Electric Project
The EV community has been around a long time but is now growing rapidly. Since the release of hybrid road vehicles and
now some dedicated electric vehicles, public interest is on the rise. The performance EV community is continuing to develop EV solutions for all forms
of motorsport focussing on performance and reliability. Both private enterprise and commercial workshops are focusing on EV concept and prototypes
with some surprising results. EV's are surprisingly uncomplicated in terms of the number and function of components. A traditional car needs a fuel
system, ignition system, engine, gearbox, engine management, charging system and some method of starting it. An EV has a motor or two, a motor
controller, batteries and some electronics. Add in a monitoring system to take the place of the more familiar array of gauges and you're good to go.
There is a Formula version of wings and slicks in international racing called Formula E which commenced in 2016. One such team of pioneers in EV Motorsport is Canberra based is Phil Pratt. Phil acquired this Stuart Hooper built Group 2C Superspors car over five years ago. This was originally powered by a Toyota 4AGE four-cylinder engine and five speed dog box and proved to be very competitive. The vehicle has since competed in a variety of events including sprints and Hillclimb.
Phil is not new to motor sport. He has been competing since he was 16, starting in dirt speedway before moving onto drags, rally, karting and circuit events. Phil has had an interest in EVs for some time and is keen to exploit the maximum potential of the environmentally sustainable power with assistance from Damian's company, Driftech.
This car is fitted with two custom wound AC50 Catavolt 3Ph AC motors which are capable of 10,000 rpm, Samsung 18650 batteries (all 2760 of them also supplied by Catavolt of Newcastle) arranged in packs and installed in two banks, and two Curtis Instruments 1239E motor controllers. The current flow to the motor is controlled by an electronic accelerator pedal.
The monitoring system is a custom design, assembled by Tony Castle (Splinter) who is currently the only CAMS accredited EV scrutineer. The electronic systems monitor battery voltage, battery temperature, motor temperatures, controller temperatures, stray differential voltages between battery packs, RPM, and will initiate an alarm if unusual scenarios arise. A GPS device called 'Cycle Analyst' is fitted and used as a data logger utilising GPS coordinates for detailed driving analysis. The differential is a Winters Quick Change unit, custom made with an offset to achieve the correct drive line orientation with the motors. The motors are then connected directly to the diff via a drive shaft.
A water-cooled heat sink cooling system is installed for the controllers with the motor temperatures controlled by an internal non-conductive oil system. So far, the operational temperatures have been below the point at which cooling is required but the cooling is expected to be utilised once more power is liberated from the batteries. In the current configuration the car and driver weigh in at 612kg and is delivering 60kW and 250Nm of torque. The design potential is in the vicinity of 230kW and 500Nm once fully sorted. This sounds low compared to a petrol engine but there is no power loss from a gear box and the power delivery is seamlessly smooth for the full rpm range.
The complication in the setup and tuning of an EV is in the motor controller. It can be likened to programming an engine ECU as used in traditional combustion engines. It takes a lot of time and testing to get the controllers to operate in a way that is the optimum for motor sport. This is where EV West in the USA assisted by providing critical information for the controller and wiring systems.
One of the advantages of going electric is running costs. A traditional car requires regular quantities of combustible fuel, coolant, tyres, lubrication oils for the moving components every event. The electric car only requires tyres and about $1.40 of electricity per event. The batteries are charged the night before an event from a 15A 240V standard power point. There is also no need to warm the car up before use as it is unaffected by altitude. No matter the weather or location, you just get in and go.
The team have been working together developing the sports car since early 2016 continuously improving the performance. The car is already a competitive package although ongoing development work should realise more improvements.
The plan is to keep using Hillclimb and sprint events to further develop the car then participate in a few circuit events once the setup is fully evolved. The car has already set track records for EV's at the SDMA Sutton road Hillclimb track and the Bathurst "Esses" Hillclimb, Bathurst “Mountain Straight” Hillclimb having c ut considerable amounts of time off the previous records for the class.
