The Phoenix Challenge Michael Hackleman c. 1993 Michael Hackleman On April 25-26 of this past year, two electric-powered cars built by myself and Ely Schless snatched four race trophies Ä three 1st place and one 2nd place Ä in the OPEN and STOCK categories at the Phoenix International Raceway. In a low- budget project using off-the-shelf components, the Hackleman- Schless team challenged high dollar, high technology efforts Ä and left them behind. This brings home the notion that if electric vehicles are indeed the vehicles of the futureÄthen the future is NOW. This is a closer look at what we did and how we did it. Project Background In 1991, Otmar Ebenhoeck and I entered an electric 1982 Ford Fairmont station wagon in the first Phoenix electric car race. Although we had only a week to get ready, no time to test, and not a prayer of winning, we got there and sweated out qualifications (we stripped material to get under the 4,000 lb. maximum weight limit). Our only "gimmick" was a high-rate recharge from an offboard battery pack of higher voltage. Our effort was rewarded. We grabbed a 6th place finish out of 14 cars! With high weight and no aerodynamics. Using current technology and a lightweight and streamlined car, I was certain that we could be highly competitive in 1992 using the same technology of rapid recharge. I met Ely Schless shortly after the Phoenix event, driving about on the Shawk, his electric-powered Honda motorcycle. I was impressed with Ely's innovative design and his workmanship. A ten year veteran of motorcycle racing, Ely was naturally interested in scratch-building a car for the OPEN category. I renewed my effort to obtain sponsorship, giving presentations at American Honda and Trojan Battery Company. I wanted to do this project! The Formula Entry Trojan Battery was the first to respond, offering materials, technical assistance, and monies toward the OPEN category. I called Ely to tell him that I had received a confirmation letter from Trojan Battery's president, Rick Godber. Ely's reply was "GoodÄ'cause I just spent $3,000 on a used FOrmula 440 race car." I liked Ely's eagerness to commit! Within a few day's time, the original 65HP 2-cycle engine and transmission was out of the race car, and two side-packs had been added to hold ten Trojan batteries. Ed Rannberg (Eyeball Engineering) sold Ely a 10HP Prestolite motor and a Curtis PMC for the initial trials. A week later, Ely drove the Formula E (E for Electric) racer up to Trojan Battery's doorstep. It's an understatement to say that everyone was surprised! We assured Trojan that this vehicle might not be anything more than a test "mule" for various motors, controllers, and batteries. Still, it's uncanny how close the hastily assembled Formula E "mule" resembled our final configuration. Following 100 miles of test driving at both the Willow Springs (CA) and Phoenix (AZ) tracks at sustained speeds of 85 mph, we replaced the Prestolite motor with one of several 20HP series motors that Advanced DC Motor's Bill Rogers sold to us at cost. We stayed with the stock Curtis PMC controller and Steve Post donated two more units "gratis"Äone for a STOCK vehicle and one for backup. The 12 volt stock Trojan 42C3 battery was also kept. Ten of these got us 120VDC, and the pack's 500 lb. weight assured us that we would not exceed 250 pounds per module (two modules per car). This was critical if two people had to remove a depleted module and manhandle a fully charged one into the vehicle during a pit stop. The STOCK Entry Anne Palmer of American Honda came through with a car for the STOCK category Ä a sleek 1992 Honda Civic VX. It was given to me as a project car (after three years, it will be crushed) for anything I'd like to do with it. It was ideal for Phoenix, but we had rolled into February before it was ready to pick up. It was almost too late! but Ely came through, volunteering to do the conversion on the Honda VX, too. Out came the Honda's engine and the cooling, fuel, and exhaust systems from the Honda VX. The 20-HP Advanced DC Motor was bolted through an Ely-designed adaptor plate to the stock transmission. A Curtis PMC controller was mounted through the hood to a multi-fin heat sink, positioned in the airflow for maximum cooling at race speeds. Twenty 12 Volt Trojan 27TMH deep-cycle batteries were wired into two, parallel packs of 120 volts each. Evenly distributed through the VX (eight under the hood, twelve directly behind the driver and passenger seats), the batteries shifted the vehicle's front-to-rear weight ratio less than 2% to the rear. Special Projects personnel at American Honda, including Charlie Curnutt, assisted with suspension changes for the 1,000 lb. gain in the vehicle's curb weight. They adjusted for the extra weight with Honda Prelude springs and installed Koni shocks set to maximum stiffness. I tested the electric Honda VX by using it to commute to and from Ely's shop on Los Angeles freeways. This included running over the Sepulveda pass, a tough stretch of road for any EV. It was in these trials that the controller "evolved" into its location. Mounting it through the hood was the only position where it didn't go into thermal cutback going up the pass at 85 mph. Our strategy: The Exchange The rules of OPEN class allowed battery "re-charging". Early on, we figured that we would use these two conditions to maximum advantage. The method of pack exchange for the Formula car evolved in to distributing the batteries into two side packs, thus allowing easy access to the "modules" for exchange. After considerable discussion and experimentation, we opted for human-power over machinery for the swapout. Each member of the 4 person battery team need only handle a 125 lb. weight twice for a few seconds, with a 10 minute "break" between swapouts (the length of time the racer can run at 85 mph). The primary challenge in this design was how to electrically connect and disconnect the batteries from the car. Anderson connectors would be too slow. Instead, Ely designed and installed a CO2 ram into the rear of the module area on each side. With a flip of a cockpit switch, he could get both to close a gap of several inches, pushing the "hot" lead against a copper plate that was strapped to the end of the module that held the batteries inside the lexan "case". This made positive contact, shoving the pack's other copper plate against the stationary contact at the front end of the pack. With this arrangement, the modules acted like big D cell batteries, and team members could throw them into the vehicle like a sack of potatoes. Once the ram acted, each module completed the circuit and the pack was securely sealed in the vehicle. With only six weeks until the race, Trojan Battery recognized a winning entry and sprung for the money to have a custom fiberglass body fabricated for the car. With the help of Pete and Mike Stephenson of Clean Air Machines in San Diego we had a fiberglass body in two weeks. Ely fitted it to the chassis, designed flip-up saddlepack doors and painted and applied graphics to the finished car. It looked ready to race! The Quick -Charge In order to participate in the STOCK endurance race of two hours or 120 miles, the Honda VX was designed to be rapidly recharged. A rental truck containing 180 Volt, 400 AH battery packs was parked behind the hot pit wall. When the VX pulled into the pits with a depleted battery pack, the pit crew would connect the 180 volt packs to the two onboard 120 volt packs. The first Phoenix event had run for two hours and the Demi- built Honda CRX had traveled 108 miles-a 54 mph average. I figured that this race would run at least 10 mph faster, and perhaps as much as 15 mph. So, I designed the Honda VX for an average speed of 70 mph. In all bench tests, I discharged at an 85 amp rate, allowing for a total draw of 170 amps (in 75-80 mph bursts) from the paralleled packs. I figured the Honda VX could pit anytime after 37 miles The flow of power was controlled by a device we called the ShuntFET, a gizmo I designed using contactors and nichrome- wire resistors. Four sections of double 00 welding cable brought the negative and positive leads out to connect with the pack and shuntFET. This design worked like two fill tubes into one gas tank, allowing an 800 amp charge rate (400 amps per pack) in to the car. If this 32,000 Watt charge rate was maintained for 3 minutes, it should give a 50% recharge Wires and terminals would get hot. The batteries themselves would get warmer. My test results showed that each recharging added 20øF and 10 øF when discharged at race speeds for each 40-mile leg. However, as long as we did not exceed 125øF, the batteries should be okay. The Team Early on, Ely expressed an interest in driving the Formula vehicle and I asked Tim Considine to drive the Honda