Introducing the Voltswagen!!

We are proud to announce the completion of our latest vehicle, a 1961 VW Bug, the Voltswagen, just in time for Mr. Garrett's 50th birthday!  The car belongs to Mr. Garrett, our former instructor, who was just named Executive Director of the EV Challenge.  In addition to everyday use, he will use this vehicle as a tool for recruiting new schools to participate in the EV Challenge. 

Some students stayed late into the night to get it finished!

The front battery box; charger is underneath.

The rear battery box, on the package shelf.

Plugged in and charging!

She's ready to go!

The Motor, controller and DC/DC converter.

Details of the car are as follows:

44 100 Ah Thundersky Cells
Lithiumate Lite BMS
Elcon PFC 1500 Charger
DCP Raptor 1200A Controller
ADC 9" Motor
Battery heaters
Range:  75 miles projected
Top Speed: Faster than stock
Acceleration: MUCH faster than stock

Another Busy Week in the Shop

This week has been rather hectic in the shop.  We have run some cables and repaired the parking brake in the Volkswagen, and are modifying the motor, coupler and adapter plate to make everything fit.  In the MR2 we have removed the old Thunderskycell and are modifying the battery boxes to accept the smaller, yet more energy dense cells.  We will then have to do a rewire of the Battery Management System (BMS) before the car can get back on the road.

Also, we received a very generous donation this week from one of our sponsors, Atlantic Tool and Die!

David cutting apart the clutch disk to use in the coupler.

Ryan using the shop vacuum to pull cable through the heater channels.

Hunter removing the Thundersky cells from the trunk of the MR2.

Corey and Ryan working on the parking brake in the Bug.

Dillon grinding off the auxiliary output shaft on the motor so it will fit in the back of the VW.

Out with the old...

We have finally removed the old internal combustion engine from the Volkswagen Beetle!  It took much longer than it should have because we had a hidden bolt on the back side of the transmission.  Now it's time to design some battery boxes and get the conversion going.

Success!

16th annual NEAT EV Rally Champions!



We arrived in style thanks to Larry Hall



Hunter handling the track

Davis make a first place run

Never let Shelby take a "fun run" on the autocross track.......

Competing in EV Jeopary for the Odyssey event

The guys hustling in the Pit Crew event

Another victorious event for THS EV!

Congratulations to the Topsail Electric Vehicle Team for their victories at the 16th annual NEAT EV Rally this past weekend at the NCCAR test track facility in Roanoke Rapids, NC.  An amazing weekend with an amazing group of students. We were recognized as being the best organized and most motivated group there! The team has accumulated 162 trophies in 13 years of competition.
The team won the following trophies:
1st Overall
1st Autocross: Modified Class
1st Range: Modified Class
1st Range: Truck Class
2nd Troubleshooting
2nd Pit Crew
2nd Acceleration: Modified Class
2nd Acceleration: Truck Class
2nd Autocross: Truck Class
3rd EV Jeopardy

Homecoming

Every year at the homecoming game, we get the opportunity to lead the homecoming court around the track during halftime.  This year we had both vehicles and were announced over the public address system in front of a crowd of over 2500 people.  Sometimes exposure like this is invaluable.  It is the first time younger kids or visitors get to see the EV's in action.  Hopefully we are planting the seeds for the future.  Very proud to be associated with the THE EV program and the students that help make it possible each year.

Vacuum forming terminal covers

So, when you order from China, sometimes you do not get what you need.  When we originally ordered our Thundersky cells from the distributor, we did not get studs, washers or terminal covers.  After several failed attempts to contact the distributor, we finally decided to take matters in our own hands and make our own covers.
  This year, the EV Challenge officials have required that each cell in a battery pack must be covered.  A single cover over all batteries/cells will not suffice any longer....thus the need for cell terminal covers. A couple of students took it upon themselves to surprise me one day with their creation of a DIY vacuum forming machine.  Crude but effective, they are in the process of forming the needed 48 covers for our lithium cells.  We are using .62 thick thermoplastic from Professional Plastics, a vacuum form box made from 2x4's and a shop vac.  Works like a champ!

Spring break fun and sun?

  Well, normally, any right minded teen or teacher living in coastal North Carolina would have taken advantage of the beautiful weather during our recent spring break. You would think so....but not the Topsail Electric Vehicle Class! We worked Friday through Tuesday on the vehicles making changes and modifications needed to be ready to compete in the upcoming EV Challenge final event April 21-22.
  Up to eight team members showed up each day bright and early to help change out batteries, create new terminals, wire the BMS and remove a strut among other activities.  We had an epiphany of sorts when we looked at the calendar before srping break and relized that we only had 18 class periods before competition!  The students made a decision to dedicate a part of their vacation time to help work on the car and truck to insure that we are ready for competition.  Dedication and preparation breeds success.

