Raffle Time!

It's time for the Topsail Electric Vehicle Annual Raffle!
We have big plans for next year's team, including an all-new conversion and significant updates to our other vehicles, but none of it will be possible without financial support.

We have over $2,100 in total prizes available, including...

Recliner from Hampstead Furniture
iPad Mini.
Ukulele from the Ukulele Academy
Car Detailing and Oil Change at Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
Car Detailing at Stevenson Honda
Oil Change and Car Wash at Wilmington Motor Works
Alignment and Tire Rotation at MS Auto
Massage and Facial from Innis Spa
Fishing Rod from Eastern Outfitters
Video Sunglasses from Surf City Pier
Gift Certificates to numerous restaurants and businesses, including:
Advance Auto, Camino Real, Dunkin Donuts, Englese's, Fuzzy Peach, Highway 55, Jungle Rapids, Long Horn, NY Corner Deli, Pizza Hut and Reel Pizza.

Tickets are $10, or 3 for $25, and may be purchased at the drawing.

The drawing will be held May 28th at 6:00PM in the EV Shop (located behind Topsail High School.

11 Time Champions

This weekend we competed at the EV Challenge at NCCAR in Garysburg, NC.  We are pleased to announce some excellent results.  Without further ado:

 

Team results:

1st Place Overall, Car Class

1st Place Overall, Truck Class

1st Place Overall, STEM Cycle

1st Place School Initiative

2nd Place, Vehicle Design, Truck Class

2nd Place, Vehicle Design, STEM Cycle

Individual (or partner) events:

1st place, Troubleshooting: Ryan Latronico and Justin Poplaski

1st place, Oratorical: Katiana Vazquez and Tyler King

1st Place, Range (Car): Zac Bender and Justin Poplaski

1st Place, Jeopardy, Ben Nazelrod and Justin Poplaski

1st Place, Range (Truck): Grant Simme and Weston Hicks

1st Place, Autocross (Truck): Ben Nazelrod

1st Place, Acceleration (STEM Cycle): Brandon Whaley

1st Place, Range (STEM Cycle): Brandon Whaley

1st Place, Autocross (STEM Cycle): Roberto Gonzalez

2nd Place, Autocross (Car): Ryan Latronico  (A very consistent and fast performance!)

2nd Place, Acceleration (Truck): Logan Moore

2nd Place, Troubleshooting: Weston Hicks and Domenick DiBiase

3rd Place, Acceleration (Car): Katiana Vazquez

3rd Place, Jeopardy: Logan Moore and Tyler King

3rd Place, Oratorical: Grant Simme and Zac Bender

 

Our small-scale STEM Cycle was completed just in time to compete!

10 Time Champions!

We competed in the EV Challenge this weekend (April 12-14), winning First Place Overall for the 10^th consecutive year. The car finished first place overall, and the truck won second place overall.  Also, Steve Garrett was named the new Executive Director of the EV Challenge.

Detailed Results are as follows:

1^st Place Overall, 1991 Toyota MR2

2^nd Place Overall, 2001 Ford Ranger

1^st Place, Modifided Class

1^st Place, Truck Class

1^st Place, School Initiative

1^st Place, Troubleshooting

1^st Place, Jeopardy, Truck Team

2^nd Place, Jeopardy, Car Team

1^st Place, Oral Presentation, Car team

2^nd Place, Oral Presentation, Truck Team

1^st Place, Vehicle Design, Modified Class

2^nd Place, Vehicle Design, Truck Class

1^st Place, Autocross, Truck Class

2^nd Place, Autocross, Modified Class

1^st Place, Range, Modified Class

1^st Place, Range, Truck Class

2^nd Place, Acceleration, Truck Class

3^rd Place, Acceleration, Modified Class

A VERY special thanks to Ron Latronico and Kenny Sessions for towing our vehicles to the event!

That's a BIG trophy!

Coupler, Battery Boxes, and Charger

The past two weeks have been very busy in the EV shop, as we are working on all three vehicles at the same time.  We still have much to do, but are on track to finish in time for the EV Challenge next month.

The coupler to mate the electric motor with the transmission has been machined by Mr. Sholar at Cape Fear Community College.  The next step is to install the motor.

The new coupler

Thank-you cake.

Also, the battery boxes and heaters are being installed in the Volkswagen.  Next, we will install the cells and wire everything up.

Bolting in the rear battery box.

Matt wiring the battery heaters.

With the Ranger, we have mounted the new charger.  It will be back on the road as soon as the controller is repaired.

Brady securing the charger.

New display in the car

The MR2 got a new touchscreen display that shows real-time information about the battery pack.  The information can also be sent by Bluetooth to any Android device with the Torque application.

New touchscreen!

On the road again!

The battery transplant is now complete and the MR2 is back on the road, thanks to seven long hours of work on Saturday by some dedicated students.  Re-wiring the Orion BMS took a lot of time and patience (and a call to their ever-helpful customer support line), but it is now working to equalize our new battery pack.  There are still some final details to attend to, but now our attention can shift to the Volkswagen and preparing for the EV challenge.  Check out the pictures of our progress.

Drilling out holes for the battery straps.

The front box, ready to go back in!

Moving the bug out of the way, so the MR2 can get on the lift.

Since the new cells are smaller, we need new holes for the battery cables.

The back box is almost finished...

Everything is in place up front.

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.

Raffle Ticket sales at Advance Auto

Cold day at Advance Auto today, but a few of the THS EV Team showed up bright and early at 8:00 to display the vehicles and sell raffle tickets.  We sold a total of 32 tickets  in a short period of time.  Next week, we will be at the Hampstead Community Center at the annual Hampstead Women's Club Holiday Craft Fair from 8:00-1:00.

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

Spot Festival display

Once again, the Topsail Electric Vehicles were on display at the largest Festival in Hampstead each year, the Spot Festival.  A Spot is a fish that is caught off our local waters, and each year thousands of visitors come to enjoy music, fun and most of all, the delicious Spot dinner.  The event is a local fundraiser for the schools and fire departments, so everyone comes out to support the community.
  We had a good showing as usual and fielded plenty of questions about the vehicles.  The team did an excellent job as always.  The festival is usually our first major display and the students were ready for the task.  We get the same questions year after year, but we have noticed that the general public is becoming more aware of electric and hybrid vehicles. This is a good sign, and it also helps that gas prices are pretty high right now, making more people think about alternative fuel sources.

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.

Atlantic Tool & Die Open House

We had the opportunity to display our vehicles at one of our largest and supportive sponsors, Atlantic Tool & Die yesterday.  The event was their annual open house, held at the facility on Hwy 210 in Hampstead.  Company president  Hugh Highsmith presented the Topsail EV class with a sponsor donation check of $1000!!!  Wow, we really needed that to help us reach our $10,000 fundraising goal this year.  There were more than 50 people there for demonstrations and of course food.  The class was able to tour the maching manufacturing facility and gain valuable insight into the world of machining and the equipment used to produce very precise parts.  Thank you Atlantic Tool & Die for helping our program continue to excel.

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!