Electric Vehicle Claims Nurburgring 1-Lap Record

An all-electric hypercar sets a new lap record at the notoriously dangerous Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Setting a lap time of just 6 minutes and 45.9 seconds, the NIO EP9 becomes the fastest EV to take on the former Formula One circuit in Germany dubbed “The Green Hell.”
To put the performance in context, by setting the all-time lap record for a non-road-legal car for a full lap with the circuit closed to the public, the NIO EP9 is quicker than Nikki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T’s time of 6 minutes, 58.6 seconds which gained him pole position for the 1975 German Grand Prix. The EP9’s 1 MegaWatt of power is equivalent to 1,342 hp and the vehicle has a top speed of 194 mph (313 km/h) The EP9 accelerates to 124 mph (200 km/h) in 7.1 seconds.
Gerry Hughes, head of performance program and FE team principal at NIO, says: “In October 2016, we aimed to set a new lap record for an electric vehicle with our NIO EP9. In the inclement weather that the Nürburgring Nordschleife is known for, the EP9 completed two laps of the 20.8 km (12.9m) ‘Green Hell’, one of which was in 7 minutes, 5.12 seconds, beating the previous EV lap record, making it the fastest electric car in the world.
“The EP9’s new lap record is 19.22 seconds faster than its previous lap time. This is a fabulous achievement for NIO and I am very proud of the team that has worked tirelessly to achieve this accolade,” Hughes says.
Last month, NIO announced it plans to produce a second batch of 10 EP9s, each made to order. The NIO EP9 is priced at $1.48 million.
In March, NIO announced it will have autonomous EVs in the U.S. market in 2020.
Last month, NIO unveiled the NIO ES8, a full size 7-seater all-electric SUV it will launch later this year in China.

Coming up in a few months from GM

Can’t comment much.
Although still classified, it will be available this year for under 30,000.
And if I was Mr. Musk, I would be worried at the VW group developments, the Audi e-tron Quattro and Porsche Mission E, right against Tesla’s 2 models for half the price and very impressive range.
L.Romo

RACING TO AN EV FUTURE Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas Host 12 Annual Electric Vehicle Rally

Close to 250 students from 14 high schools gathered at the state fairgrounds in Little Rock on April 17 to participate in the 12th Annual Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas Electric Vehicle (EV) Rally.

“This year we had a record number of participants, which reflects the growing interest in EV technology,” says Rob Roedel, manager of corporate communications for the statewide association. “Today’s students thirst for innovative, hands-on learning opportunities that challenge their ingenuity and encourage creativity.”

The daylong rally began with technical and safety inspections of the students’ vehicles, followed by autocross and acceleration competitions. Next, the students removed their helmets to test their academic knowledge in EV troubleshooting and quiz bowl competitions.

The culminating event was a race to determine how far the vehicles could go on a single charge. “On-track and pit lane strategies are a key to winning this event,” Roedel says.

2013EVrally

Race winner Hillcrest High School from Strawberry, Ark., was also the overall winner among the 14 schools. It is served by Craighead Electric Cooperative in Jonesboro.

In the months leading up to the rally, teens studying math, auto mechanics, physics, engineering, electronics, journalism, and other subjects participated in a wide range of projects, including developing presentations on EV technology, and, ultimately, designing and building their school’s EV.
See the original articles at:
“http://www.aecc.com/community/electric-vehicle-rally”

“http://remagazine.coop/racing-to-an-ev-future/”

BMW i3 in the news

The making of the BMW i3

The Life Module of the BMW i3 all-electric is comprised of resin transfer molded carbon fiber composite structures that are assembled via robotics at the company’s manufacturing and assembly plant in Leipzig, Germany.
The composites industry is full of innovators and creative thinkers, people who move the industry forward incrementally toward greater efficiencies, lower costs and higher quality. But the big material and process leaps the composites community has seen throughout its history have required more than individual expertise. The Chevrolet Corvette or The Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner, for example, is the product of a massive, collective corporate commitment, backed by a capital investment as big, bold and precedent-setting as the envisioned product — a commitment that, to some composites pessimists, appears reckless, hasty, ill-timed and doomed.
Corporate trailblazers are rare, and rarely attempt such leaps without a good command of the materials, processes and technologies required to achieve success. Even so, the risk of doom is real, and redoubles with the size of the enterprise. Missed deadlines and technical setbacks are all the more embarrassing for being so public — and inevitably exploited by naysayers. But at the end of what is, at best, a colossal controlled experiment is the honor and recognition as the first to reach a bold and audacious goal.

