Greenstage Gathering 2012

Yes, it's time for another Greenstage gathering!

It's a one day event being held from 10am till 3pm, on Sunday 18th November at 19 Newton Rd in Auckland (head down Newton Rd from Khyber Pass Rd, it's just past the North Western motorway over-bridge on the left, just before you get to Ponsonby Rd).  Parking is available in the nearby back streets and pay and display parking is available on the corner of Karangahape Rd and Gundy St.

As well as having a bit of fun and showing off a few grouse EVs, the purpose of the gathering is to launch new clarity around desirable positive actions we can collectively and individually take to make life more enjoyable, less costly and overall better for everyone and the environment.

The Future is Now:

1) it's desirable
2) it's community focused
3) it's knowledge driven (and fuelled by sharing)
4) it's high tech and high performance!
5) and it's a whole lot of FUN!

Here's some of what will be happening on the day:

• Join the launch of a distributed energy Co-op (sign up for cheaper renewable power)
• Meet Vik and the RepRap fabricating physical Open Source components (print your own objects!)
• Talk to the experts about photovoltaic systems with storage and SolarNetwork monitoring and control
• See and learn about the Greenstage GS750V (now with high performance race battery)
• Talk with the owner of the Switch EV Ute (NZ designed and built electric induction motor, controller and instrumentation!)
• Learn about the Tumanako Dashboard (controlling SolarNetwork EV charge points from an Android phone)
• See the ScottDrive powered Honda Prelude (exceptional NZ designed and built motor controller and powerstage!)
• See the Switch EV Toyota Celica (a very tidy conversion, powered by solar generated electricity - no fuel bills)
• Marvel at the Tesla Roadster (Yes! The world's leading high performance electric road car)
• Consider the Nissan Leaf  (a very practical mid sized EV)
• Investigate the Mitsubishi i-MiEV (a nice 4 seat EV)
• Drink Coffee (it's Sunday morning)
• Eat solar hotdogs (weather permitting)
• Listen to live Music!!! (Grey Lynn dogs and more)

In addition to the look point and talk discussions and conversations in the carpark, there will be a number of scheduled presentations indoors:

• 11:30 am - The RepRap, Vik builds a casing for the KiwiAC bluetooth module (which is used to talk wirelessly with the Tumanako Dashboard)
• 12:30 pm - Co-op Launch
• 1:30 pm - Tumanako Dashboard (Android powered EV dashboard and charge controller)

Please email if you plan on coming along (we need a rough idea of numbers), also, if you have any ideas or suggestions to make the event even better.

Let us know!

A little bit of fabrication

Over the last couple of months there have been a few changes to accommodate the new race battery pack in the GS750V and to brace the motor appropriately as we head towards full torque output.  Below you can see the new brackets that prevent the motor's aluminium body from carrying all the torque and they also provide a new mounting point for the the inverter just above the motor.

Multi purpose bracing brackets

In addition to that, we have put together our dual motor dyno ready for fine tuning of the motor control algorithms under development in the Tumanako project.

Dyno for motor tuning

Big thanks to Stephen for driving the details and making this happen and also to the Spaceships crew and PureAdvantage for the support along the way.  Thanks also to the fine Engineering work and support provided by Abel Metal Products, Primero Profiles, Tordeich Engineering and Ladarac.

We are now ready for the batteries!

Just an Opinion?

Back in 2008 I started blogging about Greenstage and I briefly explained why here.

Well, the world is changing fast and some of the drivers for Greenstage are becoming ever more intense and clarity around these drivers and their relatedness is increasing.

We live in a very special time in history. Cheap and abundant energy (in the form of fossil fuels) have enabled a massive expansion of our economies and humanity's capabilities. Some of my personal favorites include achievements like NASA's Space Shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Large Hadron Collider and Genome sequencing, not to mention the rich tapestry of arts and culture the world over. As fellow humans, irrespective of which country we were born in, we can feel proud of all humanity's achievements.

Inside the Large Hadron Collider

Things are changing fast and to maintain and extend this level of capability, humanity needs to make some adjustments. Peak oil is either already here, or not far away. There are environmental changes resulting from the consumption of non-renewable resources and the release of previously stored carbon into the earth's atmosphere.  Combine this with debt-stretched economies and the resulting economic slowdown, it's clear our current behavior is making the world a starker place for future generations.

Understanding that society's massive growth for the last 100 years has largely been fuelled by abundant and cheap energy, with oil literally squirting out of the ground, is fundamental to understanding the consequences of this energy crunch. Things are going to change whether we like it or not. Our current business as usual approach is unsustainable and becoming ever harder to achieve due to oil and debt fuelled growth coming to an end.  Our choice in the matter, is whether to be proactive about change, or to simply suffer the consequences and be forced into whatever change results.

