charge into the battery pack at the maximum rate it can comfortably accept without driving the current faster than it should. The charger brings the TEVans to 80% of full charge in 20 minutes; 100% though takes a lot longer. There is a software program (proprietary and patented) that determines how the battery is doing, and that determines the charging profile. The system has been tried on many different battery chemistries; lead-acid, nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal hydride, nickel-zinc, silver-zinc, and lithium-polymer, and is said work well on all of them. Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) Batteries: 60-80,000 Wh, SAFT, nickel-cadmium Motor: GE DC, 54 kW continuous Controller: Chrysler PECO Energy Company Batteries: 36,000 Wh, Eagle Picher, nickel-iron Motor: GE DC, 26 kW continuous, 52 kW peak Controller: GE Solectria is running 4 cars in the race, with 3 different types of batteries; nickel-metal hydride, nickel-cadmium, and recombinant (gel) lead-acid. The nickel-metal hydride battery is a 900 pound pack from Olvonic. The car has 2 brushless DC motors driving, in tandem, the front-wheel drive Geo Metro. The car itself is configured as a racing car, completely stripped of everything non-essential. It got 215 miles on a charge on Wednesday. (This car was supposed to run with the new Solectria Universal Motor Controller (UMoC), but it wasn't ready. Instead it is running with the UMoC power stage, but a more conventional controller logic.) The nickel-cadmium battery powered car is the 2-seat ForceGT, also a converted Geo Metro. It is a production car, equipped as a passenger vehicle, and is actually a customer's car. It has dual AC induction motors and controllers, and develops 68 HP in a 2200 pound car. This car costs $50,000 (down from $65,000!) and gets between 100-120 miles per charge on a Federal Urban Driving (FUD) cycle. In the race they are getting about 145 miles/charge. The Solectria E-10 is another production car and is being driven by the Northeast Alternative Vehicle Consortium (NAVC). It uses lead-acid recombinant batteries and dual AC induction motors. The other E-10 is an prototype vehicle, and uses flooded lead-acid batteries and dual AC induction motors. ForceRS 2 seat Batteries: 27,000 kW, Olvonic, nickel-metal hydride Motors: 2 Solectria BRLS 11, 6 kW continuous, 20 kW peak, each Controllers: Solectria ForceGT Batteries: ??? nickel-cadmium Motors: 2 Solectria ACgtx20 AC induction, 8 kW continuous, 21 kW peak, each production E-10 (NAVC) Batteries: 19,000 Wh, GNB sealed lead-acid Motors: 2 Solectria ACgtx20 AC induction, 42 kW continuous, 56 kW peak Controllers: Solectria AC 399 (216V) prototype E-10 Bateries: 24,000 Wh, GNB sealed lead-acid Motors: 2 Solectria ACgtx20 AC induction, 42 kW continuous, 56 kW peak Controllers: Solectria All of the cars are using Solectria microprocessor controlled chargers which use custom charging profiles for the particular battery pack installed in the vehicle. If the battery pack is changed, the profile can be customized easily. This is not the quick-charge charger made by EPTI in Norcross, GA, used in the 24-hour run earlier this year. NAVC, DOT ARPA, and Boston Edison is funding Solectria to develop a "purpose built" electric vehicle prototype, called the Sunrise Project, to the tune of $1.2 million. They are developing a crash-worthy, light-weight, composite material frame and body, and efficient drive system. Stay tuned. More info: Solectria, 508 658-2231 - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 9th American Tour de Sol report; Saturday May 28, 1994 Final standings after five days of racing ... As before, NONE OF THIS IS OFFICIAL UNTIL NESEA SAYS IT IS. STANDING TEAM TOTAL ADUSTED TOTAL RACE TIME MILES Production 1 39 PA Ford Ecostar 2:30:31 598.5 2 23 Ford Ecostar 2:53:04 612.2 3 53 Solectria ForceGT 3:59:25 547.6 4 34 NAVC Solectria E-10 8:21:06 337.7 5 26 JCP&L TEVan 12:50:29 285.5 6 38 PECO TEVan 14:28:48 274.6 7 61 US Electricar (did not race) American Commuter 1 54 Solectria ForceRS 2-seat 2:53:04 658.8 2 63 Endura 2:58:02 572.9 3 12 Solar Bolt 5:49:19 463.8 4 25 Solar Flair 7:26:49 