G'day Lee, Martin, Bruce, Andrew, and All
At 01:56 AM 19/07/2013, you wrote:
andrew wilson wrote:
Hi there,sounds like a great event. To help swapping over cells
some sort of simple docking would be required. Unlike the Tesla
system where they rise up out of the floor, perhaps a slide
in,slide out box mounted in rear of car would be nice. Guide rails
and mating connectors would be fairly simple to do. Clip on wheels
carried in car would help with moving the cells to be a single
person job. I envisage a quick change over with only a couple of
locking pins to release the cells.
With good logistics ie support vehicle you could have a very viable race car.
I wish you all the luck in the world, keep us posted.
It may also be worth looking at the method Bob Schneeveiss used on
his "Sno White" electric race car. He built 5-sided battery boxes
with a hinged lid. Each battery had grab handles so the pit crew
could quickly yank it out and drop in a replacement.
The key was that there were *no connections* between batteries! The
hinged lid had spring-loaded connectors that connected the cells
when you closed the cover.
So he'd pull into the pit, the battery box lids were flipped open,
and a team of guys madly pulled and replaced all the batteries in a
matter of seconds. Then the lid was slammed shut, and away he went!
The race includes refueling stops and tour stages as well as the race
stages, so swapping should be able to be done in a leisurely manner,
rather than a "pitstop" style.
The commercial battery swap systems for forklifts and similar are
likely to be too heavy and not appropriate for mobile set-up (at
least the few I've seen).
Bruce suggests dump charging, which may be an option, so we'll see.
Bruce also asks "how much performance?", which I don't know at this stage.
I feel a back-seat area box, if possible to go sideways out, may be
best for weight distribution, constraint and access, but they already
have the roll cage in, and a level of plans that may need to be
worked in with.
As I understand it, a standard Tesla did the "Rookie" Targa event in
2011, which is shortened, I don't even know if they are planning to
do the "Rookie" or main event. At present they asked me to assist
with the EV parts of the build, and I know very little about the rest
of their plans, so I'm gathering ideas before I go and meet up with
them at the car some time in the next week or two.
Thanks for the input
Regards
[Technik] James
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