Onto this less-traveled corporate road the BMW Group steered when, in 2009, it elected to manufacture an all-electric, four-door passenger car using carbon fiber composites. Originally denoted the MegaCity Vehicle, the commuter car now known as the i3 is designed primarily for urban driving and can travel about 100 miles/160 km on a single charge.
As is widely known by now, the i3 features two primary structures, the aluminum Drive Module – which incorporates the powertrain, chassis, battery, and structural and crash functions – and the Life Module (passenger cell), made from carbon fiber composites. The latter is capped by a composite roof made with recycled carbon fiber, and features a spare but comfortable interior that also incorporates recycled materials and other composites made with natural fiber reinforcements.
We were invited in March to visit the i3 manufacturing and assembly plant in Leipzig, Germany and was offered a chance to see, firsthand, the materials and technologies employed in the creation of this unique vehicle. You will find, in the June issue of Composites Technology magazine, a full report on the facility, materials and processes.
In the meantime, some highlights and impressions from the tour:
BMW, as might be expected, exerts strict control over the quality of carbon fiber produced and woven for the i3, starting at the SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers plant in Moses Lake, Wash., USA.
Process control of the resin transfer molding (RTM) process used to make the carbon fiber structures for the Life Module is carefully managed. BMW uses, in Leipzig, seven Schuler presses for RTM, with two KraussMaffei RTM injection units on each press.
BMW clearly is looking for opportunities to speed up its RTM process, reduce carbon fiber scrap rates and minimize resin usage. Thermoplastics are on the radar.
The roof of the i3 makes creative use of carbon fiber scrap with the applicaiton of a stitched, nonwoven carbon fiber fabric made by SGL Group.
Assembly of the Life Module — fully automated by 173 fully articulating ABB robots — is impressive. Only adhesive bonding is used, with no mechanical fasteners.
BMW, when we visited, was making 70 i3 vehicles per day, which BMW says is on par with expectations — and expected to grow. With the i8 sports car (also with a carbon fiber Life Module) about to start production, the company’s RTM throughput will be well tested.
Driving the i3 is fun (see below image). It’s smooth, peppy, quiet and responsive.

CompositesWorld conferences director Scott Stephenson (left) with editor Jeff Sloan (right) in front of the BMW i3 they drove while visiting the BMW Group manufacturing and assembly plant in Leipzig, Germany.

Harley Road Tests Electric Hog

Harley-Davidson Inc. is preparing to test a product that may turn out to be the ultimate in environmentally friendly transportation: a green hog.

The 111-year-old motorcycle manufacturer said last week it is launching Project LiveWire, a specially designed series of test drives designed as a way for the company to get “insight into the rider expectations of an electric Harley-Davidson motorcycle.” A 2014 US tour will kick off with a journey down Route 66, with select consumers driving prototype vehicles.

In a press release, company executives said that the great outdoors are an integral part of motorcycle riding, and that sustainability is a core strategic focus for Harley-Davidson. “Preserving the riding environment is important to all of us,” noted Matt Levatich, president and chief operating officer of the company.

Although Harley-Davidson has released photos and videos of the electric motorcycle, details have been scarce. It’s rumored to have a 100-mile range, is 75 HP, and recharges in three hours. Calls from Design News for verification were not returned in time for this story.

News reports have indicated that the project is part of an effort by Harley-Davidson to expand beyond its white male baby-boomer audience and target a newer, younger, and more female demographic.

Since range is still uncertain, it’s not clear whether a battery-powered motorcycle will be accepted by owners who use their motorcycles for cross-country rides. Similarly, it’s not known if riders will appreciate the replacement of the Harley’s full, throaty sound with the higher-pitched noise of an electric motor (hear the electric motorcycle in the video below).

Harley enthusiasts who published their feelings on social media were upbeat about the announcement, with most begging for the US tour to pass through their states. “Any chance @harleydavidson is bringing their #projectlivewire and their #electric motorcycle to Hawaii?” pleaded a female mathematician over Twitter last week.

The most insightful comment, however, may have come from an apparent Harley enthusiast who took a larger view of the news. “Harley Davidson announced their first electric motorcycle,” tweeted Harley fan, CyberShack. “Makes me want to have a mid-life crisis.”

Kia Bares Its Soul EV in Chicago

Kia Motors laid the foundation for an electric future last week, rolling out the battery-powered Soul EV at the Chicago Auto Show.

Targeted directly at lower-cost competitors, such as the Nissan Leaf and Ford Focus Electric, the Soul EV features a 27 kWh lithium-ion battery and a driving range of about 80 to 100 miles. It also serves as a means for Kia to gather experience in the electric market before California’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate kicks in during 2018.

”We wanted to turn in our homework early and get started with electric vehicles before the mandate in 2018,” Steve Kosowski, manager for Kia’s long-range strategy, told Design News. “That gets our dealers familiar with the technology and helps us develop a core competence.”

Kia’s Soul EV offers an all-electric range of about 80 to 100 miles. The vehicle will hit the streets in California and Oregon in August.
(Source: Kia Motors)

The new car features a chassis like that of the Tesla Model S, in which the battery cells reside in a long, flat tray at the bottom of the vehicle. To do that, Kia engineers employed a high-energy-density lithium-ion chemistry with a nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode. The chemistry delivers 200 Wh/kg at the cell level and about 97 Wh/kg at the pack level, making it significantly more energetic than that of the Leaf but less than that of the Tesla Model S battery.

