-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
All-electric vehicle to promote student awareness
Archive
Comments
Story
Monday, Nov. 27, students from communications 220 stood out on the Boise State campus “quad” and presented an all-electric vehicle to the student body.
The students were there to promote awareness for all-electric vehicles and to show students they do not need to depend on combustion vehicles alone. The assignment was to better the Boise community and Boise State.
The all-electric vehicle was a 1993 Toyota Pickup, converted by Boise State student Curtis Hollingshead, with the assistance of his brother, Brett Hollingshead, also a student at
Boise State.
Brett Hollingshead used his brother’s truck for the group project.
“We’re doing an awareness campaign because so few people know [about] it,” said project group member Jen Gilbert. “I didn’t even know the electric cars were on our roads here in Boise before the project.”
Curtis came up with the idea to convert the vehicle about five years ago and started working on it in July of 2005.
He finished about four months later.
“It was good timing,” Curtis said, “because last summer, all the gas prices were going through the roof.”
The first phrase of the conversion process was de-icing the vehicle. During this process the Hollingshead brothers removed all the internal combustion engine components, like the gas tank, exhaust, radiator and engine.
The next phase was to replace those parts with electrical components, such as batteries, the controller and a
DC motor.
The process cost about $17,000.
Curtis said he thinks that an electric vehicle is cost effective.
He will no longer will need to do tune-ups, oil changes or fill up on gas.
“It will probably take four years or so to re-coop some of [the $17,000] but after that point, it will definitely be a cost savings,” Curtis said.
The battery-operated vehicle consists of 24 six volt flooded lead acid batteries, wired up in series, for a total of 144 volts.
“The reason there’s 24 six-volt batters rather than 12 twelve-volt batteries is that the more led that you have, the more range you have,” Curtis said. “So I have a greater range capacity with the six-volts.”
Although the Toyota Pickup runs on batteries, the range is more limited compared to an internal combustion of a gas-operated vehicle.
According to Curtis, the maximum range is about 65 miles, and he uses about 40 to 45 miles per work day.
Since the range is limited, Curtis has a backup vehicle for longer traveling ranges.
After a typical work day, Curtis recharges the battery for about six to eight hours.
“There’s a microprocessor controlled charger that charges it,” Curtis said. “If I only drive a few miles, it will take less time to charge it up.”
Curtis has been using the same batteries for about a year now, and said that they have the life expectancy of about three to five years.
Gilbert said she felt the awareness of all-electric vehicles is very important.
“I think electric cars are absolutely necessary in transforming the gasoline thirsty economy right now before it’s too late and the entire economy crashes,” said Gilbert.
Curtis said he believes that there is a growing interest in
electric vehicles.
“People are interested in it, but as far [as the conversion process and the daily duties of a] driver, I don’t think it’s going to be very well accepted for a while because people aren’t really interested in having multiple vehicles, one with a real limited range … 60 miles isn’t really something that people would find to accept.”
Brett expects electric cars to become more popular due to the fluctuation of the dependency on oil in the United States and the advancement of technology.
“At one point, back in the early 1900s, there were actually more electric vehicles on the road, than internal combustion motor vehicles,” Brett said.
CASSIE GUTIERREZ
Arbiter Staff
