InMotion is a student team focused on electric racing and
fast charging
A battery charger, recharger, or simply charger is a device that stores energy in a battery by running an electric current through it. The charging protocol (how much voltage or current for how long, and what to do when charging is complete) depen ...
. InMotion is based in
Helmond
Helmond (; called ''Héllemond'' in the local dialect) is a city and municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands.
Helmond is home to several textile and metal companies. The Vlisco fa ...
and is composed mostly of students from the
Eindhoven University of Technology
The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...
and
Fontys University of Applied Sciences
Fontys University of Applied Sciences is a Dutch university of applied sciences with over 44,000 students in several campuses located in the southern Netherlands. The three largest Fontys campuses are located in the cities of Eindhoven, Tilburg ...
. The team was founded in 2012 by Albert Maas under the guidance of
Maarten Steinbuch.
In 2017, the Fusion, the team’s first car, was built. The Fusion is an electric formula car and holds the electric lap record in
Circuit Zandvoort
Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, and previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea ...
,
Circuit Zolder
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
History
Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...
and
TT Circuit Assen
The TT Circuit Assen is a motorsport race track built in 1955 and located in Assen, Netherlands. Host of the Dutch TT, it is popularly referred to as "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans of the sport. The venue has the distinction of hold ...
.
After the Fusion, the team developed an endurance race car, the Vision. Currently the team is working on a new car, a Ginetta G58 (also known as LMP3 style), which has their Electric Refueling technology and is going to compete in the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
, in the Garage 56 class.
Cars of InMotion
Ignition
In 2009, a group of students from the University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht presented their graduation project: an eco-friendly formula race car, the Formula Bio. Their dream was to participate in the
Formula Student
Formula Student is a student engineering competition held annually in the UK. Student teams from around the world design, build, test, and race a small-scale formula style racing car. The cars are judged on a number of criteria as listed below ...
, a race similar to Formula 1, only for students. The Formula Bio stood for environmentally friendly and inexpensive race cars.
After they graduated, one of the group members went to study at
Eindhoven University of Technology
The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...
. This student, Albert Maas, came into contact with
Maarten Steinbuch. Together they came up with the idea of participating in the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
with a fully electric car. In 2012, the InMotion student team was officially established.
Fusion
![Beitske Visser in the InMotion IM-e 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Beitske_Visser_in_the_InMotion_IM-e_2017.jpg)
The Fusion is the fastest electric formula car in the world with a top speed of 246 km/h. The car achieves this speed due to its propulsion, aerodynamics, and the small size of the car. The power of the car is 400kW and weighs 650kg of which the monocoque weighs 60kg. The Fusion is built to break track records of circuits, and not to fit into a particular ranking, so the car does not have to meet certain restrictions.
The InMotion team launched its first full electric racing car in 2016. The car was based on the former Formula Bio car has been built on a
carbon fiber
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
chassis. The full electric engine has a better power to weight ratio compared to a
Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...
car. The car made its track debut at
Circuit Zandvoort
Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, and previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea ...
during the
2016 Masters of Formula 3
The 2016 Masters of Formula 3 was the 26th and the final edition Masters of Formula 3 event, a non-championship race for cars that conform to Formula Three regulations. The event was held on 21 August 2016 at Circuit Park Zandvoort, in Zandvoort, ...
event. Drivers
Xavier Maassen
Xavier Maassen (born 22 June 1980 in Heerlen) is a Dutch racing driver who previously competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship for Mad-Croc Racing. Recently, he has participated in the Blancpain Endurance Series for Prospeed Competition. He l ...
and
Jan Lammers
Jan Lammers (Johannes Antonius Lammers, Zandvoort, 2 June 1956) is a racing driver from the Netherlands whose most notable claim to fame is victory in the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours for Silk Cut Jaguar/ TWR, next to a four-season spell in Formula One ...
gave the car a shakedown. In 2017
USF2000
The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...
driver
Rinus van Kalmthout
Rinus van Kalmthout (born 11 September 2000), known professionally as Rinus VeeKay is a Dutch racing driver. He drives the No. 21 Dallara-Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing in the IndyCar Series.
Career Karting
van Kalmthout started karting in ...
did a straight line test at the Automotive Campus
Helmond
Helmond (; called ''Héllemond'' in the local dialect) is a city and municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands.
Helmond is home to several textile and metal companies. The Vlisco fa ...
test track (part of the
A270 motorway). During the year the team improved track records for electric cars at two tracks.
Beitske Visser
Beitske Visser (born 10 March 1995) is a Dutch racing driver.
She has raced in kart, single-seater, GT and prototype series.
Career
Karting
Born in Dronten, Visser began karting in 2007 and raced in various European and International champi ...
improved the record at Zandvoort. Testdriver Maassen beat the track record for electric cars at
Circuit Zolder
The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.
