University of WA Renewable Energy Vehicle Project
EV Power congratulates UWA on the official release of its REV car. This project has special significance for Rod as it was his first sale of Thunder Sky Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries (2007) and an early version of his battery management system.
In particular Rod would like to thank Dr. Laurence Borle from UWA who had the courage and foresight to purchase batteries from an unknown new vendor and thus assist the birth of a new business.
Prof. Thomas Braunl has taken on the REV project and seen it through to fruition with many new ideas for the future. This could become a whole new course for UWA.
So far the batteries are performing well.
The battery management system developed by EV Power and installed in the REV car has been examined by UWA students and staff. Interestingly a retiring UWA technician has decided to develop a competing product which he is now commercializing. Clearly EV Powers self funded research and development is helping to build the EV industry.
Swan TAFE EV Challenge 2008
EV Power sponsored the "River Raiders" team this year in the Swan TAFE EV Challenge . This is an electrathon style of event where vehicles race for one hour around a winding circuit. At the end of the hour the numbers of laps are compared.
The team consisted of Rod Dilkes (electrics), Wayne Pragnell (body design) and Peter Fitchat (steering/suspension).
In all we entered three cars in two classes:
Electric Chair - Yuasa Class (No cost limit, SLA batteries provided)
Carbonnay - C Class (Open class, $1200 cost limit)
Hot Rod - C Class, Yuasa class
The results for our team were as follows:
C Class - 1st Hot Rod, 3rd Carbonnay (also engineering award)
Yuasa Class - 1st Electric Chair (also engineering award)
We wish to thank all the teams and the organizers of this great event. As all the teams well know 95% of the effort is in just getting to the start line! We hope to see it grow and promote the use of EVs in the future.
The cars used Golden Motor hub motors and brushless Kelly Controllers. Batteries were LiFePO4 400Whr capacity, 4.2kg. The first three cars in the C class were powered by LiFePO4 battery packs supplied by EV Power, LiFePO4 batteries are our specialty.
Top photo courtesy of Richard Lehman. Other photos courtesy Wayne Pragnell.
A short clip of the Swan TAFE EV Challenge coutesy of Wayne Pragnell is available here
Congratulations go to South West Regional College of TAFE who came second in C Class using EV Power batteries. Also to Donnybrook Senior High School who came second in Class A using an EV Power hub motor/controller. Well done guys.
Solar Power
By using Grid connected solar power we now effectively have a solar powered car!
Yamaha Rhino Electric Conversion - June 2008
This was an interesting customer project. I was hired to help install the batteries and electrics for the drive system. After a solid three days of wiring and welding we had it running.
Check the visual diary here
Matts E-Max Scooter Lithium Conversion - March 2008
A customer project. Rod assisted with installation of the BMS and Thunder Sky lithium ion battery pack. Better performance and top speed than the SLA version.
See the project summary here
Solar Assisted Electric Vehicle
In 2003 work began on an Electric Vehicle. A Suzuki Mighty Boy was converted from petrol to electric and has been used daily ever since. In Februrary 2007 Thundersky LFP90AHA Lithium Ion batteries were installed. These batteries mark the beginning of the Electric Vehicle revolution.
In August 2007 a grid connected solar array was mounted on Rod’s home. The car is charged using off-peak power at night which the solar array generates during the day. It also gets some charge from a solar panel mounted on the roof of the car itself. As such it is the first and only completely solar powered commuter vehicle in Australia.
Lithium Ion Battery Management System
The Battery Management project began in mid 2006. After examining all the available options it was decided that a simple but failsafe solution was the best course of action. Extensive prototyping was embarked upon and finally a design established. This BMS has been tested extensively in the Suzuki Mighty boy since Feb 2007.
As of July 2008, the BMS cell modules are being mass produced. The design has been through several iterations and is finally mature. Check our products pages for info and pricing.
Conversion to Thunder Sky LFP90AHA Batteries
In February 2007 the Suzuki Mighty Boy was converted to run on Thundersky LFP series Lithium Ion Batteries. This was the first such installation in Australia. As of Feb 2008 the car has done 8000km of faultless service on these.
EV POWER IN THE SWAN EV CHALLENGE
In our first year of participating in the Swan EV Challenge we managed to place 2nd in the Yuasa Evolution class of the Swan EV Challenge hosted by Swan TAFE in Midland WA.
The driving team comprised Rod Dilkes, Tuarn Brown, and Andrew Brown.It is an endurance event where the teams are given two Yuasa 18Ah batteries and have to drive a car for an hour around a closed circuit with other competitors. Although the speeds are low ( 30kmh) things can get exciting and a few accidents occurred, not the least of which one car broke in two!
