The Tour de Sol Reports, 2002
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Table of Contents
Report #1: Here Comes the Tour de SolReport #2: Particpants in the Tour de Sol
Report #3: Tour de Sol Categories: Solar Electric Vehicles
Report #4: Tour de Sol Categories: One-Person Vehicles
Report #5: Tour de Sol Categories: Hydrogen Vehicles - Fuel Cells
Report #6: Tour de Sol Categories: Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV)
Report #7: Tour de Sol Categories: Heavy Duty Vehicles
Report #8: Tour de Sol Categories: Demonstration Vehicles
Report #9: Tour de Sol Categories: Battery Electric Vehicles
Report #10: Team Profile: Electric Blue
Report #11: Team Profile: Woodstock
Report #12: Team Profile: DC Cruiser
Report #13: Team Profile: E-STREAM
Report #14: Technical Testing in Baltimore
Report #15: Team Profiles: Climate Cooler II, La Clean Machine, Rocket Runner
Report #16: Interview with Topher Waring
Report #17: Team Profile: Zodiac
Report #18: Team Profile: rEVolutionaryride
Report #19: Team Profile: Electric Hog
Report #20: Team Profile: Driven to Work
Report #21: IBEW Local 18
Report #22: Team Profile: ParaDyne
Report #23: Team Profile: SunPacer
Report #24: Team Profile: Sungo
Report #25: Team Profile: TroutEV
Report #26: Team Profile: Twike
Report #27: On Display: Run A Car On Fresh Vegetable Oil?
Report #28: Team Profile: AVS22 Hybrid - Electric Bus
Report #29: Team Profile: Solar Black Bear, Phantom Sol
Report #30: On Display: The Spincycle
Report #31: Pace Car: Honda Civic Hybrid
Report #32: Team Profile: Hybrid Challenger II
Report #33: Photos - Photos from Sunday in Baltimore.
Report #34: Photos - More pictures from Baltimore.
Report #35: Team Profile: L3 Enigma
Report #36: Team Profile: The Olympian
Report #37: Photos
Report #38: What Was That EV Called?
Report #39: On Display: DaimlerChrysler Natrium
Report #40: Team Profile: Soljourner 1, Soljourner 2
Report #41: Autocross Results
Report #42: Photos - Photos from Philadelphia, Autocross
Report #43: Team Profile: Toyota Prius
Report #44: On Display: Chrysler Sebring Through-The-Road Hybrid
Report #45: On Display: Driving on Used Vegetable Oil
Report #46: Team Profile: Solectria Super Force
Report #47: Team Profile: Viking 23
Report #48: Tales from the Charging Trailer
Report #49: New Electric Buses in New York City
Report #50: A Couple of Repairs for Sungo
Report #51: Accident and Recovery
Report #52: The Volunteers
Report #53: Not Here
Report #54: Various Short Stories
Report #55: Pace Car Story
Report #56: Simon Hauger Receives the 2002 EV Teacher Award
Report #57: Tour de Sol 2002 Awards
Report #58: Comments from the Awards
Report #59: Teams That Dropped Out
Report #60: Interview with Rob Wills, Tour de Sol Technical Director
Report #61: Photos - Photos from the Trenton
For Tour de Sol Reports from 1994 through 2001, see
Report #1: Here Comes the Tour de Sol
The 14th gathering of alternative transportation enthusiasts, known as the Tour de Sol: The Great American Green Transportation Festival, is scheduled for the 12th through the 18th of May, which is also National Transportation Week and during Clean Air Month. Once again, the clan will bring together many variations on the theme of energy efficient and Earth-friendly transportation. The field will include "for sale" vehicles as well as of the one-of-a-kind vehicles that reflect the variety and originality of thinking presented at the Tour de Sol every year since 1989. The Tour has grown into the largest sustainable transportation event in the world, including options such as walking, biking, and mass transportation. Features this year will include Honda's Civic Hybrid making its on-road debut as the pace car for the rally, DaimlerChrysler showing its Natrium fuel cell concept van, and Advanced Vehicle Systems displaying an electric-drive bus. And just think, not so many years ago these were technologies were being demonstrated in research vehicles at the Tour de Sol.
Central to the Festival will be the Road Rally for which the Tour de Sol is famous. In the past, the Tour has featured solar-electric and battery-electric scooters, motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks and buses, research hybrid-electric vehicles of many stripes, using many different fuels and technologies, including the first fuel-cells every used in open-road competition. Everything from personal designs, through vehicles built at schools and colleges, through current commercial offerings, and futuristic dreams still taking form will be on display and in competition.
The Festival is actually 6 Festivals along the Road Rally route from Washington DC to New York City. Each stop will have its own feel and features. For example, a weekend festival at Baltimore MD's Inner Harbor will be the kick-off event and host the pre-rally testing. The official rally start will be the Capital Mall in Washington DC. It will then stop at Sandy Point State Park, Maryland, Philadelphia's City Hall, and Trenton's State Museum and Library. Finally, the weekend New York City's Hudson River Park festival will fly the Finish Line banner. Each festival will offer its own unique mix of exhibits, food, and entertainment.
Nancy Hazard, director of the Tour de Sol, is excited by the many green transportation and energy options that are now available to the general public. "We worked so many years towards what is happening today. It is tremendously exciting to showcase quality hybrid vehicles that are for sale, such as the Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Toyota Prius. We first saw hybrid technologies at the Tour de Sol 8 years ago. The public demand now keeps these cars on constant backorder. And the DaimlerChrysler GEM neighborhood vehicle, which grew out of many experimental battery-electric vehicles, is now a successful niche-market product."
Linking the Festivals together is the famous Tour de Sol Road Rally, which this year attracts teams from as far away as San Diego, Canada, Oklahoma and Maine. Some entries are old favorites with the habit of improving year-to-year. Others are first-timers bringing new ideas and fresh interpretations on the idea of energy efficient vehicles. The contestants will run between the festival sites and then be on public display. The teams always have interesting stories to tell, and children particularly enjoy talking to the school entries. Not a few kids got their first look at an electric car at the Tour de Sol and then went on to produce entrants while in high school or college.
Details of the events can be found at NESEA's web site:
www.NESEA.org
Your humble reporter will once again be there capturing the stories behind the teams and vehicles in this series of reports. I'll also be serving as announcer during the Road Rallies.
The entire set of Tour de Sol Reports will be available at:
www.AutoAuditorium.com/TdS_Reports_2002/index.html
Report #2: Particpants in the Tour de Sol
The Tour de Sol is swiftly approaching, and the list of particpants (as of April 24, 2002) is found on the NESEA web site:
http://www.NESEA.org
The event is divided into two Divisions, PRODUCTION and PROTOTYPE, and the Prototype Division is subdivided into categories:
HYBRID-ELECTRIC VEHICLES HYDROGEN VEHICLES BATTERY-ELECTRIC VEHICLES SOLAR-ELECTRIC VEHICLES ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
Here is a quick summary of who and what is coming. More details will appear in future Tour de Sol Reports.
Vehicles with numbers are competing in the Road Rally.
OFFICIAL PACE CAR OF THE 2002 TOUR DE SOL
Honda Civic Hybrid
For Sale: '02 Gas-electric hybrid vehicle American Honda Motor Company
PRODUCTION DIVISION: VEHICLES BUILT BY MANUFACTURERS
#EO, AVS22 Hybrid Electric Bus
22' Bus, Diesel + Sonnenschein PbA AVS, Chatanooga, TN
GEM
For Sale: Purpose-built battery-electric neighborhood vehicle DaimlerChrysler
Natrium
Prototype fuel cell vehicle: Minivan with Millennium Cell storage, and Ballard fuel cell DaimlerChrysler
Dodge Ram HEV
Prototype gas-electric hybrid vehicle DaimlerChrysler
ToyotaPrius
'01 Toyota Prius: Gasoline + Panasonic NMH S&S Auto Sport, Tulsa, OK
Twike
1999 Twike: NiCad + pedal assist Twike Pioneers, S. Burlington, VT
#46, Honda Insight
'01 Honda Insight: Gas-electric hybrid Team Driven To Work, Bedminster, NJ
#31, Rocket Runner
PET Stand-up scooter: Quick-change PbA UNEP/IBEW Local 18, New York, NY#8, Climate Cooler
PET Quick-change PbA UNEP/PET, New York, NY
TH!NK city & TH!NK neighbor by Ford
Electric vehicles - TH!NK city for sale in fall 2002. Display in New York City and Washington, DC only.
PROTOTYPE DIVISION:
ONE-OF-A-KIND VEHICLES built by students, individuals, and component manufacturers etc.
