Project Update

Photovoltaic Powered Electric Vehicle Update
Christmas Edition
J.Durand 12/22/09

I am writing this just before Christmas. Our family Christmas this year has been completely overshadowed by the birth of our first grandchild, Charis Eva, who was born December 20, 2009. Of course the near record snow storm was thrown in just for good measure. As you might of guessed, our daughter-in-law in Lynchburg was taken to the hospital in the midst of the storm in a four wheel drive vehicle. It’s a great story for the grandkids. I am attaching our family news letter for those who want more detail. Some encouraging RideForward items are summarized below.
• We are driven. That’s right our Honda is on the road! It was driven for the first time on a rainy December night, just before the final design presentations. I was not there, but the three members of the Honda group made RideForward history by driving our first converted vehicle about a mile. Everything went well (ie no one was hurt, and the car actually made it up Reactor hill on the way back.) We need to do a good bit more work on the car to make it more rugged, before we take it to be inspected. (Can you picture the inspector trying to find the exhaust system, or even the engine?)
• We are in the fall edition of the UVa Engineering Alumni Magazine. I have attached a copy. Do a search on RideForward and you will find our article.
• The other big news is that at this time last year we didn’t even have half of our money in, we were running way in the red, and hadn’t even ordered most of our components. This year, we have all the large components in, everything else is ordered, and we are running a surplus (of course contingencies have not been accounted for, so we are confident that the surplus will get soaked up).
• We actually bought some tools and are starting to equip our shop to look like a garage. We need at least two of everything, but it’s great to actually start getting the things that we so desperately need.

Upcoming:
• Get in the remaining items for the building teams and get everything organized.
• Set up the shop with the new tools

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good…. New Years! Take good care. Travel safely. Enjoy friends and family.

We look forward to what God will do with our project in 2010.

Project Update

Photovoltaic Powered Electric Vehicle Update
Thanksgiving Edition
J.Durand 11/28/09
General Comments:
I am writing this just after Thanksgiving. So much has happened, and there is so much to give thanks to God for. I will list some of the good things that our project can be thankful for at this time. I hope this recalls to your mind things in your life to be thankful for.
• Our project has not had any work related injuries.
• We received the unexpected commitment of $7,500 from a UVa source related to independent student groups.
• Most of our materials are ordered and are on the way.
• Parking and Transportation (P&T) has agreed to donate a parking space to RideForward in the Emmet Ivy Parking Garage for the Honda, which will be used by P&T. These parking spaces are worth over $20,000 each, so the donation is quite significant. The space will be on the first level, right in line with the bus shelter
• Facilities management has agreed to donate the materials and labor required to install the photovoltaics on the roof of the bus shelter in front of the Emmet Ivy Parking Garage. This is estimated at about $6,000, so this is a great help to our project.
• Wiley Wilson, a Lynchburg based engineering firm, has agreed to provide the required engineering services to support getting the approval for an on campus installation of the PV system. It has been most encouraging to have the support of so many on and off campus groups. This community of support makes us feel as though we are not in this alone, and indeed we could not do this project if we were just an isolated group.
• We have been able to purchase some tools for the project which have been sorely needed.
• All of our design/build teams are doing well, and have made good progress towards completing their tasks.

An observation: I am so encouraged to see the creativity and diversity in design ideas that are bursting forth in alternative energy. I have attached an interesting article that summarizes an electrochemical based system for converting sunlight to electricity. It utilizes fiber wires, similar to what is used in fiber optics. The intriguing aspect is that this system collects the sunlight through the end of the fiber, which is about 3 times the width of a human hair. Then the absorbed light is converted to electricity within the wire itself. The attached article has been “popular pressed” and I have not read any other articles on this, so I don’t understand the details of how this works, but it has the prospect of needing much less surface area exposed to the sun then conventional PV.

Upcoming:
• Get the remaining items in for the building teams
• Set up the shop with the new tools

Enjoy the remainder of your Thanksgiving weekend!

General Update

Photovoltaic Powered Electric Vehicle Update
J.Durand 11/7/09

General Comments:
A lot has been happening since our last update. Many apologies for the long silence. I have to say that this year’s team is working really hard and a lot has been accomplished. All the groups have completed their designs, and I am now ordering all the equipment. Congratulations to all. Here is a summary of how things look as we approach Thanksgiving.
• The Honda is running. It moves, but barely. All the auxiliary systems work. Our main problem now is that the drive axles we got at a junkyard are no good and will have to be replaced with new ones. Once we put in new axles, and fix the suspension, we hope to be able to drive our machine.
• The photovoltaic (PV) system is now up on the Geilker garage roof (see pictures). Our next step is to wire the PV up to our power panel and start putting power onto the grid.
• Our research this year is centered around using less expensive motors and controllers, and eliminating the transmission. To try out our ideas we decided to convert a small golf cart (brand name EZ-GO) that we found abandoned on campus. It looks a little like a small Gator, so we call it the Gator Jr. (see pictures). We will be going with two AC induction motors coupled with 10:1 gear reductions to each wheel. Each motor will have its own controller. It should be most interesting to see how this turns out.
• The Ranger is just about stripped of all that nasty IC engine stuff, and is ready for its green makeover EV conversion. We will be using a 20hp DC series wound motor, with 24 – 6V deep cycle lead acid golf cart batteries. This motor is used by many for Ranger conversions.
• We applied for a $50,000 grant over a 2 year period from the Jefferson Trust a UVa group that provides funding for a wide range of groups across the university.
• We were not successful in our large proposal for $3.2 Million of DOE stimulus funds.

An observation: With gas at $2.60 a gallon, and no stimulus money going out, things are fairly quiet on the surface of alternative energy and electric vehicles, but in fact, there continues to be a lot going on under the surface. For example, there was more wind power installed last year than any other source. Wind accounted for over 40% of the electrical generating capacity installed, more than coal, nuclear, or natural gas. Installed costs for a large wind turbine are reported to be in the $1/Watt range. Also, First Solar, says they will sell conventional silicon based solar cells (PV) for less than $1/Watt (if you buy in MW amounts). We are purchasing our 1 kW of PV for about $2/Watt. There are also significant advances in energy storage. A company just received $5 million in stimulus funds for a battery they say has ten times the energy storage density of a Lithium Ion battery for one third the cost. Of course these batteries are under development. Similar claims are being made by EESTOR, a company making ultracapacitors, only EESTOR claims their ultracapacitors are ready for use and Zenn Motors, a Canadian based EV manufacturer, claims they will start selling ultracapacitor powered EVs next year.

Upcoming:
• Get last years PV on the grid
• Get our parts in and get ready to build
• Continue to work to get the new PV system on campus
• Get the Honda on the road