Phil and Damian would like to thank:
EV West in the US provided information critical to the build for the controller wiring for gratis.
Field weakening techniques developed with help from Chris Jones from Voltron Race Bikes.
John Eggenhuizen from Catavolt in Newcastle
Damian Butcher and Tony Castle from Driftech
"Crazy" Al from ElectricCarConversionsBlog.com
There is a Formula version of wings and slicks in international racing called Formula E which commenced in 2016. One such team of pioneers in EV Motorsport is Canberra based is Phil Pratt. Phil acquired this Stuart Hooper built Group 2C Superspors car over five years ago. This was originally powered by a Toyota 4AGE four-cylinder engine and five speed dog box and proved to be very competitive. The vehicle has since competed in a variety of events including sprints and Hillclimb.
Phil is not new to motor sport. He has been competing since he was 16, starting in dirt speedway before moving onto drags, rally, karting and circuit events. Phil has had an interest in EVs for some time and is keen to exploit the maximum potential of the environmentally sustainable power with assistance from Damian's company, Driftech.
This car is fitted with two custom wound AC50 Catavolt 3Ph AC motors which are capable of 10,000 rpm, Samsung 18650 batteries (all 2760 of them also supplied by Catavolt of Newcastle) arranged in packs and installed in two banks, and two Curtis Instruments 1239E motor controllers. The current flow to the motor is controlled by an electronic accelerator pedal.
The monitoring system is a custom design, assembled by Tony Castle (Splinter) who is currently the only CAMS accredited EV scrutineer. The electronic systems monitor battery voltage, battery temperature, motor temperatures, controller temperatures, stray differential voltages between battery packs, RPM, and will initiate an alarm if unusual scenarios arise. A GPS device called 'Cycle Analyst' is fitted and used as a data logger utilising GPS coordinates for detailed driving analysis. The differential is a Winters Quick Change unit, custom made with an offset to achieve the correct drive line orientation with the motors. The motors are then connected directly to the diff via a drive shaft.
A water-cooled heat sink cooling system is installed for the controllers with the motor temperatures controlled by an internal non-conductive oil system. So far, the operational temperatures have been below the point at which cooling is required but the cooling is expected to be utilised once more power is liberated from the batteries. In the current configuration the car and driver weigh in at 612kg and is delivering 60kW and 250Nm of torque. The design potential is in the vicinity of 230kW and 500Nm once fully sorted. This sounds low compared to a petrol engine but there is no power loss from a gear box and the power delivery is seamlessly smooth for the full rpm range.
The complication in the setup and tuning of an EV is in the motor controller. It can be likened to programming an engine ECU as used in traditional combustion engines. It takes a lot of time and testing to get the controllers to operate in a way that is the optimum for motor sport. This is where EV West in the USA assisted by providing critical information for the controller and wiring systems.
One of the advantages of going electric is running costs. A traditional car requires regular quantities of combustible fuel, coolant, tyres, lubrication oils for the moving components every event. The electric car only requires tyres and about $1.40 of electricity per event. The batteries are charged the night before an event from a 15A 240V standard power point. There is also no need to warm the car up before use as it is unaffected by altitude. No matter the weather or location, you just get in and go.
The team have been working together developing the sports car since early 2016 continuously improving the performance. The car is already a competitive package although ongoing development work should realise more improvements.
The plan is to keep using Hillclimb and sprint events to further develop the car then participate in a few circuit events once the setup is fully evolved. The car has already set track records for EV's at the SDMA Sutton road Hillclimb track and the Bathurst "Esses" Hillclimb, Bathurst “Mountain Straight” Hillclimb having c ut considerable amounts of time off the previous records for the class.
Phil and Damian would like to thank:
EV West in the US provided information critical to the build for the controller wiring for gratis.
Field weakening techniques developed with help from Chris Jones from Voltron Race Bikes.
John Eggenhuizen from Catavolt in Newcastle
Damian Butcher and Tony Castle from Driftech
"Crazy" Al from ElectricCarConversionsBlog.com