HYBRID-ELECTRIC VEHICLES
#18, KINETICAR III
1989 S-10 Pick-up: LPG + Trojan, PbA NVCTC, Waterbury, CT
#9, Buckeyebird 2002
'02 Ford Explorer: Biodiesel + TBA Pride of the Buckeye, Columbus, OH
#65, The Hare
83 VW Rabbit: Gasoline + Trojan, PbA Falmouth Engineering Team, Falmouth, ME
#22, Soljourner 2
1995 Jeep Wrangler: LPG + PbA W. Philadelphia High School, Philadelphia, PA
#3, L3 Enigma
Purpose-built: Biodiesel + PbA L3 Research / SDSU, San Diego, CA
#17, Paradyne
1992 GeoMetor: E85 + Concord PbA University of Tulsa, OK
Hybrid Challenger II
1990 Chevy Lumina SUV, Gasoline + TBA Electronic Transportation Design, Yachats, OR
#14, SwiftR
'01 Suzuki Swift: Gasoline + Energizer PbA Swarthmore College HEV Team, Swarthmore, PA
#23, Viking 23
Purpose-built: Biodiesel + Saft NiCd Western WA University, Bellingham, WA
HYDROGEN VEHICLES
Electric Blue
1981 Ford Elvan: Hydrogen fuel cell + pbA Eco Living Fellowship, Willingboro, NJ
BATTERY-ELECTRIC VEHICLES
#19, Clean Wheels
1988 Suzuki Samurai, Electrovaya Li-ion Electrovaya Challenge, Mississauga, Canada
#25, Tiger FieroVolt
1984 Pontiac Fiero: Delphi, PbA UEHS FieroVolt Tigers, Endicott, NY
#16, The Olympian
1986 Ford Escort: GNB, PbA Pirates, Cinnaminson, NJ
#53, rEVolutionaryride.com
1986 VW Van: Trojan, PbA North Haven Community School, North Haven, ME
#66, Phantom Sol
1986 GMC S-15: Trojan, PbA UMaine Solar Vehicle Team, Orono, ME
#72, Sungo
Purpose-built: Ovonic, NMH NHTI SEV Club, Concord, NH
#15, E-STREAM
1991 VW Cabriolet: Exide, PbA Team EV, Princeton Jct., NJ
#21, Soljourner 1
Saturn SL2, Deka, PbA W. Philadelphia High School, Philadelphia, PA
#11, Solectria Super Force
1993 GeoMetro + trailer, PbA Team New England, Chelsea, MA
#28, Electric Panther
1996 GMC Sierra: Trojan PbA Panther Electric Vehicles, Pittsburgh, PA
#56, Woodstock
Conversion: Trojan PbA St. Mark's EV Club, Southborough, MA
#6, DC Cruiser
1985 Chevy S-10: BpA Maine Street Mainiacs, Brunswick ME
#85, Sundog
1995 Renaissance Tropica: Trojan PbA Sol Sarum Race Team, Salisbury, CT
SOLAR-ELECTRIC VEHICLES
#20, Solar Black Bear
1985 Chevy S-10: Trojan, PbA UMaine Solar Vehicle Team, Orono, ME
#75, SEVRX
1984 Honda CRX, NRG, Li Ion Clarkson University Solar Knights, Potsdam, NY
#92, SunPacer
Purpose-built, one-person commuter: Ovonic NMH Cato-Meridian HS Tech Team, Cato, NY
ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
#12, Electric Hog
Purpose-built motorcycle: Trojan, PbA Vogelbilt, New York, NY
#64, Trout EV
Purpose-built motorcycle, Deka PbA Electric Motorcycle Research Team, Millersville, PA
#7, Zodiac
Purpose-built, One-person commuter: Trojan, PbA IHS Tech Team, Rochester, NY#2, La Clean Machine
Prototype PET scooter, Quick-change PbA IBEW, Local 18/PET, Los Angeles, CA
Report #3: Tour de Sol Categories: Solar Electric Vehicles
The first Tour de Sols, both in Europe and America, were all about solar- powered vehicles. But the mission has changed over the years, and so the majority of the cars, trucks and buses that enter do not have much, if any, solar-electric energy sources. The rules state that all vehicles, except those in the Production category, must carry at least 1 square foot of solar panel and that it must power something. Many are used to run the radio.
But we still see entrants that get a significant fraction of their energy from the sun. (There will be future TdS Reports with the technical details of each of the vehicles.)
Here is some more info about this year's entrants:
Vehicle Name SEVRX
Vehicle Number 75
Category SOLAR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
vehicle type category solar electric
Team Name Clarkson Solar Knights
Organization Clarkson University Solar Knights
City Potsdam
State NY
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.clarkson.edu/~solarcar
Program blurb The Solar Knights entered SEVRX, their 1986 Honda
CRX battery-electric conversion, in last year's
competition as a demonstration vehicle. This year,
they are back with a reconstructed battery pack,
aerodynamic changes to the body and a brand-new
solar array.
Vehicle Name Solar Black Bear
Vehicle Number 20
Category SOLAR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
vehicle type category solar electric
Team Name UMaine Solar Vehicle Team
City Orono
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://ume.maine.edu/solar
Program blurb The Solar Black Bear returns for its fourth year
to defend its three consecutive first place
finishes in the Solar Category. New this year is a
completely new solar array, motor controller,
truck bed and dashboard system. The new designs
are aimed at improving reliability and
practicality, while keeping the Solar Black Bear a
cost-effective solar transportation solution.
Vehicle Name SunPacer
Vehicle Number 92
Category SOLAR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
vehicle type category Advanced battery solar electric
Team Name Cato-Meridian HS Tech Team
Organization Cato-Meridian High School Tech Club
City Cato
State NY
COUNTRY USA
Program blurb Cato-Meridian H.S. Tech Team, Cato, NY. This is
Sunpacer's ninth straight year competing in the
Tour. During this time, Sunpacer has won its class
several times and has been honored with many
efficiency awards. This years team consists of
crew cheif Arron Kolb, driver Ashley Davenport,
chief navigator Tim Soine, backup navigator Amber
Ross and Technology Teacher Earl Billings. The
purpose of the Sunpacer was to design a one-person
commuter propelled by solar electricity.
Report #4: Tour de Sol Categories: One-Person Vehicles
At the other end of the spectrum from buses, trucks and cars are the very personal transports, those that carry just one person. In much of the world, the motor scooter is a major cause of polution, both because of the high ratio of engines to people and the common use of smaller engines without clean-burn technologies or maintenance. There are alternatives ...
Vehicle Name Climate Cooler II
Vehicle Number 8
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name UNEP / PET
Organization Personal Electric Tranports Inc.
City Kailua
State HI
Program blurb This is the first time that the United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP) staff team is
participating in an event like the Tour de Sol.
The UNEP will ride a clean air scooter intended to
provide basic transportation for daily commuters
around the world, protecting the environment at a
cost that allows real challenges to Global Warming
causes. The LA International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local 18 is teaming with UNEP
to make this statement that the world can drive
environmentally friendly vehicles.
Vehicle Name La Clean Machine
Vehicle Number 2
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name IBEW/Local 18/PET
Organization Personal Electric Transports Inc.
City Kailua
State HI
Program blurb For the first time, the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, Local 18, working at Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power will ride a
scooter with the most advanced quick change system
in the world. They are teaming with the United
Nations Environmental Programme to make the
statement that the world can drive environmentally
friendly, low cost vehicles made in the USA
Vehicle Name Rocket Runner
Vehicle Number 31
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name UNEP / IBEW Local 18
Organization Personal Electric Transports Inc.
City Kailua
State HI
Program blurb Entered by the United Nations Environmental
Programme and the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local 18, this three wheeled,
stand-up vehicle allows rider visibility in even
the heaviest traffic. It folds to half it's size
in 5 seconds! Quick-change batteries. $800 retail.
Vehicle Name TroutEV
Vehicle Number 64
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Electric Motorcycle Research Team, Millersville,
Organization Millersville University NAIT Club
City Millersville
State PA
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.millersville.NAIT.Org
Program blurb The Electric Motorcycle Research Team (EMRT) -
Millersville University of Pennsylvania is proud
to enter their electric super-cycle called the
TROUTev. The vehicle was designed to break the Pb-
acid powered two-wheel vehicle distance record set
back in 1995 by the Schiller Group (81) miles.
Vehicle Name Zodiac
Vehicle Number 07
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA solar electric
Team Name IHS Tech Team
Organization Irondequoit Tech Club
City Rochester
State NY
COUNTRY US
www http://www.ihstechteam.com
Program blurb The West Icondequoit HS Team currently consists of
15 students and 7 adults. Our goal is to provide a
safe after school club that focusses on problem
solving and real world engineering. This is the
Zodiac's second appearance in the race.
Report #5: Tour de Sol Categories: Hydrogen Vehicles - Fuel Cells
The promise and the theory of some technologies can take a very long time to mature into reality and practice. So it has been with fuel cells and hydrogen vehicles. The Tour de Sol was the event where the first fuel-cell vehicles competed, and we welcome each new entrant. This is how the future is made ...
Vehicle Name Electric Blue
Vehicle Number 01
Category HYDROGEN VEHICLES - FUEL CELLS
vehicle type category hydrogen
Team Name Eco Living Fellowship
City Willingboro
State NJ
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.ecoliving.org
Program blurb Eco Living Felloship's truck represents both old
and new in electric drive sustainable
transportation. It was built by a team of New
Jersey college and homeschooled students using a
1981 Electravan 750 which has been restored,
updated and modified to include a hydrogen fuel
cell as an additional source of clean power.
Report #6: Tour de Sol Categories: Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV)
Hybrid electric drive systems are all the rage, it would seem. I suppose that isn't particularly surprising since this is the technology that holds the greatest near term promise. Come to the Tour and see the great variety of approaches people, schools and manufaturers take to making HEVs.
Vehicle Name Buck Hybrid 002
Vehicle Number 9
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Team Q
Organization Ohio State University
City Columbus
State OH
COUNTRY US
www http://car.eng.ohio-state.edu
Program blurb The BuckHybrid002 marks Ohio State University's
first entry in the Tour de Sol, but the team has
competed in Future Car and Future Truck since
1996. OSU's current Future Truck, the
BuckHybrid002, is based on the 2002 Ford Explorer
platform. Its a bio-diesel electric conversion,
and entrant in the upcoming Future Truck
Competition.
Vehicle Name Honda Insight
Vehicle Number 46
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Driven to Work
Organization Team Driven to Work
City Bedminster
State NJ
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.freedomfinancialplanning.com
Program blurb Team "Driven to Work" was formed by marketing
professionals who share an interest in alternative
energy and in promoting special events. We are
sponsored by FreedomFinancialPlanning.com, Spark
Communications and CTC Advertising. The "Driven
to Work" entry showcases how accessible green
vehicles have become to the consumer. Our team's
car is a rented Honda Insight.
Vehicle Name Hybrid Challenger II
Vehicle Number 33
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Hybrid Challenger
Organization Electronic Transportation Design
City Yachats
State OR
COUNTRY USA
www http://electrichybridvehicles.com
Program blurb Take the world's leading Hybrid drive engineer,
the world's leading heavy equipment manchanic, and
two of the world's greatest wifes, and you have
the world's greatest rally team. So why not take
the world's first hybrid SUV to the Tour de Sol,
The world's greatest clean energy rally. Clarence
and Betty Ellers, Earl and Eddie Ruthstrom will do
their very best to make this a fantastic event.
