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.

First Place at the NEAT Rally

We competed last weekend at the NEAT Rally at NCCAR in Northampton County, NC; our Truck finished 1st place overall.  Special thanks to Tim George of Wilmington Motor Works and Greg Tarleton of Bluewater Motor Sports for transporting our vehicles; Tim was also invaluable in helping the event run smoothly.  Event results are as follows:

1st Place Jeopardy (Truck) - Ben and Justin

2nd Place Autocross (car) - Ryan

1st Place Autocross (truck) - Ben

1st Place Acceleration (car) - Logan and Katiana

2nd Place Acceleration (Truck) - Tyler and Roberto

2nd Place Troubleshooting (car) - Grant and Zac

1st Place Troubleshooting (truck) - Ryan and Justin

1st Place Range (truck) - Zac and Brandon

2nd Place Range (car) - Grant and Justin

1st Place overall - Truck (award presented by EV Challenge Executive Director, Steve Garrett)

More Pictures from the event:

A rare view inside the MR2.

Top two jeopardy teams, ready for action!

Pit Crew

Troubleshooting

Four Topsail Conversions - all together in the same place

Mr. Jeffcoat keeping an eye on things.

Troubleshooting

Ready to accelerate!

Acceleration!

This is a tight fit.

Ready for the NEAT Rally

Our vehicles are loaded up and on their way to the NEAT Rally in Northampton County, NC, thanks to the transportation graciously donated by Blue Water Motorsports.  We also received generous donations from H.H. Gregg, Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods.

A special thanks to Greg, Roy, and all the folks at Blue Water Motorsports.

 We have installed a new electric heating system in our truck that should keep the windows frost-free this fall.

Brandon extracting the blower motor from a donor truck.

 One final step was to install the J1772 charging port on the car, which works with the charging station donated by Schneider Electric.

The port is cleverly hidden in the vent; you can use a regular household outlet with the plug under the fuel door.

The EVlink charging station, powered on and charging the MR2.

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

Raffle Time

It's time for the annual spring Fundraiser Raffle.  We have a lot of great things planned for next year, but none of it is possible without your financial support.

You can win one of over $2,000 in prizes:

iPad Mini
Dyson Hand Vac
Side Arm Paddleboard Lessons
Surf City Pier Season Pass
Auto Detailing at Stevenson Acura
Tree Stand
Music Loft Gift Card
Golf and Cart for 4
Beach Bowl for 6 (x2)
4 Rounds at Ten Pin Alley (x5)
Ice House Skating for 4
Shuckers Gift Card
3 Fishing Rods
Max's Pizza
Walgreens Gift Bag
Second Wind Fitness Membership
O'Leary's Car Service
Poplar Grove Gift Basket
...and more!

The drawing will be held May 29th at 5:30PM in the EV Shop.

You can purchase tickets from any EV Student.

Display at Burgaw Elementary; Raffle Coming Soon!

Yesterday we displayed the MR2 at Burgaw Elementary School's Reading Celebration.  The students, parents and teachers enjoyed learning about our program; most had never seen an electric car before.

Also, we will be holding our annual spring fundraising raffle next month and are actively seeking donations to be raffled off.  If you can help, email topsailev "at" gmail.com.

The kids loved the car!

David shows off the battery packs in the frunk.

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!

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!

New conversion time!

EV 13 with the 1961 Bug before conversion.

Gas tank is out, mock up of  front battery box.

Engine compartment....soon to have 9" motor.

As a going away present for Mr. Garrett, we have decided to convert his 1961 VW Bug.  The car will have specific design parameters to insure the integrity of the 51 year old car.  We are in the early stages now and are careful to make sure the whole process can be done without any cuts be made to the car.  The car will be 144 volt Lithium system, using the old cells from the MR2, which are in a semi depleted state, but should be good for a few more years and a vehicle range of about 50 miles tops. 

EV Raffle time!! $2500 in prizes!

The Topsail EV Team is holding their annual Fall EV Raffle, and this year is better than ever! Over $2500 in prizes and a 1 in 8 chance of winning. If you win a smaller prize, you still get your name put back in for the Grand Prize drawing of an iPad 2. We will have an EV open house on the day of the drawing, December 20th at 5:30pm at the EV shop behind Topsail High School.


You u can buy a ticket from one of the EV students. The price is one for $10 or three for $25.
 Thanks for your support.
*PRIZES*
IPad 2-$400.00
Indo Jax Surf School-Week-long Morning Surf Camp $300.00
Lyons Sushi Party $250.00
2- Golds Gym 3 Month Memberships  $360.00
Bugs Etc. House Extermination Service $150.00
Music Loft Gift Card $100.00
Olde Point Golf Round of Golf for 2 Players $84.00
Finesse Carpet Cleaning $75.00
2- Golds Gym 1 Month Memberships $120.00
Ohana Paddle Sports 4 Hour Board Rental and 1 Hour Lesson $60.00
Napa Auto Parts Socket Set $50.00
Autozone Car wash bucket kit $30.00
Advance Auto Parts Car wash bucket kit $30.00
Belvedere Country Club Round of Golf $30.00
Shuckers Oyster Bar Gift Card $25.00
Shuckers Oyster Bar Gift Card $25.00
5- O'Leary's Automotive Repair Gift Certificates $125.00
Daddy Macs Gift Certificate $25.00
4- Topsail Greens Round of Golf $88.00
Finkelstein's Gift Card $20.00
El Cerro Grande Gift Card $20.00
Max's Pizza Large Pizza $15.00
2- 2 Guys Grille Gift Certificates $20.00
Hibachi To Go Gift Card $10.00
South End Surf Shop Gift Card $10.00
3- Bagel Bakery Gift Certificates $15.00
Yozio Gift Certificate $5.00

WECT TV 6 News report

Bailey Hicks from Wilmington local channel WECT TV6 came early this morning to do a feature story on our EV program.  She was very impressed with the class and their knowledge of the vehicles.  She was especially impressed by the fact that the EV13 Team attends the class every day at 7:15, an hour before regular school begins.  We were able to give a few interviews and explain how we were preparing for the NEAT competition next week.  Davis Sessions and Matt van der Wal did an excellent job in front of the camera.  Bailey was very interested in the performance of the vehicles, so we did not hesitate to take her for a spin in the MR2.  As you can tell by the picture above, she definitely has an "EV Grin"!

There will be an update after the segment airs that will link to the story online.  Stay tuned.