The Topsail High School electric vehicle class is dedicated to the pursuit of exploring alternative solutions to internal combustion vehicles, and increasing environmental awareness as well. The students work hard to secure funding in order to achieve their goal of converting normal vehicles to clean electric power. Thus far the Topsail EV class has successfully converted five vehicles, and have won over 125 trophies while competing against other schools with similar programs.
Topsail EV has won the EV Challenge competition for the past eight years and continues to improve the program and enhance the performance of their electric vehicles. With advanced battery technology finally becoming a feasible option, Topsail recently installed a Lithium Polymer battery pack in the MR2. This modification has decreased the weight of the car and, in turn, increased the range significantly.
In 2010 the EV class converted this 2001 Ford Ranger Edge. The vehicle was purchased for $2400 in Fayetteville, NC and was originally a white 6 cylinder truck.
The Students began the conversion process by researching conversion techniques, design engineering the vehicle for the conversion and providing supporting data for the calculations of expected range and top speed of the completed conversion. With the engineering process complete, the students began the arduous task of securing the necessary funding. The class developed a sponsorship package to present to local businesses and individuals who may have wanted to donate money or services for the completion of the project. After securing the necessary funding they began ordering the parts for the conversion.
In three months, the Ford Ranger was transformed into a clean running electric vehicle. During this time fabrication of battery boxes, motor mounts, transmission coupler, and control board were completed. The wiring and electronic component connections were made and tested for the maiden voyage. Paint was applied and the truck was assembled. The newly converted truck rolled out of the garage three days before the final event of the EV Challenge competition was to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The final event was a success and the team won 12 trophies along with a seventh straight National title!
The 2008-2009 class was successful in converting a 1991 Toyota MR2. The car began its life as a four-cylinder sports car, our goal was to retro fit the MR2 with electric drive components and batteries to create a cool running, environmentally friendly mid-engine electric vehicle.
The conversion process was mapped out early in 2009 as the EV class had acquired the MR2 from Fayetteville, NC for $2200. The first step was to isolate the best parts to use on the finished vehicle. While this process was going on another group was taking the combustion engine out of the vehicle to make room for the Warp 9 motor.
After removing the internal combustion engine, the electric motor was then mounted to the transmission via a coupler and adaptor plate. Next we wired the car and put in the Synkromotive motor controller, which would soon be connected to the 48 Thunder Sky Lithium batteries. Following this process the battery boxes were fabricated and mounted to the car. The car was sent to the painter about a three weeks before the final event and we got it back just in time to install the EV components. The final event was a success for the new car. It performed better than expected, and helped the team to bring back 14 trophies including first place overall. This first place overall continued to the teams dominance of winning first place since the 2003-2004 final event. First place trophies received included vehicle design car class, vehicle design truck class, troubleshooting, autocross car, autocross truck, oratorical presentation, vehicle range in the car class, and vehicle range in the truck class.