Vehicle Name KINETICAR III
Vehicle Number 18
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name KINETICAR
Organization CSERT-NVCC
City Waterbury
State CT
COUNTRY US
Program blurb The Kineticar III team under the leadership of
Bill Sforza improved our 2001 performance over the
previous year. This new team has been learning
about and making small improvements to our hybrid
vehicle. We expect to achieve better efficiency in
2002 and to accurately measure fuel usage.
Vehicle Name L3 Enigma
Vehicle Number 3
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name L3 Research/SDSU
Organization San Diego State University Foundation
City El Cajon
State CA
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.L3research.com
Program blurb The award-winning L3 Enigma sports car is a pre-
production prototype parallel hybrid electric
vehicle. Using the best off-the-shelf
technologies, the L3 team has built the first of a
new breed of "lean" muscle cars. Performance meets
economy in the L3 Enigma. See www.L3Research.com
for more.
Vehicle Name Paradyne
Vehicle Number 17
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name University of Tulsa
City Tulsa
State OK
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.hev.utulsa.edu
Program blurb Veteran of four Tours, this hybrid vehicle
finished first in 99 and second in 98, 00, and 01.
A converted Geo Metro, Paradyne is a parallel
hybrid with a 20 kW, 144 V Solectria motor with
lead-acid batteries and a 1 liter engine. For
2002, Paradyne has been converted to run on E85.
Vehicle Name Soljourner 2
Vehicle Number 22
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name W. Phila. HS EV Team
Organization West Philadelphia High School
City Philadelphia
State PA
COUNTRY USA
Program blurb THE HYBRID ELECTRIC JEEP #22 This is the third
conversion for this once gas powered Jeep. Now a
hybrid, running on biodiesel, a DC motor, and Deka
lead acid batteries. The students also built their
own generator, and a whole new body (not pictured
here) with materials donated by Hexcel. This is
the third conversion for this once gas powered
vehicle. The hybrid electric Jeep is equipped
with a 36HP MTS brushless DC motor getting its
power from 34 Deka DCU1 batteries (408 Volts).
The students built their own generator with a
Yanmar 2V78 20HP diesel engine running on
biodiesel fuel and a high efficiency 20HP MTS
brushless DC motor. The students also gave the
Jeep a new body this year (not pictured here) with
materials donated by Hexcel.
Vehicle Name SwiftR
Vehicle Number 14
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Swarthmore College HEV Team
Organization Swarthmore College
City Swarthmore
State PA
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.engin.swarthmore.edu/org/HEV/
Program blurb Swarthmore College's team has been known for their
CNG series hybrid Garnet One since 1997. They
return with an all-new 2001 Susuki Swift
conversion. SwiftR employs a parallel hybrid 4WD
system requiring only ordinary gasoline. SwiftR
demonstrates power and efficiency in a practical
hybrid vehicle.
Vehicle Name The Hare
Vehicle Number 65
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Falmouth Engineering Team
Organization Falmouth High School Engineering Team
City Falmouth
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.falmouthschools.org/tourdesol/
Program blurb The FHS Engineering Team has been active in the
past, and , after being absent for several years,
we are proud to announce our re-entry into
competition.
Vehicle Name Toyota Prius
Vehicle Number 70
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name S&S Auto Sport
Organization Robert Strattan
City Tulsa
State OK
COUNTRY USA
Program blurb The MY 2001 Toyota Prius is my daily driver, and
was the first Prius delivered to Tulsa, OK in
October, 2000. It also competed in the 2001 Tour
de Sol. I am a retired electrical engineering
professor and am also a faculty advisor to the
University of Tulsa's Hurricane Motor Work's HEV
project.
Vehicle Name Viking 23
Vehicle Number 23
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Western WA University
Organization Western Washington University
City Bellingham
State WA
COUNTRY USA
www http://vri.etec.wwu.edu
Program blurb The team from Western Washington University is
comprised of students working on an
extracurricular basis. Each of our ten team
members is involved for different reasons but
mostly it is a way to learn something that a book
cannot teach. Viking 23 is unique in that the
chassis and body are all composite, carbon fiber
to be exact. All materials have been donated or
graciously discounted.
Report #7: Tour de Sol Categories: Heavy Duty Vehicles
When most people think about electric and hybird-electric vehicles are thinking in term so personal transportation. However public and commercial uses of these technologies make a lot of sense. Two years ago an electric school bus was on the Tour. Ever see a school bus in an Autocross competition? We did! I wonder ...
Vehicle Name AVS22 Hybrid - Electric Bus
Vehicle Number E001
Category HEAVY DUTY VEHICLES
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name AVS
Organization Advanced Vehicle Systems
City Chatanooga
State TN
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.avsbus.com
Program blurb The AVS-22 is a quick, clean, and quiet 22' bus.
The hybrid technology enables the AVS-22 to
achieve "Ultra Low Emission Vehicle" status while
maintaining the performance of a conventional
diesel bus. 150 are in service around the world.
The bus is built by Advanced Vehicle Systems
(AVS), a recognized leader in Electric and Hybrid-
Electric Bus technology in the US.
Report #8: Tour de Sol Categories: Demonstration Vehicles
One of the exciting things about visiting the Tour de Sol year after year is seeing the technologies move from experimental use to practical use to commercial use. The Demonstration Vehicles are either currently for sale or pre-production prototypes of things to come.
Vehicle Name Dodge RAM HEV
Vehicle Number demo
Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative)
Team Name DaimlerChrysler
City Auburn Hills
State MI
www http://www.daimlerchrysler.com
Program blurb The Tour de Sol offers an early prieview of the
Dodge Ram HEV, a hybrid version of the popular
Ram pickup, for sale in 2004. This truck was
designed with the contractor in mind. It is 20
percent more fuel efficiency, and it can be used
as a clean electric generator when parked to
provide power for the job site.
Vehicle Name GEM
Vehicle Number demo
Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name DaimlerChrysler
City Auburn Hills
State MI
www http://www.daimlerchrysler.com
Program blurb DaimlerChrysler is bringing the GEM back to the
Tour de Sol for the third time. The GEM is the
leading neighborhood electric vehicle in the
nation, and a great crowd pleaser. It is designed
to meet the needs of people on college campuses,
corporate parks, and communities around the world.
Vehicle Name Honda Civic hybrid
Vehicle Number Pace
Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative)
vehicle type category demonstration/exhibit only
Team Name American Honda Motor Company
Organization Honda
City Washington
State DC
www http://www.hondacorporate.com
Program blurb American Honda Motor Company's third consecutive
year as lead corporate sponsor of the Tour de Sol
demonstrates the company's commitment to
developing real-world, market-ready vehicles that
continue to reduce the impact of automobiles on
the environment. The Honda Civic Hybrid is
making its U.S. on-road debut as the pace car for
the 2002 Tour de Sol. On sale nationwide in May
2002, the Civic Hybrid, a five-passenger sedan, is
expected to achieve about 50 miles per gallon for
both city and highway driving - a 30 percent
improvement in fuel economy compared to other
Civic sedan models. The Civic Hybrid is also the
first hybrid to share the same body style and
platform as other mass produced models. The Civic
Hybrid will come off the same assembly line as
other conventional Civic models. Two years ago
at the Tour de Sol, Honda introduced the Insight,
the first mass-produced, gasoline-electric hybrid
on sale in the U.S. market. This year, several
Insight owners will also compete in the Tour de
Sol road-rally.
Vehicle Name Natrium
Vehicle Number demo
Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative)
vehicle type category hydrogen
Team Name DaimlerChrysler
City Auburn Hills,
State MI
www http://www.daimlerchrysler.com
Program blurb The Chrysler Town & Country Natrium prototype fuel
cell vehicle uses New Jersey-based Millennium
Cell hydrogen storage technology---sodium boro-
hydride, which is made from borax, a common
component of laundry soap. The fuel is non-toxic,
nonflammable and can be recycled. Interior space
is not compromised.
Vehicle Name Th!nk city Vehicle Number demo Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative) Team Name Ford Th!nk Mobility State CA
Vehicle Name Th!nk neighbor Vehicle Number demo Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative) Team Name Ford Th!nk Mobility State CA
Vehicle Name Twike
Vehicle Number demo
Category DEMONSTRATION VEHICLES (non-competative)
vehicle type category demonstration/exhibit only
Team Name Twike Pioneers
Organization TWIKE Club of America
City S. Burlington
State VT
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.twike.org
Program blurb The Twike (Twin Bike) is a unique 3 wheeled, 2
passenger, Swiss-made human/electric powered
ultralight vehicle. The optional pedaling provides
excellent exercise while extending the Twike's
range. The Twike Pioneer team includes the
Vermont owners of Twike #507 and two Twike
enthusiasts from Germany.
Report #9: Tour de Sol Categories: Battery Electric Vehicles
After the early years of only solar-powered vehicles, the Tour de Sol added the Battery Electric Vehicles. These are vehicles that plug-in to recharge their batteries. (A solar panel up to 100 Watts is permitted. A bigger solar panel puts you into the Solar Vehicle category.)
(Your Humble Reporter drives a battery electric Solectria "Force" as his every day car, so any hint of bias towards this category in these reports just might be real. In fact, I attended several Tours while figuring out which type of electric vehicle is wanted. You might want to do the same.)
Vehicle Name Clean Wheels
Vehicle Number 19
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category Advanced battery
Team Name Electrovaya Challenge
Organization Electrovaya
City Mississauga
State Ont
COUNTRY Canada
Program blurb The Electrovaya Suzuki Samurai tests the viability
of using Electrovaya's Lithium Ion SuperPolymerTM
cells as a traction battery for an electric
vehicle. The cells, which have an energy density
of over 200Wh/kg, are similar to the cells used in
our PowerPads, which are designed to run laptop
computers up to 16 hours. We are excited about its
potential to power ZEVs.