426.0 5 55 Solectria E-10 7:28:25 400.0 6 45 RHAM Rod 8:10:26 360.7 7 25 Genesis I 8:31:29 350.8 8 41 Lightning Volt 10:23:09 321.6 9 29 Chevy S-10 Project e- 11:14:23 316.0 10 18 Kineticar II 11:50:00 295.9 11 50 Solar Delivery 12:25:34 305.7 12 19 The Dane Hovey Vehicle 16:18:10 270.7 13 51 Eclectic Taxi 16:56:27 260.3 14 20 ElecTruck 21:53:49 219.4 15 14 Brookdale CC 22:04:03 259.1 16 62 Potential Difference 22:08:16 223.9 17 43 Golden Gear Special 25:01:19 260.5 18 27 Electrical Storm 25:36:31 211.8 19 44 Woodland Warrior (did not race) 20 42 KA1000 (did not race) 21 28 Sparky (did not race, but showed up for the finish) Tour de Sol Commuter 1 30 Aztec 7:30:55 401.7 2 32 Sungo 8:55:19 364.4 3 52 Vortex 27:58:48 206.0 Tour de Sol Racing 1 48 Photon 11:56:21 256.9 2 21 Sunvox IV 20:37:08 271.5 3 67 Liberty Belle 27:52:22 150.6 4 33 Suntech 30:16:01 124.3 (dropped out of race) 5 69 Mach .05 31:38:18 171.7 6 56 Patriot 33:01:44 175.6 7 35 Husky Sled (did not race) 8 46 Helios the Heron (did not race -- but HERE!) Cross Continental 1 76 SunDragon IV 11:25:36 217.1 2 36 Northern Light II 17:58:35 260.3 3 47 SpiRIT 18:06:03 265.9 4 37 Ottowa Orange II 35:28:27 194.3 5 68 EXTREME 49:40:00 51.3 6 59 Kirenjaku III (did not race) 7 65 Spirit of Massachusetts (did not race) 8 70 TBA (did not race) Open 1 49 CityCat 16:20:13 264.0 2 57 TIE-2 18:59:43 299.1 3 58 TNE II 19:19:59 285.5 4 16 Envirocycle I 21:24:26 199.3 5 15 C-M Sunpacer 26:45:57 186.1 6 60 Hopper EV 33:59:10 124.3 (dropped out of race) 7 22 Envirocycle II 37:23:38 109.8 8 64 Sun Cycle II 41:58:17 92.1 9 11 Daystar 46:58:17 60.8 10 66 Solar Bullet 48:53:55 30.6 11 17 THE VORTEX (did not race) There were a pile of awards given out at the awards ceremony, and I was not able to keep up with all the numbers read aloud, but the one that did stick was and efficiency number for the TNE II car -- 16.4 Wh/mile. Bob Larson of Argone National laboratories said that when they first saw that number they thought that there might be something wrong with their instruments. But on checking, the number held up. Some other random numbers: Miles/charge seen: Solectria ForceRS with Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries 214.2 Ford Ecostar with Sodium-Sulfur batteries 188.6 TIE-2 motorcycle with lead-acid batteries 107 There is much more I want to post, but I'll put this up now and send the rest later. - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 10th American Tour de Sol report Here I begin to catch up with the interviews and observations taken during the race but didn't have time to post until now ... Sun Cycle II had been out of the race on the Tuesday of the race with a broken belt. But by Friday the bike was back and ready to race. They had taken the bike back to their home outside of Philadelphia and found replacement belts, which required modifying the drive pulleys, exchanged one of the two motors because it had overheated, and added a cooling fan to each of the motors. They had considered using ducting for cooling, but it didn't work out. On Friday, Sun Cycle II completed their run, but on Saturday they appear not to have made it all the way to the Franklin Institute finish line; I don't know why. Mankato State University (Minnesota) entered the Northern Light II in the Cross Continental class. A cromolly frame supports a nomex and fiberglass body that is very rectangular. The driver's head sticks up out of a field of solar cells, and in fact the entire top has to be taken off to get the driver in and out of the car. The car finished 16th in Sunrayce '93 and then competed in Japan were it took 1st place. After this ATdS, this car will be retired and the Northern Light III will built for the next Sunrayce. The front 2 wheels are for steering and brakes, 1 rear wheel is drive and regenerative braking, and the 4th wheel is just an idler. It is said to handle very well. PV: 1000 W, Siemens, 736 cells Batteries: 108 V, 5000 Wh, Pulsar racing batteries Motor: Solectria DC brushless, 1.9 kW continuous 5.9 kW peak Controller: Solectria The Envirocycles (I and II) are from Central Connecticut State University's Solar/Electric Research Team. I