Team Director Andrew Dickson says that Google’s sponsorship is a huge boost for the team, and is a vote of confidence in the vision behind the design of Trev.

“Trev is a potentially game changing vehicle. It is very lightweight at only 350kg, and it uses small amounts of energy to recharge. It is conceivable that urban commuting in Trev could be powered entirely from domestic photovoltaic panels. It is a ‘power it yourself’ car,” he says.

“Trev is also an ‘open source’ car, with car plans and designs available for free on the internet. In the future Trev may be turned into a kit car, which people could build themselves. Trev would then be a ‘build it yourself, power it yourself’ car.”

Google Australia’s Engineering Director Alan Noble says that Trev caught his eye and appealed to his sense of innovation.

“This is a fantastic example of Australian technology – Trev is an open source electric vehicle designed and built here in Australia. We love the concept and we’re proud to support Trev as it travels around the world.”

With Google’s support, Team Trev will compete against teams from Switzerland, South Korea, Spain, China and the USA.

In reality, we will be charging from various electric grids along our circumnavigation route, and the energy we consume will be a mixture of coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar generation. In effect we’ll be consuming a mixture of renewable and non-renewable energy but offsetting that with 100% renewable energy.

Trev requires approximately 70 Wh/km, so a 30,000km trip will consume approximately 2,100kWh (2.1MWh) of energy.

New Zealand based utility TrustPower has kindly donated this amount of green power to Team Trev, in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates and a cash donation. The energy will be sourced from TrustPower’s 98.7MW Snowtown Wind Farm in South Australia. This wind farm consists of 2.1MW wind turbines, so the amount of energy required to drive Trev around the world is generated by a single turbine in just one hour (at full power).

Team Trev is very grateful for TrustPower for its contribution towards our Zero Race campaign.

Team Trev members and their families (who came to see what we have been occupied with during our ‘spare time’) celebrated what we’ve achieved so far.

Group photo at the BBQ

Technical and logistical work is still proceeding in earnest, but it’s very exciting as we approach the start of Zero Race!

With no experience importing goods (especially dangerous and expensive goods!), we relied on the experts. We thank Chris Sergeant and Ben Poprawski from Customs Agency Services and Chris Donnelly from Donnellys Insurance Brokers for their great service in organising many aspects of the task and providing us with quick advice.

The arrival of the batteries was cause to stop and celebrate the progress of the team in preparing for Zero Race which starts in Geneva on 15 August, 2010.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see that work is still continuing on the car. Coordinating the arrival of the batteries is only one of the tasks which must be done to ensure that Trev will be ready for Zero Race in time. The technical team is working very hard and putting in an enormous effort.

Outside the workshop, there are still many logistical jobs to complete, including organising insurance, car registration, freighting the car to Europe, driver uniforms, driver rosters, visas, travel, and so on. If you want to help, contact us through the website.

The first day of the Challenge had low-emission urban vehicles, intercity cars and long-haul utility vehicles taking part in on-road rallys. The Aurora solar racing car led the intercity course of 300 km, climbing from sea level in Rio to over 1000 m in the mountains near Petropolis, and beyond. The Aurora web site has more details.

Aurora on the Bibendum intercity rally

Meanwhile, back at Rio Centro, world experts met for seven round-table discussions. The topics were:

1. Advanced ICE engines. How will advanced ICE vehicles contribute to meeting the CO2 emission targets?
2. Sustainable biofuels. How to achieve a 20% market share in transportation by 2020 with sustainable biofuels?
3. Electric vehicles. How to meet a 10 to 15% market share of battery, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2020?
4. Efficient and safe urban transportation. How will ITS improve the situation?
5. Safety requirements for lighter cars. Can cars be both light and safe?
6. Economics of energy sources and CO2 emissions in the transportation sector.
7. Public and private sector commitment and contribution to reducing work-related road traffic fatalities by 2020.

Over the next three days, the results of the round-table discussions were presented in panel sessions. Key findings included:

• The era of cheap oil is over.
• Transport is at the heart of the energy security and climate change debate, and needs transformation.
• There is a positive ‘business case’ for a transformation in the transportation sector.
• There is a need for carbon market mechanisms as well as regulatory measures to accelerate this transformation.
• Major tasks for policy makers include better urban planning, facilitating behavioural changes, and eliminating subsidies on fossil fuels.

There were over 100 vehicles available for the ride-and-drive sessions. Most of the cars were similar in size and weight to conventional cars. A notable exception was the Peugeot BB1, a small 4-seater concept vehicle that is a cross between a car and two scooters.

Peugeot BB1

Another highlight was the electric personal transporters, including Segways, electric-assist bicycles, the 4-wheeled Vilco Speedy, and the Trikke Tribred. The Trikke was particularly impressive: fast, manoeuvrable, stable, lightweight, compact, and fun.

Personal electric transport

As someone at the conference noted, you can’t achieve mobility by giving everyone a car. The challenge will be to integrate vehicles such as these, and Trev, into urban transportation.

This year is the tenth Challenge Bibendum, an international event promoting sustainability mobility and demonstrating advanced prototype and production vehicles from around the world. Vehicle types include:

• electric assist bikes
• urban and intercity electric cars
• plug-in hybrid cars
• hybrid cars
• vehicles using alternative fuels.