Vehicle Name DC Cruiser
Vehicle Number 6
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Maine Street Mainiacs
Organization Seth Murray
City Brunswick
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.geocities.com/electricboy01
Program blurb This conversion was built over the last year by
high school senior Seth Murray and his father,
Mark. The project was undertaken mostly for fun,
but also to demonstrate that anyone can easily
build a simple and practical EV.
Vehicle Name E-STREAM
Vehicle Number 15
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Team EV
City Princeton Jct.
State NJ
COUNTRY USA
www http://TEAMEV2001.com
Program blurb Team EV is a private team from New Jersey composed
of four high school seniors and a college junior
with a large interest in engineering and the
environment. This is Team EV's second year as a
Tour de Sol entrant.
Vehicle Name Electric Hog
Vehicle Number 12
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Vogelbilt
Organization Vogelbilt Corp.
City New York
State NY
COUNTRY US
www http://www.vogelbilt.com
Program blurb We designed the Electric Hog because we believed
that a full size motorcycle could be made all
electric. What we created is a prototype vehicle
that has the feel, look and ride of a full-sized
motorcycle. The project was very challenging, a
lot of fun and a lot of hard work. We are proud
to be part of the Tour de Sol.
Vehicle Name Electric Panther
Vehicle Number 28
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Panther Electric Vehicle
Organization Panther Electric Vehicle Association
City Pittsburgh
State PA
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.pitt.edu/~elv/index.html
Program blurb The Panther Electric Vehicle Club has been
building EVs since 1998, but we are first-time
entrants to the Tour De Sol. Students at the U.
of Pittsburgh receive credit for their work. This
year we converted a GMC Sierra to electric power.
We hope to demonstrate that electric conversion
can be performed effectively on a heavy-duty
vehicle.
Vehicle Name Phantom Sol
Vehicle Number 66
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name UMaine Solar Vehicle Team
City Orono
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.ume.maine.edu/solar
Program blurb Originally a GMC-S15 pickup, the Phantom Sol
dispels the stereotype that EVs are impractical,
weak and expensive. In its appearance this year,
the Phantom will sport a new interior and a new
frame design, both allowing for greater
performance and reliability. Finishing touches
have been added to the body as well.
Vehicle Name SUNDOG
Vehicle Number 85
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Sol Sarum Race Team
Organization Salisbury School
City Salisbury
State CT
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.salisburyschool.org
Program blurb NH--The Cinnaminson High School Electric Vehicle
Tour de Sol team has competed in 4 consecutive
Tour de Sol events, placing 2nd, 4th, 4th, and 3rd
place in the battery car division. Our converted
Ford Escort is one of the most reliable, all
around, great performers in the Tour. The car is
dependable, comfortable, and easy to drive at any
speed. It will travel 50 miles under any
condition, and 100 miles if you really conserve
energy.
Vehicle Name Solectria Super Force
Vehicle Number 11
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Team New England
City Chelsea
State MA
COUNTRY USA
Program blurb This vehicle demonstrates the versatility of a
pure EV, with detachable trailer filled with
batteries for long-distance travel. This vehicle
took first place in its category in the 2001 Tour.
Team New England is a group of experienced EV
enthusiasts from around the country who seek to
enter cutting-edge unique and competitive vehicle
designs in EV competitions.
Vehicle Name Soljourner 1
Vehicle Number 21
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name W. Phila. H.S. EV Team
Organization West Philadelphia High School
City Philadelphia
State PA
COUNTRY Philadelphia
www http://www.upenn.edu/ccp/access_science/soljourner
Program blurb The West Philly Electric Vehicle Team is back for
its third year. The students have made a number
of improvement to the electric Saturn and are
looking forward to a successful run. The
Soljouner2 is equipped with a 36HP MTS brushless
DC motor, Deka batteries, and Michelin low rolling
resistant tires. Boeing tested the improved
aerodynamics in their full size wind tunnel.
Vehicle Name Sungo
Vehicle Number 72
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category Advanced battery
Team Name NHTI SEV Club
Organization New Hampshire Technical Institute SEV Club
City Concord
State NH
COUNTRY USA
Program blurb NH-Sungo was built and has been continuously
imporved by the New Hampshire Technical Institut's
Sustainabel Energy Ventures Club. The two-seat,
purpose-built electric vehicle can rech 90 mph,
and has placed first an the Tour several times.
This year additional space has been created for
its Ovonic nickel metal hydride batterhies, to
gain added driving range.
Vehicle Name The Olympian
Vehicle Number 16
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Pirates
Organization Cinnaminson High School
City Cinnaminson
State NJ
COUNTRY US
Program blurb NH--A 1987 Ford Escort was converted in 1996 to a
clutchless electric vehicle under Robert Deats'
supervision. Oliver Perry and his studnets
provided par6s and technical support. Our largest
sponsor has been Eugene Lemieux of Valley Forge's
Eastern Electric Vehicle Club. The car is a strong
performer with a second, third, and two fourth
place finishes in four years.
Vehicle Name Tiger FieroVolt
Vehicle Number 25
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name UEHS FieroVolt Tigers
Organization Union-Endicott High School
City Endicott
State NY
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.uetigertech.com
Program blurb Over the past two years the Union-Endicott High
School Technology Club has been converting a 1984
Pontiac Fiero to an electric with a 4' x 4' traler
that carries additional batteries. Over 30 club
members meet after school to problem solve,
develop CAD drawings, make vehicle modifications,
fundraise, and test the car.
Vehicle Name Woodstock
Vehicle Number 56
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name St. Mark's EV Club
Organization St. Mark's School Electric Vehicle Club
City Southborough
State MA
www http://www.stmarksschool.org
Program blurb The St. Markers who helped build our EV in their
free time are a coed group pf physics students,
alums and friends, drawn together by interest in
our environmental future, the application of
appropriate technology and enthusiam for project-
based education. "Woodstock" is a bright yellow,
recycled 1994 Ford Ranger pickup truck. Special
features include an extensively modified 4X2
drivetrain, recharging from any 120 V outlet, high
ground clearance, a limited slip axle and
elecronic anti-lock brakes.
Vehicle Name rEVolutionaryride.com
Vehicle Number 53
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name North Haven Community School
City North Haven
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.midcoast.com
Program blurb A spunky group of junior and senior physics
students from the smallest public high school in
Maine (on an island, no less) have spent the last
18 months making a perfect island car- an electric
4wd Volkswagen Syncro 7 passenger van. This entry
has been an all-island effort, joining students, a
boat electrician, the town's welder, and island
artists.
Report #10: Team Profile: Electric Blue
The promise of fuel cell technology, which converts hydrogen and oxygen into water and electricity, once again has a real expression at the Tour de Sol.
One of those expressions is this pickup truck began as a battery electric vehicle in the early 1980s; about 80 were built by Jet Industries in Huston Texas for utility companies. "They were born and registered as electric trucks," says Mike Skelly Sr. Eventually, after years of corporate and private ownership, it was donated to the Eco Living Fellowship. "We wanted to pick it up as a student project." They had help from Mike Stritzki, who as the principal organizer of the New Jersey Venturer fuel cell vehicle that was in the Tour de Sol in 1999 and 2000, and various sponsors, and students and volunteers. They are using the original GE SCR controller and the original GE DC series wound motor. It combines some of the oldest electric vehicle technology with some of the newest. A hydrogen fuel system recharges the battery pack as they drive. "A boost converter from Advanced Power Associates raises the fuel cell output, 43 to 63 Volts, to the charging voltage for the 144 Volt battery pack."
I asked why they stuck with the original controller. I guessed a modern controller would drop in pretty easily. "It was part of the mission. We wanted to stick with as much of the original equipment as we could, as the demonstration. We think it will add about 10% to the range." There are two battery strings in parallel.
The hydrogen tank is about 43 liters at 3600 pounds per square inch. "That gives us about 10 hours of 1 kiloWatt output; 10 kiloWatt-hours," said Ken Kleinfelter, another team member.
Rob Wills, Technical Director of the Tour de Sol made the comment, "Here we have a volume of about 3 car batteries which deliver about 1 kiloWatt-hour of energy. 10 kiloWatt-hours out of the fuel cell is 3 times that energy density. Not to mention the weight advantage."
Mike Skelly added that these fuel-cells, a pair of 500 Watt units manufactured by H-Power, are "air-breathers; they get their oxygen from the air. There is no cooling system, huge compressor, no humidification."
"This is an all volunteer effort. High school and college students from four New Jersey counties and volunteers from various companies and sponsorships have contributed to a show-string effort to show it to the world."
Vehicle Name Electric Blue
Vehicle Number 1
Category HYDROGEN VEHICLES - FUEL CELLS
vehicle type category hydrogen
Team Name Eco Living Fellowship
Organization Eco Living Fellowship
City Willingboro
State NJ
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.ecoliving.org
No People in Project 15
Time to Build 2000 person hours, 6 months
Who Built private group
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer Ford/Jet Industries
Vehicle Model Year 1981
Vehicle Reg Car/Truck
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model Elvan750 / Hydrogen
sale price $30,000
motor manufacturer GE
motor type Brush DC
Energy Storage System hydrogen PbA
Battery n/a/ hydrogen PbA
control system manufacturer GE
control system type EVJ
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger current 18 A
charger input voltage 208/230 V
charger manufacturer Zivan
charger type High freq/ss
Plug Type 6-20P
Conversion Conversion
body material Steel body
frame material Steel frame
# seats 2
Weight pounds n/a lbs
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
fuel efficiency mpg
Fuel Type H2
No of Passengers 2
number of tires 4
tire manufacturer DuroTour
tire model P100/80 R17-15H
Program blurb Eco Living Fellowship's truck represents both old
and new in electric drive sustainable
transportation. It was built by a team of New
Jersey college and homeschooled students using a
1981 Electravan 750 which has been restored,
updated and modified to include a hydrogen fuel
cell as an additional source of clean power.
I got a chance to speak with Mike Stritzki and ask where he had been since the New Jersey Venturer efforts of 1999 and 2000. "The technology in the Venturer is now sold by H-Power in their Eco units; one of the things that helped them go public. Partnerships do work and technology developed from research and educational projects do find commercial application.