is a two-wheeled bike with a top speed of 55 MPH and a range of 75 miles, based on a Honda NS 50 motorcycle. This was the 3rd ATdS for this bike. For this year, the bike went from 36 to 48 V, changed to sealed batteries, changed the gear ratio for maximum efficiency at 35 MPH added a faring, and did a little more testing. One of the drivers really enjoyed the quiet when out on country roads. II is a three-wheeled trike made from various parts and is in day-to-day use with the New Britain CT Police Department. This is its 2nd ATdS. Last year it was configured for racing with a 72 V system, 8 HP GE motor, could get 85 miles per charge and won in the Open category. This year, it was reconverted for actual police department use. It now only has a 35 mile range, but it is lighter weight, more aesthetically pleasing, and does the job the police department wants; they only wanted a 15 mile range. Lot's of police along the race have had many positive comments. It is the goal of the team to demonstrate the practical aspects of electric motor bikes. About 30 people were involved with getting the bikes in the race. ((I must say that the Central Connecticut support vehicle is > the < one to beat in the ATdS. Last year and this they arrived with what I can only describe as a rolling building. It comes complete with welding equipment, drill press, and other tools, and the CCSU folks have helped many of the other teams in their (usually late) hour of crisis.)) Envirocycle I (2 wheels) Batteries: 48 V, 4 GNB EV1180, sealed lead-acid Motor: 6 inch Advanced DC Controller: Curtiss Envirocycle II (3 wheels) Batteries: 72 V, 6 Trojan SCS 225 lead-acid Motor: Advanced DC Controller: Curtiss Sometimes the rules make you do things that don't look quite right to the uninformed. Ottawa Hills Orange II chose to trailer from Allentown to Boyertown on Friday because they did not get enough sun on Thursday. Instead of choosing to charge from the plug overnight, which incurred a 10 hour penalty, they chose to trailer, which cost them less. Since the sun was bright on Friday, they were able to fully charge and made the run to Philadelphia on Saturday. Friday we stopped at the Boyertown Museum of Historical Vehicles. Edna Dierolf told me that the museum was founded in 1965 by Paul Hafer, president of Boyertown Auto Body Works. He determined that this corner of Pennsylvania had a very active automotive industry between 1900 and 1915. He collected vehicles that originated in the area, including cars, bicycles, and horse- drawn vehicles, including a Conastoga wagon. But the reason we were there is that they have one of the largest displays of Electric Vehicles in the country. The Eastern Electric Vehicle club actively supports the museum, including restoring the EVs to running order. There is a working 1920 Detroit Electric "Ladies Car", a working 1915 bus, and a working 1930 Model A Ford station wagon which was converted during World War II to get around the gas rationing. More info: (610) 367-2090, 18 Warwick Street, Boyertown PA, Tue-Sun 10-4 Dr. Robert Wills of Skyline Engineering works in large scale photovoltaic systems, large battery systems, and large power electronic systems (50 kW and up). He helped found the ATdS 6 years ago and has been the Technical Director for all of them. He sees two dramatic changes in this year's ATdS. This is the first year that any car has broken the 200 mile barrier. ((The Solectria ForceRS ran 214.2 miles on a charge on May 25th.)) Three year's ago, they were excited when the first cars crossed the 100 mile barrier and now the Nickel- Metal Hydride battery looks to be very likely to be a reasonable near-term solution to the range problem that has plagued EVs since day 1. Robert talks about the Hyperbole Factor when discussing new technology. The HF is generally between 2 to 5, to be applied to the time in which new technology will be available, the performance, the weight, or the cost. So this year, the sealed and recombinant batteries are the technologies that are proving themselves for the first time. The quick charge systems and the sodium-sulfur and nickel- metal hydride batteries are still subject