This is a humorously-titled reflection after ASC 2018, aimed at figuring out why our car seemingly does worse compared to the competition. Hopefully we can identify areas of improvement, knowing that these are obtainable baselines that other teams are able to meet.
I. Range
According to App State's blog post from Day 3, they indicate that they traveled 210 miles, with roughly 40% SOC left.
...
Where are the other 108 miles going?
II. Array
The best output we ever got from our array was -7.2 A.
Onda Solare was able to go the entire race (carrying 4 passengers for a majority of the time) without resorting to external charging. They also had a slightly larger pack than ours,
I think Minnesota would have been able to as well (carrying 2 passengers), had they not encountered their High V short to their chassis.
III. Motors
According to App State's blog from Day 5,
This morning we face the steepest hill climb of the entire race, just outside of Lander. We will be climbing up to an altitude of 8500, gaining over 3200 feet of elevation in the process before beginning our descent back down. We had no trouble getting up the hill with our twin Mitsuba motors handling the steep grades with ease.
App State uses two Mitsuba 2096 D-III motors (with the default Mitsuba motor controllers), which have a 95%+ efficiency
Our NGM SC-M150 motors struggled a bit climbing the hill on our hill-start.
IV. Motor Controllers
App State
V. Regen & Brakes
I was talking to App State after the stage stop on Day 6, and their driver was saying how he was regen-braking the whole way down the hill.
To be fair, I think regen braking helps more in keeping your speed low so that you don't incur the aerodynamic losses due to drag when zipping down hills. That way, you can maintain a speed that is optimal for your aerobody, and retain the excess energy in your pack with minimal losses. Our drivers tried their best to avoid using the mechanical brake.
We ran the entire race without any regen braking. 🎤
VI. Weight
I think the official published stats for the Cruiser cars speak for themselves
| Team | Weight (kg) |
|---|---|
| App State | 362 |
| Bologna | 300 |
| Minnesota | 380 |
| Waterloo | 475 |
| PrISUm | 1150 |
Considering PrISUm didn't qualify, this really does make you think 🤔
I also highly doubt that PrISUm's car is actually 1150 kg, otherwise it's a wonder they are able to trailer it anywhere.
I don't think we need to go full-on carbon fiber like Bologna (nor do we have the expertise), but we can definitely identify areas where we can save weight.