Waikato University works on improving the electric car
When it really comes down to it, what is the "holy grail" of electric cars? Battery power? That is extremely important to be sure, but an equally convincing argument could be made that light weight is the most important factor. Whatever your aim is when it comes to improving the design of the electric car, having a modular chassis design would allow for many different parameters to be checked and changed. That is what students and researchers at Waikato University have been designing, and they have a chassis which can support up to 290 kilograms of lithium batteries allowing for up to 400 kilometers of travel. Next, they are interested in starting a new prototype "using lightweight materials developed by the university's Kim Pickering, which get their high strength from natural fibres." As of right now, the team plans to compete in the World Solar Challenge, racing from Darwin to Adelaide, but not against the solar cars competing there. This competition is going on alongside that race. Best of luck to the team!
[Source: Stuff]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 9:06AM (9/13/2007)
They can make it as light as the want, but if it cannot be quickly, easily and economically mass produced in an assembly line fashion, they are just wasting their time.
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david 4:03PM (9/13/2007)
I disagree with the comment above. They are doing research into better techniques for developing light-weight durable, safe vehicles (I hope). Turning theories into practical manufacturing techniques is another task.
I would like to see more research into Fuel Cell vehicles, particularly using Ammonia as the fuel. Check out http://www.apolloenergysystems.com/ and http://www.zapworld.com
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Tim 5:11PM (9/13/2007)
Ammonia? I hear that's really good for the lungs in when released during an accident...
Maybe it would help with the overpopulation problem. Why don’t we just use nerve gas?
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glantman 8:41PM (10/20/2007)
Hi, As a member of this team, this car has been designed to to be mass produced. The costruction could be done very easily, as it all fits to gether as a 3d jigsaw, just slap some glue in the joins and its finished, no need for painting or rust proofing, and there are considerably less pieces (62 pieces for the chassis to be exact) with only a waterjet cutter as the only high tech machinery required.
The car is currently in Australia just starting the Panasonic World solar challenge (3000+km through the desert in 6 days) If any other electric car could accomplish this I would love to hear from them.
Ryan, Head Engineer, Ultracommuter
http://eng.waikato.ac.nz/research/mecheng/nzeco/blog/
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