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Global giants like Microsoft and Ford have recently confirmed strategic partnerships on electricity management for electric cars. With large corporations like this, the electric car can't fail to become a reality for everyone. The plan is to allow consumers to closely monitor their electricity usage and recharge their vehicles in the most practical and cost-effective way, and is likely to produce significant boosts to the home energy monitoring side and the rollout of the electric charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. It's now a foregone conclusion that we will indeed have millions of electric cars on our roads in the future. The predicted boom in electric vehicles and associated impact on the electricity grid is one of the challenges to developing an all-electric vehicle infrastructure that reduces GHG emissions and the reliance on fossil fuels.
GMS Drive train progress
The M1 motor Powertrain featured in a new racing kart
The M1 motor is our flagship product, designed for demanding applications and based on our fundamental belief that electric motors must become cheaper. The GMS M1 fulfils this expectation, but at the same time it is strong and durable and weighs under 17kg. The M1 is a product of ongoing prototype development, leading to a cost effective electric motor for volume production. The motor can be used in several applications, for boats, sports utility vehicles or in our conversion packs to enable family vehicles to be changed to electric drive. Green MotorSport’s products are designed to achieve the highest quality and we ensure that every part of the package is cost effective. Our M1 motor is achieving excellent performance and we are now building our volume manufacturing facilities in order to meet the overwhelming amount of inquiries received for the product during the last year.
GMS Dual Powertrain
The GMS Dual Power Train is an economical electric drive system that replaces the internal combustion engine for the heavier and larger electric car.
The "GMS DUAL" drive train is based around the brand new liquid cooled GMS M1 motor which was specially designed to give outstanding performance when used in lightweight family cars or fleet vehicles . At the heart of this electric car package are two high powered controllers, which are matched to the motors and pre-programmed to deliver exceptional flexibility. Two motors are used within the protected gearing design configuration to deliver a cost effective, energy efficient drive system. This unique dual drive configuration gives direct drive to each wheel on the axle with programmable limited slip capability using our designed EMP (encrypted motor profile) embedded controller software.
 New Products
Solar lights
The GMS AnyWhere Solar Lighting Kit is a revolutionary new weather proof solar lighting product developed for use in off grid solar lighting applications. The Solar Lighting Kit has built-in energy storage and management which eliminates the need for a separate battery and controller in a solar home system installation. The Solar Lighting Kit uses the best quality and highest efficiency components commercially available today. With a solar panel as small as 3Wp (50J/day) you will be able to generate 240 Lumen of light for 4 to 6 hours per day on any sunny day worldwide.
The Solar Lighting Kit converts 23% of electrical energy into light versus only 5% for fluorescent lamps and only 1% for incandescent lamps. The light output of our Solar Lighting Kit is comparable to a 40W incandescent bulb or a 7W Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) The Solar Lighting kit is dimmable to reduce energy consumption and can be connected in parallel with a terminal box (provided) with other AnyWhere Solar Lighting Kit Lamps or other appliances.
Cost effective design and manufacturing
Apart from making a very impressive collection of precision engineered prototypes using the CNC machine and lathe, GMS is now undertaking a technical study into the most cost effective methods of volume production for its line of products for its customers. Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining obtained fantastic clean results, however the process is very time consuming and uses more raw materials and power than we are happy with. We are investing our time in alternative manufacturing methods that prove more cost effective, more energy efficient and are suitable for large volume production. Sand casting of certain components has proved very valuable to produce limited runs, however investment casting and extrusion methods seem more financially acceptable whilst still providing the precision required in the motor manufacturing exercise. Investment casting is also known as the lost wax process, an ancient manufacturing process. The Egyptians used it in the time of the Pharaohs to make gold jewellery some 5,000 years ago. The technology today is used to make intricate shapes that need to be made with high accuracy. In 1797, Joseph Bramah patented the first extrusion process for making lead pipe. This involved preheating the metal and then forcing it through a die via a hand held plunger. The process wasn't fully developed until 1820 when Thomas Burr built the first hydraulic powered press. First extrusions were called "squirting". Back In 1894, Alexander Dick moved the subject area on by using different materials like copper and brass alloys. Today the technology is refined and we can now extrude Aluminium and even Titanium. The two main advantages of this over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex cross-sections for a fraction of the cost of CNC machining.
