Presentation to Cape Fear Society of Professional Engineers

Today we made a presentation to the Cape Fear Society of Professional Engineers at Hugh McRae Park in Wilmington.  All 10 EV12 team members were in attendance to show the vehicles and partake in the catered Bar-B-Que dinner. Also in attendance for support were our Chemistry teacher Mr. Jeffcoat and lead counselor, Ms. Rabe. The event was a great opportunity to show Professional Engineers what a group of High School students are capable of achieving.  We were presented with a $500 check from Atlantic Tool and Die and also were able to have a 50/50 raffle to raise additional funds.  
  We made several very good contacts with area companies such as G.E, Corning, Sturdy Corporation, plus Cape Fear Community College and UNCW.  We look forward to developing our relationships with these groups.

PLUG IN 2011

Wow, what a week!  We had the awesome opportunity of representing the EV Challenge at the  Plug In 2011 Expo this week in Raleigh.  Not only were we able to gain experience about emerging EV technologies, we also were thrust into the spotlight as hundreds of vendors and guests viewed our MR2 and asked questions about our program.  Wonderful exposure!
   Three Topsail students, Stephen Henderson, Shelby Sessions and Ryan Berkey were on hand to field even the most difficult questions about the EV Challenge program and the MR2 conversion.  Most notable was the typical reaction of "A High School did this?".  Yes, it is out...High School students are capable of great things if given the proper education and motivation.  Nothing like being able to convert and drive an electric vehicle to stoke the fires of creativity and passion!
  Being the only non factory manufactured Electric or Hybrid vehicle at the show, the Topsail High MR2 seemed to stick out among the likes of the Volt, Leaf, ImEV, Focus and Prius.  With the newly installed Lithium Ion battery pack, the MR2 can achieve close to 100 miles on a charge, a fact that was not lost on the onlookers as they marveled at the creativity and overall workmanship of the High School project.

Advance Auto Fundraiser

Today we had the MR2 and Ranger on display at the Wrightsboro Advance Auto in Wilmington.  We had a great time talking about the vehicles and selling hot dogs as well.  Five of the EV12 team wee there including, Parker, Shelby, Tyan, Dylan and Roman.  A special thanks goes out to the Mowry family for their support.  Being on display helps the team to gain confidence in displaying the vehicles while raising awareness of EV's.

Classy Chassis car show at Poplar Grove

Today the truck had the opportunity to show off at a local classic car show, the Classy Chassis Car Show at Poplar Grove in Wilmington.  The show was rained out for Saturday and we had to cancel, but thanks to Ryan Mowrey and his family, we were able to show the truck today for most of the show.  Ryan and his brother Mike, a former EV team member from several years ago, picked up the truck and drove it to the show where they were already showing Ryan's classic pick up truck.  Needless to say, there were plenty of questions from a crowd that is not used to vehicles that don't make any noise!

Synkromotive controller installed in MR2

We finally got around to removing the Raptor 1200A and installing the Synkromotive 900A in the MR2.  The Raptor has served us well over the last 9 years, making appearances in three different installs.  It is a very powerful controller, but that is all, it does not allow for programming or data logging.  The Synkromotive controller has been working flawlessly in our Ranger for over a year, so we decided to install one in the MR2 as well.

  Initial observations are the MR2 with the Synkro has a tad bit less acceleration.  On the plus side, gone is the horrible accelerator delay we had with the Raptor.  This issue reared its' ugly head in Auto Cross events where you had to press early on the pedal in anticipation of the power surge....not fun.

  Now to drive the MR2 and data log the results.  The data logging will really help us to track the performance of our Lithium pack as well.

8th Straight EV Challenge title!!!

The Topsail High School Electric Vehicle Team won the EV Challenge final event for the 8th consecutive year this past weekend at the NCCAR complex in Roanoke Rapids NC.  Placing First and Second overall in the competition against 14 schools from as far away as Iowa and Miami.  Our now Lithium powered MR2 actually posted a better time than a $110,000 Tesla Roadster in the autocross event!  Our Ford Ranger scored a perfect 100 in the Vehicle Design category, a feat that has never been accomplished.  The Ranger team dominated in every category and tallied a perfect 10 cumulative score....the best score possible(Low score wins like golf).
The following students won awards:

Truck Team
Troubleshooting - Zach Fouty, Sal Castoro    First Place
Oratorical- Sean Bullock, Stephen Henderson   First Place
Vehicle Design- Alexis Demetrious, Chris Raynor   First Place
Range- Alexis Demetrious, Todd LeMaster   First Place
AutoCross- Joseph Graves   First Place

Modified Car Team:
Oratorical- Zeke Hartner, Joseph Graves     Second Place
Vehicle Design- Tony Capace, Joey Godfrey    First Place
Range- Tony Capace, Joey Godfrey    First Place
AutoCross-  Sean Bullock    Second Place

Website Design-  Shelby Sessions    First Place
School Initiative-  First Place

This has been by far the best class I have ever taught while a Topsail High School.  They represented the school with pride, dignity and class.  The class went into the competition with the motto "Dominate", and they did just that.  As Sean Bullock said, "Preparation = Domination", a formula that has worked for THS EV for 8 years!

Battery boxes and Lithiums

We had battery boxes fabricated by Billy Vaughn at Wilmington Sheet Metal and they fit perfectly!  We will now take on the task of mounting the boxes and wiring the 48 batteries in series.  The other technical issue is providing a means to secure the batteries once inside the boxes.  Always something to do...