Vehicle Progress

Friday, 26 March 2010 10:45

UOIT Plays it Safe for EcoCAR

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) EcoCAR team has worked tirelessly throughout the academic year to build its all electric vehicle for the EcoCAR 2010 Competition Finals, May 17-27, 2010 in Yuma, AZ and San Diego, CA. Like the other 15 universities competing in the EcoCAR Challenge, the UOIT team has put in countless hours and had many sleepless nights in the last several months to prepare for the Safety & Technical Inspection this March.

Sunday, 03 January 2010 13:11

December, 2009

Throughout the month, the mechanical and energy storage teams have evaluated a series of different positions for the temporary battery modules using cardboard mockups. Once the configuration of the temporary rack was decided, the team began modelling it in the rear of the vehicle using Siemens NX. The final model's braces and mounting points were tested using FEA simulations to assure its integrity under extreme crash scenarios. The temporary rack utilizes the original rear seat, rear seatbelt, and battery box mounting points. Through the use of these points, the team will not leave any marks in the vehicle once the temporary rack system is removed and the seats are reinstalled for the final year of competition.

November 2009

The team has spent most of October preparing the shop for the delivery of our GM donated vehicle. The week following the delivery of our GM donated vehicle (Oct 22nd) we received our battery donation from Athena Marine. The energy storage systems team has concentrated these past few weeks on the redesign of our temporary battery modules. After discussing possible configurations with our advisors, the team has decided to mount six modules on edge where the rear seat typically resides and to construct a temporary battery rack that will be used for the second year of the competition. This temporary structure will allow to conduct dynamic testing until the permanent racks are installed next year. The team will continue to work in parallel on the construction of the two original fiberglass enclosures for our energy storage system. However, should we run out of time before the March inspection, we will still be able to deliver a running vehicle.