"I am now with Millennium Cell. We make hydrogen generators for fuel cell powered vehicles. DiamlerChryler's Natrium uses that product and will be here at the Tour de Sol. It's pretty exciting."
So when Mike isn't working on fuel cell technology, he is helping the Electric Blue get running. He has hydrogen in his blood! "I want to see us get off the fossil fuel monkey, especially after 9/11. The world does not want to be a slave to oil and what oil we have I would like to leave for future generations. There are a lot better things to do with it than burn it."
Report #11: Team Profile: Woodstock
Ken Wells is a physics teacher at Saint Mark's School, a small private boarding school in Southborough Massachusetts, who is the faculty advisor to their Electric Vehicle Club. This high school project started about 2 years. "Energy is a very intangible concept. Our school teaches physics in the freshman year and I thought this would be an appropriate way to present concepts like energy in, energy out, measurement, how much work gets done and where did the rest of it go. What does efficiency really mean? I see the project going on several more years on this vehicle platform, adding a stationary photovoltaic array for charging and maybe wind power. Some of the kids are talking about building a bio-diesel conversion next year. It has already succeeded in firing imaginations and getting them thinking about energy." They have been experimenting with tires and air pressure and no- tailgate. "Kids look at these things and decide which configuration is best." The truck has been driven about 1000 miles on it.
Ken has been teaching about 20 years and cars and electrics runs in the family. "My father is the director at the Boyertown (Pennsylvania) Museum of Historic Vehicles which has the largest collection of electric vehicles in the United States." http://www.BoyertownMuseum.org "The museum is one of the sponsors and arranged all our transportation."
While most of the students involved are looking towards engineering schools next. For example a student who describes herself as a classicist has done the public relations. She organized the contest that named the 5000 pound truck Woodstock, after the little yellow bird in the Peanuts cartoons. (Three guesses as to the color of the truck.) "It's screaming electric truck yellow."
The school is about 325 students, 50/50 by gender, from about 20 countries. "The idea for the project started in late night conversations with a student from Hong Kong." Other projects have been things like magnetic levatators and a table-top accelerator.
Vehicle Name Woodstock
Vehicle Number 56
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name St. Mark's EV Club
Organization St. Mark's School Electric Vehicle Club
City Southborough
State MA
www http://www.StMarksSchool.org
Who Built club
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer Ford
Vehicle Model Year 1994
Vehicle Reg Car/Truck
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model Ranger 4x4
motor kW continuous 25 kW
motor kW peak 86 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors FB1-4001 A
motor type Series Wound
Energy Storage Manufacturer Trojan
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries series
Battery Trojan/PbA/T145
Battery 24 blocks/ series/ $2400
Battery 23000 Whrs/ 144 V/ 1700 lbs
battery voltage 144 V
battery blocks 24 blocks
battery watt hrs 23000 Whrs
battery weight 1700 lbs
battery cost $2400
control system manufacturer DCP
control system type Raptor 600
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger capacity 3 kW
charger current 30 A
charger input voltage 120 V
charger manufacturer Russco
charger on board? On board
charger type Trans/rectif
Plug Type 5-30P
Conversion Conversion
body material Steel body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 16 ft/ 8 in
Width both W: 6 ft/ 0 in
Height both H: 5 ft/ 6 in
# seats 2
Weight pounds 4090 lbs
Mfg GVW 4840 lbs
lbs of persons 180
lbs of cargo 390
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
No of Passengers 2
number of tires 4
tire manufacturer Goodyear
tire model P215 R 75-15
tire type Radial
Range miles 70 miles
Program blurb The St. Markers who helped build our EV in their
free time are a coed group of physics students,
alums and friends, drawn together by interest in
our environmental future, the application of
appropriate technology and enthusiasm for project-
based education. "Woodstock" is a bright yellow,
recycled 1994 Ford Ranger pickup truck. Special
features include an extensively modified 4X2
drivetrain, recharging from any 120 V outlet,
high ground clearance, a limited slip axle and
electronic anti-lock brakes.
Report #12: Team Profile: DC Cruiser
Mark and Seth Murray are the father-son team that built the "DC Cruiser". Seth told me, "We started about two years ago but didn't really seriously start working on it until 6 months ago. Our first test drive was April 7th. We've got about 1200 miles on so far; not bad for 5 weeks." The Chevy S-10 is a popular first conversion platform, especially if you talk with Bob Batson of Electric Vehicles of America. "He is totally right - it is the way to go." The truck was $350 with a blown engine but a good body and frame. Seth paid for about 1/3 of the project; the rest came from various family members.
Typical range has been 50 miles, "but I've driven it as far as 75 miles, driving very conservatively." He drives the car about 30 miles to his school, charges there and then drives home. "They gave me my own parking spot with an outlet."
Seth is already planning his next project. He would keep the clutch and get a better, solid-state charger.
This is not the first father-son project. "When I was in 5th grade we built a small electric go-cart out of bike parts, plywood, angle-iron and a little winch motor. The greatest day was when I drove it down the hall and into the classroom to give a presentation."
What is Mark's part in all this? "My dad is very handy. He builds boats for a living." They wanted to show that a father and son could build an electric vehicle that can be used every day.
Vehicle Name DC Cruiser
Vehicle Number 6
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Maine Street Mainiacs
Organization Seth Murray
City Brunswick
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.geocities.com/electricboy01
new this year? new team and car
No People in Project 2
Time to Build 200 person hours
Who Built father/son teaprivate groupm
part of school curriculum? Yes
Vehicle Manufacturer Chevrolet
Vehicle Model Year 1985
Vehicle Reg Car/Truck
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model S-10
motor kW continuous 19 kW
motor kW peak 75 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Series Wound
Energy Storage Manufacturer Trojan
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries series
Battery Trojan/PbA
Battery 60 cells/ series/ $1900
Battery 24000 Whrs/ 120 V/ 1400 lbs
battery voltage 120 V
battery blocks 60 cells / 20 blocks
battery watt hrs 24000 Whrs
battery weight 1400 lbs
battery cost $1900
control system manufacturer DCP
control system type Raptor 600 Amp
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger capacity 3-5 kW
charger current 19 A
charger input voltage 208-240 V
charger manufacturer Lester
charger on board? On board
PV cell type Monocrystalline
PV manufacturer Astro Power
PV watts 30 W
Conversion Conversion
body material Steel body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 15 ft/ 3 in
Width both W: 5 ft/ 4 in
Height both H: 5 ft/ 3 in
# seats 3
Weight pounds 4000 lbs
Mfg GVW 3769 lbs
lbs of persons 150
lbs of cargo 550
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
No of Passengers 2
number of tires 4
tire model P205 175 R14 95S
tire type Radial
Range miles 60 miles
Program blurb This conversion was built over the last year by
high school senior Seth Murray and his father,
Mark. The project was undertaken mostly for fun,
but also to demonstrate that anyone can easily
build a simple and practical EV.
Report #13: Team Profile: E-STREAM
On the Saturday before the first day of tech testing I ran into the E-STREAM: Scott Monsees, Justin Gresabage, Josh Robison and Drew Gaylo. The car was entered last year. Scott was in college and Josh, Drew in high school when they built it. "We came in 6th out of 8 in the Battery Electric category and 26 out of 35 overall." Over the past year it has been Drew's every-day car. "It's registered to my dad."
During last year's Tour de Sol and afterwards they discovered they had a bit of a transmission problem. When they replaced the power steering with manual steering, they used an earlier 1986 Rabbit. It was just a little bit different in the shift linkage. When they thought they were in first gear, they weren't. They were in 3rd. "When we finally figured it out we started getting better range."
Justin is new to the team. "I've been getting into the electronics and stuff like that. I still am impressed when people turn on their electric cars and there is no sound. We've been talking about starting a new project and I _will_ be there."
"When we were building the car, every day we made an entry on the web site, from the first piece to the last connection. We did daily entries for the Tour last year; they are still there. We did a history of the tune up for this year and will do daily entries for the Tour de Sol 2002." Plus bios, pictures, etc.
"We are ready for a good time; can not wait."
Vehicle Name E-STREAM
Vehicle Number 15
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Team EV
Organization Team Ev
City Princeton Junction
State NJ
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.TeamEV.com
new this year? returning team and car
No People in Project 5
Time to Build 3 months
Who Built private group
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer Volkswagen
Vehicle Model Year 1991
Vehicle Reg Car/Truck
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model Cabriolet
motor kW continuous 15 kW
motor kW peak 30 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Series Wound
Energy Storage Manufacturer Exide
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries series
Battery Exide/PbA
Battery 16 blocks/ series/ $1600
Battery 21000 Whrs/ 96 V/ 1040 lbs
battery voltage 96 V
battery blocks 16 blocks
battery watt hrs 21000 Whrs
battery weight 1040 lbs
battery cost $1600
control system manufacturer Curtis
control system type PWM
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger current 20 A
charger input voltage 120 V
charger on board? On board
Plug Type 10-30P
PV cell type Polycrystalline
PV manufacturer EPV
PV watts 100 W
Conversion Conversion
body material Steel body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 12 ft/ 7 in
Width both W: 5 ft/ 4 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 6 in
# seats 4
Weight pounds 2975 lbs
Mfg GVW 3029 lbs
lbs of persons 150
lbs of cargo 100
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
No of Passengers 2
number of tires 4
tire manufacturer Goodyear
tire model P175 R70
tire type Low roll resist
Range miles 60 miles
Program blurb Team EV is a private team from New Jersey
composed of four high school seniors and a
college junior with a large interest in
engineering and the environment. This is Team
EV's second year as a Tour de Sol entrant.
Report #14: Technical Testing in Baltimore
The first day of the Tour is at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore Maryland, near the Maryland Science and Technology Museum. Here the entrants are looked over to determine the technical specifications of the vehicle as it will compete and to be run through a series of safety inspections. The threatened rain did not arrive until late in the afternoon, so most of the day was sunny and pleasant.