to the HF. His vote for the "car I want to take home" last year was Sungo, because it started a new class of vehicle that you could call a "community car". In Europe there is a whole class of cars with specs not too different from Sungo's driven by the fact that 16 year old drivers are limited in speed and horsepower by their license. This year was a difficult call. The Ford Ecostars were beautifully executed, but the sodium-sulfur batteries suffer from high standby loss, they have to be kept hot, and he thinks they really have to be babied. Even given the 100 Wh/kg that only addresses the bare materials. It isn't clear how much the containment eats into the actual energy density. On the other hand the Solectria ForceRS with the nickel-metal hydride battery was impressive not only in range, but virtually none of the cargo space was taken up by the pack. With a claimed 80 Wh/kg possible (almost 3x lead-acid) in much less elaborate containment it is quite impressive. Robert had one final comment. Battery technology has been with us for more than a hundred years and wasn't making any major advancement until recently. But in these last few years there have been massive improvements driven by and cross-fertilized by the growth in portable appliances and electronics, portable tools, portable computers, and now EVs. Those who thought that the range of batteries were the problem were right, but there is plenty of evidence that, now and in the future, the battery technology is crossing that line that makes EVs practical. And one had only to look at the visible pollution in the air over New York City on Monday to see that they are ultimately a necessity. - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 11th American Tour de Sol report, the last one. The smallest EV in the race was the 2-wheeled CityCat (TM) from Schiller Power Group. A wee smaller than a Vespa, the City Clean Air Transportation (hence it's name) is a clean, quiet and really quite impressive little bike. It came in first in the Open category, and turned in 61.3 miles/charge on Wednesday. The chassis is steel with plastic farings and covers. Quoted range is 60 miles; 242 pounds; top speed 50 MPH; efficiency 37 Wh/mile; "approximately $3000." I saw it several times just scooting about and was quite impressed with its quiet quickness. The team was also showing a prototype solar panel made from nanocrystalline titanium-dioxide and quoted at 15% efficiency at $0.09/kWh - "competitive with utility grid power." There was one slight miss- hap involving the CityCat. A taxi cut it off on Saturday and the bike went down. The driver twisted his ankle and was taken to the hospital to have it looked at. Another member of the team brought the bike the rest of the way in. Batteries: 24 V, 8 Hawker Genesis sealed lead-acid 12 V/26 Ah Motor: Lynch PMDC disk, 4.6 hp (3.5 kW) continuous, 13 hp (10 kW) peak Controller: Pulse Width Modulation DC-DC More info: Avatar E&C Inc. 212 465-3411 Schiller Power Group (011) 49-625-163-213 The EXTREME from the University of Quebec Design Department, came in last in the Cross Continental category, but none-the-less was a very interesting vehicle. It has 4 wheels placed ... | | | | The side wheels are idlers and not articulated. The front and rear wheels are the driven (independently or tandem) and steering wheels. It was designed to be different. For example, instead of designing the cockpit for the smallest possible person, instead it was made big enough and adjustable so all members of the team were able to drive and test the car, so they all were able to feel as full participants. The solar cells were mounted by their edges and corners on sponge supports. The allows for slight bending of the body without cracking the cells and also lifts them off the body surface so air can flow under them, helping them to cool and keep their efficiency up. There was also a similarly mounted cover sheet of plastic over the cells to protect them and again allow for an airflow cooling. EXTREME suffered from defective brakes that dragged all the time, and the controllers were not identical and unbalanced in driving the motors, but was on