Well, another month whizzes by. It seems like Tony is bugging me to get the column in earlier each month. He probably is, because he knows how much I like to put things off.
This has been a big month for me and my car. I would like to start off by saying I really feel appreciated by members of the club, because of the great support I have recieved towards getting my car working again. I also appreciate the support and team spirit from those who have helped me. I definitely would not be this far along without the help of others. The last two weekends have been big pushes to get the car back on the road for the Clean Air Awards Banquet. I get to be in a parade! This will be my first, so I am very excited.
Naturally, I am feeling tons of pressure to get done. Well, last week, Mike Simpson, and Rick Prestell came over to help put things together. We made alot of progress, and got very close. Lack of a few critical parts put completion off for another week. Then mid week last week, Steve Smith and Tony Cygan came over on a week night, to help some more. We got a little more done, and again I appreciated the help and support. Finally, yesterday, Mike Simpson came over again, to put the finishing touches on it. Well, we worked and worked.
Everything was finally connected, checked, and double checked. It was time forthe first test. I put the key in, turned it on, 12 volt system works fine, and with the trans in neutral, stepped on the pedal. Nothing. We checked things some more, but so far, no action. All voltages are in place, and everything looks like it should, but just no go. This is a big dissapointment after many long months of work. Having Mike there was a help, because he has alot of good knowledge of what to look for.
I also have to mention that I have recieved alot of help from Drive Electric. These guys have been patient, and helpful all the way. I mention this, because they also need our support, and we should do what we can to "get them on the road". This is true for all of the small EV businesses in the area. We are very fortunate to have as much as we do.
Well, I guess what I want to convey to you from all of this is that it does take alot of work to get an ev on the road. If you're doing your own conversion it will take many long hours to do. But there is hope. The members of SEVA are willing to help. I am still working with the SEVA board to get the EV project board put together in a form which will make it easy to see who needs help, and what kind. I would like to concentrate the efforts of the club on the cars which need help to get on the road, and get them going! In spite of the dissapointment last night, I felt a little better because I was not working alone. And I will continue up until show time to get this car going. Not just for the shows of course, but because I need the transportation. This is why I would like everyone in the club who has a car on the project board to get this kind of support and attention.
We appreciate you and your interest in EVs, and we want to show it by helping you get in the road! Mark Bahlke
Editors note: After Mark wrote this article he found the problem with his car. It turned out that the potbox was in need of a mechanical adjustment and that by moving it more in line with his cable it was working fine. He took the car out for a test drive and everything is working great. Mark also made an apperance at the American Lung Associations Clean Air Luncheon out at McCllelan AFB on Friday, May 5th. Mark was part of the Intel delegation for the event (Intel was a sponsor) and Mark got to drive his EV on the stage that they had set up in a hanger for the audience to view. Great job Mark!
Instead of meeting at SMUD Headquarters, SEVA had a field trip to McClellan Air Force Base. Phil Mook of the Alternative Fuel Program and Allegra Hakim of the Advanced Composites Programs Office spoke to SEVA visitors.
Phil said that DOE has provided funding since 1992 for the program. The Air Force is involved because of the positive impact on national security: energy independence; clean environment; economic growth in developing countries.
The Energy Policy Act relates to what goes into a vehicle. The Clean Air Act is about what comes out of a vehicle. The two laws together take into account the whole picture. Both promote reduction in petroleum use by means of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFV) and Clean Fuel Vehicles (CFV). The 1993 target was for 5000 or 10% of the Federal fleet to be AFV.
The government met the target with gasoline and CNG double-fueled vehicles. It turns out that these cars are hard to lease, due to uncertainty about their resale value. DOD options for AFV include M85 methanol, CNG, LPG propane, and electricity.
Since FY 1992 McClellan has been a USAF Center of Excellence for EVs. The base has a demonstration fleet of 56 vehicles, a demonstration of infrastructure (52 charging stations installed by SMUD), and 3 full-time electromotive mechanics. The program is putting the finishing touches on the Freeway Worthy Utility Vehicle. The first is to be delivered May 6. Another 5 will be built this summer for crash tests.
DOD has a $15 million line item for EV procurement in FY 1995. Many DOD vehicles run 30 miles/week, great candidates for EVs. This program is managed by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security. The procurement plan calls for purchase of 125-175 light-duty general-purpose EVs, 75-125 military-purpose hybrid EVs, establishment of infrastructure at 4 DOD installations, collection of cost and operational data, and a contingency fund.
