EVs to go on show at track
WHEN the flag drops, which is faster? A conventionallyfuelled Ferrari or the electronpower of one of Elon Musk’s Tesla sports cars?
The argument will be settled on Sunday, September 9 when electric vehicles (EVs) take over Highlands Motorsport Park, outside Cromwell, for the ‘‘Hare & the Turtle’’ day of electric vehicle tests, and the odd showdown.
The day has been organised by Otago EV owners, among them Henrik Moller, one of the men behind the EV citizen science project, Flip the Fleet.
‘‘We hope that EV owners from the South Island will converge for a mix of fun, education, outreach and a spot of science,’’ he says.
The event is open to the public from 11am, when there will be the opportunity to take a test drive in an EV, and take a ride in a Tesla. The day, which is the main Otago event for International Drive Electric Week 2018, will wind up at 2pm.
Demonstration drag races will start from 12.45pm. It is hoped Gore man Duncan Cairncross’ homebuilt electric roadster will also compete.
As the Tesla Model X does the dash to 100kmh in a little over three seconds, the Ferrari will need to be on its game.
Before the public is let in, EV owners, and owners of plugin hybrids, will be doing runout and other tests under controlled conditions from 9am.
The tests will investigate the reliability of battery health and internal resistance measures and the effect of tyre pressure on energy efficiency range.
Moller says people interested in bringing an EV along to the morning tests at Highlands can contact him at wecan@flipthefleet.org.
The event is supported by the Science into Action partnership, led by Otago Museum, with support from the BetterNZ Trust and ChargeNet.
ChargeNet has arranged free rapid charging at its Cromwell charger.
Nissan Leaf owners will also be able to sign up to Flip the Fleet’s ongoing citizen science experiment monitoring battery health and temperature, and energy efficiency.
Moller says they have automated data loggers, courtesy of an Otago Museum grant, that can be fitted to the Nissan EVs to feed the information back to the number crunchers.
A related exhibition runs until next Saturday at Central Stories Art gallery and Museum, Alexandra, featuring Flip the Fleet research. There are public talks at 3pm at the gallery on Saturday, September 8 and public test drives from 4pm.