RIT Electric Vehicle Team
2015-2016 Sponsorship Packet
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THE TEAM ......................................................................................................................................... 2
SPONSORSHIP LEVELS.................................................................................................................................... 3
GIGAWATT SPONSOR: $4,000 AND ABOVE ........................................................................................................ 3
MEGAWATT SPONSOR: $1,000 - $3,999 ......................................................................................................... 3
KILOWATT SPONSOR: $250 - $999 .................................................................................................................. 3
CONTRIBUTOR: $100 - $249 .......................................................................................................................... 3
SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS................................................................................................................................ 4
MOTORCYCLE................................................................................................................................................ 4
POSTERS ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
WEBSITE ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
T-SHIRTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
PROJECTS....................................................................................................................................................... 5
ELECTRIC BIKES.............................................................................................................................................. 5
INTERMEDIARY DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS ........................................................................................................ 5
SUPERBIKE .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Battery Management System ................................................................................................................ 5
Battery Module Design .......................................................................................................................... 6
Motor and Sub-Frame ........................................................................................................................... 6
Data Collection and Logging .................................................................................................................. 6
2015 EMOTORACING VARSITY CHALLENGE .................................................................................................. 7
A NOTE FROM THE TEAM................................................................................................................................ 7
CONTACT INFORMATION .............................................................................................................................. 8
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ABOUT THE TEAM
The RIT Electric Vehicle Team is a student run organization dedicated to promoting the viability of electric
vehicles through real world demonstrations of electric drivetrains in action. The team aims to educate
people on the principles of electric vehicle design by engaging students in challenging and rewarding
projects that cover a wide variety of academic disciplines. The team’s main project is to design, build, and
race high performance electric motorcycles for competition in various all-electric race series. The current
bike is based off of the frame from a 2005 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6RR, and a Zero Z-Force 75-7 motor paired
with a Sevcon Size6 controller. In house engineering includes the design and fabrication of a battery
management system, battery containment modules, structural framing for the mounting of the
powertrain, as well as advanced data collection and analysis software.
The three main subgroups of the team are mechanical engineering, firmware engineering, and electrical
engineering. Each discipline has a lead engineer to guide and oversee the project. Within each group,
advanced tools are combined with each engineer’s knowledge of his/her field to produce the best design
possible.
The team’s philosophy is to foster the available talent in members as much as possible. New members are
challenged to innovate early on through the design and optimization of electric bicycles. This provides
them with the chance to learn about the fundamental concepts of electric drivetrains. After this
introductory project is complete, members move into working on intermediary development vehicles.
Currently, these vehicles include an
electric Go-Kart, and an Electric Moped,
both built to participate in Imagine RIT
competitions. The intention of these
projects is to provide both a more
advanced
learning
experience
for
members, as well as a test bed for
technologies that may be implemented
on the electric motorcycle in the future.
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SPONSORSHIP LEVELS
GIGAWATT SPONSOR: $4,000 AND ABOVE
The Gigawatt level sponsor receives a large logo that will be prominently displayed on the bike, as well as
on team event t-shirts, posters, and website. Sponsors also receive an invitation to see the technology
behind the motorcycle at our annual sponsor day.
MEGAWATT SPONSOR: $1,000 - $3,999
The Megawatt level sponsor receives a medium sized logo that will be prominently displayed on the bike.
Company logos will also be displayed on our posters, website, and t-shirts. This level includes an invitation
to our annual sponsor day.
KILOWATT SPONSOR: $250 - $999
The Kilowatt level sponsor receives a smaller logo on the bike, as well as on posters, and the team
website. An invitation to the annual sponsor day is also included at this level.
CONTRIBUTOR: $100 - $249
The contributor receives their name on the team website and on event posters.
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SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS
MOTORCYCLE
The body of our motorcycle represents the greatest potential for advertisement. Everywhere we race or
present the bike, the logos of our sponsors will be proudly displayed. This year, we will be competing in at
least one race of the eMotoRacing series. This is a new series that takes place at some of America’s most
iconic raceways, and is competed in by the most innovative electric motorcycles of today. We are aiming
to generate a large media footprint by attending this event.
POSTERS
At all events that we attend, posters with logos from all of our sponsors will be proudly displayed
alongside the EVT insignia. This includes all races, any presentations given, and the annual Imagine RIT
festival. At all times, we proudly display our posters on the windows of our club space.
WEBSITE
All sponsors will receive public mention on our website through rotating logos on the homepage. All
sponsors will also receive a small write up about how their contribution was used, with a link to their
website included. Sponsors of in-kind donations will receive a mention on our Facebook page alongside a
picture of the team putting their technology into use.
T-SHIRTS
At every public event that we attend, members of the team will wear T-Shirts bearing the logos of our
sponsors, as well as our own logo. This provides an opportunity for the public to gain awareness and
engage team members in conversations about the contributions that you or your company made to the
team.
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PROJECTS
ELECTRIC BIKES
New members with little experience are introduced to the world of electric vehicles through electric bikes.