The cost effective battery
Apart from making a cost effective power train, in order to commercialize the electric car for mass production, the cost of energy and its storage must also come down. The battery pack for an electric vehicle is a vital component. In order to make the ultimate electric car one needs to understand the implications of resources and final product manufacturing issues. The lithium ion battery seems to be taking the lead in the race for a commercialised cost effective solution for the electric car's energy storage. This is partly due to a reasonable cycle life and its ability to produce good currents at low voltages, another important issue for emergency teams dealing with crashed electric cars in the future. Here at Green MotorSport we keep our system voltage low to make our products as safe as possible in all circumstances.
Above shows the GMS NICAD battery powertrain mule test pack.
Today's cheap test bed alternative to expensive high discharge lithium test packs or a three phase energy supply. This pack was designed by Green MotorSport to test its range of electric powertrains.
The market is persuaded by a number of key criteria, such as the manufacturing IP and the correct know-how. In order to make the ultimate viable battery solution, it's necessary to understand how to make technologies suitable for volume production and to reduce the end user cost. The winner at the end of the day will be the one who makes a reasonable energy dense battery at low cost. Understanding the hidden costs in battery manufacturing, and end of life issues are also important. Currently the UK is behind the race to develop a cost effective high energy battery for the pure EV market. Back in 2004 Green MotorSport started its research into making a cost effective high energy battery pack, which was called the "Green MotorSport lithium-ion power pack". Testing was featured on sky news, but unfortunately, due to the emerging recession and a lack of funding, Green MotorSport had to concentrate on the drive train and the battery pack development took a back seat.
Many battery pack manufacturing companies rely on complex battery management systems in order to make sure each individual cell used in a battery pack doesn't overcharge or run too low when discharging under use. The key to the ultimate battery pack is to keep the cost of the battery and its system down. We at Green MotorSport think that a reduced number of cells means less wires, less electronics and therefore a cheaper more viable system. Having less components means it's also less likely to fail in the real world. In this respect, cell capacities for lithium ion batteries have increased from a few ampere hours (AH) to over 100AH with single cells as large as 7000 AH on the market. As battery chemistries improve, this ultimately leads to longer cycle life, storage life and robustness for everyday abuse. Our first battery packs used many hundreds of high powered cells, but as manufacturing processes have become better over the last 5 years, the use of larger cells up to 100AH or more have become viable and enable us to discard battery management systems altogether for certain applications. In order to make a breakthrough in battery technology for the electric car market we need to see a reduction in manufacturing cost of at least 40-45% so that we can make a significant step towards the commercialisation and mass production of electric cars for 90% of the population.
 Green MotorSport in an app!
A well as having our own Green MotorSport youtube page, lowcarbon economy site and our own twitter site, we have just recently been included in the I Phone app store for Green business. We are proud to be part of the Book of Green iPhone App. It will be FREE to download. It will allow users to find local sustainable businesses like ours, read up-to-date info via newsfeeds and see what advertisers are tweeting on the twitterfeed. You can always find a link or an interesting news feed about Green MotorSport here.
Events
UK AWARE 2010 : 16th, 17th April 2010
Green MotorSport is once again joining forces with Britain’s biggest green consumer lifestyle show, UK AWARE. Green MotorSport will be exhibiting the famous four wheel drive electric Wisper Hillclimb Car at the London show, along with SAAB, Transport for London, Honda, Npower, the Energy Saving Trust and others involved with green transport.
UK Aware 2010 is a great initiative to help people to improve the quality of their own life as well as the world that future generations are inheriting. For the past nine years, Green MotorSport has shown hundreds of thousands of people at public events and schools around the country how they can power their bikes, cars or buses with energy from the sun or wind. www.ukaware.com
The Royal Bath and West Show : 2nd-5th June 2010
Green MotorSport will again be at the Royal Bath and West and will be exhibiting a number of exciting new technologies. This year’s show will be the biggest so far in Bath, as environmental technology gains increasing importance as fuel costs and living costs rise. Green MotorSport will once again exhibit its super electric composite Westfield prototype at the show in the eco zone as well as its new high powered LED solar lighting systems.
Already approaching our tenth year
Green MotorSport is now almost in its 10th year since its incorporation on July 4th 2001. Next year we will be holding a massive get together to demonstrate a decade of technical achievements.
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