As you may know, you need 3 drivers to compete in the eV Challenge, and well... there are only two of us at the moment. So it was a good sight to see Stephen from our last ev project come and help us out again.
From the start of last year I've had the idea of using a flexible fabric skin on an EV to create the aerodynamic body. I'm not going to take full credit for the idea because really BMW provided the inspiration with there concept car, GINA -
BMW GINA Concept. This idea is still an original idea for the eV challenge however with most other teams using aluminum or corrugated plastic panels, foam and even fiberglass shells. Last years car was far from aerodynamic with a modest amount of rear paneling, so this year we had to go for the Aero-Skin. After a trip to spotlight we had decided lycra/spandex was the material of choice.
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| The Beginning of the Wire Frame |
We decided we would make a wire frame from thin aluminum rod and stretch the fabric over it to form the body. We placed wire 'ribs' going cross ways with a wire 'spine' down the middle and thinner wires on each side. Next we needed to know how much lycra we would need, so we layed an old sheet over the vehicle and cut out a rough template. To see if the material might flap or bellow inwards we tested the sheet cover out by fanging it downhill.
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| All Wrapped Up |
It may have looked a bit like a cot, but it seemed to work well and didn't flap much at all. With the lycra instead of sheet and more framing it should have better rigidity and aerodynamics.
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| Stephen Getting Accustomed to This Years Car |
We have also now mounted our batteries in a very nice slide in/out arrangement so we can get to them quickly and easily.
We had hoped to have the motor and gearbox in place by now but are still waiting on the motor sprocket to arrive. They'll be the next step.
Oscar
