Braving broken charging equipment, a thrown half-shaft and even a hurricane that downed power lines across Nova Scotia, the student engineers from the University of British Columbia have crossed Canada in their homebrew electric Volkswagen Beetle. They are the first team to cross the country in an electric car.

After fourteen days at an average speed of 42 mph, a day spent making repairs Toronto and two days waiting out Hurricane Earl in Quebec, the E-Beetle rolled into Dartmouth, Nova Scotia on Monday afternoon. We finally caught up with John Meech, the team's faculty advisor, on Wednesday as the team celebrated their achievement.

The kids made the trip in a ‘72 Vee Dub the UBC Electric Car Club converted to electricity. It's got a three-phase AC induction motor and a lithium iron phosphate battery with a range of around 185 miles at 60 mph and over 340 miles at 30 mph. The E-Beetle tops out at 85 mph and recharges in about four hours.Though the trip started well enough with the E-Beetle easily handling the steep mountain passes of British Columbia, the team encountered its first big hassle in Alberta when a bad charger added about two hours to the time needed to charge the car's battery."The failure was a fried control board," Meech said. "We ordered a new unit from China and it arrived the day after the trip ended. Fortunately we also ordered a different back-up unit from California. It arrived in Toronto for the last 30 percent of the trek."

That wasn't the end of the trouble.

Just before reaching Quebec the car threw a half-shaft. It was an easy enough fix.

"At first we thought it was transmission trouble," Meech said, "but when we checked out the drive train, the problem was obvious and was repaired with a set of wrenches in about 15 minutes."

Despite the challenges, Meech said the students enjoyed the reward of driving a car they built themselves.

"From the beginning we have always viewed this trip as a test of the entire system to show that it is feasible and robust enough to drive from the Pacific to the Atlantic," he said.

Meech said the journey succeeded because of exceptional engineering, good planning and warm hospitality. "There is no question that the engineering work done on this vehicle by a group of undergraduate students in 12 months' time is exceptional," he said.

Once the vehicle was built, it was up to the team to find charging stations and keep the car running.

"There was no other vehicle along for the drive," he said. "We had very limited funds to provide such support but we did set up a major logistical support center here in Vancouver that provided information on charging sites along the route. Many of these sites were pre-selected but they did not always have the advertised electrical services."

Such was the case in Wawa, Ontario, a remote town where the team had trouble plugging in after a harrowing drive amid strong winds and difficult terrain. The team relied on supporters in Sudbury for their next recharge.

Meech said the car handled quite well in a variety of difficult environments, often far from civilization. In northern Ontario, the E-Beetle traveled 208 miles on a single charge at around 37 mph, hampered by rough terrain and slow-moving tractor trailers. The last segment of the trip was the fastest, with an average speed of 55 mph from Amherst to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Meech also had praise for Mitsubishi's Clean Across Canada tour, a trip that left Canada's east coast five days before the E-Beetle left British Columbia. The Mitsubishi tour, which is still rolling, is demonstrating the benefits of a high speed charging system during a month-long Canadian crossing. With two i-MiEVs, an RV, a diesel generator atop a trailer and stops in major cities, it's a rock concert compared to the E-Beetle's open mic night.

"What we believe [the Mitsubishi] trip has demonstrated is the feasibility of even a city-range vehicle (120 km) being able to make the journey if these units were installed at regular intervals along the Trans-Canada Highway," he said. "The unit can deliver 80% of full charge for 120 km range in 30 minutes. That is very impressive."

The E-Beetle team may be done with their cross-Canadian trip, but Meech says they're already planning a new event called Circuit the Continent Electrically in which an electric car would visit 90 cities across North America in 90 days. The team is also considering entering the 2011 Zero Race.

Photo: University of British Columbia. Student engineers Ricky Gu (left), Colin Mastin and Bandit with the E-Beetle in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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