edatoakrun
Well-known member
Interesting story, particularly in that the motors may eventually be produced in volume to supply mass-market BEVs:
http://www.racer.com/wec-le-mans/item/118118-lm24-panoz-developing-all-electric-deltawing-gtLM24: Panoz developing all-electric DeltaWing GT
Business tycoon and sports car maven Don Panoz has set another lofty goal for his DeltaWing Racing team, and if he's successful, the car could be submitted as a future Garage 56 entry at the 24 Hours of Le Mans...
Panoz's vision, which would break another barrier if it can be achieved, calls for quick-change battery units that would allow the DeltaWing EV to complete stints equal to the leading GTE cars by swapping battery units in the same time it would take to complete a normal refueling pit stop."The prototype motor weighs 21 pounds, and can do different power outputs based on the size of the magnet, and runs cool with internal capillary cooling. Compared to this motor, the same thing would weigh 75 pounds to what's available now," Panoz told RACER.
Driving the rear axle is the primary consideration for the car, but the use of a second, smaller motor for the DeltaWing's small front tires is also an option. Scaling the size of the electric motor(s) and the batteries to set competitive GTE lap times and stint lengths is also being formulated, according to the American Le Mans Series founder.
"The benefits of this EV system is weight and space, and this has brought us to a new Holy Grail," he continued. "What we'll be working on with the new Holy Grail, which no one has done yet, is building a new GT car that can compete with the Porsches and Ferraris that can run as long as them on a fuel stop. Do 50 minutes at Le Mans, and then change the batteries as quick as you can fuel a car. That's the Holy Grail."
dW GTThe DeltaWing road car that was announced in March would serve as the basis for the Le Mans EV project where all of the available space after of the cockpit would be used for battery storage and propulsion. Designing an interchangeable battery module that contains enough energy to last 50 minutes while fitting within the car's basic dart-like shape is where Panoz hopes to make a significant breakthrough.
"On the Le Mans car, we have a lot of space on either side of the car where radiators and all of those systems normally go, and we're researching the best way to use that space to change the batteries rapidly – have two pins coming up that fit into a groove where you can drop the battery unit into place," he explained. "We're at about 82 percent right now of what we figure it will take battery-wise to do the stints we want to do, and getting the rest is a matter of space and weight. My engineers are confident we'll get to 100 percent."
Panoz also offered insights into the weight targets for the car.
"We're looking at the basic car to be somewhere around 1500 to 1600 pounds; that's light," he said. "The other GT cars are well over 2200, so we're looking at 500 or 600 pounds or more of batteries to match their weight."...
"We believe these motors will also have a lot of other applications, and we want to get to a point where we can make 3000 motors per month...
