Overview
Carleton Formula Electric is a multifaceted team of undergraduate students who are dedicated to the design, development, and manufacturing of an electric race car for the international FSAE EV competition. The competition happens annually every year in June, and the team is working on building the university’s first electric race car since 2015.
The team is inclusive of all majors and students who are currently attending Carleton University. Students have the opportunity to focus on a variety of subteams that surround the design and development of the electric vehicle; structures, safety, drivetrain, high- and low-voltage, vehicle dynamics, or aerodynamics. Students can also choose to focus on the management of the team and work on marketing, sponsorship, business, or project management.
This project connects students with industry partners who are excited to sponsor and support an undergraduate design team. As well, students are able to use the skills they learn in class and apply that knowledge to real-world design problems.
Together we aim to design and build an electric vehicle on a two-year design cycle, exposing students to all the various aspects of financing, managing, and delivering on a full-scale manufacturing project which has industry-level standards and real-world consequences.
The Background
Carleton Formula Electric has a goal of pursuing the design and development of electric vehicles, which allows for students to face a new, difficult challenge that adds a variety of new requirements and problems to solve. We believe that students should have more opportunities to experience and develop their skills in electric vehicle applications. Electric vehicles are becoming the future of transportation, with a large amount of current interest and research focusing on more sustainable and renewable energy sources for a variety of applications.
As a team, we also want to focus on giving students an opportunity to apply the knowledge they learn in-class to real-world design challenges and applications. A lot of the student experience is spent learning, but we want to allow students to use and practice their skills, giving them the chance to develop as a professional before graduation.
Overall, Carleton Formula Electric has two main objectives; furthering the design and development of electric vehicles at Carleton University, and providing students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to a large-scale design team.
The Rollout
Carleton Formula Electric will be using all the collected funds to design and build the CFE-001, which will be the first electric FSAE race car built at Carleton since 2015. Specifically, all funds will be going to developing the rolling chassis, which is the main structure and dynamics package of the vehicle. This will allow the team to technically inspect a large majority of the race car to ensure all designs integrate properly and follow all required safety rules given to us by FSAE. Some students have been working on designs for CFE-001 since the beginning of last year, before the club was even established. Being able to give the students the opportunity to see their hard work be developed into a real-world product, is our absolute number-one priority.
The Impact
Carleton Formula Electric is committed to creating opportunities for Carleton students to use the skills they have learned in the classroom on a project they are passionate about. By allowing students to explore their passion, Carleton Formula Electric aims to spark a generation of engineers who are excited to use their abilities to drive innovation within the engineering community. By allowing students to explore their passions throughout their education, Carleton Formula Electric has the potential to yield students who are independent, entrepreneurial, inquisitive, and empowered to reach their full potential in the professional world and beyond.