Energy crunch

What to do?

Be positive, be proactive and change what we need to change! Simple as that. Most successful people and businesses have a long term plan, are passionate about what they do and work towards achieving their goals. Nothing new here.

What's missing in my opinion is leaders with a long term plan that fits with the reality of the situation. Spending billions of dollars on motorways to be used by fossil fuel powered vehicles does not make much sense.

We want a society that maintains and continues to extend the overall capabilities of the human race, but at the same time one that is not over reaching the bounds of the environment.  One that lives within it's means and leaves something for future generations.

I'm all for being proactive!  Lets use this period of transition effectively, leverage the still relatively cheap fossil fuel based energy and infrastructure we currently have to make an effective and speedy transition while we have the opportunity. We need to transition our society to another form of energy that is abundant and cheap and we need to do it quickly.

The solutions are available. Renewable energy from technologies such as wind, hydro and photovoltaic can literally be pulled out of the air (almost as easy as oil squirting out of the ground!).

In the short to medium term long distance transportation will be more expensive, communities will be closer and more connected and locally produced goods will come to the fore. With closer communities, people have additional chances to enjoy each other's company and pursue the challenges they and their communities really benefit from. Hence, there are opportunities for increased fulfilment and satisfaction (read more here).

There are so many positive opportunities out of this. As just one example, a whole new market is emerging for the boat building industry.

No Rena oil spill disaster here!

OK, so what specifically can we do? Look to strengthen your local community and become more self sufficient, look to reduce your fossil fuel consumption, ideally be prepared to stop using fossil fuels at some point in the not too distant future (pricing challenges could force this within the next 5-10 years). And of course, look to encourage and elect local council and government leaders that will steer our communities and our countries in the right direction.

The GS750V is another example of emerging opportunities.  Not only does this embrace the new energy paradigm, but it embraces community-led technology through the development and use of Tumanako open source components.

This is an important project with a message. It's been a long hard road and we have had a number of delays, but we finally have everything in place. We have commercial relationships and supply lines for all the products and components, including equipment and stock to complete the MK1 goal. Stay tuned for updates as we complete the race pack and vehicle preparation for our debut at the track. We're making changes and we're not holding back!

Greenstage is passionate about supporting communities and encouraging the right sort of change. Change creates opportunity and opportunity is exciting.

What changes are you making?

Saker GS750V Dyno run

Thursday evening we commissioned the Tumanako control board for the first time on the test bench motor (check it out here). This gave us confidence to install and use it in the GS750V for the dyno run the next day...



This optimism proved to be slightly misplaced as we uncovered a couple of unexpected digital IO issues and a motor configuration and/or DC supply not up to establishing a baseline set of figures from the dyno. So not 100% happy, but given that our goals for the day included equipment familiarisation and commissioning the rectified DC supply, it was still a valuable exercise.

Big thanks to Ed, Mark, John and the Wintec team for making the day possible.

Next up, a test rig for the GS750V's WS28 Motor (1.1kW test rigs only go so far), a bikini pack (2 minute hill climbs) and more Open Source inverter progress (bring on the KiwiAC!).

GS750V in the Wellington town hall today

The GS750V (Electric Saker) is in the Wellington town hall today as part of the LCA2010 open day.

Come down and see Tom and I between 11am and 2pm today (Jan 23rd). Tom has his electric mini on display as well and we are both show casing Tumanako technology.

GS750V More Speed

Yesterday we upped the torque limits on the Tumanako inverter and got a bit more speed :)



There is still motor tuning and other refinements to be done, but I think the test battery pack is going to be our limiting factor from here on.

Time for an upgrade!

GS750V (Electric Saker) first drive!

Guess what we did did yesterday?

Yep, we drove the GS750V for the first time ever. It's still easy as we go stuff, with a 150V battery and software torque limits we wont be breaking any speed records but it is another significant step. The torque control was very smooth, transition from forward to reverse was perfect and we even managed a little bit of regeneration (we don't have our brake POT hooked up yet, but this can be achieved by selecting reverse while driving forward slowly).



This was all achieved with the Tumanako vehicle controller interfacing with a Semikron SKiiP module.

We are on the way!

Turning wheels...

You may be asking, what's happening with the GS750V (the Electric Saker)? As you may know, almost 12 months ago exactly we discovered that the inverter we purchased was a little deficient (due to software issues that have not been addressed by the manufacturer).

Thankfully, this is one of the areas the Open Source Tumanako projects have been making great progress in. If you have not been following the Tumanako projects, I suggest you take a quick peek at the Tumanako blog.

Although there is still significant work to be done before a full Open Source inverter and vehicle control software system is released, I can confirm we will see the wheels turning on the GS750V in the near future.

Stay tuned for the video!