Phil concluded that the greatest benefits of EV technology relate to energy use and environment. Currently EVs are a niche market. Right now the price of an EV is about 3 times that of an ICE. When the price of an EV comes down to that of an ICE, the market will take off. The Achilles heal is not range, but rather maintaining battery performance is the tough issue. The technology is improving; EVs are not a matter of "if" but of "when."
Allegra welcomed SEVA visitors with an impressive display of aircraft parts made by her program. Composites consist of fibers (such as graphite, kevlar, etc) and glue (usually epoxy). They are baked together to form a material that has high strength in the direction of the fibers. At 300 F heating causes cross-link bonds to form. EV bodies are made from wet-layup fiberglass, which is non-conductive. Engineers can layer material in several directions to taylor strength and stiffness.
Honeycombs make strong and light components. Allegra has been making composites at McClellan for 8 years. Allegra showed a graphic video of bird strikes on T-38 windshields. The bird shatters the conventional windshield at 200 knots, but a bird at 400 knots bounces off the composite windshield.
editors note: I just wanted to thank Ruth McDougall for scheduling this trip and to the folks at McCllelan for a job well done even with the excitment at the base with President Clintons visit at the same time.
The SEVA board met Monday, April 17 at 7:20pm to discuss club business.
First on the agenda was a review of the field trip to McClellan. There was confusion about where to meet. The rendezvous point was changed because of security concerns during the visit by President Clinton. Ruth McDougall wrote a thank-you note to the hosts. The Board agreed that SEVA should try to visit again in a year, to see the progress made, if McClellan is still there.
Mark Bahlke reminded the Board about Earth Day in Roseville, Saturday April 22. Several members are taking their cars. Some cars have to be towed but Mark had not rounded up a trailer. Roseville provides a table and space to display cars. Members can bring cars to Mark's place or Tim Loree's place.
Steve Smith unrolled the brand new SEVA banner, featuring the new SEVA logo and "SEVA" in bright blue letters. He had decals with the same design. The design can go on letterhead and T shirts, too. Mark wants to put it on items to sell to the public, to advertize EVs. Ruth said that SEVA's role is to make EV cars and drive them. Mark said that signs and banners attract attention, which eventually will result in more EV cars.
Ruth mentioned the bike parade on Thursday May 4. CityEl EVs are invited to participate. The parade starts at 1130 at the Tower Bridge.
Mark described the Clean Air Awards Banquet, Friday May 5. Intel has seats available at its table for $20 apiece. The luncheon is 11:30-1:30, featuring a parade of EVs. Ruth called it a fashion show of AFVs. Mark's car will be in the parade. He has a work party at his house every night to get it running again.
The Board had a long-winded discussion of the Clean Air Commute, Saturday May 6. Tim will visit Davis to verify claims about five charging stations. So far members have not shown much interest in the event.
Arthur Cartwright volunteered to make a map for the SEVA picnic, Sunday July 9. The Board commended him for the map he made for the McClellan field trip.
Mark passed out EAA manuals to the Board. These notebooks show how SEVA relates to the national Electric Auto Association. Mark will provide three more copies of the manual.
Tim reported that a member complained about the volume (sound level) of presentations at monthly meetings. Tim will check into getting a PA system. Also, Tim will repeat questions from the audience and ask people to speak up.
Tim will produce a rough draft of an informational flyer. Mark will contact Bruce Parmenter for his brochure.
Arthur offered to make patches to recognize mileage on EVs for 100 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles, etc. This would be a good way to keep track of total club mileage and provide friendly competition. Mark guessed that SEVA members probably drive 10,000 electric miles per month. The patch system would be a good way to verify his claim. The club can make the first presentation at the picnic. The Board voted to fund this project up to a maximum of $35.
Ruth suggested that members invite work parties to come over to work together on converting their EVs. Mark said that small rather than large groups are good. Guests need to provide their own safety glasses and gloves, owners would provide pizza. Owners have to take responsibility and lay out parts ahead of time. Monthly meetings would be a good forum in which owners could round up helpers. The vehicle should then be featured in the newsletter after the fact.
The board meeting was adjourned at 9:05pm.
I'm going to bow out of this months editorial space and reprint parts of the editorial by Clare Bell of the National EAA that was in this month Current EVents newsletter. Current EVents is the newsletter of the National EAA and Clare is it's editor. Clare also has an electric Porsche 914 and since I am converting one of these myself, I like to see what she is doing with hers.