I came across the E-STREAM car pulled off to the side. Drew Gaylo said, "We have more current leakage from the battery pack to the frame than we should." The specification is 1 milliamp through a 10,000 Ohm resister between the most positive battery terminal and the chassis; likewise between the most negative terminal and the chassis. "We had 6 milliamps. I think it's because we have some dirty battery terminals." The dirt that accumulates on top of the batteries can provide enough of a leakage path to cause this problem. "We'll get some baking soda and water and clean it up."
Report #15: Team Profiles: Climate Cooler II, La Clean Machine, Rocket Runner
Tony Locricchio is the CEO of Personal Electric Transport (PET) and he is back with his one-person vehicles. This year PET has teamed up with the United Nations Environmental Programme and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "We were invited to LA to develop and manufacture vehicles. That has resulted in a close relationship with the union. In fact we will be partnering with them to manufacture the vehicles in the United State and reduce dependence on Arab oil. It will the first time a union will have joint ownership of a business. The union members who are here will be driving electric vehicles from the Pentagon to Ground Zero to pay their respects. They lost members in the World Trade Center collapse."
There are 3 different PET vehicles registered. "Climate Cooler II is different in the way that it is fueled. We will have here the first prototype of our quick-change station that would be along the highway." A standardized battery pack will allow for quick change into scooters, cars and buses. The larger vehicles simply take more battery packs. "Change takes 30 seconds for the scooter; 5 minutes for the bus. Everything is on rollers."
"The Rocket Runner, our standup vehicle is probably the biggest breakthrough, a short range commuter vehicle. It is very much like the `Segway' that rocked the world a while ago, except you can buy about 10 of ours for the price of one of theirs. It uses 3 wheels with a very innovative front wheel, direct drive system."
Vehicle Name Climate Cooler II
Vehicle Number 8
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name UNEP / PET
Organization Personal Electric Transports Inc.
City Kailua
State HI
www http://www.PersonalElectric.org
No People in Project 10
Time to Build 2 years
Who Built private group
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer PET Prototype Moped
Vehicle Model Year 2002
Vehicle Reg Moped
Vehicle Type Class One Person
Vehicle Type Division Production
sale price $2,500
motor kW continuous 4.15 kW
motor kW peak 10 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Brush DC
Energy Storage Manufacturer Personal Electric Transports
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries parallel
Battery Personal Electric Transports/PbA
Battery 18 cells/ parallel/ $150
Battery various/ 36 V/ 150 lbs
battery voltage 36 V
battery blocks 18 cells
battery watt hrs various
battery weight 150 lbs
battery cost $150
control system manufacturer Curtis
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger on board? Off board
Conversion Pre-Prod Prototype
body material Fiberglass body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 6 ft/ 0 in
Width both W: 2 ft/ 8 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 0 in
# seats 1
Weight pounds 330 lbs
Mfg GVW 305 lbs
lbs of persons 250
lbs of cargo 150
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Disc
No of Passengers 1
number of tires 2
tire manufacturer Not Available
Range miles 50 miles
Program blurb This is the first time that the United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP) staff team is
participating in an event like the Tour de Sol.
The UNEP will ride a clean air scooter intended
to provide basic transportation for daily
commuters around the world, protecting the
environment at a cost that allows real challenges
to Global Warming causes. The LA International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18 is
teaming with UNEP to make this statement that the
world can drive environmentally friendly
vehicles.
Vehicle Name Rocket Runner
Vehicle Number 31
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name UNEP / IBEW Local 18
Organization Personal Electric Transports Inc.
City Kailua
State HI
Vehicle Manufacturer PET Prototype Moped
Vehicle Type Class One Person
Vehicle Type Division Production
motor type Brushless DC
Battery n/a/
Length both L: 3 ft/ 6 in
Width both W: 2 ft/ 8 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 5 in
# seats 1
Weight pounds 60 lbs
Program blurb Entered by the United Nations Environmental
Programme and the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local 18, this three wheeled,
stand-up vehicle allows rider visibility in even
the heaviest traffic. It folds to half it's size
in 5 seconds! Quick-change batteries. $800
retail.
Vehicle Name La Clean Machine
Vehicle Number 2
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name IBEW/Local 18/PET
Organization Personal Electric Transports Inc.
City Kailua
State HI
No People in Project 10
Time to Build 2 years
Who Built private group
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer PET Prototype Moped
Vehicle Reg Moped
Vehicle Type Class One Person
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
sale price $2,500
motor kW continuous 4.15 kW
motor kW peak 10 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Brush DC
Energy Storage Manufacturer Personal Electric Transports
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries series
Battery Personal Electric Transports/PbA
Battery 18 cells/ series/ $150
Battery various/ 36 V/ 150 lbs
battery voltage 36 V
battery blocks 18 cells
battery watt hrs various
battery weight 150 lbs
battery cost $150
control system manufacturer Curtis
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger on board? Off board
Conversion Pre-Prod Prototype
body material Fiberglass body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 6 ft/ 0 in
Width both W: 2 ft/ 8 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 0 in
# seats 1
Weight pounds 330 lbs
Mfg GVW 305 lbs
lbs of persons 250
lbs of cargo 150
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Disc
No of Passengers 1
number of tires 2
Range miles 50 miles
Program blurb For the first time, the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, Local 18, working at Los
scooter with the most advanced quick change
system in the world. They are teaming with the
United Nations Environmental Programme to make
the statement that the world can drive
environmentally friendly, low cost vehicles made
in the USA.
"Last year the Micronesians took home the Greenest Vehicle award. It was a big thing back home. In Washington that vehicle is going to be presented to the Ambassador from Micronesia. It will be installed in their national museum."
PET is also working on what they call the "Sparky Bus", which will use the quick-change station. The drawing I saw had the seats lined up back-to-back down the middle, on top of the battery box, and a line of 4 doors on each side to make entry and exit easy. "It will also be able to run over an inductive power-way in the road, and it will have a trolley pole so it can operate as a trackless trolley."
Report #16: Interview with Topher Waring
Topher Waring was the heart of the fondly remembered "Helios the Heron" vehicles of past Tour de Sols and last year's winner of the George Bradford EV Teacher Award. He now teaches at Lake Region Union High School in Orleans Vermont. He has two projects in progress.
"We stole the athletics department's golf cart, and ripped the internal combustion nasty lawn-mower type engine out of it. We returned it to them a couple of months later as a battery powered golf cart. They were very suspicious. But it is twice as fast and grades their baseball diamond in half the time. So they are now total converts. We used 6 8-Volt Trojan batteries and a simple Curtis controller and a 5 horsepower electric motor.
"Project number 2 is a Renault LeCar EV conversion done commercially in the 1970s. I can never remember the name. We simply cleaned out all the wiring and started again. We went from a 48 Volt system with a stepper controller to a 96 Volt system with Curtis controller. We should have it on the road by the end of the school year.
"For next next year I've located a VW chassis and fiberglass kit-car shell that looks like a 3/4 scale Corvette. Hopefully that will attract some attention. I'm going to take the components of Helios the Heron and stick those in as a high school project." Maybe Helios needs to be renamed Phoenix. "Helios' body got so rusted that it won't past inspection."
Report #17: Team Profile: Zodiac
David Marshall teaches technology and engineering at the Irondequoit New York High School and advisor to the Technology Club that build the "Zodiac". It was entered in last year's Tour de Sol.
"This year they totally rewired the electrical system to shorten wires and place components in better locations. We went totally to digital-link meters, replacing the analog meters. We lightened the car by replacing the bottom pan with graphite. The rear swing arm (off a motor cycle) has been rebuilt. A dual air-shock lets us adjust the ride height and dampening rate. The solar panels are rewired and now give us about 3.5 Amps at about 62 Volts," which is charging voltage for their 48 Volt battery pack. "We have a sensor to monitor the motor temperature."
They worked on the car all year since the last Tour de Sol. They now have an enclosed trailer which is getting solar panels so they can recharge the car, laptop computers, and cell phones. There is 120 Volts AC on the workbenches.
"The kids can get credit with this if they go through the guidance department and put in the hours and activities that meet ciriculum standards. We get a lot of kids in that don't play sports, are not into music. It's a great place to go after school, get dirty and have some fun."
Vehicle Name Zodiac
Vehicle Number 07
Category ONE-PERSON VEHICLES
vehicle type category PbA solar electric
Team Name IHS Tech Team
Organization Irondequoit Tech Club
City Rochester
State NY
COUNTRY US
www http://www.ihstechteam.com
new this year? returning team and car
No People in Project 30
Time to Build 3 years
Who Built club
part of school curriculum? Yes
Vehicle Model Year 2001
Vehicle Reg Motor Cycle
Vehicle Type Class One Person
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
motor kW continuous 5.2 kW
motor kW peak 5.2 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors Inc.
motor type Brushless DC
Energy Storage Manufacturer Trojan
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries series
Battery Trojan/PbA
Battery 8 cells/ series/ $560
Battery 1752 Whrs/ 48 V/ 512 lbs
battery voltage 48 V
battery blocks 8 cells
battery watt hrs 1752 Whrs
battery weight 512 lbs
battery cost $560
control system manufacturer Curtis PMC
control system type 12098-6402
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger capacity 2500 kW
charger current 30 A
charger input voltage 208 V
charger manufacturer Zivan NG3
charger on board? Off board
Plug Type 6-30P
PV cell type Monocrystalline
PV manufacturer Siemens
PV watts 55 W
Conversion Purpose-Built
body material Fiberglass body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 11 ft/ 0 in
Width both W: 5 ft/ 7 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 7 in
# seats 1
Weight pounds 1440 lbs
lbs of persons 250
lbs of cargo 50
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
No of Passengers 1
number of tires 3
tire manufacturer DuroTour
tire model 100/80-17-52H
Program blurb The West Irondequoit HS Team currently consists of
15 students and 7 adults. Our goal is to provide
a safe after school club that focuses on problem
solving and real world engineering. This is the
Zodiac's second appearance in the race.
