Electric Land Speed

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Catavolt
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Post by Catavolt »


Ohio State University claims another electric speed record with Buckeye Bullet

2010 Ohio State University Buckeye Bullet – Click above for high-res image gallery

As they have for the past several years, the kids from Ohio State University made the trek out to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah this month to see how fast they could go without emitting any pollutants. The Buckeye Bullet has always been electrically driven but in past years the juice for the motors was provided by hydrogen fuel cells. In 2009, fuel cell-powered Bullet set an FIA two-way land speed record of 300.992 miles per hour. This year, OSU has teamed up with Venturi, the Monaco-based maker of very few electric vehicles and transformed the Buckeye Bullet 2 into a test mule for an all-new 2011 car.

The fuel cells have now been replaced by lithium-ion batteries from A123 Systems and, after several days of aborted runs and wind-storms, the team finally got in two clean passes Monday afternoon. On the first run, the Bullet traversed the flying mile at 286 miles per hour. After repacking the parachute and turning the car around, the students watched as the car sped by in the opposite direction at 297 mph for a two-way average of 291 mph and, yet again, a new battery-powered vehicle record.
Imagehttp://green.autoblog.com/2010/08/24/oh ... cord-with/
Catavolt
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Post by Catavolt »


At the 2010 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials week Lightning Motors took the FIM and AMA land speed record for special construction partial streamlining electric motorcycles (300-APS-W) with an official two-way average speed of 173.388 mph. Blasting down the course at 170.732 mph with a 10 mph headwind, Lightning Motors’ return run was clocked at 176.044 with no wind.

This was a marked improvement over the team’s unofficial 166mph pass last year, but still short of the company’s goal of hitting 200 mph on the salt flats. Coming straight from the track at VIR, the only modifications to the Lightning electric motorcycle was a larger sprocket, as you can see above, it’s still in its track fairings (note: other sites have been running photos of the the Lightning bike in an open streamliner fairing, which was used last year, not this year).

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Thalass
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Post by Thalass »

Sounds like a challenge to me!
I'll drive an electric vehicle one day.
Catavolt
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Post by Catavolt »

KillaJoule, daughter of Killacycle, to take on Bonneville Salt Flats


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Eva Håkansson, whose ElectroCat set a record earlier this year climbing Pikes Peak, is preparing to assault the land speed record for electric motorcycles on the Bonneville Salt Flats this Wednesday with her newest creation, the KillaJoule. This two-wheeled streamliner is not only encoded with the DNA of its Killacycle forerunner, its also possesses its motors and A123 battery pack.

Unlike the Killacycle, the pilot will not be a "hired gun." This time, Håkansson herself will be white-knucking it across the hard-packed sodium chloride surface. When the duo makes it to the start line it will mark the end of one race – the actual building of the beastess. The final touches are still being added as the departure deadline draws near. This also means Håkansson and the KillaJoule have scant road experience, with only a short outing on their block to their credit. Enough to amuse the neighbors, but not enough to give any indication how things will go at the 200-mile-per-hour target they have set for themselves.

Will they hit their goal? Anything can happen in racing and land speed record attempts, but we wouldn't bet against her. You can keep up with the KillaJoule effort and leave your expressions of best wishes at their Facebook site, which includes plenty of pictures of the building process. Good luck, Eva!
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EV2Go
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Post by EV2Go »

Is it just me or do others have concerns about that nose piece?
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Johny
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Post by Johny »

It looks like a torpedo. I guess it's a tear drop shape which is supposed to have good CD.
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EV2Go
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Post by EV2Go »

Not so much the Cd angle, but look at the pic at the top and it provides a lot of down force at speed. With such a perfectly rounded front I would have serious concerns that if it hits bumps at speed (salt is not perfectly flat) it would lift the front marginally (no longer horizontal) which then exposes more of the bottom area of the nose to create lift. That and torque will already be trying to point it skyward.
Last edited by EV2Go on Fri, 17 Sep 2010, 08:14, edited 1 time in total.
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Johny
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Post by Johny »

I'm confused. Are you talking about Buckeye Bullet or KillaJoule?
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Post by EV2Go »

I have concerns about KillaJoule (the red one and using the top picture for comparison)
Last edited by EV2Go on Fri, 17 Sep 2010, 08:21, edited 1 time in total.
Catavolt
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Post by Catavolt »

Its not pretty but it should hit 200mph.
They ran out of time and money to finish it off.
You can follow them on facebook.
Image

on the salt before test run.
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