http://phys.org/news/2015-10-australia-electric-jet.html# Australia's first electric jet ski October 23, 2015 by David Stacey
[image http://cdn.phys.org/newman/csz/news/800/2015/australiasfi.jpg electric jet ski ] A team of students from The University of Western Australia has built Australia's first electric personal watercraft, commonly referred to as a jet ski. The UWA'S Renewable Energy Vehicle Project (REV) prototype is much quieter than a petrol-powered jet ski and produces no emissions. REV Director Professor Thomas Braunl said the innovation combined the fun of riding a jet ski with the environmental friendliness of an electric vehicle. "We eliminated the two negative aspects of petrol-powered models: excessive noise and heavy pollution of water and air," Professor Braunl said. "We have worked for more than two years on this project, and the major challenge was to make everything water-tight and safe; from batteries, to switches and motor controllers." The electric watercraft could become very popular with eco-tourism operators and could be used in lakes around the world where petrol-powered boats are banned. The prototype carries around eight kilowatt-hours of energy in lithium-ion batteries, which gives it a drive time of around 30 minutes. More batteries can be fitted, and a future DC charging system could bring the recharging time down to around seven minutes. The water-cooled three-phase motor was exclusively designed and built by Perth company Submersible Motor Engineering, while Engineering support was provided by Perth's Total Marine Technology. REV also greatly appreciates the donations from the Australian Medical Association and electronic firm Altronics. [© Phys.org] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-23/uwa-students-design-electric-jet-ski/6880674 Electric jet ski gives silent, surreal ride, its West Australian designers say By Nicolas Perpitch [2015-10-23] Map: Perth 6000 [ http://www.google.com/maps/place/Perth%206000/@-31.9234,115.8834,5z ] [image http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/6880570-3x2-940x627.jpg Michael Estott on the electric jet ski UWA mechanical engineering student Michael Estott test drives the electric jet ski. (ABC News: Nic Perpitch) ] UWA mechanical engineering student Michael Estott test drives the electric jet ski. The usual noise and pollution associated with jet skis have been eliminated with a new electric model, designed by West Australian students. "That's it, that's on. It's ready to go," said Michael Estott, one of the University of Western Australia's mechanical engineering students who developed the water craft. After turning on the jet ski, there was no noise and nothing seems to happen. There was no roar or smell of petrol. Taking three hours to charge at a mains switch and as little as seven minutes at an electric vehicle charging station, it is silent and produces no gas emissions. There's no sound, there's no fanfare to say that it's on and you just throttle up and you're moving. Alex Beckley Alex Beckley, who worked on the initial designs, said it was surreal to drive. "When you first get on it. You switch it on. There's no sound, there's no fanfare to say that it's on and you just throttle up and you're moving," he said. "It's a really strange experience having driven conventional jet skis." The $15,000 project has taken two-and-a-half years and three generations of students to complete. Professor Thomas Braunl, director of the Renewable Energy Vehicle Project at UWA, oversaw the development "Most people hate jet skis because of their pollution and their noise and with the electric jet ski we've taken away these two negatives," Professor Braunl said. The batteries are double insulated and along with the 50 kilowatt electric motor are encased in a watertight housing. "We're dealing with really high currents and reasonably high voltages and we don't want anyone to get hurt in any way," Mr Beckley said. "So each step of the project everything's been made sure it's waterproof, double waterproof and so on and so forth. "It's been a slow process but to see it today out in the water is a dream come true." The students have not measured how fast the electric jet ski can go but believe with further development it could be almost as fast as a conventional craft. [© 2015 ABC] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-University-of-Western-Australia-s-1st-electric-jet-ski-tp4678383.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