display at most of the stops. PV: 1125 W Siemens single crystal Batteries: 24 V, ? Wh, Varta lead-acid Motors: 2 Leroy Somer DC brushless, 1.5 kW continuous, each Controllers: 2 Controle Industrie PWM, MOSFET In Boyertown, I picked up a flyer describing a range-extension trailer built to completely support the vehicle "except under extreme acceleration." A 1968 VW engine (60 HP) drives 3 aircraft alternators. The output is rectified, and then paralleled, and then controlled. More info: Guy L. Davis, 3135 Shirlene Road, Norristown PA 19403, 215 279-4373 This year's ATdS was advertised as being "from the Statue of Liberty to the Liberty Bell." The last car event of the race was a "fun run" down to the Liberty Bell and back to the Franklin Institute. I got to ride in one of the Chrysler TEVans with 4 other people. It had a 2-speed transmission (literally, gear 1 and gear 2). Along with being very quite and smooth, I noticed for the first time what I call the "controller note", analogous to the "exhaust note" in an ICE car. There is the slightest, high-pitch whistle that modulates up or down as the car accelerates and decelerates, and a third note when regenerative braking kicks in. The regen is automatic. Stepping on the brake brings in the regen until about 60% of the braking, where the brakes start to contribute to the braking. More interviews ... Kathleen Allen who is the facility advisor to the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Club with raced the Aztec, which took first in the Tour de Sol Racing category. Now, let me ask you ... what would you think would be the background for an advisor for such a club? Electronics? Physics? Political Science? If you didn't say "Music" you missed the mark (as did I). Kathleen teaches a course in the physics and mechanics of the piano, tunes and repairs pianos, organs, and harpsichords. She is also a part-time undergrad specializing in musical instrument acoustics. This makes her a natural as an advisor because, "I have an office down the hall from theirs, I have a lot of tools, and I always know where they are! They have almost no tools and they NEVER know where they are." When they had borrowed enough that she got intrigued by the project and tried to join, she was told they needed an advisor. So she was dropped in the deep end three years ago, knowing nothing about solar cars, and managed to swim. The team was in a fair amount of trouble when she became guardian. The trouble came from doing things without permission, not paying attention to the safety office, being clumsy, and being hypersensitive when criticized. There is a strange sort of blindness in people when they fill a building with toxic fumes while trying to build an environmentally sound car. So, she sees herself as trying to make herself obsolete by giving the these bright, technically sophisticated people the social skills to get the things they need without upsetting the people they need them from. John Dudek from Rham High School and advisor to the RHAM Rod team (finished 6th in American Commuter category) told me that they were using the B.A.T. Technologies' proprietary battery additive, nicknamed BATT Juice. They have found that it has improved the range of their vehicle. One of the claims for the additive is that it will cut down on hydrogen gassing, which it seems to do; they notice that the bubbles are much smaller. Another claim is that it cuts down the internal resistance of the battery. John said, "Our charger used to put out 25 amps going into the battery pack; now it puts out 30." Third, they have found that the car is more usable in the lower voltage ranges. When the car is down to 1/4 a charge, they can still drive at 55 MPH, where before they were limited to about 30 MPH. They see also that they get 23 to 25 kWh from their battery pack where it is only rated at 17.4 kWh. Interestingly, their range is > less < with BATT Juice when it is driven hard, but it is > greater < when it is driven gently. Said another way, hard use is harder on the battery with BATT Juice, but gentle driving is gentler on the battery with BATT Juice. For example, one day when they were running very