[WIP] Electric racetrack prototype from France

[106electric]

Hi there,

I'm a newbie in the community and also new to the electric world.
Keen on motorsport and engineering, our project will be to build an electric trackday car.
My father had the opportunity to buy a huge stock of parts from a company who launched a car called ERC140 or Ecup200.
Here is the only driving prototype which was exposed to Paris Motorshow.

We are currently assemblying chassis #2 and #3:

The 1st chassis assembly is almost done. Body parts are now at the paintshop and should come back in a few weeks for the final assembly.
Motor is in place with the 3MO reducer and driveshafts.

We are now sourcing the auxiliaries (DC/DC, charger, radiators, EWP) to put them in place to plumb the cooling circuit.
We are also in discussion to select battery modules and BMS to build the battery pack. The most probable option at the time is to buy a e-208 battery pack (50kWh).

Concerning the motor package, it was sourced by Actia. Motor, Inverter and VCU can be found on new Iveco eDaily. Motor is given for 140kW and 400Nm but has proven 200kW peaks on the prototype. All was Can driven with the support of the Actia team.
One of our main challenge will be to make it run without the same official support from Actia engineering team.

For sure it will give us headeach but to drive those cars on track is a huge source of motivation !!
I will share progress. I'm glad to join the community, OI is an amazing knowledge base and I will request your expertise when needed.

Jérémy, from South West of France.

[106electric]

Front assembly

The body is now painted. Front end assembly in progress.
We are in the same time purchasing all parts to do the battery pack and HV wiring. We will finally go with Taycan modules instead of Stellantis ones.

[johu]

One of our main challenge will be to make it run without the same official support from Actia engineering team.

if made one car run why not another? Would be the same messages

[106electric]

if made one car run why not another? Would be the same messages

The 1st prototype was not fully developped before the company bankrupted and the car has "disappeared". We do not have access to it to make can log and to clone EVCU.
Nevertheless, they faced big troubles with their aircooled battery pack. They never managed to do DC fast charging and to use regeneration without battery overheating.

[Ruudi S]

Thank you for sharing your amazing new race car project!
It really seems like purpose built vehicle. Where does the battery go? Are the taycan modules really any good with cooling? I haven't seen many well cooled batteries, maybe the last Opel Ampera and Tesla batteries are mostly known of their good cooling solutions where coolant really flows between cells. Most road car batteries have cooling systems that are just good enough. They mainly need to be cheaply and fast manufactured if it cools down a few fast charges then that's all that they need to do.
But track racing is really tough for motor and battery. Constant full acceleration and then regen, when the race laps are done, charging. Maybe some other hybrid has good cooling with air conditioner refrigerant? Is there any info available from formula-e somehow those cars work?

I also found one web page with pictures and information about this car https://www.vroum.info/HTML/divers/elec ... g-car.html

[106electric]

Thank you for sharing your amazing new race car project!
[...]
I also found one web page with pictures and information about this car https://www.vroum.info/HTML/divers/elec ... g-car.html

Indeed, this page shows the prototype.
The battery pack is divided in two. They are between the seats and the engine bay.
A lot of efforts will be done to keep the temperatures down. We plan to use AC for that in addition of the radiators. I'm also working for an external charger solution in order not to add heat while charging with an OBC.

[106electric]

Just received a full battery pack from a 1000km eDaily.

I have disassembled it to reuse the 16 modules (total 96S), the BMS and cooling plates.
I will now need to make 2 battery boxes to fit them into the car.

[106electric]

Chassis is completely assembled now. Waiting to meet FFSA, the French Motorsport Association to confirm HV regulations.
Then I will start to build the 2 battery boxes and HV loom.

[106electric]

Had a meeting last week with FFSA. No specific regulation for electric vehicles in France, son FIA regulation applies.
Using OEM HV architecture is so a big plus.

The only point of attention is the battery box. They can ask for crash test or calculation notes for purpose build boxes.

[RyanC]

Nice work, will be following your progress.
I've been doing some reading on FIA Appendix J art 253 which gives some regulations. Nothing in it that is crazy.
Motorsport UK also require some calculations for RESS housing, but I haven't seen what they actually require.

[106electric]

Art 266 section C explains all requirements for EV.
Nothing very complicated if validated before to build HV system.

[EVSwap]

Indeed, this page shows the prototype.
The battery pack is divided in two. They are between the seats and the engine bay.
A lot of efforts will be done to keep the temperatures down. We plan to use AC for that in addition of the radiators. I'm also working for an external charger solution in order not to add heat while charging with an OBC.

Yes air cooling would not work great on a racecar. Where we race, ambient temperatures are regularly 37C or hotter. Air cooling isn't efficient enough with only a few degrees between battery target temperature and ambient.

We started using a chiller to chill the batteries down to 15C before putting them into the car and then after an hour of racing they are at 40C. Without chilling we can't go 30 minutes before they are over 50C.

Check out our EV racecar here: https://www.teamarcblast.com/

More content: www.instagram.com/teamarcblast

[106electric]

Air cooling isn't efficient enough with only a few degrees between battery target temperature and ambient.

Exactly. We will use one chiller per battery bank with a 7.5kw AC compressor. One condenser par bank will transfer out heat from the system.