Here’s the latest. We’ve almost finished making a new lightweight rear body panel for the car. The old one was very heavy and floppy, so our guys whipped up a new one in carbon fibre. It’ll actually help us with the fitting of the charging equipment by saving the need for engineering up a bunch of structural support – for a panel that’s already too heavy.
We get a slick new carbon body, save a lot of weight (where we don’t want weight – the rear) and make the charging kit an easy install. Neat solution.
We’ve also got a new diffuser coming out of the moulds. This is the bit that sits under the rear of the car. It’s being engineered with some nifty flaps to the left and right that pull down to expose the two charging options:
Normal (13A and slow) or Abnormal (100A and fast).
With some changes to the rear lights and to the internals viewed through the rear window thrown in – this part of the car is going to be pretty slick.
News from ‘up North’ is that the BMS (Battery Management System) is ready and we’re planning to ship the car up for fitting and testing next week. We’re also having a new Vehicle Control System (VCS) from the same guys – all of it CANbus connected, which, when you get into the detail of it, looks pretty essential (the old stuff wasn’t).
When we get the car back with it’s BMS and VCS we’ll have pretty well just the interior to do – plus fit the new panels and give it all a quick spray job. And that’s it.
We should be on the road.
The next update should be episode 12 of 6 – in another week or two I hope.
Cheers.
Awesome!
=-)
With all this Carbon Fibre in the manufacture how does the carbon footprint of the car match up to a standard car given a life cycle of 10 years at roughly 10K miles per year?
How recyclable is carbon fibre as it is a re-inforcing plastic which doesn’t easily degrade?
What is the likely selling price and when will it be on sale?
It will be a valid incentive to trade in my Scooby perhaps/
Brian, good question. I too would be interested to know a bit more about the carbon cost of car manufacture. I like the idea of all cars being something closer to the aerial atom. Stripped back, with as little cosmetic fabrication as possible – whilst maintaining reasonable safety standards. Someone once told me that car manufacture consumes more energy than the car will use in its entire life. Is this true in the case of the Nemesis? Is the factory powered by Ecotricity and if so how much can this reduce the overall carbon cost of manufacture?
just got this email, about this years Alternative Energy Racing day at Santa Pod – somewhere that’s certainly my guilty pleasure, and probably for more renewable energy types that would like to admit it …..
—————————————————–
Dear All,
Welcome to 2010’s Alternative Energy Racing event! The website has recently been updated for the 2010 event, and it’s worth taking a look around to remind yourself what the day is all about.
We are now officially accepting entries for the event, and our entry list will go on-line shortly. The event takes place on Friday 23rd April, and once again, we are offering FREE TICKETS AND TRACKTIME to all suitable entries.
Q) What is a suitable entry?
A) Any car, motorcycle or conveyance that does not burn fossil fuels.
So, if you run an electric, biodiesel, biogas, compressed air, hydrogen, ethanol or alcohol-powered vehicle, or know someone who does, read on:
It’s FREE, it’s FUN, and it’s GOOD FOR BUSINESS, so send in your entry today to be involved. Please send entries via the form on the official website: http://www.aeracing.org/contact.php.
The official event website homepage can be found here: http://www.aeracing.org/index.html.
Rick Cuthbert
Alternative Energy Racing
Event Coordinator
abnormal? I’ve never heard that as a charging option before… but I like it
A new option for electric car batteries on this link
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gY_9zthQIXN8etDM3tZF4b0O6uSQ
Derek
Hi There! I am working on a science fair project and I was wondering if you could tell me how the wind is being converted into energy and then stored?
Thanks!
-Dina
Hi Dale
Just saw this on Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/02/lotus-outs-wild-evora-414e-hybrid-plug-in-concept-car/
It’s an announcement from Lotus about an electric hybrid. They must really like what you’re doing with this! (Especially with the glass engine cover).
Matt
where are you having the BMS done? does it balance on charge and discharge?