”The usable space in the cabin is virtually identical to the gasoline version of the Soul, and that’s because the battery is purely underneath the car,” Rob Scholer, senior service engineer for product quality at Kia, told us.

In contrast to the thousands of 18650-sized cylindrical batteries employed in the Tesla Model S, the Soul EV uses 96 prismatic batteries. Doing so enables it to individually monitor the conditions of each cell, rather than monitoring modules containing multiple cells.

The battery will be air cooled, with vents front and back, allowing air to flow through the pack before being exhausted near the rear hatch. Kia engineers say the integrated battery will make the chassis stiffer than that of the gasoline version of the Soul. It will also lower the car’s center of gravity, promoting safety.

Using an AC synchronous permanent magnet electric motor, Soul EV will produce a peak of 109 HP and 210 lb-ft of torque.

Kia will release the Soul EV in California and Oregon in August. The vehicle will then hit the streets in New Jersey, New York, and Maryland in spring of 2015. No price has yet been announced.

Releasing the Soul EV now gives Kia four years to begin dealing with the upcoming California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandate. The mandate calls for 4.5 percent of a manufacturer’s sales to be EVs and plug-in hybrids by 2018. In 2025, the figure is scheduled to rise to 15 percent. Seven other states — Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont -– announced in November that they would also adopt the ZEV mandate. “We’re figuring that by 2025, there should be about three-and-a-half million ZEVs on the road, just from these various ZEV mandates,” David Clegern of CARB told us.

Today, pure electrics and plug-in hybrids make up less than 1 percent of the overall US auto market. Kia executives stressed, however, that the company foresees potential growth on the horizon for electrics. “We’re starting to see acceptance,” Orth Hedrick, vice president of product planning for Kia, told Design News. “Buyers may not be embracing the technology yet, but they’re beginning to consider it.”

VW CEO Reveals Bold Offensive for Electric Mobility 2013 at Frankfurt Auto Show

What’s Driving Electric Vehicles? STEM, that is what…

Electric vehicles were all the rage 100 years ago. Quiet and lacking manual cranking, most ran 35 to 50 miles between recharges, but some went 100 miles. Electric vehicles (EVs) are hot again. Analysts at A.T. Kearney predict that by 2020, the global EV market will reach10-15% of vehicle sales. But what happens when you accelerate in an EV? It depends:

• Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus EV, and Tesla Model S run entirely on electricity.
• Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) like the Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Volt (a Plug-in HEV) propel themselves via stored electricity and gasoline.

Electric motors exhibit maximum torque at startup, with torque declining linearly as it speeds up. Gas engines only exhibit high torque at high speeds. For snappy pick-up, a combination of the two makes sense.

Two HEV variants are:

Series hybrids (Volt )

Power-split or series-parallel hybrids (Prius)

A series hybrid drive train (Figure 1) runs the electric motor until the battery drops below a certain level, at which point the gas engine powers a generator that helps power the car. An accelerating Volt increases the electricity to its traction motor, the sole power source in the first 35 miles.

A series-parallel (or power split) drive train (Figure 2) has an electric motor and gas engine. The Prius starts as an EV, where it stays until 25 mph or one mile, and then transitions to the gas engine.

Texas Instruments’ TMS570LS Series MCUs are high-performance automotive microcontrollers for safety critical applications based on the ARM® Cortex^TM-R4F, include CAN, Flex-Ray, and LIN 2.0, and are certified-SIL3 automotive. Infineon FS75507N2E4 EconoPACK^TM 2 IGBT modules include six IGBTs rated at 650V_CES and an I_Cnom/I_CRM of 75A/150A. Intended for driving large PM motors, the 150°C-rated modules self-limit short circuits. STMicroelectronics TD350E IGBT/MOSFET drivers rate 1.5A source/2.3A sink, with 2kV ESD protection.

Electric vehicles may not be new, but they have come a long way. EVs need to become lighter, faster, and less expensive, requiring innovative engineering to overcome some complex challenges.

Pikes Peak Hill Climb: Toyota, Mitsubishi Place Electric Cars In Top 10

Over the weekend, the 90th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb took place, pushing cars and drivers to the limit on the 12.42-mile course.

For years, the event has been dominated by purpose-built gasoline-powered hill climb cars, but at this year’s event two all-electric cars placed in the top 10 overall.

Rescheduled to August after devastating wildfires in Colorado prevented the event from happening in July as originally planned, this year’s event welcomed seven all-electric race cars to the 156-turn course.

Winning the electric car category and placing sixth overall was the TMG EVP002, built by Toyota Motorsport and driven by Fumio Nutahara.

With two powerful motors capable of producing 350 kilowatts of power and 664 pound-feet of torque, the EVP002 set a new lap record of 10 minutes, 15.38 seconds

Fifteen seconds behind was the custom-built Mitsubishi i-Miev Evolution, driven by Hiroshi Masuoka. Rebuilt after it crashed during the first practice day, the lightweight race car came in 8th place overall.