Electric vehicles in Baja 1000 Mile Off Road Race

I've been asked to join the board for this electric vehicle race effort for the 2013 Baja 1000:

(EV Joke)

Maybe if we get started right away we could have healthy, productive
current bushes at prepositioned strategic locations along the course.

Your choice:
Black Current


Red Current


Uh oh!
Maybe you need both; red for +, black for -.

Rokeby said:

(EV Joke)

Maybe if we get started right away we could have healthy, productive
current bushes at prepositioned strategic locations along the course.
Maybe you need both; red for +, black for -.

Click to expand...

Well, there are plenty of bushes! Usually with big thorns on them.

I edited the first post.

Are they running off the shelf Optima batteries? Compartment looks small to me.

smkettner said:

Are they running off the shelf Optima batteries? Compartment looks small to me.

Click to expand...

They aren't Optima at all... they had this car at a show recently, and the Optima guys put their sticker on it.

The two packs are 1800 pounds, 83kWh.

This EV (SRI EV1 Electric Off Road Racer is what they're calling it) is being built and prepped by the guys over at EV West in San Marcos, North San Diego County.

They don't have any info on the project up on their website, but they have some videos up on YouTube and some posts about it on their Facebook page.

The pack is built using LiFePO4 CALB batteries I believe.

drees said:

This EV (SRI EV1 Electric Off Road Racer is what they're calling it) is being built and prepped by the guys over at EV West in San Marcos, North San Diego County.

They don't have any info on the project up on their website, but they have some videos up on YouTube and some posts about it on their Facebook page.

The pack is built using LiFePO4 CALB batteries I believe.

Click to expand...

That is the car.

"It has 2 Warp 9" DC motors, 2 Evnetics 1000 AMP controllers & 2 180AH 231V nominal CALB battery packs for a total of 83KW's of total energy storage"

I wonder what effect shock and vibration have on Li-ion batteries, both in the short term and in the long term. An off-road vehicle like this should experience plenty of that...

TonyWilliams said:

smkettner said:

Are they running off the shelf Optima batteries? Compartment looks small to me.

Click to expand...

They aren't Optima at all... they had this car at a show recently, and the Optima guys put their sticker on it.

The two packs are 1800 pounds, 83kWh.

Click to expand...

That is kinda cheezy for Optima unless they are an official sponsor providing something.
Very misleading at the very least.

WHOOOT!!!! Awesome! Give Robby Gordon the finger as you pass him in his Hummer!

Awesome! I love this! One thing from the video doesn't make sense though: a driver stated that the car weighed 5000 lbs. With a 1800 lb battery pack, how can this thing weigh more than 3000 lbs?

Also, the video quotes a 100 mile range. Is that in the LA4 cycle like the Leaf, or 100 flat out Baja 1k miles? Will they have 10+ batteries pre-staged along the route to swap out?

Electric4Me said:

Awesome! I love this! One thing from the video doesn't make sense though: a driver stated that the car weighed 5000 lbs. With a 1800 lb battery pack, how can this thing weigh more than 3000 lbs?

Also, the video quotes a 100 mile range. Is that in the LA4 cycle like the Leaf, or 100 flat out Baja 1k miles? Will they have 10+ batteries pre-staged along the route to swap out?

Click to expand...

100 miles flat out... about 1.2 miles per kWh. The batteries are almost $40k, so no, there won't be 10 sets. Maybe 3 sets, and they will be charged while the race is ongoing.

Yes, the buggy is built like the proverbial "brick **** house". It weighs plenty.

And, like NASCAR, there are official approvals and inspections of designs, welds, materials, before they get to race Baja (not so much for motorcycles and ATV's, though). So, you couldn't make the whole frame out of titanium and magnesium without some serious engineering costs.

smkettner said:

That is kinda cheezy for Optima unless they are an official sponsor providing something.
Very misleading at the very least.

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Well obviously they have provided cash for placement of their sticker. They might even hide a lead-acid battery in there somewhere to boot the car up, too.

TonyWilliams said:

100 miles flat out... about 1.2 miles per kWh. The batteries are almost $40k, so no, there won't be 10 sets. Maybe 3 sets, and they will be charged while the race is ongoing.

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I must be missing something - you've got a car going flat out through the desert, but you're going to have, say, 3 battery packs? That would mean that you'd have to be able to charge a pack AND leapfrog a race car going 60+ MPH with an 1800 lb. battery pack within about 2 hours, max.

Are they going to have a helicopter with a quick charger aboard taking power from the chopper engine? :?:

For a race like the Baja 1000 you have designated fueling areas where one can drop off fuel in advance (or in this case, battery packs).

One typically has a support vehicle or two driving the highways ahead of the race vehicle that can meet up as needed for additional support.

With 3 packs and 1000 miles to drive, they will have to have a support vehicle that can charge the packs on the way to the next stopping point, though.

Equivalent gas vehicles typically get 5 mpg or so during the Baja 1000, so they typically need quite a bit of fuel every 100 miles or so. A 25-30 gallon fuel cell and topping up 15-20 gallons every 100 miles is typical.

drees said:

smkettner said:

That is kinda cheezy for Optima unless they are an official sponsor providing something.
Very misleading at the very least.

Click to expand...

Well obviously they have provided cash for placement of their sticker. They might even hide a lead-acid battery in there somewhere to boot the car up, too.

Click to expand...

No, the boot strap is done with a LiFePO4 12 volt between the two drivers.

ahagge said:

I must be missing something - you've got a car going flat out through the desert, but you're going to have, say, 3 battery packs? That would mean that you'd have to be able to charge a pack AND leapfrog a race car going 60+ MPH with an 1800 lb. battery pack within about 2 hours, max.

Are they going to have a helicopter with a quick charger aboard taking power from the chopper engine? :?:

Click to expand...

No helicopter planned, but many teams use them. Team Honda certainly does. Power to recharge will be with diesel generators, one per each of the three chase trucks.

Yes, you do have to leapfrog, as all the teams do. If you check out the course, you'll see that the support teams follow the paved highways, while the racers battle in the rocks and sand, day and night.

2004 Baja 1000 Map with BF Goodrich pit stops


2010 Baja 1000 Race Mile 143
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh_jYY-siwI[/youtube]

I was pit crew for my brother when he raced a Baja 500 on a motorcycle in the mid-80s. I was it for the pit crew. After dropping him off at the start, I raced to the first pit in a Mazda mini-truck along the "highway" (the sand path next to the "highway" was smoother and faster.) :shock: I got there and setup about 15 minutes before he did. After fixing his front brake cable that had argued with a cactus, I raced to the second pit. The only way I was able to keep ahead of him was my insane driving on the "highways", his glitchy front brake slowing him down, and his bumming gas at the one pit stop you had to be at the day before the race started. While cruising on the "highways", I managed to jiggle loose the bolts holding the exhaust pipe to the exhaust header. No more muffler. :roll: Multiple chase vehicles is a must if you want to be safe and be sure to be able to cover the racer.