Shifting Gears

We are nearing the end of 2011 and this is a good time to give you an update of the current state of affairs of the ekolectric. At the end of November the IO students gave presentations to fellow students to conclude their participation in the project. Early December students of the Haagsche Hogeschool entered the project and have been working actively with both the Energy Club and Mondriaan students.

Past week a representative of the municipality of Delft paid the workshop in the Dream Hall a visit. He was pleasantly surprised by the progress our team had made on the ekolectric. He was particularly impressed with all the work that had been done. At the moment the connection between the accelerator and the frequency controller (VFD) has been realized, and so has the shifting gear mechanism for 80%, only certain fine-tuning remains. The breaking and steering is in place, but some work still has to be done on the pump. Last few days the first adapter plate has been fabricated and the suspension of the car will be for 90% finished at the end of 2011. Currently, a closer look is given to the HMI-dashboard control with regard to electrical driving and the battery system is given a closer look.

Publicity

An article about the ekolectric project and Accenda has recently been published in Breen magazine. Breen is a student magazine solely focused on the engineering students in Delft. A copy can be obtained at most TU Delft faculties and the online version is also available at: http://www.breenmagazine.nl/upload/o- breen5_2011.pdf p13.

In January an alderman (“wethouder”) will visit the Dream Hall to observe the first edition of the car and the progress that has been made thus far. Moreover, the website for the ekolectric (www.ekolectric.nl) is currently being developed and is expected to be online in January.