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.

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.

News story on local station WECT TV 6 wilmington

WECT story on Topsail EV program

Its' alive!!

"Roscoe" the Ford Ranger electric conversion rolled out of the garage on its' own today for the first time.  Plenty of tweaking to do before the final event competition this weekend.  Details to come, stay tuned.

Long day, double duty

 

    Today we had two events to participate in, our raffle fundraiser at Ace Hardware, and Earth Day in Hampstead.    Six students showed up at various times to help sell raffle tickets and to show off the car.  People were very interested in the MR2 conversion and most were surprised that it was done by high school students.
   We have passed the $1250 mark for raffle sales indicating were are half way to our goal.  Next week we will be at Harris Teeter in Porters Neck from 9am-5pm.  We also will be heading to the Topsail Kiwanis club on Tuesday to sell tickets before their program begins.  All this and a truck to convert makes for a busy week!

Slimmer and trimmer

The truck has lost some weight this week with the removal of the V6 engine. We had an initial weight of 3247 pounds. We removed the unnecessary components such as the engine, gas tank, radiators and hoses, leaving it at a svelte 2460 pounds! Dropping the 800 pounds will be a good thing as we begin the conversion and put back approximately 1400 pounds. We need to stay below the gross 4600 pound vehicle weight to avoid disqualification. We should be fine, but the lighter the better!

Engine extracted!!

We finally have removed the last hurdle in our Ranger conversion , the engine. After making sure all wires and lines were disconnected, we loosened the motor mounts, attached a strap and hoisted the V-6 from the engine bay. Now, the conversion process can be broken down into several tasks and assigned to student teams for design and implementation. Next week, the thinking begins!

Sparks flying!

The first challenge we face in terms of design, is the rear battery box. Structurally, the frame rails and cross members provide stability and rigidity for the rear suspension. The only issue we have is the factory placement of the cross members are not conducive to battery box placement. Without removing the braces, we will have very limited space for our 12 batteries under the bed. We decided to remove the braces and replace them with straight bar to provide the support for our battery boxes. Today, we began the removal process by grinding the rivets. Let the sparks fly!

Storage a plenty

The EV garage is in the process of getting a makeover with the addition of shelving in the storage room. We never really had time to organize and make the garage our own last year since, by the time we moved into the new school, we immediately began the MR2 conversion.
The EV10 team took control with Ryan Stone in charge and within a day, the shelving was erected. Thanks to Jim Stone for the lumber donation and to the students who took the time to help complete the project(see photo). Now it is organization time!