Why consider the FSEV Concept Challenge?
3 min read
Testimonial:
Team Kratos Racing Electric of PCCOE Pune was one of the first teams to participate in the Electric Class at Formula Bharat 2019 with their first ever electric vehicle and they were the only team to complete all events in the Electric Class at the competition. Shubhaang Digge who was the Team Captain at the time, shares his team’s story with Humans of Formula Bharat, of how their participation at the FSEV Concept Challenge gave them the ultimate boost to win at FB2019.
“The FSEV 2018 Concept Challenge was a huge eye-opener for us. Our team formerly participated in the combustion class and we were planning to switch over to the electric class. When we heard about FSEV, we had formed a separate sub-team at Team Kratos, whose primary responsibility was to prepare for the challenge.
Despite the four month head-start, we did not do well at the challenge. Even now, I see many teams making the same mistakes we did – as in preparing for the challenge by ‘googling’ the best motor, the best battery, see what other top EV teams are using, compare them, work on the simulations and then attend the challenge. This is why we lost. We were not being realistic with our proposed design.
The procurement event brought us down to reality. Our team was already restricted in terms of the funds we had, plus being based in India, procurement of so many key EV components was a challenge in itself. When we returned home from the challenge, we never went ahead with any of the components we originally presented. We had to shuffle off everything and get back to the roots – start from scratch with a realistic timeline.
The learnings from the FSEV 2018 challenge and the feedback we received from the judges gave our team a better perspective, which led us to being winners at the following FSEV competition that same year, and at Formula Bharat 2019 with our first ever electric vehicle!”
Why participate in FSEV?
You can get an opportunity to focus on all the points below without having to build a vehicle in the first go! With this early head-start through FSEV, your team will be able to confidently proceed to the next phase of building your electric vehicle.
- Develop an EV team first: Gather like-minded mechanical, electrical and software engineers who are keen on making this project happen.
- Brainstorm your engineering conceptual design.
- Focus only on Powertrain: This is your opportunity to focus on the heart of your electric vehicle, without having to do so for the rest.
- Understand procurement hurdles: Building an EV is not an easy task. It is important to navigate the procurement requirements for many components that may take months to arrive.
- Start thinking of software integration: Software-Hardware integration has become a key requirement for the EV industry. FSEV gives you a head start to dive into this area.
- Judging panel with industry experts: The FSEV judging panel consists of EV industry experts who will be able to provide you constructive criticism on your powertrain design.
Visit www.formulabharat.com/fsev for more information.