UK Students Build Electric Car With 248-Mile Range

da_how writes "A group of students and graduates at Imperial College London have built an electric car with a massive range — 248+ miles on a charge at 'reasonable' highway speeds (60 mph). They did this by filling the car to the absolute max with as many lithium iron phosphate batteries as possible — 56 kWh — and designing a very efficient direct drive powertrain, about 90% batteries-to-wheels at highway speeds. The choice of vehicle is an interesting one: it's a converted Radical SR8 — a track racing car with a speed record on the Nurburgring. Not an obvious contender for an endurance vehicle (no windscreen either!) — but then they claim it's lightweight to start with, being constructed of steel space frame and glass fiber. Also, Radical is based in the UK and provided some help and sponsorship. The students plan to drive their 'SRZero' 15,000 miles down the Pan American Highway, beginning July 8 in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and ending up in Tierra Del Fuego three month later. That's about 60 charges."

Re:248 mile range? Big deal.

[Wyatt Earp]

Where are they going to recharge?

"There are only three towns along the route: Coldfoot (population 13) at Mile 175, Wiseman (population 22) at Mile 188, and Deadhorse (25 permanent residents, 3,500-5,000 or more seasonal residents depending on oil production) at the end of the highway at Mile 414.Gas is available at the Yukon River bridge (Mile 56), as well as Coldfoot and Deadhorse."

I see a gap of 239 miles and a 4700 foot pass, no way you can get maximum milage on a pass

Re:Range hasn't been a problem for years

[Black Gold Alchemist]

Exactly right, batteries are too expensive and you charge everywhere. My money is not on lithium tech. It is on NiCad, NiMH, lead acid and most importantly nickel-iron batteries. Fast charging is bad because it means expensive and brittle batteries as well as extreme loads on the power grid. Think about 1000 kW charging. It just does not work. Meanwhile, we have the solution to range anxiety: a biodiesel generator.

not very impressive

[batistuta]

I don't mean to troll, and I'm sure it was a fun and great learning experience for the students. In this regard, it is a big success and kudos for the team. But as far as the technology goes, I'm not very impressed. I mean, they took at very light vehicle, filled it up with standard batteries, and made it go. There is no true innovation here, just putting pieces together. And we should not blame them for this. The breakthrough we are all waiting for is in the batteries. Until this happens, all articles about electric vehicles will be along the same lines

As for their plan trip, I hope they have a good maintenance team driving next to them. The Panamerican road is by no means a proving ground or race track. In some parts its asphalt is quite damaged. I'm not saying that it can't be driven, but they are not very suitable for such a tuned vehicle with low clearance.

I wish them best of luck!

Re:Range hasn't been a problem for years

[Gordonjcp]

that one time a year(if that) where you have to go further then the cars range you can always borrow or rent a gas powered car (or even take the train or something)

You're assuming that everyone drives the way they do in the US, little short runs to work or the shops. In the UK (and particularly in rural areas), we use our cars a lot more, and tend to take far longer trips. It's not uncommon for me to drive a couple of hundred miles and then come back, within a couple of hours. I can do that on rather less than a full tank of petrol, and if I need to refill it takes a couple of minutes. With a range of 248 miles I'd barely make it to the next big town and back.

Re:Electric Hype

[Mikkeles]

Charcoal? ;^) [wikipedia.org] Non-fossil and renewable!!!

Re:Range hasn't been a problem for years

[Black Gold Alchemist]

I'm not. Hydrogen is a poor electrochemical reagent, and has extremely low energy density leading to massive storage problems (best way to store hydrogen is gasoline). A far, far better idea is that of the aluminium economy. Al-air fuel cells are 100 times cheaper than hydrogen cells, and just as efficient. Aluminium smelting just as efficient as water electrolysis while being performed on a large scale. So with no tech development, Al > H2.