VX. My job was to manage the team and serve as pit chief. Tim's son, Chris, worked alongside my own son, Brett. Photovoltaics and EV expert Greg Glenn also rejoined my team as did Hughes project manager, Gerald Benson. Gray Marshall (ShuntFET fabricator), Daniel Pliskin (Control Designer); Electrathon Racing Champion, Bob Schneeveis and Jim "Reality Check" Pommerenig also added their own considerable knowledge and skills to the effort. The 1st Challenge: Heat Race We came to Phoenix ready to compete in the endurance races for both the STOCK and OPEN categories. Since both of these races were on Sunday and the qualifying races were on Thursday, we planned to use the intervening days to get ready. At the last moment (literally an hour before), we decided to enter both vehicles in the 25 mile "heats" on Saturday for each category. Everything seemed ready. If something wanted to break, this would give us time to fix it before the next day. It was a double-header day. Ely drove the Formula E to an easy 2-lap victory over the nearest competitor and Tim pushed the Honda VX past the checkered flag three car lengths ahead of the highly favored Demi team. That felt really good! Sunday: Endurance Races The next day, in the Endurance events, it was not much different. The 1 1/2 hour OPEN event was shortened to 90 minutes. Ely kept the sleek Formula E behind the larger Exide car, picking up speed whenever it pitted. Ely took the checkered flag, four car lengths ahead of the Exide vehicle What a victory! But we had precious little time to celebrate. Three down. One to go. In the Stock event, Tim immediately moved the Honda VX into a one-lap lead over the rest of the field. We racked up 46 miles at speeds of 70-80 mph before the readout dropped to 100 Volts. Tim screamed into the pit for a recharge. I was nervous. We had never actually practiced a recharge on the full sized packs. Safety glasses donned, the power transfer went without a glitch. Tim slipped back into the seat through the rollcage and zoomed back up to speed. After 23 miles, it was time to pit again. Sure enough, we had transferred a 50% charge! With a higher voltage from the offboard packs (we could tap higher or lower in 12 volt increments), we got our 400 amps average per pack. Much sooner this time, the Honda VX was again out making speed. We managed to pull up to 2nd place. We closed to within three laps of the first place car, Solectria, before we had to pit Ä again just 23 miles. At this point Solectria's battery pack breached containment of the zinc-bromine electrolyte, and the race was red flaggedÄ Ended. The rest is history. (See HP #30 for more details on this accident.). A little later, one of my crew reported that 1st place had been awarded to disabled Solectria vehicle, and that we got 2nd. All together it was refreshing to put together a few solid vehicles, hang out with some competent and unpretentious people, and work and play hard. The Formula E adorns the Trojan Battery company R&D lobby and the Honda VX is my everyday car. It goes 70 miles at a steady 60 mph and takes a bit more than a dollar to recharge it. The car goes 30 miles when I leadfoot it (get it?), zoom over hills, or do lots of stop and go. Final Thoughts The fledgling electric vehicle industry needs your awareness and support. Even a low-performance electric vehicle uses one third the resources (oil, coal, ect.) and produces a mear 10% of the pollution of an average gasoline fueled gar going the same distance. EVs need more refinement to successfully compete (viscerally) with gas cars. This and other reasons abound as to why we can't seem to gear up to them. Alas, ignorance, false claims, and a lack of political will plagues this movement. In general, a car company is unlikely is unlikely to introduce a good EV. It challenges the way they conduct business. Maybe they don't know if anyone would really but them. Let them know this is not the case! Better batteries would be nice, but we mostly need clean air. Los Angeles is a beautiful place when you get to bathe in it's real sunshine! Access Michael Hackeleman is an EV design consultant, the producer of the "Hand Made Vehicles" video series, and the editor and publisher of "Alternative Transportation News" (ATN) magazine. For more information about this technology or for publications list or a sample copy write to: ATN, P O Box 743, Mariposa, CA 95338 ù 408-336-5026