Author: tsport100

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Bridgestone Sponsors World Solar Challenge 2013

Bridgestone will be the title sponsor of the World Solar Challenge 2013, which will be held in Australia October 6-13.

Dubbed “The Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2013,” the event will see a record 45 teams from 26 countries compete in a 3,000 km cross-country race using only solar energy to power the vehicles.

The event will feature three separate classes, Adventure Class, which will showcase cars built for previous events; Cruiser Class, which will be judged by design practicality, and Challenger Class, which will compete for the title of the world’s most efficient solar car.

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Nissan to expand EV lineup to 5 models all with Wireless Charging

Nissan Motor Co. says it will expand its global EV product line to five models.

The company has not announced what additional models it is planning and has not specified a timetable. But it indicates Nissan is taking a long-term view of the slow-growing EV market.

"We haven't announced what models they will be, but we have plans for five," Carla Bailo, senior vice president for R&D at Nissan Americas, told reporters. "The others will come in due time."

Bailo said future Nissan-brand EVs will use inductive charging -- an emerging advanced technology for recharging the batteries of electric cars wirelessly. Inductive chargers enable an EV owner to park on top of a charging mat to recharge a battery without hooking up a connector.

"Once that technology is ready, we will use it across our brands," she said after her presentation.

Previously, Nissan had said inductive charging was critical to differentiate the luxury EV planned for the Infiniti brand.

Production of the cargo van begins later this year in Europe, initially for the European market. But this spring, Infiniti President Johan de Nysschen said the Infiniti EV will be delayed. Infiniti said it wanted to wait for improvements in inductive charging technology.

That means that only the Leaf has made it to market so far, after more than three years of promoting the idea of EVs. The company spent $1.8 billion to move U.S. production of that model to Smyrna, Tennessee, and to construct a lithium ion battery module plant there. That factory, which began production in January, gives Nissan the capacity to build up to 150,000 Leafs a year and 200,000 batteries.

Sales of the car in the United States have more than tripled since last year, when it was still being imported. Through July, Nissan dealers sold 11,703 Leafs, up from 3,543 in the first seven months of 2012.

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Toyota Reveal 420hp AWD Yaris Hybrid-R Powertrain Details

Based on the Yaris 3-door, the Yaris Hybrid R concept hybrid powertrain configuration combines the powerful 1.6l petrol Global Race Engine with two powerful electric motors to provide an ‘intelligent’ electric four-wheel drive capability.

The front wheels are driven by a 300hp 4-cylinder 1.6 turbo engine with direct injection specifically developed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) according to the rules of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) for a Global Race Engine to be utilised in various motorsport disciplines.

At the rear, each wheel is individually powered by a 60hp electric motor – the same as those used in the standard Yaris Hybrid.

Taken together, the hybrid powertrain system develops a total system output of up to 420 hp. The two electric motors work as electric generators during the braking phase, and supplement the petrol engine during the accelerating phases.

Super-capacitor

Just like in the TS030 HYBRID, the energy recovered during the braking phase is stored in a super capacitor. Compared to the standard NiMh hybrid battery, the super capacitor has a higher power density and a fast power charge / discharge speed. It is perfectly suited to the requirements of sporty driving on track, which requires brief and immediate bursts of power.

Nevertheless, level of power depends on the duration of energy delivery desired. In road mode, the super-capacitor releases the energy recovered under braking for a maximum duration of 10 seconds per charge and the total power of the two electric motors is reduced to 40 hp. In track mode, the rear electric motors reach a combined maximum power of 120hp for up to 5 seconds per charge, reflecting the higher frequency of braking and acceleration events during circuit driving.

Advanced traction control

A 3rd 60hp electric motor, located between the engine and the 6 gear sequential transmission, operates as a generator in two different cases: during deceleration to feed the super capacitor and during acceleration to directly power the rear electric motors.

The latter will only happen when the engine power and torque exceed the grip potential of the front wheels. The generator behaves like an advanced traction control system, redirecting the torque as electric energy to the rear wheels, to boost the acceleration and improve the handling rather than to simply limit the engine power.

Torque vectoring

Rear electric motors - one per wheel – can greatly influence the Yaris Hybrid-R handling characteristics during cornering by altering the distribution of torque between the left and right rear wheels.

Each motor can be used independently as a generator or a motor to achieve the same effect as an intelligent torque vectoring differential.

Depending on the radius of the curve, the system can send more torque to the outside rear wheel allowing higher cornering speeds into the corner (middle-speed curves), apply more braking force to the inside wheel (fast curves), or even brake and accelerate each wheel independently (slow curves) to adjust the yaw effect for a better line, to limit steering angle, and understeer.

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UNSW Sunswift launch 140 km/h “eVe” Cruiser Class Solar Racecar

UNSW Solar Racing Team Sunswift revealed their solar racing car eVe at the University of New South Wales last Friday.

The latest addition to the Sunswift family is designed for the new Cruiser class, which consists of four-wheeled vehicles that must meet regulations for a normal vehicle in the country they come from (i.e., the challenge is to design truly road-worthy vehicles). They’re also required to have both a driver and a passenger.

The new Sunswift racer is powered by 2x 1.8 Kw direct drive CSIRO wheel motors, now manufactured under license by Marand Precision Engineering, giving a top speed of 140 km/h. A 15 kWh Lithium Ion battery, weighing only 63 Kg, gives eVe a single charge highway speed cruising range of over 500 km, as much as a 85 kWh Tesla Model S!

This incredible range is achieved by a combination of light weight carbon fiber monocoque construction, extremely low drag coefficient and 98.3% energy efficient direct drive wheel motors.

eVe has a 1800 x 4500 mm footprint with four square metres (WSC rules allow up to six square metres) of Mono-crystalline silicon cells provided by SunPower.

The World Solar Challenge starts on October 6th in Darwin and finishes 3,000 km later on Sunday 13th October in Adelaide.

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Spy Shots: Venucia E30 EV Spotted in China

New spy shots showing the production version of the Venucia e30 EV have surfaced. Venucia is a sub-brand of the Dongfeng-Nissan joint venture, the e30 EV is based on the Nissan Leaf. The Venucia e30 debuted as the Venucia E-Concept on the 2012 Beijing Auto Show, and re-appeared as the ‘Venucia e30′ on the Shanghai Auto Show in April.

Small-batch production will begin later this year with deliveries starting in 2014, but only for local demonstration projects. Deliveries to the general car market will only start in 2015. Power will come from the same electric motor as in the Nissan Leaf, output is 110hp and 280nm. Top speed will be 144km/h and range 228km.