This is a piece on her involvement with SCCA Solo II Autocross. Take it away Clare --
So you think you have a good, high-performance electric car. You regularly show the gasoholics your tail lights and nimbly whiz around curves. But feelings can be subjective, right, especially when they involve your car. Want to get a real idea of how good your EV is? Come out and compete against the rest of the sportscar world in SCCA Solo II autocross.
SCCA is Sports Car Club of America and autocross is a time-trial event where cars and drivers test their gumption by hurtling through a twist turn-y track as fast as wheels and nerve will take them. Since cars are running against the clock, not against each other, the dangers of wheel-to-wheel racing are eliminated. If you lose it, there's nothing to hit except cones. SCCA track workers quickly red-flag any other cars on the track to a stop, get you back on course and on your way with nothing worse than a DNF (Did Not Finish).
SOLO II time-trialing is a perfect venue for Electrics. Handling, acceleration and driver skill is what counts. The short track and limited number of runs makes range a non-issue. The off-the line starting torque of series wound DC motors may prove to be an advantage against internal combustion engine competitors, who have to rev their engines up to peak RPMs, then dump the clutch.
This is not just airy-fairy dreaming. A number of electrics in the San Francisco Bay Region have run SCCA autocross. SCCA is considering opening up an electric class and is inviting more electrics to participate in the existing classes. Electrics have also made some respectable showings in SCCA events. Empirical Engineering's SnoWhite recently pulled 41 seconds at the hands of Barry Goldine on a track where big block Corvettes were running 45-48 seconds. WE"RE IT's # 13 Porsche 914 (Clares car) ran a 52 second romp on the same course. Dan Sullivans and Mike Brown's ESR-1 has also laid down some respectable times. Electrics can compete and compete effectively.
So why do autocross? Isn't that just a place where you can take your car out and play with it, as opposed to the various alternative energy and EAA events, where the main mission is to educate the public? Yes, SCCA autocross is fun, but you can also do some radical attitude adjstment while you are at it. And the attitudes you affect may be some of the more critical ones. SCCA members include a lot of the movers and shakers in today's world. They're the guys and gals who have the bucks to get a Porsche 911 or an Accura and SCCA is where they take it out and play with it. They comprise what the marketing field calls "early-entry consumers", the affluent, well-educated people who bought the first Pcs, home faxes and other now commonplace items. They set the trends that others follow.
If electrics start winning, these folks will start buying them.. Price is no object to the go-fast gang. The object is to beat that guy with the turbocharged 911 down the street, no matter what it takes.
If you start autocrossing your hot EV, you may hear an interesting series of comments along the following lines, indicating an attitude shift in progress.
"I'll beleive in electric cars when they start beating Corvettes."
"I didn't know electric cars could autocross."
"Well, you know, they're letting them run, just for kicks."
"Hey, look at that thing move. Sure is quiet!"
"Not a bad time!"
"How does that thing drive?"
"Take a run in it? Sure!"
"Hey, this does pretty good!"
"I'm glad you guys are here."
"You know, I've been thinking of doing an electric autocrosses.
Maybe now's the time to build one."
Want a taste? Prep your car and come on out! See you among the chicanes and don't worry if you eat a cone or too.
Building a Good EV Autocrosser
To blast trhough a snaky track in a minimum number of seconds, you need a car that handles, that has traction and can get power to the wheels.
A well-handling EV shouldn't lean excessively during cornering, should keep as much rubber on the track as possible, shouldn't have excessive understeer or oversteer and be able to stop quickly without too many gyrations.
Cars equiped with a 120V or higher, the big 9-in Advance DC motor and a smooth-shifting manual gearbox should be able to pour on sufficient power. Your limitations here may be controller capacity. Another good configuration is a 2-motor direct (no tranny) chain or belt drive for hot acceleration. As for AC drives, anyone lucky enough to get the Cocconi 10KW drivetrain should be able to clean up!
For braking, disk brakes with big rotors are good. Ventilated rotors are even better. You can get disk brake upgrade kits for almost any car. If your EV has regen, all the better, though you'll probably need hydraulics as well.
To optimize handling and minimize leaning in turns, battery weight should be kept as low as possible to lower the vehicles center of gravity. Weight distribution should be as close as possible to the original vehicle - you don't want the car to be too tail- or nose-heavy. you also want weight over the drive wheels to optimize traction.