Report #18: Team Profile: rEVolutionaryride
Liz Lovell said, "North Haven is a 7-by-12 mile island 12 miles off the coast of Maine. We live in the town of Rockland. We converted a VW Vanagon Microbus into battery-electric vehicle. It will be used at the school for picking people off the boat and bringing them to the school, or transporting kids for projects. It matches our needs exactly."
Neil Thayer added, "We picked it for it's functionality, it holds a bunch of people and has 4-wheel drive. It is great for island life. We get snow that gets pretty packed down on the roads and gets icy." The 4-wheel drive will help then.
I asked how they would charge on the island. Wind power? Liz said, "I think a wind tower will be built as a project next year."
Neil has been working on the project for two years and has already graduated. The rest of the team is juniors. "We only have one senior. She didn't come." 17 people did. (The high school class is 27 students.) The van has been drivable for a couple of weeks.
The idea originated with Phil DesLaurius, an electrician on the island. "We work on it and he comes in to check the wiring, give us new ideas, and make sure that it is safe." They have had help from other people on the island. Two students made the steel battery boxes with the help of the welder on the island. I could see the metal box which would support the first bench seat. While we were talking, a pair of students were working in the battery box. Both were wearing rubber gloves and safety glasses.
A 100 Watt solar panel on the roof helps maintain the 12 Volt battery for lights radio and such.
I was particularly impressed by the control wiring. It is laid out with super- neat care. Every wire color coded and ever connection clearly visible. The charger, DC-to-DC converter, traction controller, contactor and relays were all easy to inspect. A clear plastic cover kept fingers away. It had originally been intended just for display, but they are now going to add forced ventilation so it can be left in place during operation.
Lifting the cover that held all the circuitry revealed the motor mounted on the rear transaxle, with both a first gear and a low gear, and a locking rear end. All wires to the motor and solar panel are in flexible conduit.
License plate: E-Van
Vehicle Name rEVolutionaryride.com
Vehicle Number 53
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name North Haven Community School
Organization North Haven Community School
City North Haven
State ME
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.midcoast.com
new this year? new team and car
No People in Project 26
Time to Build 18 months
Who Built class
part of school curriculum? Yes
Vehicle Manufacturer Volkswagen
Vehicle Model Year 1986
Vehicle Reg Car/Truck
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model Vanagon Synchro
motor kW continuous 17 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Series Wound
Energy Storage Manufacturer Trojan T-105
Energy Storage System PbA
Batteries series
Battery Trojan T-105/PbA
Battery 18 blocks/ series/ $1300
Battery 24300 Whrs/ 108 V/ 1152 lbs
battery voltage 108 V
battery blocks 18 blocks
battery watt hrs 24300 Whrs
battery weight 1152 lbs
battery cost $1300
control system manufacturer Curtis
control system type 1231C
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger capacity 2 kW
charger current 20 A
charger input voltage 120 V
charger manufacturer K & W
charger on board? On board
charger type Transformerless
Plug Type 10-30P
PV cell type Monocrystalline
PV manufacturer Siemens
PV watts 75 W
Conversion Conversion
body material Steel body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 14 ft/ 5 in
Width both W: 5 ft/ 8 in
Height both H: 6 ft/ 6 in
# seats 6
Weight pounds 4502 lbs
Mfg GVW 5511 lbs
lbs of persons 150
lbs of cargo 109
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
No of Passengers 3
number of tires 4
tire manufacturer Firestone
tire model P205/70 R14
tire type Radial
Range miles 80 miles
Program blurb A spunky group of junior and senior physics
students from the smallest public high school in
Maine (on an island, no less) have spent the last
18 months making a perfect island car: an
electric 4WD Volkswagen Syncro 7 passenger van.
This entry has been an all-island effort, joining
students, a boat electrician, the town's welder,
and island artists.
Report #19: Team Profile: Electric Hog
Carl Vogel has brought is project of many years, the Electric Hog, to the Tour. "It started 3 or 4 years ago, and has been up and running for about a year. Unfortunately today it is not running. I think it's the controller, but did not have time to get into it." (Carl must have fixed it. He was able to ride into the display area in Washington DC.)
The 10 12-Volt battery blocks are packed where the engine would go on a normal motorcycle, with the control electronics under the `gas tank'. A 4-speed Harley transmission is fed by the electric motor. There is a hydraulic clutch and the bike can back up. "The top speed is over 80 miles per hour. The motor is one of Advanced DC's smaller one. There was no `original' bike. It is a completely ground-up construction. The front end is a Harley wide-glide front- end. The rear suspension is my own design. I use Harley after-market shocks for that."
Carl is a mechanical engineering. "This originally started out as a college project, years back. Instead of doing something for other companies as a senior project, I did something I wanted to do."
Will he use it after the Tour as a day-to-day vehicle? "I'll use it. The design is going to change; this is a prototype. I will change the frame and lighten it up. I'd like to manufacture them."
Vehicle Name Electric Hog
Vehicle Number 12
Category BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
vehicle type category PbA
Team Name Vogelbilt
Organization Vogelbilt Corp.
City New York
State NY
COUNTRY US
www http://www.vogelbilt.com
new this year? new team and vehicle
No People in Project 1
Time to Build 3-4 years
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer Vogelbilt
Vehicle Model Year 2001
Vehicle Reg Motor Cycle
Vehicle Type Class One Person
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model Motorcycle
sale price $18,000
motor kW continuous 12 kW
motor kW peak 58 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Series Wound
Energy Storage Manufacturer Trojan
Energy Storage System PbA
Battery Trojan/PbA
Battery 10 blocks/ / $800
Battery 14000 Whrs/ 120 V/ 560 lbs
battery voltage 120 V
battery blocks 10 blocks
battery watt hrs 14000 Whrs
battery weight 560 lbs
battery cost $800
control system manufacturer Curtis
control system type PWM
regenerative braking? Non-regen
charger current 19 A
charger input voltage 230 V
charger manufacturer Zivan
charger on board? Off board
charger type High freq/ss
Plug Type 6-30P
PV manufacturer IPP Global Technologies
PV watts 5 W
Conversion Purpose-Built
body material Composite body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 8 ft/ 2 in
Width both W: 2 ft/ 6 in
Height both H: 3 ft/ 9 in
# seats 1
Weight pounds 1220 lbs
Mfg GVW 1050 lbs
lbs of persons 200
lbs of cargo 100
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Disc
No of Passengers 1
number of tires 2
tire manufacturer Contin/Metzeler
tire model P140/90 R16 P180/55-vb18
tire type Radial
Range miles 75 miles
Program blurb We designed the Electric Hog because we believed
that a full size motorcycle could be made all
electric. What we created is a prototype vehicle
that has the feel, look and ride of a full-sized
motorcycle. The project was very challenging, a
lot of fun and a lot of hard work. We are proud
to be part of the Tour de Sol.
Report #20: Team Profile: Driven to Work
Scott Pfluger and Lorraine Margolies have a story. "We are Driven to Work. And we are driving this rented 2001 Honda Insight. During the September crisis most of the people on my team lost their jobs. We all have a background in marketing and advertising and promotion. We are pooling those resources to make up for what we don't have in technical ability to bring this car and prove that anybody anywhere can get this car. That proves the point that the Tour de Sol has had an effect; the general now has these hybrid vehicles available to them."
The car is rented from EV Rentals in California, through Budget in Washington DC. "We have it for a month, to allow time to put the singage on, and take it off before we return it."
Other team members are:
John DeBellis
Andrew Pfluger
Janet Bailey
"When business died after 9/11, we met at a career group that meets every week to develop job hunting skills. Around February we started thinking if we just took all the talent in this room we could form our own company. Scott was interested in alternative energy sources." Scott had done promotions for teams in past years. And the idea grew from there. They then just used all the skills from their former jobs to pull the team together and get into the Tour.
"Our goal is to practice our skills while promoting better milage. It gives us an event to talk about to future employers.
To get in touch with any of the Driven to Work team, call 908-781-7756.
Vehicle Name Honda Insight
Vehicle Number 46
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name Driven to Work
Organization Team Driven to Work
City Bedminster
State NJ
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.freedomfinancialplanning.com
No People in Project 4
part of school curriculum? No
Vehicle Manufacturer Honda
Vehicle Model Year 2001
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Production
Vehicle Type Model Insight
sale price $21800
motor kW peak 10 kW
motor manufacturer Honda
motor type AC Induction
Energy Storage Manufacturer Panasonic
Energy Storage System Gas Electric Hybrid NiMH
Batteries series
Battery Panasonic/Gas Electric Hybrid NiMH
Battery 120 cells/ series/ n/a
Battery 900 Whrs/ v/ 45 lbs
battery blocks 120 cells
battery watt hrs 900 Whrs
battery weight 45 lbs
control system manufacturer Honda
control system type AC
regenerative braking? Regen
Conversion Pre-Prod Prototype
body material Aluminum body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 12 ft/ 11 in
Width both W: 5 ft/ 7 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 0 in
# seats 2
Weight pounds 1837 lbs
Mfg GVW 1878 lbs
lbs of persons 200
brake front type Front disc
brake rear type Rear drum
engine size 995
fuel effeciency 57 mpg
fuel tank capacity 10.6
Fuel Type Gasoline
number of tires 4
tire manufacturer Bridgestone
tire model P165/R14
Range miles 600 miles
Program blurb Team "Driven to Work" was formed by marketing
professionals who share an interest in
alternative energy and in promoting special
events. We are sponsored by
FreedomFinancialPlanning.com, Spark
Communications and CTC Advertising. The "Driven
to Work" entry showcases how accessible green
vehicles have become to the consumer. Our team's
car is a rented Honda Insight.
Report #21: IBEW Local 18
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, is here with the PET scooters (Climate Cooler II, La Clean Machine) and will be the drivers. Steve Leyva from Los Angeles. So asked why the union was here.
