The UC Irvine electric racecar team started in 2013 to compete in the Formula SAE Electric competition, a student design competition. The competition is held every year in Lincoln, Nebraska and attracts over 40 teams from colleges around the world. Rules are extremely strict to insure the safety of the drivers (all racecars are driven by students) and to encourage innovative designs.

This year the electric racecar team will work on improving the 2016-2017 car to compete in the 2018 competition. Due to design issues that did not become apparent until late into the 2017 school year, the team decided that the 2017 car would not be competitive and chose to redesign and wait until the 2018 competition.

The goal this year is to place in the top five at the 2018 Formula SAE Electric competition in Lincoln, NE. This will require we meet several objectives:

• Reduce overall weight by 100 pounds
• Implement a CAN bus  system
• Build an aerodynamic and lightweight body
• Develop a telemetry system
• Fix flaws in previous year’s design

This year the FSAE Electric team will be implementing a number of features that have never been implemented by the UC Irvine Electric Racecar Team.

CAN bus: This is a standard system for vehicles that allows multiple micro controllers to communicate while minimizing the wiring required. Implementing CAN bus reduces complexity while allowing us to develop a telemetry system.

Carbon Fiber Aero Package: Carbon fiber is a light and strong material. By building the body and wings out of carbon fiber, the weight of the car is reduced with minimal affect on performance.

Lithum-ion Batteries: Li-ion batteries are efficient and powerful. At the same time they are extremely light. By replacing last year’s LiFePO4 batteries with Li-ion batteries, the weight of the car will be reduced, while storing a similar amount of energy in the car.

FSAE Electric Racecar gives students a chance to develop and demonstrate the skills and knowledge that they have learned in class in an exciting and challenging way. All members maintain design reports that document the work they have accomplished. These design reports contain test data, previous iterations, and feedback from professors and team members, showing how the student’s design evolved. At the end of the project, students will be able to  use their design reports to show their work and talent.

Additionally, electric vehicles are becoming more popular, which means there is a demand for engineers familiar with designing electric vehicles. Major companies such as General Motors, Volkswagen, and Ford are shifting their focus to develop their own electric vehicles, while companies like Tesla or Rimac only produce electric cars. This illustrates an increasing demand for electric vehicles and, by extension, engineers that are comfortable with designing electric vehicles. Members of the FSAE Electric Racecar team are perfectly positioned to meet this increase in demand.