If possible, keep battery weight close to the center of the car as possible to preserve what is called "polar moment of inertia". A low polar moment makes the car responsive to the wheels during turns and nimble, although if it does spin, it is going to trade ends several times very rapidly. Low polar moment reduces plowing (understeer) and prevents pendulul-type actions such as fishtailing.
You want as good a power-to-weight ratio as possible. in the case of an EV with off-the-shelf components, this means reducing overall weight. Unless you've got a customer controller that can deliver over 400 amps, you are limited in horsepower, so weight is critical. Evs that have autocrossed successfully have been in the 2000 to 2700 lbs range (including driver and gear.). Too heavy an EV will lumber like a hippo on the track and wallow through turns. It will also over-stress suspension components and you may end up out in the weeds with a broken suspension and saggy bottom.
Fit your EV with good springs and shocks,. Some have adjustable ride heights, so you can lower the car for competition. The best tires for autocrossing are exactly the opposite of the low rolling resistance types used on street Evs. Instead of the tall, narrow high-pressure type of tire, an autocross car needs short, wide stick tires for maximum adhesion in cornering. If you are really serious, get racing slicks (not street legal, by the way).
Contact: SCCA, San Francisco Region, 301 Preston Court, Livermore, CA. 91556. Phone # 510-373-7222 M-F. $40 for national membership (w/magazines).
The following news bits were pulled from the National EAA newsletter. They were compiled by Ruth M. Shipley from the Environmental Information Network
The New York Power Authority plans to place 14 EVs that were purchased through the EV AMerica program into the commuter car program in Westchester County, New York.
IBM will buy seven EV sedans for its employees to use at its Yorkstown Heights research facility. IBM employees who live in New York City will take a train fro Manhatten to the Nort White Plains train station where they will carpool to the IBM facility in an EV.
Pending approval from North White Plains officials, the Power Authority will install charging stations at the suburban train station, while IBm will set up stations at its facility. For more info call 518-474-8418.
The oil industry is engaged in a major lobbying effort to eliminate all federal incentives aimed at promoting alternative fuels, according to a new report released by the Domestic Fuels Alliance (DFA). The report chronicals the history of subsidies and other benefits received by the oil industry to develope the market for gasoline.
"This study illustrates the inconsistency behind the petroleum industry's lobbying message," said DFA's Gregg Ward. "The big oil companies contend that domestic fuels like natural gas and ethanol should not require and government support to build marketdemand, yet they themselves recieve major federal support to help build the petroleum market. For info call Peter Soh at 202-828-8889.
General Motor's Saturn division may market the Impact in the U.S, according to President and CEO John F. Smith.
The decision to turn the Impact over to the Saturn division has not yet been made, Smith noted, but it would augment the division's limited model lineup and enhance Saturn's role as the "different" GM entity. The high-tech, contemporary vehicle would also fit with Saturn's "sophisticated, customer-friendly" image, Smith added. Initially, the Impact will be sold in California, where 2% of all cars sold in 1998 must be ZEVs.
SEVA Activities --
o General Meeting, Saturday May 13th at 10:00am.
o Board Meeting, Monday May 15th at 7:00pm
o General Meeting, Saturday June 10th at 10:00am.
o Board Meeting, Monday June 12th at 7:00pm
o No Regular Meeting for July ! Instead come to the 2nd
Annual SEVA Picnic on SUNDAY, July 9th. Watch future
EVUpdate's for more information.
o Board Meeting, Monday July 10th at 7pm.
Bay Area & Modesto EAA Activities --
o Palo Alto Concours de Elegance, June 22nd
Contact Anna Cornell at 510-685-7580.
o East Bay EAA Chapter Rally , Aug 12th
o Silicon Valley EAA Chapter Rally, Sept 16th
National/International EVents --
o Tour de Sol, May 22-26
Contact Nancy Hazard 413-774-6051.
o Chrysler Neon HEV Challenge, June 5-13
Call 708-252-8677 for info.
o Formula Lightning Races, June 9th
Contact SERA 602-953-6672.
o Solar Splash Electric Boat Regatta, June 22-25
Call 602-774-8474 for info.
o Pikes Peak Hill Climb, July 4th
Call 719-685-4400 for info.
o Sun Sprint of the Rockies, July 11th
Call Zach Keele 303-872-3882.
o Cleveland Electric Formula Classic, July 22nd
Call Todd Schneider 216-447-3200.
o REDI Conference, Aug 11-13
Call 707-459-1256 for info.
o Forth Grove Fuel-cell Symposium, Sept 19-22
+44(0) 1865 843721 (England) for info.
Return to the SEVA HomePage