slow, they got 61 miles on a 1/4 charge, suggesting a range of 240 miles at that slow speed, an extrapolation that John says is not unreasonable in their car. More info: John Dudek, 203 228-9474, 203 887-0840 (home) BAT Technologies, 801 977-0119 Ed Kreibick is the president of the Eastern Electric Vehicle Club was displaying his converted Escort GLX (License Plate "GAS FREE") in Boytertown and Philadelphia. It was converted in 1983 by Eagle Picher Industries, has a top speed of about 70 MPH, has regenerative braking and is driven daily in a 27 mile round-trip commute. It features a single-point watering system that consists of plastic tubes which connect each of the caps on each of the batteries to each other. By connecting on hose fitting to a garden hose once a month, the major maintenance item on an EV can be finished in a couple of minutes. A "chipmunk wheel" at the hose fitting shows when the water stops flowing, and check valves in the caps keep the cells from over filling. Ed said that, "Exide said that Philadelphia tap water is free enough of chemicals that it will not hurt the batteries." It costs him about $22/month to charge his car from his "off-peak-hour" electric meter. The controller is unusual in that it runs the electric motor much like a gasoline engine. It idles at 1800 RPM, and so you must use the clutch. If you stop at a light and fail to press the clutch, the car "stalls". If you try to start with the pedal half way down, you can "flood" it. The controller works at making the car act like a gasoline vehicle so as not to confuse people. The controller was made in the early 1980s. More info: Eastern Electric Vehicle Club, Box 717, Valley Forge PA 19482 Batteries: 108 V, 18 6 V Motor: GE shunt wound, 23 HP Controller: Southcoast Technology Roberta Nichols of Ford's Ecostar team told us that the race helped them find and debug a problem with the software in their controllers. The controller was allowing the battery to discharge below the, supposed, minimum energy level (10%) and then would not recharge the battery pack fully. They were able to find and fix the problem. ((I'm guessing that this might have kept them from breaking the 200 mile/charge barrier.)) Nancy Hazard is the Associate Director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) and the Director of the American Tour de Sol (ATdS). The most exciting thing for her was the growth of the Production category from 3 to 6 cars, Ford participating in the event, and Chrysler, Ford, and Solectria competing head-to-head. Range records were set in both the Production (188.6, up from 130) and American Commuter (214.2, up from 180). At the other end, the number and quality of the student entries were most encouraging, and the energy and enthusiasm of the students themselves and their understanding of the pollution and energy problems that this country and the world face. Their application of their creative energies to solving those problems is tremendously exciting. This is Nancy's 6th ATdS. The first event had 6 solar cars in the Tour de Sol Racing category and was focused on promoting solar energy. When the 1990 Clean Air Act passed, the possibility of practical EVs created the need for a practical category, and the American Commuter category was added, overnight charging was added and new rules were created to accommodate them. Last year added the Production category, and Nancy expects to see 2-wheel vehicles in that category next year. (BTW, the Ecostars were categorized as Production vehicles, even though none has been sold, because the lease program demonstrated a commitment to commercialization of the cars.) There is the possibility of a Mass Transit category (buses!) next year. Next year's ATdS is planned for Waterbury Connecticut to Portland Maine. 