These relatively simple machines, which utilize hub motors to directly drive the rear wheel, provide a solid
foundation of electric vehicle concepts. Our members are encouraged to work on the design of
streamlined battery and controller containment modules in order to learn the basics of electric vehicle
design. They are challenged to balance different design considerations such as weight, battery capacity,
operating voltage, and size in order to produce a final product.
INTERMEDIARY DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS
The team maintains various development vehicles for testing new designs and technologies. Two current
examples of this are an electric moped, originally built for the Imagine RIT E-Dragster competition, and an
electric go-kart, built for the Imagine RIT E-Vehicle Autocross Challenge. These vehicles allow the team to
test technologies mainly related to battery pack construction and monitoring. They are also able to
provide essential learning experiences for team members who are ready to move on from electric bicycle
design. Team members can learn more in depth about how electric motor drive systems operate through
working on updated designs for our development vehicles. They analyze current designs and determine
how they can be modified to provide as much quality and reliability as possible. In this manner, the team
always has advanced vehicles to utilize in the testing of their designs.
SUPERBIKE
Battery Management System
The battery management system is intended to effectively mitigate the risks associated with lithium ion
batteries. Its purpose is to constantly monitor the individual cells in the battery pack in order to prevent
dangerous conditions such as under-voltage, over-voltage, or elevated temperatures. The prevention
measures vary per situation, but usually include balancing the voltages of the battery cells across the
battery pack, and operating a safety cutoff switch in the event the battery pack approaches dangerously
low charge voltages.
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Battery Module Design
The battery pack of the superbike is composed of twenty-six lithium ion battery cells connected
electrically in a twenty-six series configuration. These cells are approximately the size of a piece of letter
paper and about half of an inch thick. The battery pack is made up of different sized modules that provide
the best fit within the constraints of the frame. The modules themselves are made of sheet aluminum.
They were initially created in advanced computer-aided design software and then fabricated using highprecision CNC machines. The battery modules are designed to dissipate excess heat via air cooling, and
have also been designed to compress the cells along their faces in order to prevent them from expanding
when put under load. The modules undergo advanced computer simulation and analysis before they are
put into use on the motorcycle.
Motor and Sub-Frame
The conversion of electrical energy to mechanical power is performed by a large, permanent magnet AC
synchronous motor rated at 50 horsepower. The frame that the team is using for the project was
designed for use with an internal combustion engine, thus a separate sub-frame was designed to which
the motors and battery modules can mount. This sub-frame incorporates structural support not only for
the electric drive components, but also compensates for the structural integrity that was lost when the
internal combustion engine was removed.
Data Collection and Logging
Each device on the motorcycle collects data relevant to its various operating conditions. Some examples
of this include the voltage and temperature of each battery cell, the current draw over time, and the
speed of the motorcycle. This data is valuable for better management and interactive operation of the
motorcycle. Collecting this data will allow the team to monitor the telemetry and electrical characteristics
of the motorcycle’s operation in real time.
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2015 EMOTORACING VARSITY CHALLENGE
A NOTE FROM THE TEAM
August 2015:
Our main project over the last year was to build our electric motorcycle (REV1) and race it in the 2015
eMotoRacing Varsity Challenge at New Jersey Motorsports Park. This was our first race event with our
bike, so we were all very anxious and excited. The bike is a converted 2005 Kawasaki Ninja that our team
has worked tirelessly on. We purchased it as a "rolling chassis," meaning that the gas engine and all its
components had been removed prior. Our main team consists of smaller, discipline oriented sub-teams
that worked on various portions of the design. The electrical and firmware teams were responsible for
determining the best batteries to use and for the design of the battery management system. The battery
management system was designed from the ground up, and allows us to monitor all aspects of the
batteries as well as wirelessly report their current status. This project has proven to be the most
challenging so far and is ongoing as we improve the bike.
Our mechanical team is very talented and has had the opportunity to use very cutting edge technologies
to create a 3D model of the bike. They have used this model to help determine the best motor and motor
controller choices, based upon their power-to-weight ratio, overall size, and how their operation will
stress the bike frame. Since the bike used to have a gas engine, there are many mechanical aspects that
needed to be taken into account, and our team did a phenomenal job doing so.
At the end of the spring semester, the bike was finally coming together and we started to get very excited
for the race in July. We set our final goals at the last team meeting of the semester and, at that point, we
knew we were ready for the event. In mid-July, we made our way to New Jersey Motorsports Park and
successfully completed two days of racing! Although we did not finish first, this was a major milestone for
our team and a huge motivator for all of our members. We achieved all of our goals and still have tons of
room for improvement. We left the race feeling great about our accomplishments, and are looking
forward for the year to come. This past year has been a truly rewarding experience for our entire team.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Thank you for time and for considering sponsorship of the Electric Vehicle Team. If you have any
questions or would like to know more about what we do, please feel free to reach out to the contacts
listed below.
Ryan Thorna
EVT Sponsorship Lead
Email: rmt5373@rit.edu
Phone: (315) 796-4896
Wheeler Law
EVT Administrative Lead
Email: evt@rit.edu
Web: evt.rit.edu
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