After reviewing the 2015 EV Challenge, the planning team has put forward several proposed changes for the 2016 competition. These are provided to competitors in advance of the official rules to help plan for the upcoming year.
These changes are tentative, and while the planning team intend to make all of them, some may be missed (and some new changes may come up after this). Teams should always review the official rules to ensure they have not missed anything.
Growing number of teams
The 2015 EV Challenge saw two new teams, and this number is expected to grow with each year. To this end, most of the changes that are to streamline the pre-race procedures so that the competition can accommodate a larger number of teams without delaying the races.
Earlier load in for local teams
Local teams will have the opportunity to load-in their cars to the Sedra Student Design Centre for safety inspection on Friday evening. They will be kept securely overnight, and can be retrieved Saturday morning for design judging.
Car limit
There will be a three 'entry' limit for each team participating in the race. Currently, no car limit exists. One entry is one car in one race. If more than one entry is used, it must be distributed across the two races.
For example:
| Acceptable | Acceptable | Acceptable | Not acceptable |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Entry 1: 12 V race (car #30) Entry 2: 24 V race (car #31) Entry 3: 24 V race (car #32) Distributed across the two races. |
Entry 1: 12 V race (car #30) Only one entry, so the team can pick either the 12 or 24 V race. |
Entry 1: 12 V race (car #30) Entry 2: 24 V race (car #30) Distributed across the two races. One car in two races is two entries. |
Entry 1: 24 V race (car #30) Entry 2: 24 V race (car #31) Entry 3: 24 V race (car #32) Team must enter into both races to race two or more cars. |
Awards
The Dennis Weisher Engineering Design Award will be reworked to make the criteria more attainable for teams, shifting the focus away from formal engineering analysis.
There will likely be at least one additional award. Currently, the focus is on adding awards for less established or smaller teams.
Battery changes
Teams should hold off buying the Optima yellow top D34 for the 12 V race. The planning team is still concerned cars are finishing the 12 V race with too much battery life left, and so the smaller Optima yellow top SC35DA is being considered for the 12 V race.
This would also align all batteries across the races, so teams can easily interchange them.
Streamlined registration
The planning team is looking at ways to streamline the registration process to make it simpler for teams (and the forms easier to find).
Race track
The race track was shortened at the last minute to reroute the course around a speed bump. For next year, we'll have the speed bump removed so that teams can use the full track, as shown on our track page.