1996 ATdS will probably start, end, or go through Washington DC. Nancy made a point of thanking the many, many people who volunteered to help manage and run the ATdS. There are myriad tasks, little and big, that make this event happen. The tasks start early in the morning and last well into the evening. The folks who make up the teams of volunteers make the race possible. Now, for my own thoughts ... I went to the ATdS last year and this because I wanted to see this technology on the hoof, and this is where it is visible in all it's variety. The SunRayce and the World Solar Challenge have the BEST solar powered vehicles. The APS 500 has the BEST electric racing vehicles. And the various local events show the variety of personal EVs out there. But, the ATdS has an mix that shows the range and variety of the EV idea, and I hope these reports have given a sense of what it was like to be there. I hope to do this next year, but I also hope more of you will be able to come visit a stop, work at one of the stops, or participate. See you at the races. Mike Bianchi - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. 12th American Tour de Sol Report FINAL STANDINGS FOR 1994 AMERICAN TOUR DE SOL ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHAMPIONSHIP NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA, (MAY 23-28, 1994) DATE: Saturday, May 28, 1994 CONTACT: Groh Associates, Warwick, RI (401)732-1551 FINAL STANDINGS (TOP THREE PER CATEGORY) COMMUTER CATEGORIES: Production Vehicle: 1. Ford Ecostar, Ford Motor Company (MI) 2. Ford Ecostar, PA Electric Transportation Council (PA) 3. ForceGT 4-Seat, Solectria Corporation (MA) Tour de Sol Commuter: 1. Aztec, MIT Solar EV Club (MA) 2. Sungo, NHTI Solar Car Team (NH) 3. Vortex, SETS Racing Team (VT) American Commuter: 1. Solectria ForceRS 2-Seat, Solectria Corporation (MA) 2. Endura, U.C. Davis (CA) 3. Solar Bolt, Bolton H.S. (CT) RACING CATEGORIES: Tour de Sol Racing: 1. Photon, Salisbury School (CT) 2. Sunvox IV, Dartmouth Solar Racing Team (NH) 3. Liberty Belle, University of Pennsylvania (PA) Cross Continental Racing: 1. SunDragon IV, Drexel University (PA) 2. Northern Light II, Northern Light Solar Race Team (MN) 3. Spirit IV, Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) OPEN CATEGORY: 1. TNE II, Team New England, (MA) 2. TIE-2, Team Forest/Sunderland (MA) 3. Envirocycle, Central Connecticut State College (CT) FINAL NOTES ON COMPETITION The 6th annual American Tour de Sol saw an (unofficial) world record for electric vehicle range in competition. A vehicle built by Solectria Corporation (MA) traveled 214.2 miles in one day without stopping to recharge. • Production category vehicles turned in outstanding performances. Two Ford Ecostars, one sponsored directly by Ford, finished first and second in this category and each demonstrated ranges in excess of 180 miles. This is the first time a major auto maker has entered this annual event. • Several vehicles demonstrated consistent range capability by going over 100 miles more than once during the event. • Overall winners (not separated by category) were Ford Ecostar (#1 and #2) and Solectria ForceRS (#3). • Four dozen vehicles competed this year, racing road-rally style from New York City to Philadelphia, May 23-28. This is the largest field ever for this national championship event. • "Now that adequate range has been convincingly demonstrated, there is no barrier to the wide-spread adoption of electric vehicle technology," according to Dr. Robert Wills, founder and technical director of the ATdS. 13th American Tour de Sol report; the lost tape In casually going over the tapes of interviews I made last month, I discovered one which I thought I had posted, but had not. So, here is that interview ... Mike Bianchi Tom Hooper's `Hopper EV' is the third in the New Hampshire Technical Institute trio (along with Sungo and Suntech). It raced in the ATdS last year as a personal project of Tom's. The basic vehicle is a 3-wheeled, single passenger commuter car, although it was entered in the Open category. Only 9' 8" long, 3' 4" wide and 4' 6" high, it claims a range of 70 miles and top speed of 55 MPH. This year Tom got some grant money from the New Hampshire Energy Office for improvements, which he put to "a good motor and good controller." Last year it had bicycle wheels and bicycle handlebars steering. This year they have been replaced with a McPherson strut, Polaris ATV front end with a real steering rack, and a custom-built rear end. He also modified the body so that it