"We are looking to have our brothers and sisters manufacture, at some point, some of the componentry involved here. Since this is an electric vehicle, we can be involved with everything, the batteries, the harness, the motor. Clean energy is something that needs to be done in the future and this is a step, hopefully a step in the right direction."
Steve has been interested in electric vehicles for some time. "The California State University at Northridge is close by. They have had some very interesting vehicles out there. I've always been interested in solar power, and attended the SunRayce."
Steve and several other union members will be driving the PET vehicles all through the Tour.
Back in Los Angeles Steve is an electrical mechanic for the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "I repair all kinds of good things, like electrical stations. We work on voltages all the way up to a million Volts DC and our AC lines are about 500,000 Volts."
Report #22: Team Profile: ParaDyne
Matthew Olson has just graduated as an Electrical Engineer from the University of Tulsa, going on to graduate school. I asked him about ParaDyne, which has been at the Tour since 1998. "The major modification this year is we converted it to run on E85 ethanol." That's 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline. That change required changing the compression ratio. "More software for the control system should detect more situations to improve our fuel economy overall. In the past we just looked at miles-per-hour to decide which power plant to use. This year we've added code to do more blending of the power plants by implementing a power curve. We read in gas pedal position, vehicle speed, brakes, plus inputs from both power plants. From those we try to find a position on the curve and then determine where to get our power from; the motor or the engine." I commented that those sorts of multi-variable functions can be tricky. "Yes. It is turning into quite the beast of a function, especially since we cannot do long division. It's only a 16-bit real time embedded processor. We're limited on how much computing power we have for complex mathematical functions."
"In addition to trying to fitting the car to the power curve we try to look at what the car has been doing over the past 5 minutes. If you are clearly in stop-and-go traffic, it retards the time that it turns the engine on and off. If we see the car in hard, continuous acceleration we assume you are getting onto an on-ramp (or the like) and turn both power plants on. We try to match the peak efficiency performance with the least driver input."
"We replaced the batteries. Concord came out new batteries with a few more Amp-hours per block. It all helps!"
ParaDyne is a front-wheel drive parallel hybrid. Either motor or engine or both can drive the front wheels.
"We have also spent a lot of time on the Proxima, our next generation car. We almost brought it this year. It does drive under its own power, but it is not quite finished, thought."
Vehicle Name ParaDyne
Vehicle Number 17
Category HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES (HEV)
vehicle type category Hybrid electric
Team Name University of Tulsa
Organization University of Tulsa
City Tulsa
State OK
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.hev.utulsa.edu
Who Built class
part of school curriculum? Yes
Vehicle Manufacturer Geo
Vehicle Model Year 1992
Vehicle Reg Car/Truck
Vehicle Type Class Light Duty (car, truck, van)
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
Vehicle Type Model Metro
motor manufacturer Solectria
motor type AC Induction
Energy Storage Manufacturer Concord
Energy Storage System PbA
Battery Concord/PbA
Battery 12 blocks/ / $600
Battery 6000 Whrs/ 144 V/ 480 lbs
battery voltage 144 V
battery blocks 12 blocks
battery watt hrs 6000 Whrs
battery weight 480 lbs
battery cost $600
control system manufacturer Univ of Tulsa
control system type HPCM
regenerative braking? Regen
charger capacity 1.8 kW
charger current 19 A
charger input voltage 230 V
charger manufacturer Zivan
charger on board? On board
charger type Trans/rectif
Plug Type 6-30P
PV cell type Monocrystalline
PV manufacturer Uni Solar
PV watts 10 W
Conversion Conversion
body material Steel body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 12 ft/ 3 in
Width both W: 5 ft/ 2 in
Height both H: 4 ft/ 4 in
# seats 4
Weight pounds 2400 lbs
Mfg GVW 2447 lbs
lbs of persons 150
lbs of cargo 88
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
Hybrid Architecture parallel
engine size 1 liter
fuel effeciency 50 mpg
fuel tank capacity 10 gal
fuel tank type Steel
Fuel Type E85
number of tires 4
tire manufacturer Goodyear
tire model P175 R14
tire type Low roll resist
Range miles 500 miles
Program blurb Veteran of four Tours, this hybrid vehicle
finished first in 1999 and second in 98, 00, and
01. A converted Geo Metro, ParaDyne is a
parallel hybrid with a 20 kW, 144 V Solectria
motor with lead-acid batteries and a 1 liter
engine. For 2002, ParaDyne has been converted to
run on E85.
Report #23: Team Profile: SunPacer
There is a sticker on the side of this one-person Solar-Electric Vehicle that lists all the years it has participated in the Tour de Sol. I think it started in 1992! At first blush it looks pretty much as it always has: a wedge-shape, point to the rear, with a wrap-around windshield on the front that lets the driver see pretty easily. But this year there are some differences.
The first thing I noticed was the dashboard has 8 Volt meters, the plus-minus type with zero in the middle. There were also 4 temperature gauges and a bunch of switches. I asked Tim Soine what that was all about. "We got 8 new nickel metal hydride batteries and we have a voltage meter for each one of them. The temperature meters are for the batteries, plus the motor temperature. We watch everything. If it gets too hot we turn on the cooling fans. We ran four tunnels with fans between each battery to keep them cool."
"We also put a new set of solar panels." The old set was from way-back. They lost 60 pounds by putting on 80 of the little panels sold for the Junior Solar Sprints. The Solar Sprints provide a kit of a solar panel and an electric motor to middle-school classes and then challenges them to create string- guided sun-powered racers. "We rewired almost the entire car."
Tim said that working on SunPacer was part of his independent study class with teacher Earl Billings. Earlier Tim built the website for the school and the car.
I asked Mr. Billings how he uses SunPacer as an instructional vehicle (pun intended). "I teach a course called Principles of Technology, which is really an applied physics course. For example we just did a 4 week unit on power and the SunPacer was perfect. I showed them the Watt meters, Amp meters and Volt meters and how we were calculating power. It helps their comprehension because they can see the real thing. And they like working on it, planning new things and then testing them out."
This year the car's level road speed has increased from 30 to 50 mph. The steep hill climbing speed rose from 20 to 40 mph. The range has increased from about 60 to 80 miles.
Vehicle Name SunPacer
Vehicle Number 92
Category SOLAR ELECTRIC VEHICLES
vehicle type category Advanced battery solar electric
Team Name Cato-Meridian HS Tech Team
Organization Cato-Meridian High School Tech Club
City Cato
State NY
COUNTRY USA
www http://www.CMHStech.org
new this year? returning team and car
Time to Build 2000 person hours / 14 months / 1.5 years
Who Built class
part of school curriculum? Yes
Vehicle Manufacturer Purpose built
Vehicle Reg Motor Cycle
Vehicle Type Class One Person
Vehicle Type Division Prototype
motor kW peak 4.5 kW
motor manufacturer Advanced DC Motors
motor type Series Wound Brush DC
Energy Storage Manufacturer Deka Ovonics
Energy Storage System PbA NiMH
Batteries series
Battery Deka Ovonics/PbA NiMH
Battery 6 blocks/ series/ $1000
Battery 5000 Whrs/ 36 V/ 450 lbs
battery voltage 36 V
battery blocks 6 blocks
battery watt hrs 5000 Whrs
battery weight 450 lbs
battery cost $1000
control system manufacturer Sev Con
control system type Solid State
charger capacity .9 kW
charger current 25 A
charger input voltage 36 V
charger manufacturer Zivan
charger on board? Off board
charger type Transformerless
Plug Type 5-30P
PV manufacturer Hoxan
PV watts 250 W
Conversion Purpose-Built
body material Aluminum body
frame material Steel frame
Length both L: 15 ft/ 6 in
Width both W: 4 ft/ 10 in
Height both H: 3 ft/ 6 in
# seats 1
Weight pounds 1050 lbs
Mfg GVW 1080 lbs
lbs of persons 190
lbs of cargo 50
brake front type Front Disc
brake rear type Rear Drum
Hybrid Architecture parallel
engine size 1 liter
fuel effeciency 25 mpg
fuel tank capacity 4.5 gal each
fuel tank type Removable
Fuel Type LPG
No of Passengers 1
number of tires 2
tire manufacturer Cheng Shin
tire model P 2.75x17 4 ply nylon tube type
Range miles 70 miles
Program blurb Cato-Meridian H.S. Tech Team, Cato, NY. This is
Sunpacer's ninth straight year competing in the
Tour. During this time, Sunpacer has won its
class several times and has been honored with
many efficiency awards. This years team consists
of crew chief Arron Kolb, driver Ashley
Davenport, chief navigator Tim Soine, backup
navigator Amber Ross and Technology Teacher Earl
Billings. The purpose of the Sunpacer was to
design a one-person commuter propelled by solar
electricity.
Report #24: Team Profile: Sungo
True confessions. I first saw Sungo in 1993 at the Tour de Sol and thought it was the neatest thing on 4 wheels then. It still makes me smile.
Nick Kosko from New Hampshire Technical Institute told me the story of this year's version. "It's four inches taller. We redid the whole interior. We have real seats this year, out of a 1988 Honda Civic. We redid our center console; the switches are away from the steering wheel and now at a very accessible place. There is a new high-tech speedometer, and a new E-Meter.
"We stripped the entire car this year. We added 4 inches to the frame, redid our side-impact beams. The shocks are now adjustable. All the wiring is new and the wires to the motor controllers are much larger."
"But the main deal this year is the batteries. We stepped up from 14 to 24 nickel metal hydride blocks, which added 600 pounds." The pack voltage is actually lower because they went to a pairwise-parallel wiring. Two blocks are wired in parallel, with a fuse, and then in series with the next pair, and so on. They also replaced their old BADICHEQ battery management system with Power-Cheqs. "It levels off the entire pack and it works. Very impressively. We are usually within 0.01 Volt between every battery pair in this car." The Power-Cheqs are remoted from the battery boxes to the passenger's dashboard. That way they can see the indicator LEDs. "The green means one is on and actually transferring energy. The red light means the voltage is low or there is an open circuit. If we blow a cell we will know right off because it will flash red." <