Student built e-car breaks speed record
Breaking every rule in the book about electric cars being slow, a team of engineers have designed and produced the fastest electric car in the world that does up to 281 Kmph
An electric car designed and built by Brigham Young University engineering students set a world land speed record for its weight class, averaging 250.7 kmph over its two required qualifying runs, one of which was clocked at 281.6 kmph.
The milestone marks the end of a sevenyear quest of more than 130 students, led by Perry Carter, who just retired as an associate professor.
“This is a wonderful closure to 31 years of teaching at BYU and many projects,” Carter said after the record was certified. “But this is the one that takes the cake. I’m done.” “This is like Christmas morning,” said Jeff Baxter, a former student captain on the project who returned to Utah to witness the record-setting runs. “But like five Christmas mornings – or seven Christmas mornings!”
In land speed racing jargon, the car is called a streamliner, meaning it has a long, slender shape and enclosed wheels to reduce air resistance. Students custom-built the lightweight carbon fibre body after modeling it on a wind tunnel program on a computer.
The aerodynamic performance and lithium iron phosphate batteries helped the car reach its high speeds.
With one inch of ground clearance and an extremely wide turning radius, the streamliner can run safely only in places like salt flats.
The streamliner, named “Electric Blue,” competes in the “E1” class, which includes cars weighing less than 1,100 pounds. Because electric cars rely on heavy batteries, engineering a speedy vehicle at such a light weight is very difficult. That’s why there were no prior certified speed runs for this class, although unofficial standards reached the 200s.
The BYU team completed a qualifying run at 223 kmph last year, but failed to complete the required second run when the car rolled, damaging the car’s body but not the driver’s.
About half the students who have worked on the streamliner program over the years have been manufacturing engineering technology majors, about 40 per cent mechanical engineering majors, and the rest from various other disciplines.
Many worked on the car as part of an annual capstone course, but most were unpaid volunteers.
“Students who study music need to give concerts, students who study dance need to perform, and students who study engineering need to engineer things and compete to see how they work,” said Carter, the team mentor. “Experiential education is a key aspect of every program.”
(MM 8O1011)
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