How to Build a Race Car for the Digital Age
The Story of the AI-powered SUTD E18
This is Part 1 in a series revealing how we built an AI-powered UrbanConcept race car for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2018, a race for fuel efficiency.
Hi! We’re a student team at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) building an UrbanConcept Eco Car for SEM 2018! Follow us on our journey as a team from design and build to the actual race on our Instagram and Facebook!
Ones and Zeroes
Duality is everywhere. Light and dark, night and day, on and off — these are daily encounters we barely give any thought.
At the EV Club, duality is something we face everyday. Automotive engineering is a practice in it. It’s at once satisfying yet frustrating, beautiful yet crude, simple yet near-impossible. A box on wheels drawn by a child is recognisably a car, as is a detailed digital model. Clean lines are prized just as much as intricate detail, while engineers and designers butt heads over form and function.
This is a discipline steeped in tradition, heritage and convention. It leaves us with the shoulders of giants to stand on, but stifles innovation with a tired stubbornness. How do you balance realising the future with lessons from the past? How do you both dismiss and respect old dogma?
Day to day, these problems present themselves in much the same way. Do we buy our suspension system off-the-shelf, or do we try to do it better and lighter in-house? Do we support the body with a more traditional space-frame, or do we try a single-piece monocoque, something typically found in supercars?
In an environment filled with doubt, the team held true to one simple vision:
The E18 had to be fresh, exciting and effective.
It had to represent the future while harking to the past. It had to be ruthlessly fuel efficient and win hearts while doing it. It had to look like a million dollars while contending with a tight budget. We needed to embrace new concepts, materials and techniques but remain grounded in reality — retaining fundamentals that have and continue to work in the automotive world.
Form and Function
That was the vision behind the SUTD E18’s design. Our engineering decisions had to reflect our pursuit of that.
It all began with the E17, our entry for last year's Shell Eco-marathon. Visually, they are strikingly similar. Budget limitations meant we couldn’t make drastic changes to the car’s external appearance (more on that in a future part). Tweaks to the side fins, a new front scoop for better aerodynamics and a new paint job are just some of the changes to the E18’s exterior. Under the hood however, the E18 is all-new.
The power unit is a perky single-cylinder petrol engine driving the rear wheels, tuned with an AI-controlled fuel injection kit for maximum efficiency. The wheels themselves are made from aluminium, stripped down for lightness, with wheel covers for improved aerodynamics. Supporting them is an independent double wishbone suspension, ensuring better contact with the road for improved handling, ride and efficiency.
Inside, the cockpit puts the driver front and centre, cocooned in a strong, lightweight chassis featuring a blend of fibreglass and carbon fibre. The driver is greeted with fighter-jet style pillar-mounted controls, and a steering wheel that wouldn’t look out of place in the Starship Enterprise.
At the helm, the 7" touch screen display is home to EVOS (Eco-Vehicle Operating System). It employs a Virtual Copilot, tying in with existing sub-systems on the E18, reading variables like engine temperature, fuel consumption, and throttle position to produce the optimal driving strategy. It advises the driver on the best course of action so he/she can put down an efficient and consistent result, lap after lap.
The E18’s design is dedicated to maximising efficiency without compromising on driver safety, usability and aesthetic appeal.
We’ll continue to do deep dives on each sub-system in future parts, so stay tuned for breakdowns on EVOS, powertrain, body design, and manufacturing!
Thrills and Spills
Arriving at the SUTD E18 continues to involve countless man-hours, sleepless nights and falling GPAs. And yet, everyone on the team shows up day after day, alternating between discussion and argument, and laughter and frustration as the car takes shape.
We’ve learnt so much in the last year, and we still have miles to go. The E18 continues to evolve along with the team — it improves as we improve. All of us began as automotive enthusiasts and aspiring engineers, eager to learn, and never thinking we’d build a race car to call our own.
The journey isn’t over yet. Race day is on 9th March 2018, and as we roll into the new year, the intensity is just going to keep ramping up.
This was part 1 in a series revealing how we built an AI-powered UrbanConcept eco car for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2018.
