ARKANSAS ELECTRIC VEHICLE RALLY COOPERATIVES 2014 LITTLE ROCK

The 11th Annual Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas'e Electric Vehicle Rally was held on Friday, April 25 at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds.

The EV program is an ongoing education program that includes students from a variety of disciplines, including math, auto mechanics, physics, engineering, electronics, journalism and other classes. Throughout the year, students complete a variety of activities related to the EV program, developing presentations and taking part in a wide range of projects.

The highlight of this unique project is the design and construction of electric vehicles that the students enter and drive in the statewide competition.

BRYANT SCHOOLS - A collaboration of BHE and BEAST (Bryant's E.A.S.T. Program) students represented Bryant at the Arkansas EV Rally for the first time in six years. The team fielded a borrowed cart with which to deliver a respectable performance: Coming 2nd in the range event and 4th in several others. The team learned a lot from the competition and what to expect when they return in a rebuilt cart next year.

2014 EV Rally Results

2014 Rally Participants
Arkansas Tech University – Ozark	Arkansas Career Tech Institute
Cabot High School Central Junior High School	Paragould High School Ramay Junior High School
Woodland Junior High School	Southwest Junior High School (Springdale)
Fayetteville High School	Springdale High School
Bryant High School	Viola High School
Hamburg High School Hillcrest High School	George Junior High (Springdale) Mabelvale Middle School

Overall Winners

First Place

Hillcrest High School

Second Place

Cabot High School

Third Place

Fayetteville High School - Engineering

Acceleration
First Place	Hamburg High School
Second Place	Fayetteville High School
Third Place	Hillcrest High School

Autocross

First Place

Hillcrest High School

Second Place

Fayetteville High School

Third Place

Hamburg High School

Troubleshooting

First Place

Hillcrest High School

Second Place

Mablevale Middle School

Third Place

Viola High School

Quiz Bowl

First Place

Cabot High School

Second Place

George Junior High

Third Place

Paragould High School

Range/Endurance
First Place	Fayetteville High School
Second Place	Bryant High School
Third Place	Hillcrest High School

LEFT: April 19 2013 - Three students from Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus competed in the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas’ 10th Annual Electric Vehicle Rally (Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock), taking home first place honors in the troubleshooting category. The ATU-Ozark team, which is sponsored by Arkansas Valley Electrical Cooperative (AVEC) in Ozark, included Automotive Service Technology students Jacob Griego of Ozark, Josh James of Clarksville and Matt Bolton of Alma.

RIGHT: The Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas comprise 17 electric distribution cooperatives; Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. (AECI), a Little Rock-based cooperative that provides services to distribution cooperatives; and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. (AECC), a generation and transmission cooperative. The distribution cooperatives provide electricity to more than 490,000 members, or customers, in Arkansas and surrounding states. The EV program is an ongoing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiative formed through a partnership between industry and educational institutes.

2013 - LITTLE ROCK The Electric Power Research Institute projects that more than 1.2 million plug-in electric vehicles will be deployed in the United States by 2015. Arkansas students are ahead of the curve as they have been exploring the technology for 10 years.

The students are involved in the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas Electric Vehicle program that includes a curriculum that incorporates a variety of disciplines, including math, auto mechanics, physics, engineering, electronics and journalism. More than 160 participants from 12 schools displayed their knowledge and driving skills at the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas Electric Vehicle Rally on Friday, April 19 at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock. Students participated in competitions that tested the students’ abilities and their vehicles’ performance capacities.

“The students involved with the electric vehicle program are well-positioned for future opportunities as electric vehicles become more and more common,” said Rob Roedel, manager of corporate communications for the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas. “There are more than 27 of the educational vehicles deployed in schools in Arkansas. Since 2003, the students have continued to learn and increase their knowledge of electric vehicles.”

The event kicked off with technical inspections and rigorous safety inspections of the student vehicles. Then, oral presentations were delivered by the students and troubleshooting competitions tested the teams’ abilities. Then the academics were left behind as the participants moved to the track and strapped on their helmets for the acceleration event. An autocross competition followed with many twists and turns. Teams then participated in a quiz bowl to test their knowledge of science and electric vehicles. Finally, the teams returned to the track to test how far the vehicles could go on a single charge. The on-track and pit lane strategies made this event one of the most exciting in the rally.

Throughout the year, students complete activities, develop video presentations and take part in a wide range of projects. The highlight of this project is the design and construction of electric vehicles that the students enter in the statewide competition.

Full marks to all of the competitors above, every one of which is helping to push the boundaries of clean motoring forward.

Imagine a future where EVs charge virtually instantly at the touch of a button. This is no pipe dream, rather it is technology that is not yet being exploited by any government, organization or company that may have the financial muscle to push buttons, but not the right incentives. The project featured below is one example of a system that could free us of our dependence on oil.

THE DEVONSHIRE PROJECT: Shown here is a Bluebird™ 3.6 - 7.68MW solar assisted service station containing 96 cartridges on a continuous charge cycle. Five of these stations (38.4MW) can recharge (refuel) up to 10 cars a minute. Next time you visit your BP or Tesco fuel pump, count the number of cars leaving the station in a minute. You will find that an electric forecourt holds the potential to be quicker. During rush hour, 300 cars might be serviced in one hour. During an eight hour day 2,400 cars might be serviced more conveniently than plug in curb-side charging and we start every morning with 96 slow charged cartridges from off-peak supplies. The same forecourt might be used to service fuel-cell cars powered by liquid hydrogen. One size fits all. The secret is to KISS the design (keep it simple silly). There are only 28* moving parts in this station, not including the gearbox for the solar powered drive motor. This is possible because the cars load the cartridges themselves. Learn more about this concept.

UNIVERSAL ENERGY CARTRIDGE: Shown here is the proposed size for a Universal energy cartridge. The cartridge may contain many types of energy storage medium: batteries and fuels cells being the most likely, though hybrid forms are also to be considered. The internal volume is approximately 0.145m2 or 8 cubic feet. The difficult part is getting the motor manufacturers to agree these basic dimensions. Failing which, to take the decision from them with directives.

CLEAN MOTORING - Electric vehicles incorporating a means of instant refueling could make road transport clean and practical by eliminating the limited ranges of fixed battery EVs, which are perceived as less practical by the at present long parked-up recharge times.

The patent Bluebird™ instant energy transfer system - in its ultimate form, promises EV refueling in under 30 seconds, whether hydrogen or lithium based energy storage is used. Get your free developer License from Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd. Entrants to the Cannonball International series of events are automatically granted permission to use the universal cartridge format - details of which are available of request.

2014 EV RALLY

2014 EV Rally Results