Peter and Nick will also be on the Aurora solar car team, participating in the technical assessments and on-road rally; vehicles are assessed for local pollution, noise, fuel efficiency, CO2 emissions, acceleration and manoeuvrability.

We will post reports and photographs when we return. Meanwhile, Peter’s report from the 2006 Challenge Bibendum will give a taste of the event. (Trev appears in one of the photographs!)

New Urbanism is an design movement that promotes sustainable cities, featuring:

• mixed use, walkable neighbourhoods, each with a well-defined centre
• well-connected streets that disperse and slow traffic, so that neighbourhood streets can be safely shared by vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians
• electric mass-transit between neighbourhood centres
• well-defined architecture reflecting climate and culture.

Even though we are currently focussed on driving Trev around the world, it is really these types of communities we had in mind when designing a small, clean, quiet, efficient car—something to get you between neighbourhoods if you don’t have a mass transit system.

If you are a New Urbanist who saw Trev at the Congress, you can find out more about Trev at our “About Trev” pages.

For the tub we used aluminium foil honeycomb. The battery tray is made from cheaper polyproplyene honeycomb, as shown in the images below.

The first step is to fold an edge. Secure the honeycomb sheet to a table with old lead acid batteries, and clamp a square steel tube along the fold line. To form a right angle fold in 10 mm thick honeycomb, heat a 10 × π / 2 = 16 mm strip using hot air guns.

Use hot air guns to heat the fold line.

When the polypropylene softens, fold and clamp the sheet. The softened honeycomb will crush, and the outside edge of the fold  will have a nice 10 mm radius.

Fold and clamp. This photo shows the second fold.

The fold will retain its shape when the honeycomb cools, after a few minutes.

Next, fold up the front of the tray. For a fold angle α (in radians) and a honeycomb thickness t, the strip that is heated and crushed has width α t.

Design the fold.

Fold the front edge of the tray.

Our honeycomb sheet was not long enough to include the rear end of the tray, so a separate rear panel was simply glued on. At this stage our 2300 × 540 × 80 mm tray had a mass of 2.4 kg.

Next, apply two layers of Kevlar to the inside of the tray. The first layer has the fibres at ±45° to the tray, to resist twisting. The second layer has the fibres at 0° and 90° to the tray, to resist bending. Kevlar is more expensive than fibreglass, but gives a low-mass structure with the stiffness and toughness we require.

Apply Kevlar to the inside of the tray.

Go home. The next day, when the resin has cured, trim the excess Kevlar, turn the tray over (you can use the same four old batteries to support it), and apply Kevlar to the outside of the tray.

Apply Kevlar to the outside of the tray.

A day later, trim the excess Kevlar and the tray is ready for a battery. The mass of the tray is 5.3 kg.

The (almost) finished tray.

We still have a few months to go before Zero Race starts. The reason you haven’t seen us about lately is that the technical team has been spending a lot of time in the workshop preparing Trev for the big drive, and the logistics team has been busy doing everything else we need to do to prepare for the trip.

We have made good progress with Trev:

• fitted a new motor, wheel and suspension assembly to the rear of the car
• developed a new motor controller for our new brushless motor
• designed and almost finished building an improved suspension for the front of the car
• designed and are building a simpler, lighter electrical system, based on microprocessor controlled nodes communicating on a serial CAN bus
• designed and built a new dash display, with a 7-inch LCD monitor
• improved the canopy and hinge mechanism.

We have also made good progress outside the workshop:

• established a blog (you’re reading it!) and a mailing list
• secured some enthusiastic sponsors (but we still need a few more)
• formed an incorporated non-profit association (Team Trev Incorporated)
• opened a bank account
• made a short video clip—there are more coming
• had Trev on display in Rundle Mall, at the Tour Down Under, and at the CleverGreen conference, with plenty of coverage on TV, in the press, and on the web
• organised a public talk by Zero Race director and Solar Taxi driver, Louis Palmer
• made dozens of lists of all the things we have to do before, during and after the race.

There is still plenty more to be done, both in the workshop and in the “office”. (We don’t really have an office—we use email, Google Wave and other internet tools to communicate, and occasionally meet at events or in cafes.

It is a lot of effort, but we think it is worth it.

Our aim has always been to demonstrate the idea and encourage others to build upon and improve our ideas. The car we drove from Darwin to Adelaide in 2007 was simple and effective, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. In July 2009, Matt Green from Melbourne gave us a kick along by setting up a web site—Trevipedia—on which we could document our good ideas, and enthusiasts from around the globe could help improve the design.

Trev is an “open source” car. Plans and design details are freely available online on Trevipedia, and we encourage everyone to use our designs to design and build their own Trevs, and to share any improvements and ideas with other “Trev Heads”.

Building a roadworthy car is not an easy undertaking, but we are continually improving the design to make it as simple as possible. Ultimately, we hope someone will develop kits or even complete vehicles.

A key advantage of Trev is that it uses a lot less energy than conventional cars. This means that not only can you build it yourself, you can also power it yourself. An average daily commute in Adelaide is 32 km, and will require about 2 kWh of energy to recharge. A 500 W photovoltaic panel on the roof of your house will generate enough electricity each year to keep you mobile.

Imagine that. A car you can build yourself and power yourself.