Ushering in a new ERA? Finnish-built electric sports car comes within a whisker of winning international competition

Plans are to put two-seater Electric RaceAbout into production

Sami Ruotsalainen

print this

By Marko Jokela
     
      Just over two months ago, a battery-driven electric sports car designed by a team from the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences came within a hairsbreadth of scooping the pool in its own category in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, an American-hosted innovation competition for fuel-efficient vehicles that attracted a very high quality field.
     
After sweeping through the early phases of the competition with no hiccups, the Finnish Electric RaceAbout (or E-RA, or ERA) - entered in the alternative two-seater class - took part in the final stage, a track test at the Michigan International Speedway.
      The basic idea was to drive fast, but only to use a strictly limited amount of energy doing it.
      The Finns led the field for 49 laps, but on the final lap an American team - Li-ion Motors, running the Wave II - managed to squeeze past them by 0.179 seconds.
     
"Losing out by a fifth of a second still bites", says a rueful Sami Ruotsalainen, a lecturer in automotive electronics and the RaceAbout's team leader and chief engineer, reflecting on the September results.
      The ERA entry may not have won the tempting USD 2.5 million top prize in its category, but in finishing 2nd it did leave in its wake a large contingent of cars boasting a much bigger budget.
      Then again, not many would have believed that Finns - who don't actually have a domestic motor industry to speak of - would ever have progressed as far as they did, using mostly student brainpower.
     
The ERA was the best-placed student entry and the best-placed European team in the competition.
      The car's prowess showed that there is absolutely no reason why Finland cannot put together the necessary smarts and creativity to develop a new electric car for production.
     
The ambitious idea was to make the world's best electric car using Finnish minds and labour.
      By the fall of 2007, the venture had got to the point where students were recruited to join the team.
      The jungle telegraph had done its job very effectively beforehand. Yes, there were Doubting Thomases that emerged, but a great many more willing hands went up.
     
"The enthusiasm was palpable, even though everybody who came on board knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and long days", says Ruotsalainen.
      In addition to Sami Ruotsalainen, the 20-strong project team harnessed the services of Harri Santamala as chief mechanical engineer and Matti Parpola, the already retired director of the vehicle laboratory at the former Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, who came in as a senior advisor.
      Eight students from the then Stadia in Helsinki (now part of Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences) were signed up, and a further five undergraduates from Lahti.
     
The decision was taken to build a light but robust carbon fibre monocoque chassis with strong steel sub-frames.
      Design of the car - which looks pretty good by any standards and stood out in the competition among some rather "weird" and sci-fi contraptions - was carried out by a team from the Institute of Design at Lahti University of Applied Sciences.
      The electric motors - four in all, one over each wheel - were the responsibility of a crew from the Lappeenranta University of Technology under the direction of Professor Juha Pyrhönen.
      Not everything was home-made: for example the axles and brakes were borrowed from the Audi R8.
     
Sami Ruotsalainen drives the two-seater ERA out of the courtyard at Metropolia and onto the street.
      It is easy to chat inside the car, as there is no growl from the V8 under the bonnet: the in-car noises are restricted to a dull whine and the rush of the wind past the aerodynamic bodywork.
      The development of the electric car is proceeding through hybrids and plug-in hybrids towards fully-electric cars that have a better range than those of today, and in which the batteries are both cheaper and more efficient, explains Ruotsalainen.
      "The spread of electric cars will probably take twenty years or so, or then we might all be surprised at how quickly things take off and we enter a new era."
     
We switch drivers. As the car heads out onto the Länsiväylä urban motorway heading west out of the capital, it becomes immediately clear that the power take-up is smooth and the ERA has more than enough horses to do the job.
      The batteries generate 200 kW of continuous power, up to 330 kW for a 10-second burst. This provides a maximum speed that starts with a two and will get you a hefty fine if you try it on the highway.
      A quick dab on the accelerator and cars that were a moment ago alongside us in the other lane are disappearing in the rear-view mirror with rude haste.
      There are some downsides: the steering and the suspension in this prototype are far from comfortable.
      Manoeuvring the car in a parking lot is a clumsy business, and with no servo- assisted steering as standard, turning the wheel is not exactly a fingertip operation.
     
With the exception of the batteries themselves and their charging system, all the basic technology that has gone into the car is of Finnish origin.
      "Finland can develop a new electric car. Our experience has shown that the knowhow is all there, but it is spread far and wide at present", says Ruotsalainen.
      Metroplia hopes that the ERA will move from the prototype phase into limited production.
      Before that happens, a two-way aircon system will be developed, and also there will be tests on the efficacy of short 10-minute charging of the batteries.
      Maybe after that, who knows...?
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 20.11.2010
     
     
The ERA team has made an excellent website with details of the car, including several videos, and full details of the competition are also available from the links below.

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: An electric sports car developed at a cost of EUR 1.5 million

Links:
  New York Times: For the Auto X Prize, a Race to the Finish (17.9.2010)
  Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize
  The ERA RaceAbout on the Competition website
  Metropolia
  Lahti University of Applied Sciences
  Earlier RaceAbout Designs
  Metropolia: Automotive and Transport Engineering
  Electric RaceAbout two-seater electric sports car

MARKO JOKELA / Helsingin Sanomat
marko.jokela@hs.fi