BMS Wiring aplenty

We are trudging our way through the BMS wiring as you can see.  There are many wires that need to be terminated correctly and hidden as well as possible, since we always believe half the battle is aesthetics.  The cell level terminations are coming along nicely, but the wiring harness wiring is another story altogether.  We found that the wiring had been done "backwards" from the diagram, if that was not bad enough, during testing of the harnesses, a ground lead accidentally touched a high voltage lead causing quite a spark, so we are getting a new set of harnesses and connectors.  Lessons learned!

Battery re-installation

After a two months of research and design.  Careful consideration has been put into the BMS system and wiring of the unit and and batteries.  We top balanced the 48 cells and let them stay wired in parallel over the last two months.  Now we are prepared to re-install the batteries and label them for the wiring of the Orion BMS.  We cleaned each cell, labelled them and installed them back into the battery boxes in the correct orientation.  Our next step is to carefully wire the harnesses for the BMS.

Charger relocation program!

We had always kept the Zivan NG-3 charger in the trunk, and this posed problems with heat, and aesthetics.  Plus, we never utilized the "gas" door location for the power plug during charging.  We now have relocated the charger in the engine bay away from the elements, freeing up the trunk area and now allowing for a neater install plus the ability to use the "gas" door for the charge port.  The charger will be integrated along with the BMS, with the BMS controlling the charger at all times.  This should be an interesting journey!

Always something!

     We came to class today only to find that our vehicle lift was sitting in a puddle of hydraulic fluid! The lift has a leaking seal on the hydraulic cylinder. This is a big issue because we can not lift our MR2 up to work on our BMS.   We are trying now to find a replacement lift(donation) or to get this one fixed.  It is an old lift and may have seen its' better days, so a replacement may be in order.
On the plus side our batteries have all stabilized to 3.37 volts after a long charge period, essentially pre-balancing our pack for when we install the BMS.  Of course, we need a lift to do so!  Always something.

Balancing act

We have removed all 48 cells from the MR2 and have wired them in parallel for a balance charge.  As you can see in the picture, we have set the voltage to 3.6 volts and will be monitoring the current as they charge.  As they charge, the current will slowly get close to zero until they are balanced.  No telling how long this will take, but we will be baby sitting for as long as it takes.

Our BMS has arrived!

Our BMS arrived last Friday and needless to say, we are overwhelmed.  The MR2 has to be totally rewired top to bottom to accomodate the new component.  The BMS will monitor all cells during charge and under driving conditions, giving us real time analysis of the Lithium batteries.  This technology will help preserve the lifespan batteries and help to keep them a balanced set.  The performance of the MR2 should be more consistent and we will have the opportunity to data  log our charge and discharge cycles.  Two students are working on a program that will create an interface that incorporates both the Synkromotive controller and the BMS parameters on the same in dash display.
  Today, we began removing all of the Thundersky batteries so we can top balance the entire set in parallel.  By doing this, we will have a balanced pack, and the BMS will have an easier job for the initial few charge cycles.

Brand used transmission

We developed a noise in our MR2 transmission and ordered one from a MR2 message board member in Texas.  We decided to remove the old one after the NEAT Rally.  When we returned, we removed the motor and transmission, cleaned up the new one and replaced the old.  To our dismay, the "new" one had the same sound.  After consulting with our "go to" mechanic, he agreed  that it was one of two things.  Either it had the same issue as the old one, or it is a noise that is inherent to the MR2 transmission.  Well, we decided to replace the "new" one with the old tranny and take the "new" one apart to see what we could find.  Stay tuned....We will take it apart soon and let you know what we find.  On a side note, we are really good at removing the motor and transmission, having done so about 12 times in the past month!

NEAT EV Rally results

The Topsail Electric Vehicle Team travelled to the 17th annual NEAT EV Rally in Northampton County this past weekend at the NCCAR facility. The students competed in seven events and tied for first place overall in the competition. The team had many compliments for their attitude and work ethic. They represented Topsail High and Pender County with class and dignity...as always. One instructor even wanted to take Ryan Mowrey back with him to show his students how to act!  The weather cooperated for the most part, and the vehicles performed very well.  Our truck, nursing a battery with a bad cell was only able to manage 12 laps of the NCCAR 2 mile track.  The Toyota MR2 drove 56 miles in the range and could have travelled another 25 miles but had won the event.  The lithium batteries make a huge difference in the range and performance of the car. 
  We would like to congratulate the NEAT team for their results and thank them and their instructor Thomas Pope, along with Harold Miller, for putting on a fine event.  We look forward to next year!  We will practice the pit crew before the event this time.

The results were as follows:
First overall
Acceleration: First Ranger
Acceleration: First MR2
Range: Second Ranger
Range: First MR2
Design: First MR2
Autocross: First Ranger
Autocross: First MR2
Jeopardy competition: Second