could hinge up at the front, so he could get in without crawling through the window (and Tom is not a small man!). He is still running the same, 3- year old DieHards he ran last year. The accelerator and braking controls are different from any others I noticed during the race. On the steering wheel there were two potentiometer controls mounted at the 2 and 10 o'clock positions just inside the rim. The pot on the right is the accelerator (no pedal!) and the pot on the left is regenerative braking. The only foot control is the hydraulic brake pedal on the right foot. I suspect the use of hand controlled pots make it easier to select a constant-power point for acceleration and deceleration which would probably be more efficient. PV: 120 W, Astropower Grade Z Batteries: 72 V, 5040 Wh, Sears Diehard lead acid Motor: Solectria BRLS 11, 8 kW continuous, 15 kW peak Controller: Solectria BRLS 100 H As noted in an earlier posting, the Hooper EV suffered a steering failure on Thursday that took it out of the race. It also took Suntech out of the race because it shared the same component design. - - - - All of the above are my own impressions and opinions. Mike Bianchi Official American Tour de Sol information is available from the sponsor, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) at 413-774-6051. American Tour de Sol Efficiency Numbers Submitted for your approval, the efficiency numbers from the 1994 American Tour de Sol, transcribed from the NESEA results. I don't >think< there are any typos :) Notes: Rank is based on adjusted race time, not listed here. Range is miles driven on a single charge during the race, not necessarily the total range of which the car is capable. Watt-hours/mile and mile/kilo-Watt-hour are (I presume) based on the measurements made by Argone Labs. Mike Bianchi PRODUCTION CATEGORY Rank Car # Name Range Wh/mi mi/kWh Battery brand-type 1 39 Ford Ecostar 182 185 5.4 ABB-NaS 2 23 Ford Ecostar 189 178 5.6 ABB-NaS 3 53 Solectria GT 4-Seat 162 128 7.8 SAFT-NiCad 4 34 Solectria E-10 81 227 4.4 GNB-PbA 5 26 Chrysler TEVan 63 - - Eagle Picher-NiFe 6 38 Chrysler TEVan 68 - - SAFT-NiCad AMERICAN COMMUTER CATEGORY Rank Car # Name Range Wh/mi mi/kWh Battery brand-type 1 54 Solectria RS 2-Seat 214 91 11.0 Ovonics-NiMetalHydride 2 63 Endura 175 192 5.2 Powercell-Zinc Flow 3 12 Solar Bolt 142 196 5.1 Trojan-PbA 4 25 Solar Flair 114 222 4.5 Trojan-PbA 5 55 Solectria E-10 112 154 6.5 GNB-PbA 6 45 RHAM Rod 87 127 4.6 Trojan-PbA 7 24 Genesis I 102 250 4.0 Trojan-PbA 8 41 Lightening Volt 81 256 3.9 Trojan-PbA 9 29 Project e- S-10 81 244 4.1 UA Battery-PbA 10 18 Kineticar II 70 238 4.2 Trojan-PbA 11 50 Solar Delivery 73 250 4.0 Trojan-PbA 12 19 Dane Hovey 62 200 5.0 Exide-PbA 13 51 Eclectic Taxi 73 147 6.8 Trojan-PbA 14 20 ElecTruck 63 - - Sears-PbA 15 14 Brookdale Truck 61 127 4.6 Exide-PbA 16 62 Potential Difference 63 172 5.8 US Battery-PbA 17 43 Golden Gear 61 1000 1.0 Exide-PbA 18 27 Electrical Storm 63 166 6.0 Genesis-PbA TOUR DE SOL COMMUTER CATEGORY Rank Car # Name Range Wh/mi mi/kWh Battery brand-type 1 30 Aztec 122 47 21.4 Johnson Controls-PbA 2 32 Sungo 95 89 11.2 Sears-PbA 3 52 Vortex 44 125 8.0 US Battery-PbA TOUR DE SOL RACING CATEGORY Rank Car # Name Range Wh/mi mi/kWh Battery brand-type 1 48 Photon - 30 33.4 Sears-PbA 2 21 Sunvox IV - 50 20.1 US Battery-PbA 3 67 Liberty Belle - 28 37 Power Sonic-PbA 4 33 Suntech - - - Trojan-PbA 5 69 Mach .005 - 28 35 Johnson Controls-PbA 6 56 Patriot 56 65 15.5 Trojan-PbA CROSS CONTINENTAL RACING CATEGORY Rank Car # Name Range Wh/mi mi/kWh Battery brand-type 1 76 SundDragon IV - - - Power Sonic-PbA 2 36 Northern Light - 36 27.8 GNB-PbA 3 47 SpiRIT IV - 43 23.2 4 37 Ottowa Orange - - - Exide-PbA 5 68 Extreme - - - Varta-PbA OPEN CATEGORY Rank Car # Name Range Wh/mi mi/kWh Battery brand-type 1 49 CityCat 61 38 26.0 Genesis-PbA 2 58 Team New England II 107 21 47.7 Sears-PbA 3 57 TIE-2 91 49 20.5 SAFT-NiCad 4 16 Envirocycle I 63 52 19.2 PbA 5 15 C-M Sunpacer 63 97 10.3 Exide-PbA 6 60 Hopper EV 63 60 16.7 Sears-PbA 7 22 Envirocycle II 36 58 17.3 PbA 8 64 Sun Cycle II 34 35 28.6 Trojan-PbA 9 11 Daystar 35 - - Trojan-PbA 10 66 Solar Bullet 31 - - Trojan-PbA