There are few things more American than driving a car really fast in a straight line. Occasionally, the cars will make a few left turns, but otherwise, this is the pinnacle of American motorsport. And there’s no longer, straighter line than that from New York to Los Angeles, a time trial of sorts called the Cannonball Run, where drivers compete (in an extra-legal fashion) to see who can drive the fastest between these two cities. Generally, the cars are heavily modified with huge fuel tanks and a large amount of electronics to alert the drivers to the presence of law enforcement, but until now, no one has tried this race with an EV specifically modified for this task.
The vehicle used for this trial was a Rivian electric truck, chosen for a number of reasons. Primarily, [Ryan], the project’s mastermind, needed something that could hold a significant amount of extra batteries. The truck also runs software that makes it much more accepting of and capable of using an extra battery pack than other models. The extra batteries are also from Rivians that were scrapped after crash tests. The team disassembled two of these packs to cobble together a custom pack that fits in the bed of the truck (with the tonneau closed), which more than doubles the energy-carrying capacity of the truck.
Of course, for a time trial like this, an EV’s main weakness is going to come from charging times. [Ryan] and his team figured out a way to charge the truck’s main battery at one charging stall while charging the battery in the bed at a second stall, which combines for about a half megawatt of power consumption when it’s all working properly and minimizes charging time while maximizing energy intake. The other major factor for fast charging the battery in the bed was cooling, and rather than try to tie this system in with the truck’s, the team realized that using an ice water bath during the charge cycle would work well enough as long as there was a lead support vehicle ready to go at each charging stop with bags of ice on hand.
Although the weather and a few issues with the double-charging system stopped the team from completing this run, they hope to make a second attempt and finish it very soon. They should be able to smash the EV record, currently held by an unmodified Porsche, thanks to these modifications. In the meantime, though, there are plenty of other uses for EV batteries from wrecked vehicles that go beyond simple transportation.
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