UVa students turning car from gas to electric

Inside a defunct nuclear reactor at the University of Virginia, engineering students have set up a makeshift garage where they’re taking a Honda Accord from gasoline to electric power.

The project, known as “Ride Forward,” is part of a class taught by James Durand, an adjunct professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering who has, in the last month, watched students gut the gasoline components out of the four-door sedan.

Durand decided on the project last year when he saw battery technology improving and becoming more affordable. It was also spurred in part by wanting students to explore alternative energies.

“We’re hoping for a maiden voyage on April 1. ... If we go a few inches, that’s good,” Durand said.

Durand said the idea is to take the car “off the grid” by using solar panels, installed on an area resident’s garage, to generate its power.

Adam Burton, a third-year electrical engineering student, is leading the drive-train team concerned with connecting the new electric motor with the manual transmission.

“If you compare it to a gas motor it’s unbelievable because it’ll go, we’re thinking, a million miles,” Burton said. “Obviously, no one is going to drive this car for that long, but there’s nothing you have to replace, there’s no wear and tear.”

He said preliminary calculations estimate the car should be able to reach 100 mph and go for about 100 miles before needing a recharge.

With the car scheduled for completion by April 1, students are trying to make a deal with the university’s transportation department to use the car so performance data can be gathered.

While the Honda’s Kelley Blue Book value was $3,500 when it was donated last year, the conversion project is budgeted for $50,000, including the $15,000 cost of installing the photovoltaic system.

About half the project’s funding comes from a university grant established for experimental learning, while other money has come from private donors. Durand noted that the project still needs to raise about $10,000.

But Durand said the project is using high-end parts and that he believes other cars could be converted for a third of the price. He said part of the project’s long-range mission is to study how to make converting cars to electric power more affordable.

“Instead of using this Cadillac version, we’d be using something that wouldn’t have quite as much power but would be a lot less expensive,” Durand said.

Nick Lumsden is a fourth-year electrical engineering student who is part of the energy-storage team tasked with getting a payload of batteries in the trunk of the car.

Lumsden is thinking the trunk will need to be expanded for all the batteries to fit, but the change must maintain the structural integrity of the car and ensure the weight is distributed properly.

“We’re going to keep it as close to stock as possible,” Lumsden said. He said the space constraints might mean they have to expand into the backseat. “If we do have to put it in there, we’ll make it aesthetically pleasing so it doesn’t look like you’re sitting next to 100 pounds of batteries.”

Matthew Bocknek, a fourth-year electrical engineering student working with Lumsden, is wondering how all the batteries are going to fit. And while he’s interested in the project, his opinion of using batteries for power is low.

Bocknek’s summer job with the Army at Fort Belvoir allowed him to work with emerging fuel cell technology that he believes could be some time before it’s perfected. Basically, fuel cell systems convert hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in turn create electricity.

“Maybe there’s hope for batteries, but right now ... if you don’t use them, they’ll degrade. If you do use, them they’ll degrade, so it’s a lose-lose situation,” Bocknek said. “There has to be a better way.”

David Larance, a third-year systems engineering student who is general manager of the electric car project, said that while electric cars have been around for decades, there are still many questions that need answering before the vehicles are accepted by the masses.

“As far as the way people need them today, electric cars have never fit that role,” Larance said.

As for getting the Honda back together?

“It’s definitely going to run,” Larance said.