History
Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...
, previously held by Bert Longin in a
Tesla Roadster.
Aerodynamics
:Keeping the test platform on the road requires a lot of downward pressure. The most important parts of the car that generate this pressure are the
diffuser, the
front wing
is a Japanese visual novel studio known for the production of adult ''bishōjo games''. Its main office is located in Taitō, Tokyo. The representative producer and president is Ryūichirō Yamakawa. “Frontwing” is the company's main brand, ...
and the
rear wing
A spoiler is an automotive aerodynamic device whose intended design function is to 'spoil' unfavorable air movement across a body of a vehicle in motion, usually described as turbulence or drag. Spoilers on the front of a vehicle are often ca ...
. The diffuser is the floor plate of the car, which is shaped so that it creates a lower pressure under the car and thus generates downforce. The rear wing consists of three elements, one of which is adjustable. The front wing is similar. Both wings can be removed from the car so that the aerodynamics specialists can test them and gain more insight into the air flows. This is mainly done with the program ANSYS Fluent, using simulations to investigate aerodynamics. Then the data is supplemented with results from our test drives.
Monocoque
:The
monocoque
Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell".
First used for boats, ...
is made of a composite with sandwich structure, which is also used in other open wheel race cars. The monocoque is not only made for drivers of average length, but even for drivers up to just under 2 meters. The total weight of the chassis is only 60 kilograms, including the bulkhead and the paint. The drivers all have her or his own pre-formed seat, making them comfortable and protected against unexpected movements.
Propulsion
:The
propulsion
Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...
is one of the main reasons why this car is so fast. Our battery pack is about 1/3 of the total weight of the car. The Fusion has rear-wheel drive, with two Yasa 750-series engines. At the
Circuit Zandvoort
Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, and previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea ...
the car achieved a maximum speed of 246 kilometers per hour. In addition, various safety measures have been taken to ensure safety. The battery pack is constantly monitored by the
battery management system, and at the smallest deviation the current is removed.
Electronic control unit (ECU)
:The car contains many sensors that measure parameters such as temperature and resistance, and which register data for the models. By connecting the ECU to our computer you can read these measurements. ICT Automatizing and InMotion have designed the ECUs for the Ignition together. ICT has given the access to their Motar platform, which consists of the hardware and software of the ECU. InMotion has created the control algorithms in MATLAB and Simulink. With the Motar-Toolbox they can generate production class software based on AUTOSAR of the model at the touch of a button.
Vision
After the completion and success of the Fusion, it was time to return to our original goal. With the new knowledge we had gathered with the Fusion’s creation and an expanding team of more than fifty members, it was now time to work towards our endurance car. In early 2018 the work commenced in order to create the Vision, the visualization of the original design Albert Maas had created more than 5 years ago. It was a secret only teased to the public, a secret we revealed in September 2018 along with the new team goal. With new corporate branding, and a new goal we suited up to take on the challenges that came ahead.
Our goal is to solve the single problem that still keeps people from using an electric vehicle: charging times. The target is to reduce the charging times to the same amount of time it takes to refuel a petrol car; electric refueling. We will showcase the potential of electric refueling by joining in the Garage 56 class during the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a fully electric endurance race car in 2023. At this moment, we are developing our next car & charging system.
The next era
In 2021, the new car will be finished. This new car is being built to show the world how Electric Refueling is used in practice. The car is based around a Ginetta chassis, to guarantee safety and reliability. Furthermore, this allows the focus of the project to remain on the development of Electric Refueling.
The first version of the battery pack operates at 657 V, has a maximum voltage of 756 V and will have a total capacity of 52 kWh. The car is able to be recharged in 7.5 minutes using 350 kW. The output current will be 400 to 500 A.
In the future, iterations will be made to increase the capacity and decrease the charging times. Both the charging system and battery will be actively cooled during charging. The powertrain has a maximum output of 400 kW. In combination with the weight of the car, 1450 kg, the car is able to reach 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds The car will make its first appearance in 2020 and is ready to compete in an endurance race in 2021.
This car is the way to show to the world what can be achieved in the future.
Student team
Passion and ambition are the great motivations of the student team. The team consists of full-time members, part-time members, and trainees. Together, from all kinds of different disciplines, they work on one mission. The uniqueness of the InMotion student team is the ultimate goal, not an annual project. Everyone who has worked with them is seen as part of the team.
In addition, the team receives regular advice from the 'technical advisory board' and 'supervisory board'. The Supervisory Board ensures that the project continues to follow a uniform line over the years. The technical advisory board consists of experienced members who meet weekly with the current engineers in order to guarantee the transfer of knowledge and to help with problems.
References
{{reflist
Science and technology in the Netherlands
Green vehicles
Engineering education
Dutch auto racing teams
Dutch racecar constructors